The Brain Book

by Rita Carter

This is an illustrated guide to the structure, functions and disorders of the human brain. The human brain is the body part that makes each of us what we are - unique individuals. Here the latest findings in neuroscience and state-of-the-art imagery combine to provide an incomparable insight into the brain's form and function. Through unique computer-generated 3D images and stunning graphics, you'll explore the brain in unprecedented detail. From its function as the hub of the nervous system to schizophrenia, discover how the brain works and why it malfunctions. Gain insight into such esoteric aspects as behaviour, language and communication and discover the nature of genius. Incisive, clear and authoritative, this is an essential human brain manual for students and healthcare professionals, and is also a comprehensive reference book for the family.

Genres: Science, Neuroscience, Nonfiction, Psychology, Brain, Biology, Reference

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Rita Carter is a science writer, lecturer and broadcaster who specialises in the human brain: what it does, how it does it, and why.

Reviews

[Larry McCleary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of several easily readable, recent books for those who are interested in the look and feel of the brain, how it works, what happens when things go wrong and how the brain can heal itself.

As a brain surgeon, I recommend it because:

a) it combines salient neuroscientific findings about how the brain is formed, develops, how it is configured, how the various components work together and what happens with various diseases; and

b) it has numerous, high-quality illustrations, 3D images, brain scans and teaching graphics to illustrate and enhance the learning experience.

[Toby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. What a book.
I'm not sure what I expected from The Brain Book, but it surpassed any expectations I might have had. What looks on the outside like a fun book about the brain for mid to late teens is actually intensely packed full of very detailed information - particularly anatomy - wonderfully laid out and illustrated. The scope of this book and the quality of the coverage make this an absolute must for someone who wants to learn, in great detail, about how the brain functions. I am attending university this year for Psychology and I am certain that I will be referring back to this book regularly for the brain anatomy and neurology lessons! The book, however, is probably not suited to teens at all unless they have a very specific interest in the brain, since the information is so detailed.

The Brain Book starts with 20 or so pages of MRI scans, showing cross-sections right through the brain to help you build up a real understanding of the internal anatomy and relate later discussions of brain parts (everything from the corpus callosum to the globus pallidus) back to a real brain. The illustration diagrams, again particularly of the anatomy of the brain, are clearer and easier to understand than any I have seen in any of the many psychology textbooks I have looked at.

The book is broken into the following sections, making up the circa 240 large-format pages of the book:
Introduction
The Brain and the Body
Brain Anatomy
The Senses
Movement and Control
Emotions and Feeling
The Social Brain
Language and Communication
Memory
Thinking
Consciousness
The Individual Brain
Development and Aging
Disease and Disorders

All in all this is a truly fantastic book, put together with amazing attention to detail to create something that is almost as much a piece of art as it is an informative resource! The glossy pages, high quality illustrations, and simple to read show once again the DK rule the roost when it comes to publishing the best non-fiction resources around!

[kaitziez · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little outdated but still has useful information other brain books haven't given me. Love the CGI.

[Emily Kolach · Rating 4 out of 5]

i was gifted this sometime around my junior year of high school. it would have been a super useful resource if i had read it earlier. as it stands, a lot of the stuff in the book i have already learned in greater detail at ut. there were a few fun tidbits and lots of pretty pictures though! would definitely recommend for someone who hasn't spent the last 3 years studying neuroscience

[Rick Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Why read this?

Interested in,

0.Visual Layout of the Brain

a. Human Brain
b. Intelligence
c. Senses
d. Emotions
e. Social
d. Language
e. Memory
f. Thinking
g. Consciousness
h. Mental Illness

Professor Geoffrey Hinton Claims, "The Brain is a Neural Network"

I tried to imagine through this work,

What do you think?

2. What parts were fascinating?

For me - the part about Emotions playing a big role.
This work helped me to connect a bit more.

From juxtaposing, theory of emotions and reductionism.

Review of Damasio: Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain by António R. Damásio

I'd say this work is reductionistic view of the Human Brain:

1. Inspecting from Empirical view [use of machines]
2. Look from multiple angles [MRI, CT Scan]

However, I'd like to know more from bottom up-approach,

Perhaps, that's when, we could build intelligence?

Huh, What is Bottom-up approach?

How do I formulate intelligence, consciousness mathematically to build them?

3. Anything, you'd want others to know?

Baseless Claims:

-We do not use 10 percent of our brain
-We do not lose brain cells as age

Recommended to Middle-School, High-School and Everyone.

Deus Vult,
Gottfried

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used this as supplemental reading for my behavioral neuroscience class and it did a wonderful job breaking things down into digestible bits. Excellent visuals and easy to read.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I wish my textbooks had been like: beautifully illustrated, fascinating introductory guide to all things brain. Covers anatomy, function, disorders, and a range of other topics.

