Download or read book Touching a Nerve Our Brains Our Selves written by Patricia Churchland and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2013-07-22 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A trailblazing philosopher’s exploration of the latest brain science—and its ethical and practical implications. What happens when we accept that everything we feel and think stems not from an immaterial spirit but from electrical and chemical activity in our brains? In this thought-provoking narrative—drawn from professional expertise as well as personal life experiences—trailblazing neurophilosopher Patricia S. Churchland grounds the philosophy of mind in the essential ingredients of biology. She reflects with humor on how she came to harmonize science and philosophy, the mind and the brain, abstract ideals and daily life. Offering lucid explanations of the neural workings that underlie identity, she reveals how the latest research into consciousness, memory, and free will can help us reexamine enduring philosophical, ethical, and spiritual questions: What shapes our personalities? How do we account for near-death experiences? How do we make decisions? And why do we feel empathy for others? Recent scientific discoveries also provide insights into a fascinating range of real-world dilemmas—for example, whether an adolescent can be held responsible for his actions and whether a patient in a coma can be considered a self. Churchland appreciates that the brain-based understanding of the mind can unnerve even our greatest thinkers. At a conference she attended, a prominent philosopher cried out, “I hate the brain; I hate the brain!” But as Churchland shows, he need not feel this way. Accepting that our brains are the basis of who we are liberates us from the shackles of superstition. It allows us to take ourselves seriously as a product of evolved mechanisms, past experiences, and social influences. And it gives us hope that we can fix some grievous conditions, and when we cannot, we can at least understand them with compassion.
Download or read book Touching a Nerve written by Patricia Churchland and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2013-07-22 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the latest research in human brain function, consciousness, sensory experience, and memory, and discusses the ethical and philosophical dilemmas that can result from these new insights.
Download or read book Neurophilosophy written by Patricia Smith Churchland and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1989 with total page 566 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A Bradford book." Bibliography: p. [491]-523. Includes index.
Download or read book Braintrust written by Patricia S. Churchland and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-22 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative new account of how morality evolved What is morality? Where does it come from? And why do most of us heed its call most of the time? In Braintrust, neurophilosophy pioneer Patricia Churchland argues that morality originates in the biology of the brain. She describes the "neurobiological platform of bonding" that, modified by evolutionary pressures and cultural values, has led to human styles of moral behavior. The result is a provocative genealogy of morals that asks us to reevaluate the priority given to religion, absolute rules, and pure reason in accounting for the basis of morality. Moral values, Churchland argues, are rooted in a behavior common to all mammals—the caring for offspring. The evolved structure, processes, and chemistry of the brain incline humans to strive not only for self-preservation but for the well-being of allied selves—first offspring, then mates, kin, and so on, in wider and wider "caring" circles. Separation and exclusion cause pain, and the company of loved ones causes pleasure; responding to feelings of social pain and pleasure, brains adjust their circuitry to local customs. In this way, caring is apportioned, conscience molded, and moral intuitions instilled. A key part of the story is oxytocin, an ancient body-and-brain molecule that, by decreasing the stress response, allows humans to develop the trust in one another necessary for the development of close-knit ties, social institutions, and morality. A major new account of what really makes us moral, Braintrust challenges us to reconsider the origins of some of our most cherished values.
Download or read book Nerve written by Taylor Clark and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2011-03-06 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nerves make us bomb job interviews, first dates, and SATs. With a presentation looming at work, fear robs us of sleep for days. It paralyzes seasoned concert musicians and freezes rookie cops in tight situations. And yet not everyone cracks. Soldiers keep their heads in combat; firemen rush into burning buildings; unflappable trauma doctors juggle patient after patient. It's not that these people feel no fear; often, in fact, they're riddled with it. In Nerve, Taylor Clark draws upon cutting-edge science and painstaking reporting to explore the very heart of panic and poise. Using a wide range of case studies, Clark overturns the popular myths about anxiety and fear to explain why some people thrive under pressure, while others falter-and how we can go forward with steadier nerves and increased confidence.
