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Inside the Brain
Remarkable for both its wealth of information and its compelling presentation, this book by two accomplished neuroscientists lets us share the stunning achievements and irresistible excitement of those who have accepted the ultimate challenge to the human mind to probe itself.
Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 1980
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About the author
William H. Calvin
36 books36 followersWilliam H. Calvin, Ph.D., is a theoretical neurobiologist, Affiliate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is the author of a dozen books, mostly for general readers, about brains and evolution.
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August 22, 2024A POPULARLY-WRITTEN SURVEY OF THE BRAIN (CIRCA 1980)
William H. Calvin (born 1939) is a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, and a well-known popularizer of neuroscience and evolutionary biology [e.g., 'Conversations With Neil's Brain: The Neural Nature Of Thought And Language,' 'Lingua ex Machina: Reconciling Darwin and Chomsky with the Human Brain']; George Ojemann was on the faculty of Neurological Surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
The authors state in the Preface to this 1980 book, "This book, however, is not a textbook for such a course.... What this book seeks to accomplish is to convey the sense of adventure felt by those engaging in exploring the brain, to show how human intelligence arises out of the varied specializations of the brain, and to demonstrate that these specialized regions are composed of millions of individual neurons whose electrical and chemical properties can be analyzed and understood by neuroscientists."
Here are some representative quotations from the book:
"(T)he brain itself is insensitive to pain or touch; it is not equipped with the skin's type of transducer nerve cells, which specialize in sensing touch."
"New neurons don't grow. Wounded neurons, however, return to duty... Indeed, with recovery after damage to language areas, there is now evidence that neurons on the other side of the brain have acquired such a secondary language function."
"If such REM deprivation is kept up night after night, the subject's daytime performance will deteriorate much more than if the awakening had occurred in deep sleep. But why we need REM sleep, with its dreaming, is unknown."
"Although the mechanisms in the brain underlying emotion are still not entirely clear, some features are known. The areas of brain where damage alters emotional responsiveness seem to be the same brain sites concerned with visceral function... There is indeed a relation between emotion and 'butterflies in the stomach.'"
William H. Calvin (born 1939) is a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, and a well-known popularizer of neuroscience and evolutionary biology [e.g., 'Conversations With Neil's Brain: The Neural Nature Of Thought And Language,' 'Lingua ex Machina: Reconciling Darwin and Chomsky with the Human Brain']; George Ojemann was on the faculty of Neurological Surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
The authors state in the Preface to this 1980 book, "This book, however, is not a textbook for such a course.... What this book seeks to accomplish is to convey the sense of adventure felt by those engaging in exploring the brain, to show how human intelligence arises out of the varied specializations of the brain, and to demonstrate that these specialized regions are composed of millions of individual neurons whose electrical and chemical properties can be analyzed and understood by neuroscientists."
Here are some representative quotations from the book:
"(T)he brain itself is insensitive to pain or touch; it is not equipped with the skin's type of transducer nerve cells, which specialize in sensing touch."
"New neurons don't grow. Wounded neurons, however, return to duty... Indeed, with recovery after damage to language areas, there is now evidence that neurons on the other side of the brain have acquired such a secondary language function."
"If such REM deprivation is kept up night after night, the subject's daytime performance will deteriorate much more than if the awakening had occurred in deep sleep. But why we need REM sleep, with its dreaming, is unknown."
"Although the mechanisms in the brain underlying emotion are still not entirely clear, some features are known. The areas of brain where damage alters emotional responsiveness seem to be the same brain sites concerned with visceral function... There is indeed a relation between emotion and 'butterflies in the stomach.'"
July 1, 2014
A doctor friend gave me this book to help me with some research I was doing for a novel. It's written with the layman in mind, but I still found it a bit of a slog at times.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews