Understanding the Brain, John E. Dowling
Understanding the Brain, John E. Dowling
5 Rating(s)
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Understanding the Brain
From Cells to Behavior to Cognition

Author: John E. Dowling

Narrator: Mike Chamberlain

Unabridged: 8 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/18/2018


Synopsis

An examination of what makes us human and unique among all creatures—our brains

No listener curious about our "little gray cells" will want to pass up Harvard neuroscientist John E. Dowling's brief introduction to the brain. In this up-to-date revision of his 1998 book Creating Mind, Dowling conveys the essence and vitality of the field of neuroscience—examining the progress we've made in understanding how brains work, and shedding light on discoveries having to do with aging, mental illness, and brain health. The first half of the book provides the nuts-and-bolts necessary for an up-to-date understanding of the brain. Covering the general organization of the brain, early chapters explain how cells communicate with one another to enable us to experience the world. The rest of the book touches on higher-level concepts such as vision, perception, language, memory, emotion, and consciousness. Lucidly written, this introduction elegantly reveals the beauty of the organ that makes us uniquely human.

About John E. Dowling

John E. Dowling is professor emeritus at Harvard University, and has done extensive research into the neurobiology of vision. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Tiago

I wanted to learn more about the brain and have a better foundation for neuroscience. This book was originally published in 1998, but it has been recently updated. I liked the progression of starting the most basic and the smallest unit that neuroscience deals with and then progressing in complexity.......more

Goodreads review by Tom

A fascinating book and worthy successor to his earlier book on the brain. This is quite different from his earlier book. Fortunately, he does not cover the same ground. Full of fascinating tidbits such as how visual inputs (things we see) first come to the brain area called V1 and how, simultaneously,......more

Goodreads review by Scott

Excellent beginning or foundational knowledge of the brain and how it influences the mind. The first 2/3rds of the book is a bit academic in nature describing the what cells the brain is made of and how it organizes itself as those cells excite and inhibit. I don't recall ever taking a class on cell......more

Goodreads review by Luca

Somewhat hard to follow and understand, and a lot of academic terms are not easy to grasp if you’re not into the field. The book starts from the basics: cells, and progresses in a linear way to behaviour and cognition, expanding and explaining how and why we (humans) behave in a given way in given c......more