Creating Mind: How the Brain Works

What's going on inside your head? This is one of the fundamental questions in science, and one of the toughest to answer. Neurobiologist John E. Dowling starts us down the garden path with Creating Mind, a lucid introduction to the study of the brain. A Harvard researcher and instructor, Dowling puts his experience to good use in describing the mechanisms underlying memory, vision, language, and many other more-or-less well-understood phenomena. We learn that the cells and chemicals that make up our brains have been studied extensively, yet we are still mystified by the simplest fact of all: we are conscious. "I think, therefore I am" doesn't do justice to the richness of our experience, and Creating Mind tries to go further by exploring how the convergence of language, learning, and sensation might produce awareness. The many illustrations are clear and work well with the text to explain points best understood visually. (After seeing the studies of the humble squid, you'll never look at calamari the same way again!) Dowling has written an excellent overview that will inspire laypeople and budding neuroscientists alike. --Rob Lightner