Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys But Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life

Does drinking really kill brain cells? Does listening to Mozart make your baby smarter? For all the mileage we've gotten from our own brains, most of us have essentially no idea how they work. We're easily susceptible to myths (like the fact that we use only 10% of our brains) and misconceptions (like the ones perpetrated by most Hollywood movies), probably because we've never known where to turn for the truth. But neurologists Sandra Aamodt and Sam Wang are glad to help. In this funny, accessible book, we get a guided tour of our own minds, what they're made of, how they work, and how they can go wrong. Along the way, we get a host of diagrams, quizzes, and cocktail party tips that shed light on the questions we nag each other about. (Can a head injury make you forget your own name? Are dolphins smarter than chimpanzees?) Fun and surprisingly engrossing, Welcome to Your Brain shows you how your brain works, and how you can make it work better.

About the Author :
Sandra Aamodt, Ph.D., is the editor in chief of Nature Neuroscience, the leading scientific journal in the field of brain research. Before becoming an editor, she did her graduate work at the University of Rochester and was a postdoctoral researcher in neuroscience at Yale University. She lives in California with her husband, a professor of neuroscience. Sam Wang, Ph.D., is an associate professor of neuroscience at Princeton University. Before becoming a professor, he studied at Caltech, Stanford, and Bell Labs. He has published over forty articles on the brain in leading scientific journals and has received numerous awards. He and his wife, a physician, live in Princeton, New Jersey, with their daughter.

Review :
A terrific, surprisingly fun guide for the general reader. - Publishers Weekly ...a delightful and engaging romp through neuroscience by two of its leading lights -- a marvelous collection of facts and findings that answer the questions we all have about our own minds. If the human brain came with an owner's manual, it might well look like this. - Daniel Gilbert Written by two top neuroscientists, [Welcome to Your Brain is] great on the facts-accurate, up to date, focuses on all the important topics-AND it's crystal clear and witty and irreverent and wonderfully written. This is a terrific book. - Robert Sapolsky ...a lucid and fascinating journey into the inner life of the mind, an essential manual for one of nature's most amazing technologies. You'll never think about yourself -- or think about thinking -- quite the same way again. - Steven Johnson If all scientists could write like this, professional science writers would be out of a job. Welcome to Your Brain is clear, understandable, entertaining and fascinating. - Sandra Blakeslee An insightful and playful guide to the most mysterious part of the universe... unravels some of the fascinating discoveries and puzzles of this marvelous organ. - Dan Ariely