Susan Greenfield

Combining scientific studies, news events and cultural criticism, a thought-provoking foray into the Digital Age reveals how it has altered our cultural landscape, fueled an epidemic of oversharing and transformed how we learn, retain and disseminate information. Includes a chart.

How Digital Technologies are Leaving Their Mark on Our Brains

Mind Change

"Drawing on many different sources–the effects of neurological disorders and injuries, the actions of drugs, the character of thought in dreams, in schizophrenia, in reverie, and in childhood–Susan Greenfield has given us a synthesis which is challenging, original, readable, and personal."–Oliver Sacks How does the human brain produce your private world? In this groundbreaking exploration, neuroscientist and author Susan Greenfield demystifies the private life of the brain. She examines the physical basis of our emotions and searches for the answer to one of the most enduring mysteries in modern science: How does the brain create a unique, subjective experience for each one of us? Utilizing cutting-edge research and compelling personal anecdotes, Greenfield reveals that emotions, triggered by individual life experiences, are the very foundation upon which our brains build our unique minds. In this absorbing, lyrical exploration, Dr. Greenfield presents a provocative new theory that provides an illuminating glimpse into the human brain and reveals the astonishing essence of who we are. "This is one of those rare books that can make a reader happy to have been led to think."–Booklist

Emotions, Consciousness, and the Secret of the Self

The Private Life of the Brain

Tomorrow's People

Greenfield argues persuasively that our individuality is under the microscope as never before. Two huge forces- new technologies and old ideologies- are, in their different ways, impacting on our minds. Never before have we more urgently needed to look at what we want for ourselves as individuals, our children and for our future society.

the quest for meaning in the 21st century

I.D.

What is it that makes you distinct from me? Identity is a term much used but hard to define. For that very reason, it has long been a topic of fascination for philosophers but has been regarded with aversion by neuroscientists—until now. Susan Greenfield takes us on a journey in search of a biological interpretation of this most elusive of concepts, guiding us through the social and psychiatric perspectives and ultimately to the heart of the physical brain. Greenfield argues that as the brain adapts exquisitely to environment, the cultural challenges of the twenty-first century with its screen-based technologies mean that we are facing unprecedented changes to identity itself.

You and Me: The Neuroscience of Identity

Each of us has a unique, subjective inner world, one that we can never share directly with anyone else. But how do our physical brains actually give rise to this rich and varied experience of consciousness? In this ground-breaking book, internationally acclaimed neuroscientist Susan Greenfield brings together a series of astonishing new, empirically based insights into consciousness as she traces a single day in the life of your brain. From waking to walking the dog, working to dreaming, Greenfield explores how our daily experiences are translated into a tangle of cells, molecules and chemical blips, thereby probing the enduring mystery of how our brains create our individual selves.

The Neuroscience of Consciousness from Dawn Till Dusk

A Day in the Life of the Brain

"The last great unconquered frontier of science - the human brain - has slowly begun to yield its secrets. Where are memories stored? Are our brains a product of nature or nurture? Are free will and consciousness more than illusions? 'Brain Story' presents the latest theories and controversies of neuroscience."--Back cover.

Unlocking Our Inner World of Emotions, Memories, Ideas and Desires

Brain Story

Thirteen formerly homeless New Yorkers tell their life stories, describing their joys as well as torments, their broken-heartedness and faith. At a time when national homelessness is on the rise, and when the discriminatory and punitive social conditions that create it are getting worse, Sacred Shelter celebrates the personal dignity of each and every individual and insists on our communal need to listen to each other.

13 Journeys of Homelessness and Healing

Sacred Shelter

It is many years since the human race gave up its individuality. Our world is now a place of technicolour, mechanical beauty. Iridescent domes sit upon the ruins of the previous civilization, and small figures wander constantly between them - dancing, singing, running, but never touching. Each of us is immersed in our own virtual reality. We are like children, living in a perpetual summer: ageless, beautiful, and utterly reliant on the lost knowledge of another age. For decades, nothing disturbed our peaceful equilibrium. Until Fred arrived. Until he took one of us from among from us and made her different. Until he showed us what our world was made of...