[Maya V]

I learned alot from this book, I also had alot of fun reading it

[Yuvaraj kothandaraman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rita Carter’s The Human Brain Book is a visually stunning and ambitious attempt to map the complexities of the brain for a general audience.
The book’s greatest strength is its sheer breadth: it covers everything from basic brain anatomy and neural pathways to emotions, memory, consciousness, and a wide range of neurological and psychiatric disorders.
The illustrations and brain scans are gorgeous and genuinely help demystify some of the most complicated concepts in neuroscience.

The book doesn’t shy away from the weird and wonderful, either - there are fascinating tidbits about mirror neurons, synesthesia, and even the neuroscience of love and humor.

However, the book isn’t without its flaws. Because it tries to cover so much ground, some sections feel a bit rushed or superficial. Readers looking for deep dives into specific topics - like the genetics of mental illness or the mechanics of consciousness may find themselves wanting more detail or nuance. Occasionally, the book’s “encyclopedic” style can make it feel more like a reference manual than a narrative journey, and the sheer amount of information can be overwhelming if you try to read it straight through.

Spoiler:
One of the most memorable (and sobering) sections is the exploration of brain disorders, where Carter doesn’t sugarcoat the realities of conditions like Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, or stroke. The book also highlights just how much about the brain remains a mystery, admitting that even with all our technology, we still don’t fully understand how consciousness arises or why some treatments work for some people and not others.

[Özgür Baltat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beynin yapısı, farklı bölgelerin fonksiyonları, görevleri üzerine bir başvuru kitabı. Beynin anatomisi, duyular, hareket, duygular, dil ve iletişim, ilişkiler, bellek, düşünme, bilinç, gelişim ve hastalıklar açıklamalı görseller ve örneklerle anlatılıyor.

[YITING · Rating 5 out of 5]

這是我之前看到Zen大在臉書上推薦的書籍。就一直標記正在讀吧~

這本書是引進英國DK出版社的百科書，真的是DK出版......品質保證。很值得收藏的大腦百科圖書，圖片真的很精美!雖然現今人類對大腦還有很多謎團沒有解開，但這本書的內容基本上都是已知的事實，內容很客觀；而且對於我這種非相關領域的一般大眾，難度、深度拿捏得剛好，不至於因為過難、看不懂而失去翻閱的趣味性。

如果平常讀到其他的學習方法論、科普相關書籍的話，很適合拿這本百科的圖片對照一下其他書籍提到的腦科學內容，補充其他書籍所缺乏的「精美圖片」，像是我之前讀了《大腦喜歡這樣學》那本書，裡面有講到「記憶」的部分，我拿到書就先翻到「形成記憶的過程」那篇看了。還有「大腦語言區」那篇，看了只會說單一語言的人和會說雙語的人的大腦掃描圖，後者的大腦活化區域真的比較多，看來外語真要好好學啊!而且這本書偶爾拿起來翻閱，讀個2頁也很適合。(因為這本書基本上以2頁為一個小主題，想讀下一個小主題就翻頁繼續再讀就好，所以覺得內容的深度也收得剛好)

[Tiago F · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely book. At times it can get very technical, yet it has many basic introductions to psychology, thus covering a very wide audience and being able to provide value to almost everyone.

It starts with a general introduction, followed by several high-quality brain scans, filling an entire page. It details the ways it can be categorized and its functions. In roughly the first half of the book, it's more about neuroscience and the general function of the brain and nervous system. In the second half, it goes more towards traditional psychology, although often mentioning neural correlates. It touches on the processing of sensory input, movement, emotions, language, memory, mental disorders and much more.

Unfortunately, it doesn't have any meaningful section of cognitive science, and surprisingly, no references at all. The latter being almost unacceptable in a book like this, and I have no idea why its the case. Nevertheless, if you want to learn about the brain, it's surely a great place to start.

[عبدالرحمن عقاب · Rating 3 out of 5]

من أروع الكتب التي تتحدث عن الدماغ و العقل بصورة مميزة من حيث الرسومات التوضيحية والصور.
يغلب التركيز فيه على تحديد وتوضيح مواقع الأعصاب المسئولة عن الوظائف ( مثل الذاكرة و الابصار و التركيز و ....الخ) . وكنت أتمنى أن أجد فيه التركيز والتوضيح لآلية الوظيغة أكثر من تحديد المناطق المسئولة عنها.
حجم الكتاب كبير وثقيل الوزن مما يعيق الاستمتاع بقراءته حملا أو التنقل به . حتى في إيجاد مكان له في المكتبة .
هنالك بعض التناقض لكنه قليل. في المعلومات و أظن السبب يكمن غي كونها دراسات وفرضيات تحت البحث.
ملاحظة أخرى ، الكاتبة تقفز في تتبعها لتاريخ دراسة العقل عن كل سنوات البحث والانتاج العلمي ��لإسلامي والعربي. في تجاهل ملحوظ.
ما زلت أرى أن الكتاب رائع وفريد من نوعه في مجاله

[Metin Tiryaki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bol görselli anotomik ve bilimsel açıklamalı muhteşem bir kaynak. Beyin üzerine her konuya değiniyor. Tamamen renkli ansiklopedik bir anlatıma sahip.

[Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great high-level summary of the basic anatomy and functions of the brain with fantastic illustrations and actual fMRI scans. It is organized as a quick reference and can be speed read, or read carefully, but chapters do not rely upon earlier chapters. I appreciated when the author acknowledged inconclusive or debatable topics. I was particularly impressed with the chapter on consciousness and enjoyed the occasional side note points of interest with references to luminaries like Descartes, Freud and Jung. On several occasions, I would have appreciated footnotes to scholarly articles rather than "Research suggests that . . ." but I understand that research changes so often that this may have been a fool's errand.

[Benjamin Bookman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A ton of well organized, well illustrated material. I actually read it cover to cover, a page at a time. But it loses a full star for the text size - even with reading glasses, it was nearly impossible to see. Publishing a book with text too small to see is a horrible decision.

[Surisaray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great illustrations, easy to read, and quite complete for non science people. Enjoyed.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plenty of content, very complete, informative, useful text

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 4 out of 5]

729 - 2019

[Emrecan Uludag · Rating 3 out of 5]

Çevirisi çok kötü yapılmış. Okurken sinirleriniz bozuluyor. Hatta bazı yerlerde eğer konuyu bilmiyorsanız çeviri hatasından veya okun yanlış konumundan konuyu yanlış öğrenme ihtimaliniz var.

[Micaelly Cabral · Rating 5 out of 5]

Studied this book over the summer to prepare for my neuroscience classes this next semester in college. I thought it to be very informative and easy to understand.

[peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

人的身體很神奇，大腦更是複雜無比。

這本百科非常詳細，排版很用心。大腦的研究、基本構造、功能、疾病等，本書都有詳盡的說明，也依照不同的分類讓讀者在閱讀方面更接續。圖文說明配合的完美，對照很方便！

[Adrienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non-Fiction explanation of the human brain, really nice illustrations, enjoyed browsing through it. Learned some things I did not know before.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not very reliable information, but a fun way to explore interesting things about the brain.

[Bill Bloggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent all round.

[Emi Mann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and gives a lot of very good information.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impressive detail. Very comprehensive. I learned quite a bit. I especially liked the part about language. Wish the font had been larger- some was very small and not easy to read at times.

[American Mensa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Human Brain Book by Rita Carter does a magnificent job of explaining the intricacies surrounding that great big hunk of grey matter that sits in each of our heads. This coffee-table book gives an in-depth look at everything that a person could want to know about the mysterious mass that controls everything about him or her.

The book itself is less of a “read through” book and more of a reference book that one could turn to if they were wondering about a certain facet of the brain; the helpful glossary and index make navigating this book quite easy, and finding what you want to learn about is a breeze.

My favorite part about this book is that it categorizes the complexity of every item in the book by the size of the font that it is in: the larger the font, the more general and easily understood, and the smaller the font, the more technical and intricate the given information is. For instance, on the page for “The principles of memory,” the largest text explains memory in its most basic sense by stating the following: “Memory is a broad term used to refer to a number of different brain functions. The common feature of these functions is the re-creation of past experiences by the synchronous firing of neurons that were involved in the original experience.” The smallest text on the same page, this time in reference to cortical areas is the following: “Episodic memories activate the areas originally involved in the experience that is being recalled.” This is a great example of the difference in the technicality of a statement based upon its font size.

I feel that this book is really meant for people that have at least finished the middle school and I would not recommend any younger than that, as some of the book gets quite confusing for someone who has no idea what they are looking for.

The reference book style that The Human Brain Book is in makes it a wonderful source for anyone looking for answers to the questions that he or she has about the most important thing that each and everyone of us has: our brain. Overall I would rate this book a 4/5; I feel that it is quite an astounding book and it fulfills its promise of being “An illustrated guide to [the brain’s] structure, function, and disorders,” but at the same time, it is a bit overwhelming at points.

Review by Young Mensan Adam W., age 16, Greater Los Angeles Area Mensa

[Efren Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough approach to the Nervous System. I work as an Applications Specialist in the field of Deep Brain Stimulation. I work with Neurosurgeons in the operating, teach neurologists about programming, and provide clinical support to patients. Hence, I wanted a strong understanding of the brain; functionally and anatomically.
I needed to understand pee-sized nuclei, located deep in the brain, within the basal ganglia, thalamus, cerebellum, and midbrain. Additionally, the critical white matter tracts that are located all over the brain. The book also provided a great systemic basis for understanding pain; spinal cord tracts, cingulate cortex, etc. Additionally, a fruitful, integrated section on coordinated movement and the cerebellum.
The images in the book are gorgeous. The author provides beautiful MR images with anatomical descriptions in addition to the beautifully produced 3D illustrations.
This book is quite thorough, although, not extensive enough to be considered a textbook. It’s a bit too approachable for that status. Nonetheless, it provides a complete understanding of the brain and its clinical attributes. The author even provides a historical timeline of the brain as it relates to Neurology and Neurosurgery.
The book lays a strong, modern foundation for Neuroscience. It provides a great starting point to virtually any topic in Neuroscience; cognition, mood, depression, embryology, visual pathways, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson's disease, etc.