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Phantoms in the Brain cover art

Phantoms in the Brain

Written by: Sandra Blakeslee, V. S. Ramachandran
Narrated by: Neil Shah
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Publisher's Summary

Neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran is internationally renowned for uncovering answers to the deep and quirky questions of human nature that few scientists have dared to address. His bold insights about the brain are matched only by the stunning simplicity of his experiments - using such low-tech tools such as cotton swabs, glasses of water, and dime-store mirrors.

In Phantoms in the Brain, Dr. Ramachandran recounts how his work with patients who have bizarre neurological disorders has shed new light on the deep architecture of the brain, and what these findings tell us about who we are, how we construct our body image, why we laugh or become depressed, why we may believe in God, and how we make decisions, deceive ourselves, and dream.

Some of his most notable cases: A woman paralyzed on the left side of her body who believes she is lifting a tray of drinks with both hands offers a unique opportunity to test Freud's theory of denial. A man who insists he is talking with God challenges us to ask: Could we be "wired" for religious experience? A woman who hallucinates cartoon characters illustrates how, in a sense, we are all hallucinating, all the time.

Dr. Ramachandran's inspired medical detective work pushes the boundaries of medicine's last great frontier-the human mind-yielding new and provocative insights into the "big questions" about consciousness and the self.

©1998 V.S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee (P)2013 Tantor

What the critics say

"Enthralling . . . eloquent." ( The New York Times Book Review)

What listeners say about Phantoms in the Brain

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Incredible!

An incredible journey into the mind and the nature of self from a digestable scientific perspective. Great narration, very well presented.

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Phenomenal explanation of the human brain and how it works

I love how everything is explained with the experiments that were done related to the topics

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interesting

Interesting book, and I quite enjoyed the author's dry sense of humour. Three more words.

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Fascinating Brain

This book is very insightful on how the brain works allowing us to navigate this world.

This book would be valuable for anybody trying to understand how we process and do things and sometimes why. It’s also great for understanding what you can change or might be able to change and I think for marketers this book provides an understanding of how are irrational behaviour comes about.

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