Download or read book Touch written by David J. Linden and published by Penguin Books. This book was released on 2016-01-26 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Compass of Pleasure" examines how our sense of touch is interconnected with our emotions Dual-function receptors in our skin make mint feel cool and chili peppers hot.
Download or read book Some Nerve written by Patty Chang Anker and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-10-10 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A compelling story of everyday courage” (Elizabeth Gilbert). Patty Chang Anker grew up eager to please and afraid to fail. But after thirty-nine years, she decided it was time to stop being a chicken. Motivated initially to become a better role model for her two kids, she vowed to master the fears that were choking the fun and spontaneity out of life. She learned to dive into a swimming pool, ride a bike, do a handstand, and surf. As she shared her experiences, she discovered that most people suffer from their own secret terrors—of flying, driving, heights, public speaking, and more. It became her mission to help others do what they thought they couldn’t and to experience the joy and aliveness that is the true reward of becoming brave. Inspired and inspiring, this book draws on Anker’s interviews with teachers, therapists, coaches, and clergy to convey both practical advice and profound wisdom. Through her own journey and the stories of others, she conveys with grace and infectious exhilaration the most vital lesson of all: Fear isn’t the end point to life, but the point of entry.
Download or read book The Book of Touch written by Constance Classen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-09-03 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book puts a finger on the nerve of culture by delving into the social life of touch, our most elusive yet most vital sense. From the tortures of the Inquisition to the corporeal comforts of modernity, and from the tactile therapies of Asian medicine to the virtual tactility of cyberspace, The Book of Touch offers excursions into a sensory territory both foreign and familiar. How are masculine and feminine identities shaped by touch? What are the tactile experiences of the blind, or the autistic? How is touch developed differently across cultures? What are the boundaries of pain and pleasure? Is there a politics of touch? Bringing together classic writings and new work, this is an essential guide for anyone interested in the body, the senses and the experiential world.
Download or read book Optic Nerve written by Maria Gainza and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2019-04-09 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this delightful autofiction―the first book by Gainza, an Argentine art critic, to appear in English―a woman delivers pithy assessments of world–class painters along with glimpses of her life, braiding the two into an illuminating whole." ―The New York Times Book Review, Notable Book of the Year and Editors' Choice The narrator of Optic Nerve is an Argentinian woman whose obsession is art. The story of her life is the story of the paintings, and painters, who matter to her. Her intimate, digressive voice guides us through a gallery of moments that have touched her. In these pages, El Greco visits the Sistine Chapel and is appalled by Michelangelo’s bodies. The mystery of Rothko’s refusal to finish murals for the Seagram Building in New York is blended with the story of a hospital in which a prostitute walks the halls while the narrator’s husband receives chemotherapy. Alfred de Dreux visits Géricault’s workshop; Gustave Courbet’s devilish seascapes incite viewers “to have sex, or to eat an apple”; Picasso organizes a cruel banquet in Rousseau’s honor . . . All of these fascinating episodes in art history interact with the narrator’s life in Buenos Aires―her family and work; her loves and losses; her infatuations and disappointments. The effect is of a character refracted by environment, composed by the canvases she studies. Seductive and capricious, Optic Nerve marks the English–language debut of a major Argentinian writer. It is a book that captures, like no other, the mysterious connections between a work of art and the person who perceives it.
