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The Human Brain: Its Capacities and Functions
Thoroughly updated just before his death, Asimov gives a lucid and insightful account of the human brain, its capacities and functions. He not only breaks down the most complex of functions into easy-to-understand terms, but he also expounds on the vast potential of the untapped powers of the brain. 40 line drawings.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
23 people are currently reading
530 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,337 books27.7k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
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August 3, 2011This is so much more than just a book about how our brain works. Asimov is a maximalist (it comes with Russian heritage) and is obsessive about leaving no corner of the brain's influence unexamined. The body is a useless set of potentials, of magnificent self-regulating processes and structural ingenuity, without that grey, reticulated governor crowning the spinal cord. So, in order to properly treat the brain's own structure, chemistry and function, Asimov feels it is necessary to explain everything downstream of it. What we have here is a book that could easily have been titled "The Human Body" - except that Asimov did write one with that title, intended as this book's companion.
The journey here begins in the hormones and bearing all that serious chemistry in mind, the reader is taken through the glands and the nervous system, up the spinal cord and into the area of the brain - the cerebrum. This is slightly more than halfway through the book. Brain function is saved for last, after a thorough visit with each of the senses.
Asimov brings all of his omnivorous expertise to bear. His professional training as a chemist allows him to paint a very clear picture of how the nervous system physically transmits impulses by means of the chemistry on either side of cell walls along the path of a nerve. (the "Kazakh National Anthem" at the end of the film "Borat" will elicit a smile with the lyrics about potassium, after you know potassium's critical role in sending nerve impulses!) We are treated throughout the book to the etymology of each important word; given ample comparative studies of same-sense function and capacity in other animals; evolutionary history; plant biology, and ultimately, a fine essay that summarizes the rise and scope of the social sciences that inevitably occurred once we began to grasp (and interfere with) some of the more mysterious portions of the brain, the pre-frontal part that separates us from lesser brain-equipped life.
This book is is a masterpiece by a twentieth-century genius, and something only a broadly educated non-specialist could have written. It is not light reading; but if you bring strong interest to this topic and a layman's understanding of chemistry, genetics, anatomy and biology, Asimov will build you a vivid picture of brain and body function, and of just how impressive (and chemically-dependent and fragile) is the scope of the multiprocessing it regulates. Imagine a juggler with 20 balls, only they are not balls upon closer examination, they are each small jugglers juggling 20 other juggling jugglers. If you can picture this, you have some appreciation for the capacity of our brain.
The journey here begins in the hormones and bearing all that serious chemistry in mind, the reader is taken through the glands and the nervous system, up the spinal cord and into the area of the brain - the cerebrum. This is slightly more than halfway through the book. Brain function is saved for last, after a thorough visit with each of the senses.
Asimov brings all of his omnivorous expertise to bear. His professional training as a chemist allows him to paint a very clear picture of how the nervous system physically transmits impulses by means of the chemistry on either side of cell walls along the path of a nerve. (the "Kazakh National Anthem" at the end of the film "Borat" will elicit a smile with the lyrics about potassium, after you know potassium's critical role in sending nerve impulses!) We are treated throughout the book to the etymology of each important word; given ample comparative studies of same-sense function and capacity in other animals; evolutionary history; plant biology, and ultimately, a fine essay that summarizes the rise and scope of the social sciences that inevitably occurred once we began to grasp (and interfere with) some of the more mysterious portions of the brain, the pre-frontal part that separates us from lesser brain-equipped life.
This book is is a masterpiece by a twentieth-century genius, and something only a broadly educated non-specialist could have written. It is not light reading; but if you bring strong interest to this topic and a layman's understanding of chemistry, genetics, anatomy and biology, Asimov will build you a vivid picture of brain and body function, and of just how impressive (and chemically-dependent and fragile) is the scope of the multiprocessing it regulates. Imagine a juggler with 20 balls, only they are not balls upon closer examination, they are each small jugglers juggling 20 other juggling jugglers. If you can picture this, you have some appreciation for the capacity of our brain.
December 8, 2024
its not his fault you would lose knowledge reading this book because it's so outdated, it is his fault that it is not a book about the brain until the very end
June 10, 2012
Good introductory test for those interested in the physico-electrobiochemistry of how Earth organisms operate, with the focus on us humans; occasionally it touches on the comparison between us and other organisms. For example: how much more intellectually conceptual and abstract are we humans than organisms close to us? -- such as cetaceans, other primates, dogs and longer-memoried mammals (e.g., elephants); are chimpanzees and Bonobos just mentally playing out solutions to rather simple (much less complex and complicated) problems of survival before implementing them?
June 5, 2025
Moltochiaroedinteressante,alemnoperunononespertissimoinmateriacomeme.Iltitoloèunpo'fuorvianteinquantoiltestoparladell'insiemedeimeccanismidicontrollodelcorpoumano.Chesidividonoinunaparteelettro-chimica,cervelloesistemanervoso,edunapartetotalmentechimica,ovveroglienzimi.
February 20, 2023
Dense, and a little dated, but the content is very interesting.
December 11, 2023
It's certainly a outdated book (since it's from 1960), but a very informative one, especially for those who are not familiar with the subject. Totally recommend
April 17, 2017
Brain is the most important part of our body. And it's necessary understand how and why it work in this way. Despite of complexity processes, this book can help to learn main points how brain develop and how it works now.
Some expression:
Intelligence of group – it is intelligent of the weakest person splat amount of person in the group.
We live now, because we were the weakest species between different anthropoid species and our ancestors fought for everything, for every piece of food or sip of water even then it wasn’t necessary. They created storages just in case.
Some expression:
Intelligence of group – it is intelligent of the weakest person splat amount of person in the group.
We live now, because we were the weakest species between different anthropoid species and our ancestors fought for everything, for every piece of food or sip of water even then it wasn’t necessary. They created storages just in case.
July 3, 2016
Хотите, чтобы было просто и понятно про системы регуляции организма - нервную, эндокринную и т.п.? Тогда больше ничего искать не нужно - эта книга перед вами. Единственно, что некоторые факты на время написания книги еще не были известны, кое какие теоретические воззрения признаны ошибочными - ну так что с того? Базовые понятия объясняются автором настолько доступно, что искупают некоторую потертость временем.
August 14, 2014
Написана 50 лет назад и многие взгляды устарели. Однако, в целом правильно и полезно. Книги выстроена от простого и тривиального к сложному и интересному. В первой половине я засыпал, во второй - вспоминал курсы анатомии и физиологии центральной нервной системы. Очень круто описаны строения органов зрения и слуха. Прям восторг! 4,5 из 5.
February 23, 2021
This was a very good overview of multiple biological concepts, even if the science is slightly outdated. Asimov's penchant for referring to every term's etymological roots might be this book's most valuable contribution.
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January 2, 2008brains is crazy, y'all.
April 14, 2014
Больше порадовали выводы не об, собственно, мозге, а о куче веществ, которые потребляет и генерирует наше тело.
June 11, 2018
This book is good but very outdated.
September 17, 2017
Lettura semplice nonostante la complessità degli argomenti trattati, non aspettatevi di leggere molto sul cervello come organo in sé, probabilmente al tempo in cui scriveva Asimov le conoscenze sul suo funzionamento erano limitate.. il libro rimane comunque un ottimo trampolino di lancio verso le neuroscienze e verso molti dei dilemmi etici che lo studio approfondito dell'uomo può suscitare. Lettura consigliata a chi non ha mai frequentato un corso di anatomia, il quale suppongo potrebbe trovare la lettura tutt'altro che noiosa e/o anacronistica.
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