The Man Who Wasn't There: Investigations into the Strange New

The Man Who Wasn't There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self

*Nominated for the 2016 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award*
*An NBC News Notable Science Book of 2015*
*Named one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2015*
*A Book of the Month for Brain HQ/Posit Science*
*Selected by Forbes as a Must Read Brain Book of 2015*
*On Life Changes Networkâ€™s list of the Top 10 Books That Could Change Your Life of 2015*

In the tradition of Oliver Sacks, a tour of the latest neuroscience of schizophrenia, autism, Alzheimerâ€™s disease, ecstatic epilepsy, Cotardâ€™s syndrome, out-of-body experiences, and other disordersâ€”revealing the awesome power of the human sense of self from a master of science journalism.

Anil Ananthaswamyâ€™s extensive in-depth interviews venture into the lives of individuals who offer perspectives that will change how you think about who you are. These individuals all lost some part of what we think of as our self, but they then offer remarkable, sometimes heart-wrenching insights into what remains. One man cut off his own leg. Another became one with the universe.

We are learning about the self at a level of detail that Descartes (â€œI think therefore I amâ€) could never have imagined. Recent research into Alzheimerâ€™s illuminates how memory creates your narrative self by using the same part of your brain for your past as for your future. But wait, those afflicted with Cotardâ€™s syndrome think they are already dead; in a way, they believe that â€œI think therefore I am not.â€ Whoâ€”or whatâ€”can say that? Neuroscience has identified specific regions of the brain that, when they misfire, can cause the self to move back and forth between the body and a doppelgÃ¤nger, or to leave the body entirely. So where in the brain, or mind, or body, is the self actually located? As Ananthaswamy elegantly reports, neuroscientists themselves now see that the elusive sense of self is both everywhere and nowhere in the human brain.

Country	USA
Author	Anil Ananthaswamy
Binding	Hardcover
EAN	9780525954194
Edition	1st
ISBN	0525954198
Label	Dutton
Manufacturer	Dutton
NumberOfItems	1
NumberOfPages	320
PublicationDate	2015-08-04
Publisher	Dutton
ReleaseDate	2015-08-04
Studio	Dutton

The Man Who Wasn't There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self

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