The Idea of the Brain, Matthew Cobb
The Idea of the Brain, Matthew Cobb
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The Idea of the Brain
The Past and Future of Neuroscience

Author: Matthew Cobb

Narrator: Joe Jameson

Unabridged: 14 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 04/21/2020

Synopsis



An "elegant", "engrossing" (Carol Tavris, Wall Street Journal) examination of what we think we know about the brain and why -- despite technological advances -- the workings of our most essential organ remain a mystery.
"I cannot recommend this book strongly enough."--Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm
For thousands of years, thinkers and scientists have tried to understand what the brain does. Yet, despite the astonishing discoveries of science, we still have only the vaguest idea of how the brain works. In The Idea of the Brain, scientist and historian Matthew Cobb traces how our conception of the brain has evolved over the centuries. Although it might seem to be a story of ever-increasing knowledge of biology, Cobb shows how our ideas about the brain have been shaped by each era's most significant technologies. Today we might think the brain is like a supercomputer. In the past, it has been compared to a telegraph, a telephone exchange, or some kind of hydraulic system. What will we think the brain is like tomorrow, when new technology arises? The result is an essential read for anyone interested in the complex processes that drive science and the forces that have shaped our marvelous brains.

About Matthew Cobb

Matthew Cobb is the author of several books, including The Resistance: The French Fight Against the Nazis, The Egg & Sperm Race: The Seventeenth Century Scientists who Unraveled the Secrets of Sex, Life, and Growth, and Eleven Days in August: The Liberation of Paris, August 1944. He is also the translator of Michel Morange's History of Molecular Biology. He is a professor of zoology at the University of Manchester, where he works on insects and on the history of science. Matthew lives in Manchester, England.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Morgan on September 02, 2021

The ancients believed the heart was the anatomical seat of thought and consciousness and considered the brain to be of relative little import. Our current understanding of the brain and its functions emerged and evolved bit by bit over time. Because the precise functions of the brain have been (and......more

Goodreads review by James on November 24, 2020

This morning I read an op-ed in the New York Times by Lisa Feldman Barrett titled “Your Brain is Not for Thinking”. Her argument was that the primary function of the brain is to keep the body going, not to think. From an evolutionary perspective this is obviously true, however surprising we find it.......more

Goodreads review by Alina on December 25, 2022

This is the neuroscience equivalent of Bertrand Russell's "A History of Western Philosophy", just shorter, with a lot less Plato(or still a lot of Plato?) and certainly a lot more Francis Crick.......more

Goodreads review by Abderrahmane on August 02, 2021

Amazing book, an overview of the brain ( past, present and future), the most enjoyable part was the demolishing of some current mythes that circulates in our culture like the 3 layers of the brain (reptilian,cortex and limbic ), or the division of the 2 hemispheres of the brain (right for art and em......more

Goodreads review by Frederick on April 26, 2021

This book is full of stuff about what we do NOT know. Much of what we think we know about the brain is not supported by data! For example: left brain people, right brain people. No. Parts of the brain are known to have specific functions - sort of, but the brain is very plastic and can sometimes wor......more

Quotes

"An intellectual tour de force, and a brilliant demonstration of how a historical approach is often the best way of explaining difficult scientific problems... I cannot recommend this book strongly enough."—Henry Marsh, The New Statesman

"Elegant... engrossing... clear and lively... The reader will come away from this illuminating history of thinking about the brain with a renewed appreciation of the task that remains."—Carol Tavris, Wall Street Journal

"This ambitious intellectual history follows the changing understanding of the brain from antiquity to the present... Cobb's account is an important contribution: few have offered such accessible insights, with choice examples and clear explanations of the societal factors that lie beneath... It is a very good book."—Nature

"Sweeping and electrifyingly skeptical"—The Guardian

"A fresh history and tour d' horizon of "the most complex object in the known universe." Although scientists still struggle to understand the brain, they know a great deal about it; Cobb, a professor of biological sciences, delivers an excellent overview."—Kirkus Reviews

"The book reveals that there are many ways to think about what brains are, what they do, and their relation to the mind. Cobb's erudition and engaging writing style take us on an enthralling journey, rich with accidental discoveries, controversies, and rejected hypotheses."—Science

"In this engrossing book, Matthew Cobb deftly recounts the tortuous history of research on the brain, in which researchers pursue the hard problems of memory, consciousness, and volition, always limited by forced comparisons between human brains and the machines available at the time. A work of history and deep scholarship, but written in an engaging and lively way, The Idea of the Brain is optimistic about the recursive attempts of our brains to understand themselves, yet reminds us that the three most important words in science are, 'We don't know.'"—Jerry Coyne, author of Why Evolution is True

"The story of the most complex object in the universe has never been told with greater clarity, insight, and wit. Charting the route to future discoveries, this is a masterpiece"—Adam Rutherford, author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived

"Matthew Cobb weaves a fascinating story of the historical arc of neuroscience, from the initial discovery that the brain gives rise to our minds, to the state of the art in the manipulation and control of the brain."—Russell Poldrack, author of The New Mind Readers

"This exquisitely well-researched and thrilling book charts an epic high-level quest to understand our deepest selves. Its scale and scope is phenomenal and leaves us with a profound sense of wonder about science and humanity as well as the brain itself. Altogether a feast."—Daniel M. Davis, author of The Beautiful Cure

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