Product Description

The Executive Brain is the first book to explore in popular scientific terms one of the most important and rapidly evolving topics in contemporary neuropsychology, the most "human" and recently evolved region of the brain--the frontal lobes. Crucial for all high-order functioning, it is only in humans that the frontal lobes are so highly developed. They hold the key to our judgment, our social and ethical behavior, our imagination, indeed, to our "soul." The author shows how the frontal lobes enable us to engage in complex mental processes, how vulnerable they are to injury, and how devastating the effects of damage often are, leading to chaotic, disorganized, asocial, and even criminal behavior.
Made up of fascinating case histories and anecdotes, Goldberg's book offers a panorama of state-of-the-art ideas and advances in cognitive neuroscience. It is also an intellectual memoir, filled with vignettes about the author's early training with the great Russian neuropsychologist A.R. Luria, Goldberg's escape from the Soviet Union, and his later interactions with patients and professionals around the world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #140205 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-05
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

From the foreword by Oliver Sacks
"...a brilliant exposition of the complex functions of the frontal lobes, this most recently evolved and especially human part of the brain..."

Review

"An intriguing exploration of the most challenging topic in cognitive neuroscience, the executive function of the prefrontal cortex."--American Scientist
"It is only now...that we are beginning to get the full measure of complexity [of the living body], to see how nature and culture interact, and how brain and mind produce each other. There are a handful, a small handful, of remarkable books which address these central problems with great force--those of Gerald Edelman and Antonio Damasio at once come to mind--and to this select number, Elkhonon Goldberg's book The Executive Brain should surely be added."--Oliver Sacks, The New York Review of Books
"A masterful review of Elkhonon Goldberg's decades-long investigation of the frontal lobes, weaving his personal and professional experiences into the account."--Allan F. Mirsky, Ph.D., Section Chief, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH

Allan F. Mirsky, Ph.D., Chief, Section on Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH
"A masterful review of Elkhonon Goldberg's decades-long investigation of the frontal lobes..."

Customer Reviews

A Worthwhile Read
I had managed to obtain "Executive Brain" after reading Dr. Goldberg's intriguing The Wisdom Paradox: How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older, and this book certainly brings additional understanding of neuropsychology and neurobiology as it can be a useful resourceful book.

This book explores the frontal lobes of the brain as well the understanding of how this part of our brain works. Not only frontal lobes and neurons are discussed in this book, but a sort of autobiography of the author himself is brought to light. I certainly like the section regarding the Tourette's as it is an insightful read.

It is easy to read and consists only of 12 chapters. I personally felt "Executive Brain" is a worthwhile read as it holds essential information about the frontal lobes and personal aspects of the author himself.

Interesting, not despite its slightly unscientifical approach, but because of it
Yes, it was personal. But liked it. A lot of pop-science ultimately fails to deliver a clear understanding of the subjects it's about. That's because they're presenting essentially a watered down account of the scientifical approach, i.e. they consist mostly of a superficial collection of studies and theories that have been created only to prove what we already know. That goes for text books too.

On the other side we have books that push things further. They'll help us orientate by being honestly subjective. You cannot reach balanced thought by just repeating the text book account of things. Freud is a good example. Despite being down right wrong on many issues, he's still very influential and always a good read, as long as you know how to be critical.

I'm not saying he's some kind of a modern Freud, but compared to a lot of the psychological mainstream, I found this book to be incredibly interesting and insightful, in a really novel way that I believe is much needed after the very dry era of cognitive and neuropsychological reign since the 80s.

And, for 200 pages, it's packed with useful ideas. Keep in mind that despite the overall tone of this review, it's actually relatively well backed up and applicable say in school essays. What I like to stress is his unique approach to popularization -- not formal but subjective. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's false -- it just is not obsessed with not being false. And in my opinion it's the correct choice -- that is absolutely a lower level function that _should_ be left out of especially the more popular, less referencable, accounts. Let us do the appraisals by ourselves.

I loved the book!
I loved the way it was written, integrating science and context (year, country, people's backgrounds) Because after all, we must not forget that our minds and brains are part of the huge dinamic context of the life and environment we are living. The way we look at things, what we conclude and give importance to, ...are not just random events.