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    The Man Who Wasn't There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self
    Unavailable
    The Man Who Wasn't There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self
    Unavailable
    The Man Who Wasn't There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Man Who Wasn't There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self

    Written by Anil Ananthaswamy

    Narrated by René Ruiz

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    *Nominated for the 2016 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award*
    *An NBC News Notable Science Book of 2015*
    *Named one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2015*
    *A Book of the Month for Brain HQ/Posit Science*
    *Selected by Forbes as a Must Read Brain Book of 2015*
    *On Life Changes Network's list of the Top 10 Books That Could Change Your Life of 2015*


    In the tradition of Oliver Sacks, a tour of the latest neuroscience of schizophrenia, autism, Alzheimer's disease, ecstatic epilepsy, Cotard's syndrome, out-of-body experiences, and other disorders-revealing the awesome power of the human sense of self from a master of science journalism.

    Anil Ananthaswamy's extensive in-depth interviews venture into the lives of individuals who offer perspectives that will change how you think about who you are. These individuals all lost some part of what we think of as our self, but they then offer remarkable, sometimes heart-wrenching insights into what remains. One man cut off his own leg. Another became one with the universe.

    We are learning about the self at a level of detail that Descartes ("I think therefore I am") could never have imagined. Recent research into Alzheimer's illuminates how memory creates your narrative self by using the same part of your brain for your past as for your future. But wait, those afflicted with Cotard's syndrome think they are already dead; in a way, they believe that "I think therefore I am not." Who-or what-can say that? Neuroscience has identified specific regions of the brain that, when they misfire, can cause the self to move back and forth between the body and a doppelgänger, or to leave the body entirely. So where in the brain, or mind, or body, is the self actually located? As Ananthaswamy elegantly reports, neuroscientists themselves now see that the elusive sense of self is both everywhere and nowhere in the human brain.


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateAug 4, 2015
    ISBN9780698402812
    Unavailable
    The Man Who Wasn't There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self

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    Reviews for The Man Who Wasn't There

    4/5

    28 ratings3 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Dull and hard to get through despite many real-life examples and anecdotes. Veered off frequently into philosophy.
    • 3/5
      Dull and hard to get through despite many real-life examples and anecdotes. Veered off frequently into philosophy.
    • 4/5
      If you are like me and like to read true stories regarding psychological and neurological disorders then you will want to check out this book. I found this book to be an very thought-provoking, intriguing read. I was had heard of and was kind of familiar with BIID (body integrity identity disorder) but if asked I could not really describe to you what this disorder is all about. This disorder really fascinated me. The way that sufferers experience depression towards their healthy limbs because they feel that the limbs are foreign objects that need to be removed. The fact that there are surgeons out there that will remove these limbs for BIID patients is what shocked me the most. Well that and the transformation that these people have after the surgery of being a "normal" person with an happy outcome for life as if they had just been born for the first time. Mr. Ananthaswamy also explorers in this book Alzheimer's, Schizophrenia, Depersonalization, Out-of-body experiences, and Ecstatic epilepsy. Again, some of these disorders I am not familiar about. So I learned a lot about these disorders while reading this book. I found the stories sad but at the same time I am glad that more and more people are bring to light these disorders and the people suffering from them are not the exception. Therefore, the need to help is greater. Although, as I was reading this book there were times when Mr. Ananthaswamy would get to explaining the disorder or quote a reference that seemed to be over my head with words that I had never heard of. I would have to re-read sections. Overall, this book is well edited and could be a table top book or one for a book club discussion.

      1 person found this helpful