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The Biological Mind
Book

The Biological Mind

How Brain, Body, and Environment Collaborate to Make Us Who We Are

Basic Books, 2018 más...


Editorial Rating

10

Qualities

  • Scientific
  • Eye Opening
  • Insider's Take

Recommendation

During the 1990s and early 2000s, popular media disseminated articles about brain science, often with brightly colored, sparkling, mystical illustrations of the brain. These articles seemed to intimate that the brain, with illumination from some internal iridescent glow, was magical, and somehow different from the rest of the human body. The impression: The brain is “what makes you, you.” MIT professor Alan Jasanoff takes brains off any mystical pedestals and presents them for what they really are – gelatinous organs steeped in “biological processes” and subject to environmental influences.

Take-Aways

  • The brain is a biologically-based organ, but “the cerebral mystique” elevates it as the mythical source of human behavior and personality. 
  • Most spiritual traditions subscribe to a mind-body dualism that distinguishes between the body and the mind, spirit or soul.
  • Brain imaging findings tend to strengthen a person’s existing notions of the brain, mind or soul.

About the Author

Alan Jasanoff is professor of biological engineering, brain and cognitive sciences, and nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also the director of the Center for Neurobiological Engineering and an associate investigator at the McGovern Institute.


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