"To a 21st century human, the brain is the seat of all our powers. But the hyperbolic way we talk about the brain is more informed by a mystical conception of what the soul is than by scientific fact. From the confines of ancient philosophy to the duality inherent to Christianity, from the mysterious depths of psychoanalysis to today's tendency to compare the brain to a computer, our belief in a mind distinct from the body has tainted the way we think...

"When you go to sleep, what does your brain do? Does it rest too? It can't because it's busy working while you snooze! It repairs, and resets, and helps your body even when you aren't awake. Using up-to-date research to explore our brains' critical functions when we are asleep, psychology experts JoAnn and Terrence Deak invite kids (and adults) to unpack all the amazing things your brain is doing when you're not awake-and why it's so important to...

Publisher Annotation: Why does mystery create a mental itch that must be scratched? New York Times bestselling author Jonah Lehrer unlocks the secrets of mystery's allure, putting together recent discoveries in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, and anthropology and shining a new light on everything from the formulas of our favorite detective shows to the tricks of successful advertising campaigns and the calculated risks of the stock market....

"A rock star academic explores the final frontier of personal privacy: your mind. Imagine a world where your brain can be interrogated to learn your political beliefs, thought crimes are punishable by law, and your own feelings can be used against you. Where perfumers create customized fragrances to perfectly suit your emotions, and social media titans bypass your conscious mind to hook you to their products. A world where people who suffer from epilepsy...

Shermer demonstrates how our brains selectively assess data in an attempt to confirm the conclusions (beliefs) we've already reached. Drawing on evolution, cognitive science, and neuroscience, he considers not only supernatural beliefs but political and economic ones as well.

"Forty years ago, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky wrote a series of studies undoing our assumptions about the decision-making process. Their papers showed the ways in which the human mind erred, systematically, when forced to make judgments in uncertain situations. Their work created the field of behavioral economics, revolutionized Big Data studies, advanced evidence-based medicine, led to a new approach to government regulation,...

Overview: For his first fifty-eight years, James Fallon was by all appearances a normal guy. A successful neuroscientist and professor, he'd been raised in a loving family, married his high school sweetheart, and had three kids and lots of friends. Then he learned a shocking truth that would not only disrupt his personal and professional life, but would lead him to question the very nature of his own identity. While researching serial killers, he...

"Locked in the silence and darkness of your skull, your brain fashions the rich narratives of your reality and your identity. Join renowned neuroscientist David Eagleman for a journey into the questions at the mysterious heart of our existence. What is reality? Who are "you"? How do you make decisions? Why does your brain need other people? How is technology poised to change what it means to be human? In the course of his investigations, Eagleman...

"With her knack for making science easy to understand, Temple Grandin explains different types of thinkers, who are good with language, and visual thinkers, who think in pictures and patterns. You will discover all kinds of minds and how we need to work together to create solutions to help solve real-world problems."--