Overview

In The Man Who Lost His Head, Douwe Draaisma explores some of the most bizarre and intriguing brain disorders throughout history. From patients who believe their loved ones have been replaced by doubles or who feel sensations in an arm that was amputated years ago to those who insist they’re dead or have had their heads removed and substituted with another, these cases reveal the mind’s complex way of imposing order amid chaos. Draaisma examines syndromes like Cotard’s and Capgras, where sufferers’ perceptions of self and reality are radically altered, linking delusions to specific brain circuits and cultural context. With engaging storytelling and sharp insights, this book offers a captivating look at the human mind’s remarkable and often mysterious and disturbing workings.

Full Product Details

9781836390886

Table of Contents

Reviews

""Engaging and informative. The strength of this book is in introducing the reader to rare, largely unknown, and fascinating features of mental life. A page-turner.""--Walter A. Brown, clinical professor emeritus of psychiatry and human behavior, Brown University, and author of ""Lithium: A Doctor, a Drug, and a Breakthrough"" ""From the guillotine to the psychiatric clinic, Draaisma takes us on a journey that reveals the stubborn ways in which so many humans persist in seeing only the cold logic of rationality when reality is in fact far from intelligible and full of curious experiences undergone by remarkable people. The Man Who Lost His Head contains page after page of profound insights. It's impossible to put down.""--Michael S. Gazzaniga, director of the SAGE Center for the Study of Mind at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of ""Who's in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain""

Author Information

Douwe Draaisma is a Dutch psychologist, university professor and the author of many books on human memory. His best-known book, on autobiographical memory, is Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older (2001).

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available