The human brain remains the last great unconquered frontier of science. Somehow, that almost featureless mass of grey sludge locked inside our skulls creates a whole inner world populated by emotions, memories, ideas, desires. Everything we see, touch, hear and feel - the illusion of reality - is conjured up by this inscrutable organ.
For centuries, scientists have probed and analysed the brain's every lobe and crevice, searching for clues that might shed the faintest glimmer of light on its mysterious workings - but to no avail. Now, however, the brain has slowly begun to yield its secrets. Incredible advances in scanning technology that show the human brain working at full tilt are dispelling once and for all the notion that the brain works like a well-organised machine, with "centres" for emotion, reason, language or memory.
In this highly readable and often mind-boggling tour through the brain's workings, Susan Greenfield brings the reader right up to date on the latest theories and controversies of neuroscience. Drawing together many different strands of research - from studies of the bizarre and disturbing effects of brain injuries to attempts to model the brain in silicon - she tackles head-on the questions that have baffled philosophers and scientists since antiquity. Where are memories stored? Are our brains a product of nature or nurture? Will we ever build thinking robots? And are free will and consciousness nothing more than illusions produced by the subconscious mind?
The picture that emerges is one of an incredibly complex and dynamic organ, full of astonishing surprises. Illustrated with the latest brain-scanning images that are revolutionising neuroscience, this book - which accompanies the BBC television series 'Brain Story' - gives a fascinating new insight into just what makes us tick.
