V.S. Ramachandran has exploded the boundaries of modern science - so much so that he has been praised by Richard Dawkins as a latter-day Marco Polo. A specialist in brain damage, he is famous for an instinctive, intuitive approach to neurological disorders that has led him to successfully 'amputate' phantom limbs, as well as solving the riddles of apotemnophilia (an obsession with self-amputation), and Capgrass syndrome (where patients who are in all other respects fully recovered become convinced that their loved ones are imposters). This new book will explore why the human brain is so unique and how it became so enchantingly complex. Taking us to the frontiers of neurology, he reveals what baffling and extreme case studies can teach us about the brain and how it evolved. Along the way we hear stories that are by turns moving, funny, tragic and disturbing, but always utterly fascinating.
| ISBN | 0434020230 | | Pages | 384 | | ISBN13 | 9780434020232
(What's this?) | | Weight (grammes) | 633 | | Publisher | Cornerstone | | Published in | London | | Imprint | William Heinemann Ltd | | Height (mm) | 240 | | Format | Hardback | | Width (mm) | 162 | | Publication date | 06 Jan 2011 | | Spine width (mm) | 35 | | DEWEY | 612.8 | | Academic level | General | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | |
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Ramachandran is the modern wizard of neuroscience. In The Tell-Tale Brain, we see the genius at work, tackling extraordinary cases, many of which mark turning points in neuroscientific knowledge. We see him hypothesizing, experimenting, failing, having epiphanies, experimenting, succeeding. In this utterly entertaining account, we see how these fascinating cases fit together, and how he uses them to explain, from a Darwinian point of view, how our brains, though evolved from those of other animals, become neurologically distinct and fundamentally human.--Norman Doidge, M.D., author of "The Brain That Changes Itself"
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