A Tale from the Next Century

2121

Colin Blakemore

Essays discuss individuality, schizophrenia, animal minds, artificial intelligence, consciousness, neuroscience, language, and grammar

Thoughts on Intelligence, Identity and Consciousness

Mindwaves

The human brain remains the last great unconquered frontier of science. Somehow, that almost featureless mass of grey sludge locked inside our skulls creates a whole inner world populated by emotions, memories, ideas, desires. Everything we see, touch, hear and feel the illusion of reality is conjured up by this inscrutable organ. For centuries, scientists have probed and analysed the brains every lobe and crevice, searching for clues that might shed the faintest glimmer of light on its mysterious workings but to no avail. Now, however, the brain has slowly begun to yield its secrets. Incredible advances in scanning technology that show the human brain working at full tilt are dispelling once and for all the notion that the brain works like a well-organized machine, with centres for emotion, reason, language or memory. In this highly readable and often mind-boggling tour through the brains workings, Susan Greenfield brings the reader right up to date on the latest theories and controversies of neuroscience. Drawing together many different strands of research from studies of the bizarre and disturbing effects of brain injuries to attempts to model the brain in silicon she tackles head-on the questions that have baffled philosophers and scientists since antiquity. Where are memories stored? Are our brains a product of nature or nurture? Will we ever build thinking robots? And are free will and consciousness nothing more than illusions produced by the subconscious mind? The picture that emerges is one of an incredibly complex and dynamic organ, full of astonishing surprises. Illustrated with the latest brain-scanning images that are revolutionizing neuroscience, this book which accompanies the BBC television series Brain Story gives a fascinating new insight into just what makes us tick.

Quack Magic

An acclaimed neuroscientist explores the physical basis of emotions in the brain, suggesting that emotions are the foundation upon which the brain builds the unique mind.

Seeks to explain the mysterious processes of the human brain, delving into everything from synapses to states of mind. This book introduces comparisons with animal brains, and provides human case histories to illustrate specific mental oddities, banishing many myths in the process.

The Control Centre of the Living Machine

The Human Mind Explained

Explores the complexities of the human mind including consciousness, imagination, fantasy, memory, and language

An Owner's Guide to the Mysteries of the Mind

Human Mind Explained

Advances in medical science have shown us that many of our body organs can be replaced by donation. However, it seems inconceivable to transplant the brain. What is it about our brains that make us different as animals and individual as people?

Working Out the Human Mind

Brainpower

Susan Greenfield, one of the world's pre-eminent scientists, takes the reader on a guided tour of the final frontier in human understanding: the brain. Locked away remote from the rest of the body in its own custom-built casing of skull bone, with no intrinsic moving parts, the human brain remains a tantalising mystery. But now, more than ever before, we have the expertise to tackle this mystery - the last 20 years have seen astounding progress in brain research. Susan Greenfield begins by exploring the roles of different regions of the brain. She then switches to the opposite direction and examines how certain functions, such as movement and vision, are accommodated in the brain. She describes how a brain is made from a single fertilized egg, and the fate of the brain is traced through life as we see how it constantly changes as a result of experience to provide the essence of a unique individual.

A Guided Tour

The Human Brain

If you’ve ever wondered what effect video games have on your children’s minds or worried about how much private information the government and big companies know about you, ID is essential reading. Professor Susan Greenfield argues persuasively that our individuality is under the microscope as never before; now more then ever we urgently need to look at what we want for ourselves as individuals and for our future society. ID is an exploration of what it means to be human in a world of rapid change, a passionately argued wake-up call and an inspiring challenge to embrace creativity and forge our own identities.

Richard Catlow

Charles Richard Arthur Catlow

This new selection of essays from the famous Royal Institution Discourses offers fascinating and authoritative accounts of current thinking in many areas of science and technology, ranging from cosmic rays to materials for life.

Essays in Science and Technology from the Royal Institution

Cosmic Rays: Essays on Science and Technology from Royal Institution

In the near future, humanity has experienced a great schism. The larger part is ruled by instinct and pleasure: they are ageless, beautiful yet wholly dependent on technology designed by previous generations to sustain them. Having no social structure or self-consciousness to speak of, to the minority they are simply known as the Others. But into this unmarked, timeless community walks Fred, the first visitor from a far-off land. His people are the N-Ps, governed by logic, revolted by the mindless, unfettered sollipsism of the Others. In all respects a model N-P, as Fred conducts his studies, he finds himself caught in an awkward relationship with his test subjects. Fred begins to feel for the childlike members of the Dwelling he observes. Embracing their gaudy, hyperreal life of screens and implants, Fred begins to be changed himself, even as he begins to affect the minds of these Others in ways that may not be to their benefit.

A Tale From the Next Century

"Each of us has a unique, subjective inner world, one that we can never share directly with anyone else. But how does a tangle of brain cells conjure up this experience? Despite the remarkable progress that has been made in understanding the brain, consciousness still poses one of the greatest challenges to science. In this groundbreaking book, world-renowned neuroscientist Susan Greenfield illuminates the mystery of consciousness as she traces a single day in the life of the brain - from being awoken by an alarm to walking the dog, working in an open plan office to dreaming. Greenfield concludes that the answer to the enigma of consciousness may be found in neuronal assemblies - a process that her Oxford lab, along with others around the world, is investigating. Drawing on this pioneering research and on diverse findings from physics, philosophy and psychology, A Day in the Life of the Braingives us a bold new way of understanding who we are."

Susan Greenfield

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