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9781538550724

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A user-friendly tour of the brain and the curious things that go on inside of it, from splendidly practical visions to debilitating hallucinations...Pleasing and accessible. -- Kirkus Reviews With a scientist's boundless curiosity and a writer's keen observation, Thomson imparts caring and humanity to each profile of these remarkable people. Unthinkable could easily sensationalize the weird and pervert the odd. Instead, Thomson underscores our commonalities and reminds readers that we all have truly extraordinary brains. -- Booklist Throughout, Thomson emphasizes 'we are our brains, ' convincingly showing that these strange minds belong to people from whom much can be learned. -- Publishers Weekly Helen Thomson's remarkable book is an astonishing tour of the human brain in all its awesome power and bewildering variation. In beautiful prose, she seamlessly dances between conversations with nine extraordinary people and beautiful explanations of how the brain works. Unthinkable will enrich your brain, blow your mind, and warm your heart. -- Ed Yong, author of I Contain Multitudes Helen Thomson is the science teacher you wish you'd had at school...The unruliness of the misfiring brain is what makes Unthinkable so fascinating and so frightening...Thomson's book repays careful reading. Don't skip the science to get on to the well-I-never case histories. You need both together. -- Times (UK) A stirring scientific journey, a celebration of human diversity, and a call to rethink the 'unthinkable.' -- Nature Ultimately a celebration of variance within human experience...Thomson has a gift for making the complex and strange understandable and relatable. -- Library Journal (starred review)

A stirring scientific journey, a celebration of human diversity, and a call to rethink the 'unthinkable.' -- ""Nature"" A user-friendly tour of the brain and the curious things that go on inside of it, from splendidly practical visions to debilitating hallucinations...Pleasing and accessible. -- ""Kirkus Reviews"" Helen Thomson is the science teacher you wish you'd had at school...The unruliness of the misfiring brain is what makes Unthinkable so fascinating and so frightening...Thomson's book repays careful reading. Don't skip the science to get on to the well-I-never case histories. You need both together. -- ""Times (UK)"" Helen Thomson's remarkable book is an astonishing tour of the human brain in all its awesome power and bewildering variation. In beautiful prose, she seamlessly dances between conversations with nine extraordinary people and beautiful explanations of how the brain works. Unthinkable will enrich your brain, blow your mind, and warm your heart. -- ""Ed Yong, author of I Contain Multitudes"" Throughout, Thomson emphasizes 'we are our brains, ' convincingly showing that these strange minds belong to people from whom much can be learned. -- ""Publishers Weekly"" Ultimately a celebration of variance within human experience...Thomson has a gift for making the complex and strange understandable and relatable. -- ""Library Journal (starred review)"" With a scientist's boundless curiosity and a writer's keen observation, Thomson imparts caring and humanity to each profile of these remarkable people. Unthinkable could easily sensationalize the weird and pervert the odd. Instead, Thomson underscores our commonalities and reminds readers that we all have truly extraordinary brains. -- ""Booklist""

Author Information

Helen Thomson is a writer and consultant with New Scientist magazine and was shortlisted for Best Science Journalist in the British Journalism Awards. She has won several other awards, including media fellowships at both Harvard and MIT and the Best Newcomer in the ABSW Science Writers Awards for Britain and Ireland in 2010. She has also written for the Guardian (UK), the Washington Post, the Daily Mail (UK), and Nature. She lives in London.

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