Joseph LeDoux

A leading neuroscientist offers a history of the evolution of the brain from unicellular organisms to the complexity of animals and human beings today Renowned neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux digs into the natural history of life on earth to provide a new perspective on the similarities between us and our ancestors in deep time. This page-turning survey of the whole of terrestrial evolution sheds new light on how nervous systems evolved in animals, how the brain developed, and what it means to be human. In The Deep History of Ourselves, LeDoux argues that the key to understanding human behavior lies in viewing evolution through the prism of the first living organisms. By tracking the chain of the evolutionary timeline he shows how even the earliest single-cell organisms had to solve the same problems we and our cells have to solve each day. Along the way, LeDoux explores our place in nature, how the evolution of nervous systems enhanced the ability of organisms to survive and thrive, and how the emergence of what we humans understand as consciousness made our greatest and most horrendous achievements as a species possible.

The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains

The Deep History of Ourselves

Joseph LeDoux, whose NYU lab has been at the forefront of research efforts to understand and treat fear and anxiety, explains the range of anxiety disorders, their origins, and discoveries that can restore sufferers to normalcy.

Using the Brain to Understand and Treat Fear and Anxiety

Anxious

Michael Heller

Bartosz Brozek

Jacek Debiec

Emotional Brain Revisited

Anxiety is the most prevalent psychiatric problem of our time. Decades of research have gone into probing its mysteries and developing treatments. But what if we’ve been thinking about fear and anxiety in the wrong way for all these years? This is the groundbreaking premise behind a wave of new research, led by the lab of renowned neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux. He believes that fear and anxiety are not innate states, simply waiting to be unleashed in the brain. Rather they are assembled experiences, and that has huge implications for patients. By mapping brain circuits, LeDoux explains the origins of anxiety disorders and reveals discoveries that can restore sufferers to normality. As impressive as it is timely, Anxious is a comprehensive survey of cutting-edge research revolutionising the way we treat our most pressing mental health issue.

The Modern Mind in the Age of Anxiety

“[Anxious] helps to explain and prevent the kinds of debilitating anxieties all of us face in this increasingly stressful world.” —Daniel J. Levitin, author of The Organized Mind and This Is Your Brain On Music A comprehensive and accessible exploration of anxiety, from a leading neuroscientist and the author of Synaptic Self Collectively, anxiety disorders are our most prevalent psychiatric problem, affecting about forty million adults in the United States. In Anxious, Joseph LeDoux, whose NYU lab has been at the forefront of research efforts to understand and treat fear and anxiety, explains the range of these disorders, their origins, and discoveries that can restore sufferers to normalcy. LeDoux’s groundbreaking premise is that we’ve been thinking about fear and anxiety in the wrong way. These are not innate states waiting to be unleashed from the brain, but experiences that we assemble cognitively. Treatment of these problems must address both their conscious manifestations and underlying non-conscious processes. While knowledge about how the brain works will help us discover new drugs, LeDoux argues that the greatest breakthroughs may come from using brain research to help reshape psychotherapy. A major work on our most pressing mental health issue, Anxious explains the science behind fear and anxiety disorders.

»Dies ist ein außergewöhnliches Buch, eine tiefgründige Geschichte von uns selbst.« Eric R. Kandel, Nobelpreisträger für Medizin 2000 Die Urgeschichte des Bewusstseins bei Mensch und Tier entfaltet Joseph LeDoux als überwältigendes Epos: Vier Milliarden Jahre dauerte bereits die Evolution vom Einzeller bis zum Gehirn bei Mensch und Tier. Das menschliche (Selbst)Bewusstsein eröffnet Chancen und Gefahren. Um sie zu begreifen, geht LeDoux zurück an den Beginn der Evolution auf der Erde. Das unendliche Panorama des Lebens rollt Joseph LeDoux, einer der weltweit führenden Neurowissenschaftler, als Naturgeschichte auf, um bisher kaum erahnte Perspektiven zu eröffnen. Packend verdichtet sich dieser großartige Überblick zur verblüffenden Einsicht, wie sehr wir unseren Vorfahren ähneln, deren Spuren noch immer in uns zu finden sind. Wie haben sich Nervensysteme vom Einzeller bis hin zu den Tieren immer vielschichtiger aufgebaut? Wie konnten sich Gehirne bei Primaten und Menschen ausbilden? Wie erlangten wir Bewusstsein? Und warum ereignet sich das »Wunder der Selbsterkenntnis« überhaupt? Welche Chancen und Gefahren bedeutet es heute, am Ende des Anthropozäns, ein selbstbewusster Mensch zu sein? Joseph LeDoux beschreibt die Vor- und Frühgeschichte des menschlichen Selbstbewusstseins, die mehr als vier Milliarden Jahre umgreift. Es ist eine umfassende Urgeschichte von fast allem, was den Menschen kennzeichnet, ausmacht und ihn so einzigartig und so bedrohlich für Natur, Tier und sich selbst werden ließ.

Joseph LeDoux

About

Books

Join the club