Phantoms in the Brain

Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind

By: Sandra Blakeslee, V. S. Ramachandran

Narrated by: Neil Shah

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

Critic reviews

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

Very Interesting but...

This book was very interesting. There were some parts that were difficult to follow but overall it made sense.

Narrator is not the greatest

Story and content are great. The narrator can’t seem to pronounce several words properly and has a strange way of speaking. Very off-putting. He also tries to dramatize conversations and does a bad job at that, too.

Unique Neuroscience from a Unique Neuroscientist

I studied Dr. Ramachandran's work during my undergraduate degree. In the flood of scientists and peer review, his work stood out enough that even years later I was still talking about some of his theories. When I saw his name attached to this book, I purchased it without hesitation.

Dr. Ramachandran's work in neuroscience is stunning. Once you hear it, you can't believe that we ever thought anything different. He draws beautiful, wide connections across the brain and simultaneously across theories of the brain. And after doing so, he distills it all down to plain language, communicating his ideas effortlessly.

Neil Shah does an excellent job on this one. I have nothing negative to say about his performance.

I finished weeks ago and I'm still talking about pseudocyesis and its link to social norms, among other interesting facts that I learned from this book. If you have any interest in the brain, it is well worth the time.

excelente

es mas que recomendable disfrute su lectura y análisis y correlato clínicos debemos leerlo

Totally awesome!

I enjoyed the little jokes and the amazing studies made on the human brain is fascinating, I loved that there was some conversation about eastern philosophy and western approach