Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique - Hardcover

Gazzaniga, Director Michael S

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060892889 ISBN 13: 9780060892883

Publisher: Ecco Press, 2008

Synopsis

One of the world's leading neuroscientists explores how best to understand the human condition by examining the biological, psychological, and highly social nature of our species within the social context of our lives.

What happened along the evolutionary trail that made humans so unique? In his widely accessible style, Michael Gazzaniga looks to a broad range of studies to pinpoint the change that made us thinking, sentient humans, different from our predecessors.

Neuroscience has been fixated on the life of the psychological self for the past fifty years, focusing on the brain systems underlying language, memory, emotion, and perception. What it has not done is consider the stark reality that most of the time we humans are thinking about social processes, comparing ourselves to and estimating the intentions of others. In Human, Gazzaniga explores a number of related issues, including what makes human brains unique, the importance of language and art in defining the human condition, the nature of human consciousness, and even artificial intelligence.

About this title

About the Author

Michael S. Gazzaniga is internationally recognized in the field of neuroscience and a pioneer in cognitive research. He is the director of the SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of many popular science books, including Who's in Charge? (Ecco, 2011). He has six children and lives in California with his wife.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060892889
• ISBN 13: 9780060892883
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 464