In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind


Eric R. Kandel - 2006
    Nobel Prize winner Kandel intertwines cogntive psychology, neuroscience, and molecular biology with his own quest to understand memory.

The Gendered Brain: The New Neuroscience That Shatters the Myth of the Female Brain


Gina Rippon - 2019
    Gina Rippon finally challenges this damaging myth by showing how the science community has engendered bias and stereotype by rewarding studies that show difference rather than sameness. Drawing on cutting edge research in neuroscience and psychology, Rippon presents the latest evidence which she argues, finally proves that brains are like mosaics comprised of both male and female components, and that they remain plastic, adapting throughout the course of a person’s life. Discernable gender identities, she asserts, are shaped by society where scientific misconceptions continue to be wielded and perpetuated to the detriment of our children, our own lives, and our culture.

Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain


António R. Damásio - 1994
    Even modern neuroscience has tended, until recently, to concentrate on the cognitive aspects of brain function, disregarding emotions. This attitude began to change with the publication of Descartes’ Error in 1995. Antonio Damasio—"one of the world’s leading neurologists" (The New York Times)—challenged traditional ideas about the connection between emotions and rationality. In this wondrously engaging book, Damasio takes the reader on a journey of scientific discovery through a series of case studies, demonstrating what many of us have long suspected: emotions are not a luxury, they are essential to rational thinking and to normal social behavior.

It's All in Your Head


Suzanne O'Sullivan - 2015
    A neurologist's insightful and compassionate look into the misunderstood world of psychosomatic disorders, told through individual case histories

Nothing Good Happens at ... the Baby Hospital: The Strange, Silly World of Pediatric Brain Surgery


Daniel Fulkerson - 2016
    But after falling backwards into the specialty, Dr. Fulkerson found neurosurgery to be a field filled with joy, sadness, a little humor, and courageous and inspiring patients.In an honest and compelling retelling of his long and winding road to train and then practice as a pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Fulkerson guides others through his journey from medical school to service on a small military base, through residency training, and finally, to a practice in a highly specialized children's hospital. The journey reveals the dramatic swings of emotions experienced by both patients and doctors in an increasingly hostile medical environment. Dr. Fulkerson also shares stories of dedicated professors who train medical students and resident surgeons to care for the tiniest neurosurgical patients.Nothing Good Happens at ... The Baby Hospital offers a compelling glimpse into the joys, tragedies, and hopeful moments that surround the highly specialized and sometimes silly world of pediatric neurosurgery.

Great Myths of the Brain


Christian Jarrett - 2014
    Looks at enduring myths such as "Do we only use 10% of our brain?," "Pregnant women lose their mind," "Right-brained people are more creative" and many more. Delves into myths relating to specific brain disorders, including epilepsy, autism, dementia, and others. Written engagingly and accessibly for students and lay readers alike, providing a unique introduction to the study of the brain. Teaches readers how to spot neuro hype and neuro-nonsense claims in the media.

Brain Changer: How Harnessing Your Brain's Power to Adapt Can Change Your Life


David DiSalvo - 2013
    You’ve tried the sticky-note inspirations, the motivational calendar, and the cute (but ineffective) "carpe diem” mug—yet your attitude hasn’t changed. It’s time to apply cutting-edge science to the challenges of daily life.While everyone desires self-improvement, we are quickly frustrated when trying to implement the contradictory philosophies of self-appointed self-help gurus. Too often, their advice is based on anecdote and personal opinion, not real research.Bestselling author of What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite David DiSalvo returns with Brain Changer: How Harnessing Your Brain’s Power to Adapt Can Change Your Life. Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience, cognitive psychology, behavioral economics, communications, and even marketing, DiSalvo replaces self-help with "science help.” He demonstrates how the brain’s enormous capacity to adapt is the most crucial factor influencing how we feel and act—a factor that we can control to change our lives.Findings show our brains are fluid and function much like a feedback loop: stimulants from both our environment and from within ourselves catalyze changes in the brain’s response. That response then elicits additional inputs that the brain identifies and analyzes to further tailor its response. DiSalvo shows that the greatest internal tool we have to affect the feedback loop is metacognition ("thinking about thinking”).Littered with relatable examples and tackling major aspects of our lives including relationships, careers, physical health, and personal development, Brain Changer shows you how to harness metacognition to enrich your life.

The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness


Mark Solms - 2021
    Scientists consider it the "hard problem" because it seems an impossible task to understand why we feel a subjective sense of self and how it arises in the brain.Venturing into the elementary physics of life, Solms has now arrived at an astonishing answer. In The Hidden Spring, he brings forward his discovery in accessible language and graspable analogies.Solms is a frank and fearless guide on an extraordinary voyage from the dawn of neuropsychology and psychoanalysis to the cutting edge of contemporary neuroscience, adhering to the medically provable. But he goes beyond other neuroscientists by paying close attention to the subjective experiences of hundreds of neurological patients, many of whom he treated, whose uncanny conversations expose much about the brain’s obscure reaches.Most importantly, you will be able to recognize the workings of your own mind for what they really are, including every stray thought, pulse of emotion, and shift of attention. The Hidden Spring will profoundly alter your understanding of your own subjective experience.

