Incognito: The Secret Lives of The Brain - Hardcover

Eagleman, David

4.08

32,452 ratings by Goodreads

9781847679383: Incognito: The Secret Lives of The Brain

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1847679382 ISBN 13: 9781847679383

Publisher: Canongate Books, 2011

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

'A stunning exploration of the we behind the I. Eagleman reveals, with his typical grace and eloquence, all the neural magic tricks behind the cognitive illusion we call reality.' Jonah Lehrer

If the conscious mind - the part you consider you - is just the tip of the iceberg, what is the rest doing?

In this sparkling and provocative new book, renowned neuroscientist David Eagleman navigates the depths of the subconscious brain to illuminate surprising mysteries: Why can your foot move halfway to the brake pedal before you become consciously aware of danger ahead? Why do you notice when your name is mentioned in a conversation that you didn't think you were listening to? What do Ulysses and the credit crunch have in common? Why did Thomas Edison electrocute an elephant in 1916? Why are people whose name begins with J more likely to marry other people whose name begins with J? Why is it so difficult to keep a secret? And how is it possible to get angry at yourself - who, exactly, is mad at whom?

Taking in brain damage, plane spotting, dating, drugs, beauty, infidelity, synaesthesia, criminal law, artificial intelligence and visual illusions, Incognito is a thrilling subsurface exploration of the mind and all its contradictions.

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Review:

"[An] entertaining and truly brainy front-line report from the neuroscience labs... I guarantee it'll change the way you think of yourself" (Mail on Sunday)

"A fun read by a smart person for smart people... It will attract a new generation to ponder their inner workings" (New Scientist)

"Eagleman engagingly sums up recent discoveries about the unconscious processes that dominate our mental life. . . . [He] is the kind of guy who really does make being a neuroscientist look like fun" (New York Times)

"David Eagleman's lobe-spangling new study of how thoroughly our genetic make-up, deep-lying subroutines and chemical changes can affect the submerged mind gives dizzying up-to-the-minute insight as to just whose hand is really on the tiller. . . Incognito is a fascinating book that will not so much turn your mind upside down as flip it right-side up. You'll never hear the phase "You don't know what you're doing!" in the same way again" (Time Out)

"Breezy, fun, optimistic and full of the latest research" (The Sunday Times)

"A dream to read... I couldn't resist telling people about a couple of things I read here" (Brian Clegg Popular Science)

"Witty, bright, sharp and unexpected... as surprising a book as I've read for years. Every story is a new Heaven" (Brian Eno)

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Readers may discover much to appreciate - not least the lives they are living now... quirky, occasionally unsettling... never short of new new ideas, all of them rolled out with style

" (Nicholas Tucker Independent)

"Eagleman provides an excellent overview of the workings of our most vital organ" (Ian Critchley Sunday Times)

"***** I was completely immersed. Eagleman writes well and has brought together great stories from the wild shores of neuroresearch, taking a field that is enormously complex and creating a clear path through it... A book that will stay with you" (Michael Mosley BBC Focus)

Book Description:

A sparkling and provocative book on neuroscience from the acclaimed author of Sum: Tales from the Afterlives

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