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The Idea of the Brain: The Past and Future of Neuroscience
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About This Book
A powerful examination of what we think we know about the brain and why -- despite technological advances -- the workings of our most essential organ remain a mystery. For thousands of years, thinkers and scientists have tried to understand what the brain does. Yet, despite the astonishing discoveries of science, we still have only the vaguest idea of how the brain works. In The Idea of the Brain, scientist and historian Matthew Cobb traces how our conception of the brain has evolved over the centuries. Although it might seem to be a story of ever-increasing knowledge of biology, Cobb shows how our ideas about the brain have been shaped by each era's most significant technologies. Today we might think the brain is like a supercomputer. In the past, it has been compared to a telegraph, a telephone exchange, or some kind of hydraulic system. What will we think the brain is like tomorrow, when new technology arises? The result is an essential read for anyone interested in the complex processes that drive science and the forces that have shaped our marvelous brains.
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Reviews
"It is cleverly linked to the history, though, making us painfully aware of how what we think now depends on our inherited beliefs, and how future scientists will look back on our times with the same horrified wonder we have when we read about Gall and Aldini ..."
"This ambitious intellectual history follows the changing understanding of the brain from antiquity to the present, mainly in Western thought ..."
"Having given us a first-rate history, Cobb can't tell us what lies ahead ..."
"Our ignorance, as all who labor in science know, is not a defeat but a challenge."
"Although scientists still struggle to understand the brain, they know a great deal about it; Cobb, a professor of biological sciences, delivers an excellent overview ..."
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