Product Description

Today a brain scan reveals our thoughts, moods, and memories as clearly as an X-ray reveals our bones. We can actually observe a person's brain registering a joke or experiencing a painful memory. Drawing on the latest imaging technology and the expertise of distinguished scientists, Rita Carter explores the geography of the human brain. Her writing is clear, accessible, witty, and the book's 150 illustrations--most in color--present an illustrated guide to that wondrous, coconut-sized, wrinkled gray mass we carry inside our heads.
Mapping the Mind charts the way human behavior and culture have been molded by the landscape of the brain. Carter shows how our personalities reflect the biological mechanisms underlying thought and emotion and how behavioral eccentricities may be traced to abnormalities in an individual brain. Obsessions and compulsions seem to be caused by a stuck neural switch in a region that monitors the environment for danger. Addictions stem from dysfunction in the brain's reward system. Even the sense of religious experience has been linked to activity in a certain brain region. The differences between men and women's brains, the question of a "gay brain," and conditions such as dyslexia, autism, and mania are also explored.
Looking inside the brain, writes Carter, we see that actions follow from our perceptions, which are due to brain activity dictated by a neuronal structure formed from the interplay between our genes and the environment. Without sidestepping the question of free will, Carter suggests that future generations will use our increasing knowledge of the brain to "enhance those mental qualities that give sweetness and meaning to our lives, and to eradicate those that are destructive."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80450 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From Amazon.com
In the last decades of the 20th century, scientists have come to believe that the human brain is almost completely modular. Every bit of the brain does something in particular, and surprisingly specific abilities, memories, and responses are in localized areas. Journalist Rita Carter has drawn a map of what is known (and speculated) about the mind in a heavily illustrated field guide to the human brain.

Carter and her scientific editor, neuropsychologist Christopher Frith, cover the state of the mind in a reasonably accurate, accessible way. They emphasize topics that are likely to be of some practical interest--such as Alzheimer's or attention deficit disorder--but not so much as to give a distorted picture of the field.

Perhaps the most interesting parts of the book are the sidebars written by a variety of leading names in mind-brain science. Roger Penrose writes on computer minds, Francis Crick on consciousness, Steven Rose on memory, John Maynard Smith on social evolution, William Calvin on mosaic minds, Kay Redfield Jamison on creativity and bipolar disorders, and more. It's a stellar assortment, more than worth the price of admission--and there's a map of the mind on the cover, in case you misplace yours. --Mary Ellen Curtin

From Publishers Weekly
Carter, a distinguished English medical journalist, has written a handsome and very accessible book designed to introduce laypeople to contemporary neurochemistry, neurobiology and brain research. Carter shows how this research has traced emotions, impressions, thoughts and behaviors?from tasting a sprig of thyme to solving a math problem to killing an intruder?to particular parts of the brain. Descriptions of normal brain function are interspersed with details about the research and about extraordinary, illuminating cases: of the woman to whom the name "Richard" tasted like chocolate, of the man who tried to have sex with a sidewalk. Readers learn that sense-data from the eyes and ears go first to the thalamus; that falling in love may be caused by a single chemical called oxytocin; and that one thinker, Itzhak Fried, has hypothesized "syndrome E," a neurobiological disorder, in young men who carry out genocides. Mixing established knowledge with new speculations, Carter takes care to tell readers which is which. She strews her text with bright diagrams and pictures, and avoids specialized or technical language: readers of Scientific American, or even of Oliver Sacks, may find themselves wishing for more detail. Carter seems to be writing for adults and teens who don't know the field and want to learn it, and she does it right. Short inset essays (some by distinguished scientists, others by Carter) address such specific topics as the chemistry of drug addiction, the origins of autism and alleged differences between gay and straight brains. 100 color & 50 b&w illustrations.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
YA-A readable overview of the social implications of brain research and an examination of some mind studies. Yet, Carter reminds readers that "the vision of the brain we have now is probably no more complete or accurate than a sixteenth-century map of the world." Interspersed within the text are wonderful sidebars, some of which offer insight from world-renowned researchers, and others that just shine a light on the subject matter. "Scanning the Brain," for example, offers clear explanations of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMR), computerized tomography (CT), positron-emission tomography (PET), and other types of brain scans. Carter offers interesting examples and illustrative comparisons throughout. Colorful and visually pleasing photos and artwork help to fill in the gaps in readers' understanding and add to the book's usefulness for reports. Sections such as "Is Autism an Extreme Form of Male Brain?" and the explanation of synaesthesia (blending of senses, or "seeing sounds," "tasting what is seen") make for fascinating reading. There is an extensive bibliography for each chapter and a complete index. Young adults will find comprehending brain functions a bit easier, and surprisingly interesting, with this reference source.
Carol DeAngelo, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Not what i expected but wonderful
A book by an award winning graphics artist. i figured it would be a bunch of pictures of the brain with some text. Nope, it's a ton of text with a fair number of pictures (maybe 1 per 2 pages). Wonderful illustrations but it's hardly a picture book.

