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Phantoms in the Brain cover art

Phantoms in the Brain

By: Sandra Blakeslee, V. S. Ramachandran
Narrated by: Neil Shah
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Summary

Neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran is internationally renowned for uncovering answers to the deep and quirky questions of human nature that few scientists have dared to address. His bold insights about the brain are matched only by the stunning simplicity of his experiments - using such low-tech tools such as cotton swabs, glasses of water, and dime-store mirrors.

In Phantoms in the Brain, Dr. Ramachandran recounts how his work with patients who have bizarre neurological disorders has shed new light on the deep architecture of the brain, and what these findings tell us about who we are, how we construct our body image, why we laugh or become depressed, why we may believe in God, and how we make decisions, deceive ourselves, and dream.

Some of his most notable cases: A woman paralyzed on the left side of her body who believes she is lifting a tray of drinks with both hands offers a unique opportunity to test Freud's theory of denial. A man who insists he is talking with God challenges us to ask: Could we be "wired" for religious experience? A woman who hallucinates cartoon characters illustrates how, in a sense, we are all hallucinating, all the time.

Dr. Ramachandran's inspired medical detective work pushes the boundaries of medicine's last great frontier-the human mind-yielding new and provocative insights into the "big questions" about consciousness and the self.

©1998 V.S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Enthralling . . . eloquent." ( The New York Times Book Review)

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next best thing to Oliver Sacks

Someone on goodreads called this book 'best popular neuroscience book written by someone not named Oliver Sacks' (paraphrasing).
I might be inclined to agree.

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Redefining self

This book weaves between the practical and theoretical seamlessly. The book reaches an emphatic crescendo with the final chapter which beautifully ties the previous together with deep considerations of self.

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Insightful!

The narration is great. found it more natural sounding @1.2x. Seems it may have been slowed down.

Really liked the part about Multiple Personality Disorder / Disassociative Disorder being under studied.

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This was a great book

This was great for an recovering alcoholic like my self. it's giving me the drive to keep seeking into neuroscience

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Excellent

This book is excellent in it's presentation of the subject. And as a bonus it's funny too in parts. Loved it :)

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5 Stars

loved it! explains so many things in a different perspective. would like to read your further works.

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amazing book

this book discovered so many mistic behaviours of human beings and stunning ways of how our brain functuons

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