The Idea of the Brain: A History

Name: The Idea of the Brain: A History
Author: Matthew Cobb
ISBN: 9781541646865

Matthew Cobb

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Matthew Cobb

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#2495 of 3,809 books · #252 in Science & Technology

Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction (2020).

For thousands of years, thinkers and scientists have tried to understand what the brain does. Yet, despite the astonishing discoveries of science, we still have only the vaguest idea of how the brain works. In The Idea of the Brain, scientist and historian Matthew Cobb traces how our conception of the brain has evolved over the centuries. Although it might seem to be a story of ever-increasing knowledge of biology, Cobb shows how our ideas about the brain have been shaped by each era's most significant technologies. Today we might think the brain is like a supercomputer. In the past, it has been compared to a telegraph, a telephone exchange, or some kind of hydraulic system. What will we think the brain is like tomorrow, when new technology arises?

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