i'm a graduate student who builds software that mimics the human mind. i'm not a neurologist so i can't claim to review this book the way an expert would, nor can i claim to be particularly interested in the neurology and biology. But the information in here, which explains what all these parts do and what the impact is if they get damaged was really useful to be as a computational cognitive modeler.

So what do i like about this book? Two things. First, it's pretty comprehensive and integrates the information well. It hits most of the significant parts of the brain and explains the relationships between them. Second, it's really easy to read, which is great when you have readers like me with a minimal background in this stuff. i've since read a lot of books on psychology, cognitive science and neurology. Few are as easy to understand as this one and few put all the information together as this one.

Note that this book focuses on functionality and puts relatively less emphasis on mechanism. Yes, synapses, sheathing, neurotransmitters and reuptake are covered, but don't expect in-depth coverage of the role of glial cells or calcium influx. This is not your MCAT study guide and isn't a references for neurosurgeons doing their residency. But it does have some good information for people who work in or near the field and is easy enough and enjoyable enough for anyone of practically any age to read

Great Reference Book, Very Pedagogical
I started my interest in neurobiology in December 1998 after reading a discussion by Rita Carter in the FT showing that rational behavior under uncertainty and rational decision making can come from a defect in the amygdala. Since then I've had five years of reading more technical material (Gazzaniga et al is perhaps the most complete reference on cognitive neuroscience) and thought that I transcended this book.
But it was not so. I picked up this book again last weekend and was both astonished at a) the ease of reading , b) the clarity of the text and c) the breadth of the approach! I was looking for a refresher as I am trying to capture a general idea of the functioning of that black box and found exactly what I needed without the excess burden of prominent textbooks. Very pedagogical.
I read here and there comments by neuroscientists dissing the book over small details perhaps invisible even to experts. I just realize that Carter should keep updating it, as it is invaluable in my suitcase when I travel! I do not conceal my suspicion of "science writers" and journalists more trained in communicating than understanding and usually shallow babblers but Carter is an exception. Perhaps the science of the mind requires breadth of knowledge that she has. She is a thinker in her own right not just a "medical journalist".

The matter that makes mind
_Mapping the Mind_ is a comfortable and engaging introduction into what is known so far about how the brain works. You will learn (or review) the different parts of the brain, their place in human evolution, and the role of each in the myriad of activities and abilities we all take for granted. Revealing case studies are cited of how damage to a particular part of the brain may impair the sufferer in a very specific and sometimes bizarre way. Carter poses pointed questions about human free will, and to what extent we really have such. This book is a good launchpad for further reading on the brain, e.g. by Damasio and Ramachandran.

The illustrations all have a surrealistic, computer-generated look about them which doesn't entirely appeal to me, but does help unify the overall page design. Most are clear, but for some it may take a while to establish the orientation - L to R, R to L, or looking up from underneath.

Actually, I would give this book four and a half stars; there are various glitches of editing, like repeated material in the same chapter, and some very minor typos and formatting quirks. And the prose takes on just a faint shade of purple here and there, in the spirit of Diane Ackerman (_A Natural History of the Senses_), though I realize this was part of Carter's effort at enhanced readability, and mostly it comes off OK.

Overall, this book is a good plunge to take if you're interested in yourself and why and how you do what you do - and who isn't?