Book picks similar to
The Human Brain Book by Rita Carter
science
neuroscience
non-fiction
brain
Networks of the Brain
Olaf Sporns - 2010
Increasingly, science is concerned with the structure, behavior, and evolution of complex systems ranging from cells to ecosystems. In Networks of the Brain, Olaf Sporns describes how the integrative nature of brain function can be illuminated from a complex network perspective.Highlighting the many emerging points of contact between neuroscience and network science, the book serves to introduce network theory to neuroscientists and neuroscience to those working on theoretical network models. Sporns emphasizes how networks connect levels of organization in the brain and how they link structure to function, offering an informal and nonmathematical treatment of the subject. Networks of the Brain provides a synthesis of the sciences of complex networks and the brain that will be an essential foundation for future research.
Cure: A Journey into the Science of Mind Over Body
Jo Marchant - 2016
Recently, however, serious scientists from a range of fields have been uncovering evidence that our thoughts, emotions and beliefs can ease pain, heal wounds, fend off infection and heart disease and even slow the progression of AIDS and some cancers.In Cure, award-winning science writer Jo Marchant travels the world to meet the physicians, patients and researchers on the cutting edge of this new world of medicine. We learn how meditation protects against depression and dementia, how social connections increase life expectancy and how patients who feel cared for recover from surgery faster. We meet Iraq war veterans who are using a virtual arctic world to treat their burns and children whose ADHD is kept under control with half the normal dose of medication. We watch as a transplant patient uses the smell of lavender to calm his hostile immune system and an Olympic runner shaves vital seconds off his time through mind-power alone.Drawing on the very latest research, Marchant explores the vast potential of the mind's ability to heal, lays out its limitations and explains how we can make use of the findings in our own lives. With clarity and compassion, Cure points the way towards a system of medicine that treats us not simply as bodies but as human beings.
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
Bessel van der Kolk - 2014
Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Such experiences inevitably leave traces on minds, emotions, and even on biology. Sadly, trauma sufferers frequently pass on their stress to their partners and children. Renowned trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain’s wiring—specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neurofeedback, mindfulness techniques, play, yoga, and other therapies. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score offers proven alternatives to drugs and talk therapy—and a way to reclaim lives.
Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood
Edward M. Hallowell - 1992
Discusses the causes, symptoms, and treatment of attention-deficit Disorder (ADD).
An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales
Oliver Sacks - 1995
Paradoxical portraits of seven neurological patients, including a surgeon consumed by the compulsive tics of Tourette's syndrome unless he is operating; an artist who loses all sense of color in a car accident, but finds new creative power in black & white; & others.
Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology
Bryan Kolb - 1980
It is a remarkable text that makes an extraordinary amount of recent scholarship accessible and compelling. And with its dramatic new art program, new case studies and pedagogy, and new companion Web site, the Fifth Edition provides both the most up-to-date understanding of the field and the most effective ways to teach and learn it.
Psychopharmacology: Drugs, the Brain, and Behavior
Jerrold S. Meyer - 2004
Encompassing recent advances in molecular pharmacology and brain imaging, Drugs, The Brain and Behavior offers a unique breadth of coverage from historical accounts of drug use, through clinical and preclinical behavioural studies, to the latest research on drug effects in transgenic mouse models.
Brain Myths Exploded: Lessons from Neuroscience
Indre Viskontas - 2017
To start building a more straightforward, accurate understanding of current breakthroughs in neuroscience, you have to start by shattering popular brain myths.Each of these 24 lectures takes as its focus a single powerful, prevalent brain myth, and uses it as a launch pad from which to explore myriad topics in neuroscience: decision making, memory, dreams, emotions, neuroplasticity, consciousness, mental illness, and much more.Our memory is an accurate, objective record of the past. Our senses reflect the world as it really exists. Our dreams have hidden meanings. We are only using 10% of our total brain power. Modern technology (including social media) is making us less intelligent. Dr. Viskontas doesn't just settle for obliterating these and other myths. Instead, she replaces them with scientific facts gathered from experiments, research, and case studies. The result is an eye-opening adventure into the latest understanding of why the brain works the way it does.Whatever order you enjoy these lectures in, you'll be left with insights that will help you better determine the hard scientific truths behind the breaking news (and myths) of tomorrow.
Hormonal: The Hidden Intelligence of Hormones -- How They Drive Desire, Shape Relationships, Influence Our Choices, and Make Us Wiser
Martie Haselton - 2018
With fresh insight, Martie Haselton explains how the fertility cycle has evolved over millions of years into a fine-tuned signaling system. Among the fascinating findings: During ovulation, women's attractiveness peaks because their "mate search effort" is turned on. Their walking gait, voice, skin condition, and dance moves are more alluring, and they wear more revealing clothes. They also tend to shop more. Being on the Pill affects women's preferences in men, and PMS may have evolved to get rid of boyfriends with unfit sperm. The research is provocative, but Haselton also presents practical advice for women to use their hormonal cycles to their advantage, helping them achieve success in their relationships, careers, and lives. Groundbreaking and counter-intuitive, HORMONAL will empower women everywhere to embrace their biology.
The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers
Daniel L. Schacter - 2001
Schacter explores instances of what we would consider memory failure—absent-mindedness, transience, blocking, misattribution, suggestibility, bias, and persistence—and suggests instead that these miscues are actually indications that memory is functioning as designed. Drawing from vivid scientific research and creative literature, as well as high-profile events in which memory has figured significantly (Bill Clinton's grand jury testimony, for instance), The Seven Sins of Memory provides a more nuanced understanding of how memory and the mind influence each other and shape our lives.
