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Modern Discoveries in Neuroscience... And What They Reveal About You (Collection)
- By Dale Purves, Miriam Boleyn-Fitzgerald, Andrew Koob
- Published Feb 20, 2012 by FT Press.
EPUB (Watermarked)
- Sorry, this book is no longer in print.
Description
- Copyright 2010
- Edition: 1st
- EPUB (Watermarked)
- ISBN-10: 0-13-303968-4
- ISBN-13: 978-0-13-303968-9
3 remarkable books reveal what neuroscientists have just learned about your brain — and you!
Neuroscientists have made absolutely stunning discoveries about the brain: discoveries that are intimately linked to everything from your health and happiness to the age-old debate on free will. In these three extraordinary books, leading scientists and science journalists illuminate these discoveries, helping you understand what they may mean — and what may come next. In Brains: How They Seem to Work, Dale Purves reviews the current state of neuroscientific research, previewing a coming paradigm shift that may transform the way scientists think about brains yet again. Building on new research on visual perception, he shows why common ideas about brain networks can’t be right, uncovers the factors that determine our subjective experience, sheds new light on the so-called “ghost in the machine,” and points towards a far deeper understanding of what it means to be human. Next, in Pictures of the Mind, Miriam Boleyn-Fitzgerald uses images from the latest fMRI and PET scanners to illuminate science’s new understanding of the brain as amazingly flexible, resilient, and plastic. Through masterfully written narrative and stunning imagery, you'll watch human brains healing, growing, and adapting… gain powerful new insights into the interplay between environment and genetics… begin understanding how people can influence their own intellectual abilities and emotional makeup… and join scientists in tantalizing discoveries about everything from coma to PTSD and Alzheimer’s. Finally, in The Root of Thought, Andrew Koob shows why glial cells — once thought to be merely “brain glue” — may actually hold the key to understanding intelligence, treating psychiatric disorders and brain injuries, and perhaps even curing Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. You'll learn how these crucial cells grow and develop... why almost all brain tumors are comprised of them… and even their apparent role in your every thought and dream!
From world-renowned scientists and science journalists, including Dale Purves, Miriam Boleyn-Fitzgerald, and Andrew Koob
Sample Content
Table of Contents
Brains: How They Seem to Work
Preface vii
Chapter 1 Neuroscience circa 1960 1
Chapter 2 Neurobiology at Harvard 17
Chapter 3 Biophysics at University College 37
Chapter 4 Nerve cells versus brain systems 51
Chapter 5 Neural development 69
Chapter 6 Exploring brain systems 87
Chapter 7 The visual system: Hubel and Wiesel redux 105
Chapter 8 Visual perception 123
Chapter 9 Perceiving color 143
Chapter 10 Theorganization of perceptual qualities 161
Chapter 11 Perceiving geometry 179
Chapter 12 Perceiving motion 201
Chapter 13 How brains seem to work 219
Suggested reading 235
Glossary 241
Illustration credits 275
Acknowledgments 281
About the author 283
Index 285
Pictures of the Mind: What the New Neuroscience Tells Us About Who We Are
Introduction ix
Part I: Snapshots
Chapter 1: Life, Death, and the Middle Ground 3
Chapter 2: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Powerful Emotions and Our Power to Work with Them 21
Chapter 3: Happiness on the Brain 37
Chapter 4: Cooling the Flame: Pictures of Addiction, Chronic Pain, and Recovery 53
Part II: Landscape
Chapter 5: Where Does Morality Live, and When Is It Home? 69
Chapter 6: The Making and Breaking of Memories 89
Chapter 7: Where Am "I"? Experiences of Self, Other, and Neither 109
Resources 141
Notes 145
Acknowledgments 163
About the Author 165
Index 167
The Root of Thought: Unlocking Glia—the Brain Cell That Will Help Us Sharpen Our Wits, Heal Injury, and Treat Brain Disease
Chapter 1: Cities and Highways 1
Chapter 2: Dust Settles on the Battlefield 5
Chapter 3: I Sing the Body Electric 15
Chapter 4: Meet the Astrocyte 29
Chapter 5: Riding the Calcium Wave 41
Chapter 6: Hey Neuron, It’s Me, Glia 55
Chapter 7: Developing Relationships 65
Chapter 8: The Time Machine 77
Chapter 9: Sing a New Song 89
Chapter 10: Albert Einstein’s Abundant Astrocytes 99
Chapter 11: I Dream of Glia 111
Chapter 12: Gliadegenerative Disease 121
Chapter 13: Don’t Insult Me 133
Chapter 14: The Seething Breeding Glioma 145
Chapter 15: Cities and Highways Revisited 155
Acknowledgments 159
About the Author 161
Index 163