Overview

Based on Rob Newman's live stand-up show and new BBC Radio 4 comedy series, his thought-provoking and wryly amusing new book explores the scientific breakthroughs that have turned received ideas of brain science upside down. After volunteering for a brain-imaging experiment meant to locate the part of the brain that lights up when you're in love, comedian Rob Newman emerged with more questions than answers. Can brain scans read our minds? Are we our brains? How can you map the mind? He argues that the dehumanising claims of most current neuroscientific findings derive not from science, but from a combination of philosophical blunders and a version of evolutionary biology that owes little to Darwin. He questions why brain science books are devoted to such a peculiarly pessimistic world view, when really exciting advances in neuroscience go untold, such as awe-inspiring discoveries about the origins of memory in ancient oceans. Newman offers up fascinating examples showing that our brains are inextricably and profoundly intertwined with our bodies, the natural world and the world we have made, including hilarious accounts of his own participation in neurological experiments. Debunking common, even brainless interpretations of brain science, he celebrates the more intriguing and underreported advances in neuroscience in his signature nonconformist, charming and witty voice.

Full Product Details

9780008240752

Table of Contents

Reviews

Praise for Rob Newman: 'Dissing bad science, capitalists and Brian Cox, Newman's low-octane cabinet of neuroscientific curiosities has nonconformist bite' Guardian 'A fascinating and highly original book, the sort you pick up idly and then discover that two hours have gone by' The Spectator 'Newman combines proper scientific argument with dazzling shafts of wit' The Times 'The Brain Show is a delight' The Daily Telegraph 'Scalpel-sharp analysis ... very funny' The Psychologist 'Hilarious ... delightfully eccentric ... skilfully done' Nature 'He is one amazing comedian' Time Out

Praise for Rob Newman: a Dissing bad science, capitalists and Brian Cox, Newmana (TM)s low-octane cabinet of neuroscientific curiosities has nonconformist bitea (TM) Guardian a A fascinating and highly original book, the sort you pick up idly and then discover that two hours have gone bya (TM) The Spectator a Newman combines proper scientific argument with dazzling shafts of wita (TM) The Times 'The Brain Show is a delight' The Daily Telegraph a Scalpel-sharp analysis a | very funnya (TM) The Psychologist a Hilarious a | delightfully eccentric a | skilfully donea (TM) Nature a He is one amazing comediana (TM) Time Out

Author Information

The only comedian ever cited by a paper published in international science journal Nature, Rob Newman has also written about neuroscience and robotics for Philosophy Now. Neuropolis is based on his successful live stand-up show The Brain Show.

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