Books by Oliver Sacks: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat / An Anthropologist on Mars/Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain


Books LLC - 2010
    Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, An Anthropologist on Mars, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Seeing Voices, Migraine, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood, Awakenings, The Island of the Colorblind, . Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales is a 1985 book by neurologist Oliver Sacks describing the case histories of some of his patients. The title of the book comes from the case study of a man with visual agnosia. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat became the basis of an opera of the same name by Michael Nyman, which premiered in 1986. The book comprises 24 essays split into 4 sections which each deal with a particular aspect of brain function such as deficits and excesses in the first two sections (with particular emphasis on the right hemisphere of the brain) while the third and fourth describe phenomenological manifestations with reference to spontaneous reminiscences, altered perceptions, and extraordinary qualities of mind found in "retardates." The individual essays in this book include, but are not limited to: Christopher Rawlence wrote the libretto for a chamber opera, directed by Michael Morris with music by Michael Nyman, based on the title story. "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" was first produced by the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 1986. A television version of the opera was subsequently broadcast in the UK. Peter Brook adapted Sacks's book into an acclaimed theatrical production, "L'Homme Qui...," which premiered at the Theatre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris, in 1993. An Indian theatre company, performed a play The Blue Mug, based on the book, starring Rajat Kapoor, Konkona Sen Sharma, Ranvir Shorey a...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=3371

Making Up the Mind: How the Brain Creates Our Mental World


Chris Frith - 2007
     Uses evidence from brain imaging, psychological experiments and studies of patients to explore the relationship between the mind and the brain Demonstrates that our knowledge of both the mental and physical comes to us through models created by our brain Shows how the brain makes communication of ideas from one mind to another possible

Great Philosophical Debates: Free Will and Determinism


Shaun Nichols - 2008
    The answer to this age-old riddle is universally relevant to our lives. The implications of our views on it can affect everything from small choices we make every day to our perspective on criminal justice and capital punishment. From the Stoics to Boethius, from Kant to Hume, from Sartre to contemporary philosophers, great minds have puzzled over this debate for centuries.Now you can learn the intriguing details of this fundamental philosophical question with Great Philosophical Debates: Free Will and Determinism, 24 fascinating lectures by Shaun Nichols, award-winning Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science at the University of Arizona."The Great Courses.com

The Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes and the Civilized Mind


Elkhonon Goldberg - 2001
    Crucial for all high-order functioning, it is only in humans that the frontal lobes are so highly developed. They hold the key to our judgment, our social and ethical behavior, our imagination, indeed, to our soul. The author shows how the frontal lobes enable us to engage in complex mental processes, how vulnerable they are to injury, and how devastating the effects of damage often are, leading to chaotic, disorganized, asocial, and even criminal behavior.Made up of fascinating case histories and anecdotes, Goldberg's book offers a panorama of state-of-the-art ideas and advances in cognitive neuroscience. It is also an intellectual memoir, filled with vignettes about the author's early training with the great Russian neuropsychologist A.R. Luria, Goldberg's escape from the Soviet Union, and his later interactions with patients and professionals around the world.

Stahl's Essential Psychopharmacology


Stephen M. Stahl - 2007
    Embracing the unifying themes of 'symptom endophenotypes', dimensions of psychopathology that cut across syndromes, and 'symptoms and circuits', every aspect of the text has been updated to the frontiers of current knowledge, with the clarity of explanation and illustration that only Dr Stahl can bring. Integrating much of the basic neuroscience into the clinical chapters, and with major additions in the areas of psychosis, antipsychotics, antidepressants, impulsivity, compulsivity and addiction, this is the single most readily readable source of information on disease and drug mechanisms. This remains the essential text for all students and professionals in mental health seeking to understand and utilize current therapeutics, and to anticipate the future for novel medications.

Intuition Pumps And Other Tools for Thinking


Daniel C. Dennett - 2013
    Dennett has engaged questions about science and the workings of the mind. His answers have combined rigorous argument with strong empirical grounding. And a lot of fun.Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking offers seventy-seven of Dennett’s most successful "imagination-extenders and focus-holders" meant to guide you through some of life’s most treacherous subject matter: evolution, meaning, mind, and free will. With patience and wit, Dennett deftly deploys his thinking tools to gain traction on these thorny issues while offering readers insight into how and why each tool was built.Alongside well-known favorites like Occam’s Razor and reductio ad absurdum lie thrilling descriptions of Dennett’s own creations: Trapped in the Robot Control Room, Beware of the Prime Mammal, and The Wandering Two-Bitser. Ranging across disciplines as diverse as psychology, biology, computer science, and physics, Dennett’s tools embrace in equal measure light-heartedness and accessibility as they welcome uninitiated and seasoned readers alike. As always, his goal remains to teach you how to "think reliably and even gracefully about really hard questions."A sweeping work of intellectual seriousness that’s also studded with impish delights, Intuition Pumps offers intrepid thinkers—in all walks of life—delicious opportunities to explore their pet ideas with new powers.

A Universe of Consciousness: How Matter Becomes Imagination


Gerald M. Edelman - 2000
    Their pioneering work, presented here in an elegant style, challenges much of the conventional wisdom about consciousness. The Universe of Consciousness has enormous implications for our understanding of language, thought, emotion, and mental illness.