Download or read book Conscience written by Patricia Churchland and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do we determine right from wrong? Conscience illuminates the answer through science and philosophy. In her brilliant work Touching a Nerve, Patricia S. Churchland, the distinguished founder of neurophilosophy, drew from scientific research on the brain to understand its philosophical and ethical implications for identity, consciousness, free will, and memory. In Conscience, she explores how moral systems arise from our physical selves in combination with environmental demands. All social groups have ideals for behavior, even though ethics vary among different cultures and among individuals within each culture. In trying to understand why, Churchland brings together an understanding of the influences of nature and nurture. She looks to evolution to elucidate how, from birth, our brains are configured to form bonds, to cooperate, and to care. She shows how children grow up in society to learn, through repetition and rewards, the norms, values, and behavior that their parents embrace. Conscience delves into scientific studies, particularly the fascinating work on twins, to deepen our understanding of whether people have a predisposition to embrace specific ethical stands. Research on psychopaths illuminates the knowledge about those who abide by no moral system and the explanations science gives for these disturbing individuals. Churchland then turns to philosophy—that of Socrates, Aquinas, and contemporary thinkers like Owen Flanagan—to explore why morality is central to all societies, how it is transmitted through the generations, and why different cultures live by different morals. Her unparalleled ability to join ideas rarely put into dialogue brings light to a subject that speaks to the meaning of being human.
Download or read book Discovering the Brain written by National Academy of Sciences and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1992-01-01 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The brain ... There is no other part of the human anatomy that is so intriguing. How does it develop and function and why does it sometimes, tragically, degenerate? The answers are complex. In Discovering the Brain, science writer Sandra Ackerman cuts through the complexity to bring this vital topic to the public. The 1990s were declared the "Decade of the Brain" by former President Bush, and the neuroscience community responded with a host of new investigations and conferences. Discovering the Brain is based on the Institute of Medicine conference, Decade of the Brain: Frontiers in Neuroscience and Brain Research. Discovering the Brain is a "field guide" to the brainâ€"an easy-to-read discussion of the brain's physical structure and where functions such as language and music appreciation lie. Ackerman examines: How electrical and chemical signals are conveyed in the brain. The mechanisms by which we see, hear, think, and pay attentionâ€"and how a "gut feeling" actually originates in the brain. Learning and memory retention, including parallels to computer memory and what they might tell us about our own mental capacity. Development of the brain throughout the life span, with a look at the aging brain. Ackerman provides an enlightening chapter on the connection between the brain's physical condition and various mental disorders and notes what progress can realistically be made toward the prevention and treatment of stroke and other ailments. Finally, she explores the potential for major advances during the "Decade of the Brain," with a look at medical imaging techniquesâ€"what various technologies can and cannot tell usâ€"and how the public and private sectors can contribute to continued advances in neuroscience. This highly readable volume will provide the public and policymakersâ€"and many scientists as wellâ€"with a helpful guide to understanding the many discoveries that are sure to be announced throughout the "Decade of the Brain."
Download or read book Touching the Light written by Meg Blackburn Losey and published by Weiser Books. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Psychic and master healer Meg Losey shares her alternative healing techniques for mind, body, and spirit in Touching The Light. Losey shows how channeled systems of healing stem from our perception, energy, and participation in our own journeys. She shares the techniques that she has learned from her human and etheric teachers that readers can use on themselves and others. How is it that miracles happen? Is spontaneous healing really possible? Why is it that some illnesses don’t show up in standard or even specialized medical testing, yet are very real in their effects? Can someone be “cosmically sick” with no apparent physical cause? How do the people and places around us affect us in our everyday lives? Can we intentionally and effectively create miracles of healing to change lives, or to effect positive outcomes even when situations seem hopeless? How can symbols of light be used to instantly attune someone’s entire energy system? Meg Blackburn Losey answers these questions and many others in this ground-breaking book. Touching the Light brings the reader into previously unknown worlds of healing and explains not only how energy healing is possible but how it works. It is the quintessential instruction manual for holistic healing in the third dimension and beyond!
Download or read book The War of the Soups and the Sparks written by Elliot S. Valenstein and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The question of how nerves communicate with one another was the subject of a heated & protracted dispute between pharmacologists & neurophysiologists. This book recalls the debate & how the theory of chemical transmission was eventually confirmed by the discovery of neurotransmitters.