Think Smart: A Neuroscientist's Prescription for Improving Your Brain's Performance
Richard Restak - 2009
In Think Smart, the renowned neuropsychiatrist and bestselling author Dr. Richard Restak details how each of us can improve and tone our body's most powerful organ: the brain. As a renowned expert on the brain, Restak knows that in the last five years there have been exciting new scientific discoveries about the brain and its performance. So he's asked his colleagues-many of them the world's leading brain scientists and researchers-one important question: What can I do to help my brain work more efficiently? Their surprising-and remarkably feasible-answers are at the heart of Think Smart. Restak combines advice culled from cutting-edge research with brain-tuning exercises to show how individuals of any age can make their brain work more effectively. In the same accessible prose that made Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot a New York Times bestseller, Restak presents a wide array of practical recommendations about a variety of topics, including the crucial role sleep plays in boosting creativity, the importance of honing sensory memory, and the neuron- firing benefits of certain foods. In Think Smart, the "wise, witty, and ethical Restak" (says the Smithsonian Institution) offers readers helpful suggestions for fighting neurological decline that will put every reader on the path to building a healthier, more limber brain.
Ross and Wilson Anatomy and Physiology in Health and Illness
Anne Waugh - 2006
The text is written in straightforward language and is complemented by extensive clear, full-colour illustrations. Each chapter provides an explanation of the normal structure and functions of the human body and what occurs when disease or illness disrupts the normal processes.Carefully refined, clear and unambiguous textExcellent layout ensures the text and relevant illustrations are close togetherHighly illustrated with clear line diagrams, mostly in colourText uses regular sequences of headings, lists, and bullet points to help with learning and revisionOmits the unnecessary detail which can confuse the student new to the subjectA glossary of common prefixes, suffixes and roots commonly used in anatomy and physiologyAn Appendix containing useful biological values for easy referenceLearning outcomes related to the sections within each chapterAccompanying Colouring and workbook that facilitates structured learning and revision of the material in this bookAccess to an Evolve companion website offering animations, MCQs, a full image bank, an audio pronunciation guide as well as useful web links.- text revised and updated, including one chapter integrating the musculoskeletal system and a new chapter on genetics to reflect the increasing importance of this topic - new and revised artwork/illustrations - enhanced features on the Evolve website for students: -High quality animations -Multiple-choice questions -Web links to supplementary websites -An audio pronunciation guideand for Lecturers: -Image bank: the complete collection of images from the book.
The Oxford Companion to the Mind
Richard Langton Gregory - 1987
An important feature of the book is the large number of articles on topics of mental life, in which well-known writers discuss subjects in which they have a particular expertise. Noam Chomsky writes on his own theory of language, Idries Shah on Sufism, John Bowlby on attachment theory, B.F. Skinner on behaviorism, Oliver Sacks on nothingness, A.J. Ayer on philosophical views of the relation between mind and body, and R.D. Laing on interpersonal experience. The editor, Richard Gregory, contributes entries on aesthetics, phrenology, physiognomy, and illusions of perception. The Companion includes entries on such everyday events as sleep, humor, forgetting, and hearing, as well as specialized topics such as bilingualism, jet-lag, military incompetence, computer chess, and animal magnetism. What can, and all too often does, go wrong with the mind is also covered--many forms of mental illness are explored, as well as mental handicap, brain damage, and neurological disorders. Perception and the ways in which our senses are often deceived are treated in full, as are elements of personal development and learning, and the puzzling world of parapsychology with its altered states of consciousness, out-of-body experiences, and extra-sensory perception. The workings of the nervous system are explained in a special tutorial article. The text is supplemented by brief definitions of specialist terms and by biographies of major figures who have contributed to our understanding of the mind--individuals as varied as Plato, Johannes Kepler, William James, Sigmund Freud, and Alan Turing. The entries are arranged alphabetically and, following the style of other recent Companions, are linked by a network of helpful cross-references. The 160 illustrations have been carefully chosen to amplify the text, while specialist bibliographies provide suggestions for further reading.
The "God" Part of the Brain: A Scientific Interpretation of Human Spirituality and God
Matthew Alper - 1999
O. Wilson and E. Fuller Torry.Here for the first time is a reasoned, compassionate, spiritual journey into the world of science, where God is not so much an illusion as a hallmark of the very way in which we think."[E]xcellent reading." -Edward O. Wilson, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner
The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience Is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders, and More
Daniel G. Amen - 2020
Though incidence of these conditions is skyrocketing, for the past four decades standard treatment hasn't much changed, and success rates in treating them have barely improved, either. Meanwhile, the stigma of the "mental illness" label--damaging and devastating on its own--can often prevent sufferers from getting the help they need.Brain specialist and bestselling author Dr. Daniel Amen is on the forefront of a new movement within medicine and related disciplines that aims to change all that. In The End of Mental Illness, Dr. Amen draws on the latest findings of neuroscience to challenge an outdated psychiatric paradigm and help readers take control and improve the health of their own brain, minimizing or reversing conditions that may be preventing them from living a full and emotionally healthy life.The End of Mental Illness will help you discover:Why labeling someone as having a "mental illness" is not only inaccurate but harmful.Why standard treatment may not have helped you or a loved one--and why diagnosing and treating you based on your symptoms alone so often misses the true cause of those symptoms and results in poor outcomesAt least 100 simple things you can do yourself to heal your brain and prevent or reverse the problems that are making you feel sad, mad, or badHow to identify your "brain type" and what you can do to optimize your particular typeWhere to find the kind of health provider who understands and uses the new paradigm of brain health