In this technology-driven age, it's tempting to believe that science can solve every mystery. After all, it's cured countless diseases and sent humans into space. But as Jonah Lehrer explains, science is not the only path to knowledge. In fact, when it comes to understanding the brain, art got there first. Taking a group of artists-a painter, a poet, a chef, a composer, and a handful of novelists-Lehrer shows how each one discovered an essential truth...

"Is science ever enough to explain why we feel the way we feel? In this engaging account, renowned neuroscientist Giovanni Frazzetto blends cutting-edge scientific research with personal stories to reveal how our brains generate our emotions. He demonstrates that while modern science has expanded our knowledge, investigating art, literature, and philosophy is equally crucial to unraveling the brain's secrets. What can a brain scan, or our reaction...

"A neurologist regales readers with extraordinary stories of the brain under siege. Our brains are the most complex machines known to humankind, but they have an Achilles heel: The very molecules that allow us to exist can also sabotage our minds. Here are true accounts of unruly molecules and the diseases that form in their wake, from total loss of inhibitions to florid psychosis to compulsive lying. Cognitive neurologist Sara Manning Peskin demystifies...

Examines the history of behavioral economics, discussing the theory of Israeli psychologists who wrote the original studies undoing assumptions about the decision-making process and the influence it has had on evidence-based regulation. Forty years ago, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky wrote a series of breathtakingly original studies undoing our assumptions about the decision-making process. Their papers showed the ways in...

Early studies of the functions of the human brain used a simple method: wait for misfortune to strike--strokes, seizures, infectious diseases, lobotomies, horrendous accidents--and see how the victim coped. In many cases survival was miraculous, and observers could only marvel at the transformations that took place afterward, altering victims' personalities. An injury to one section can leave a person unable to recognize loved ones; some brain trauma...

"To a 21st century human, the brain is the seat of all our powers. But the hyperbolic way we talk about the brain is more informed by a mystical conception of what the soul is than by scientific fact. From the confines of ancient philosophy to the dualityinherent to Christianity, from the mysterious depths of psychoanalysis to today's tendency to compare the brain to a computer, our belief in a mind distinct from the body has tainted the way we think...

One of the world's most innovative and respected cognitive neuroscientists combines the latest scientific discoveries with unique tests and exercises to improve readers' brainpower for life.

Every issue of Scientific American and Scientific American Mind has breaking news about how the brain works-and how it can stay healthy longer. Neurologists and psychologists are finding the brain at midlife-from 40 to 65 and even beyond-is much more elastic and more supple than anyone ever realized. Far from disintegrating, healthy maturing brains fade quite slowly- and even in old age, continue to make new connections and bring new cognitive systems...

Have you ever wondered why you have a brain? Let renowned neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett demystify that big gray blob between your ears. In seven short essays (plus a bite-sized story about how brains evolved), this slim, entertaining, and accessible collection reveals mind-expanding lessons from the front lines of neuroscience research. You’ll learn where brains came from, how they’re structured (and why it matters), and how yours works...