Download or read book The Hand and the Brain written by Göran Lundborg and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-09-11 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents the human hand from an overall perspective – from the first appearance of hand-like structures in the fins of big fishes living millions of years ago to today ́s and the future’s mind-controlled artificial hands. Much focus is given to the extremely well-developed sensation of the hand, its importance and its linkage to brain plasticity mechanisms. How can active hands rapidly expand their representational area in the brain? How can the sense of touch substitute for other deficient senses, such as in Braille reading where hand sensation substitutes for missing vision? How can the mere observation of active hands, belonging to others, activate the hand area in the observer’s own brain and what is the importance of this phenomenon for learning by imitation and the understanding of other peoples’ actions, gestures and body language? Why are some of us left-handed and what are the consequences from cultural and physiological viewpoints? Why does phantom sensation and phantom pain occur after hand amputation, and what can we do about it? Why can salamanders regenerate new extremities while humans can not? Is it possible to transplant a hand from a diseased individual to an amputee? Can artificial robotic hands be controlled by our mind, and can they ever gain the role of a normal hand? What role did the hand and the brain play during evolution in tool construction and development of language and cognitive functions? The hand has a high symbolic value in religion, literature and art and our hands have a key role in gestures and body language. The Hand and the Brain is aimed at anybody with interest in life sciences, in the medical field especially hand surgeons, orthopaedic specialists, neurologists and general practitioners, and those working in rehabilitation medicine and pain treatment. The original Swedish version of The Hand and the Brain has also become very popular among physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, and among a general population with an interest in science.
Download or read book Touching the Void written by Joe Simpson and published by Direct Authors. This book was released on 2012-12-12 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 25th Anniversary ebook, now with more than 50 images. 'Touching the Void' is the tale of two mountaineer’s harrowing ordeal in the Peruvian Andes. In the summer of 1985, two young, headstrong mountaineers set off to conquer an unclimbed route. They had triumphantly reached the summit, when a horrific accident mid-descent forced one friend to leave another for dead. Ambition, morality, fear and camaraderie are explored in this electronic edition of the mountaineering classic, with never before seen colour photographs taken during the trip itself.
Download or read book Touching the Dragon written by James Hatch and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Jimmy Hatch is a personal hero of mine.” —Anderson Cooper “Irresistible. . . . A wounded SEAL’s shame becomes a salvation.” —J. Ford Huffman, Military Times James Hatch is a former special ops Navy SEAL senior chief, master naval parachutist, and expert military dog trainer and handler. On his fateful final mission in Afghanistan, his SEAL team was sent to recover Bowe Bergdahl—the soldier who deserted his post and fell into the hands of Al-Qaida and the Taliban. The mission went south, and Hatch was left with a shattered femur from an AK-47 round and the SEAL dog who fought alongside him was dead. As a result of his horrific leg wound, his twenty-four-year military career came to an end—and with it the only life he’d ever known. In Touching the Dragon, we witness his long road to recovery. Getting well physically required eighteen surgeries, twelve months of recovery, and learning to walk again. But getting well mentally would prove to be much tougher, as he fought through the depths of despair, alcoholism, and the pull to end his own life. What emerges is a different kind of hero’s journey, one in which Hatch shows the courage it takes to confess, confront, and overcome his own brokenness. Through the love of family, friends, and his military dogs, Hatch learned remarkable tools and found his purpose, and now he wants to share this wisdom with the rest of us because we all have wounds.
Download or read book Know Your Place written by Andy Knaggs and published by . This book was released on 2012-11 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ""Someone really should make a movie of this story. It's better than most of the scripts I see."" Jacqui Gray, actress ""I loved Know Your Place and was especially enthralled by the nerve-jangling crescendo. Can't wait for the sequel!"" Helen Alexander ""A fast-paced tale of paranoia and vengeance in modern London. A promising first novel."" Andy Sibley ""This is a captivating book, taut with suspense and unfolding drama. Impossible to put down."" Sally WhitearIt was a humdrum kind of life ... polishing City boys' shoes by day, and counting the meagre pennies by nigh.
