The Biological Mind: How Brain, Body, and Environment Collaborate to Make Us Who We Are (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780465052684)

A pioneering neuroscientist argues that we are more than our brains

To many, the brain is the seat of personal identity and autonomy. But the way we talk about the brain is often rooted more in mystical conceptions of the soul than in scientific fact. This blinds us to the physical realities of mental function. We ignore bodily influences on our psychology, from chemicals in the blood to bacteria in the gut, and overlook the ways that the environment affects our behavior, via factors varying from subconscious sights and sounds to the weather. As a result, we alternately overestimate our capacity for free will or equate brains to inorganic machines like computers. But a brain is neither a soul nor an electrical network: it is a bodily organ, and it cannot be separated from its surroundings. Our selves aren't just inside our heads -- they're spread throughout our bodies and beyond. Only once we come to terms with this can we grasp the true nature of our humanity.

Author: Alan Jasanoff
ISBN-10: 0465052681
ISBN-13: 9780465052684
Publisher: Basic Books
Language: English
Published: 03/13/2018
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.00w x 1.30d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 02/01/2018
Library Journal 03/01/2018 pg. 98
Choice 08/01/2018