Product Description

The Human Brain Book is a complete guide to the one organ in the body that makes each of us what we are - unique individuals. It combines the latest findings from the field of neuroscience with expert text and state-of-the-art illustrations and imaging techniques to provide an incomparable insight into every facet of the brain. Layer by layer, it reveals the fascinating details of this remarkable structure, covering all the key anatomy and delving into the inner workings of the mind, unlocking its many mysteries, and helping you to understand what's going on in those millions of little gray and white cells.

Tricky concepts are illustrated and explained with clarity and precision, as The Human Brain Book looks at how the brain sends messages to the rest of the body, how we think and feel, how we perform unconscious actions (for example breathing), explores the nature of genius, asks why we behave the way we do, explains how we see and hear things, and how and why we dream. Physical and psychological disorders affecting the brain and nervous system are clearly illustrated and summarized in easy-to-understand terms.

The unique DVD brings the subject to life with interactive elements. These include a clickable model of the brain's structure that allows the user to zoom in and discover deeper layers of detail, while complex processes, such as the journey of a nerve impulse, are broken down and simplified through intuitive animations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1731 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review
"All 256 pages are chock full of amazing illustrations and facts, covering literally everything that your brain does or takes part in bodily function wise." --The Super Mom Blog, September 16, 2009

"The Human Brain Book combines incredible brain images with fascinating neuroscientific findings." --Newsweek.com, October 1, 2009

About the Author
Rita Carter is a science and medical writer, and contributes to the Independent, New Scientist, the Daily Mail, and the Telegraph. She has twice been awarded the Medical Journalists' Association prize for outstanding contribution to medical journalism. She has written several books, including Mapping the Mind, Exploring Consciousness (both Weidenfeld and Nicolson), and Multiplicity: the New Science of Personality (Little, brown), which have sold internationally - including the US, Japan, Korea, Poland, Italy, Spain, and Brazil. Mapping the Mind was shortlisted for the Rhone-Poulenc Prize (now the Royal Society Prize for Science books). Rita also talks about the brain, consciousness, and behavior to a wide range of groups at seminars, conferences, and workshops around the world.

Customer Reviews

Just what it should be!
I almost never pre-order a book, wanting to see the product before shelling out money, but in this case I bet on my enjoyment of Rita Carter's other books and I was NOT disappointed. Well-laid out with spectacular illustrations, Carter's new The Human Brain, is a wonderful addition to an extremely complicated and rapidly progressing field. While not detailed enough to use as an advanced textbook, I've already asked our library to order a few copies for the shelf and for the reserve desk so my students can benefit from an nicely integrated presentation of anatomy, physiology and other basic sciences with clinical disorders.

A Very Pleasant Surprise
Is it OK to get excited over a book about the brain? :)

When I ordered "The Human Brain Book" I assumed it was just an updated version of one of my favorite illustrated "brain books"---Rita Carter's expertly executed survey of the human brain titled "Mapping the Mind." I would have been happy with an updated version of "Mapping the Mind" that reflected recent brain research.

When it arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see that Ms. Carter had collaborated with DK, the creator of amazingly well photographed and illustrated educational books to produce one of the most visually informative books on the brain I have ever seen. The paragraph-sized entries and highly visual content of "The Human Brain Book" make it accessible to a wider age range than "Mapping the Mind"--which explores select topics on the brain with fewer illustrations but article-length commentary and depth.

Brain regions are made memorable by explaining the region with engaging examples of the types of behaviors, senses, emotions, cognitive, or other functions associated with that the area of the brain.

The large format and variety of photograph and image sizes reminded me of the wonderful Time Life Science series books that were popular a few decades ago. But so much better.

"The Human Brain Book" is a delight to browse--it's the kind of book that you can open to any page and find something engaging to explore.

And then there is the pleasant surprise of the interactive DVD-ROM . . .

Rita Carter and DK can be proud of creating an exceptional book. At less than $30, this is one the best values I have found on Amazon in a long time.

Spectacular Views of the Mind
This book has excellent views of the brain
together with an accompanying DVD. The fusiform
or gyrus is depicted to show the feed-ins to the
brain stem. Major nerve endings; such as, the
femoral nerve are shown in full color.

The protective coverings for the brain are shown.
These are the bony skull, meninges and
cerebrospinal fluid. Arteries which carry blood to
the brain are shown. The variable sizes of brains
are shown; such as, birds, mammals, man, reptiles etc.
The monolingual brain is contrasted to the multi-lingual
brain which has different red like patches.

Overall, the book would make an excellent purchase
for students of the human anatomy.