![]() So, Incognito asks where exactly – when our heads are so full of unconscious thoughts and hard-wired behaviours – free will is supposed to reside and, if it is missing, what does this mean for our legal system? It's a book about the things it is impossible to think about, and others that it is no longer possible not to. Neuroscience is at a stage, he argues, where it can weigh in on age-old philosophical debates. ![]() Nor does Eagleman feel bound by his field. Which isn't to say that it is reductionist ("By itself, the biology only gives partial insight"), nor that there's no space for poetic phrasing (information is carried by "flotilla of drifting molecules"). Incognito is a different kind of book, intended to explain his day job to a general reader – and as such, it is a shining example of lucid and easy-to-grasp science writing. Eagleman is not only a neuroscientist, but an extremely clear and engaging writer. ![]() ![]() Taking in brain damage, plane spotting, dating, drugs, beauty, infidelity, synaesthesia, criminal law, artificial intelligence and visual illusions, INCOGNITO is a thrilling subsurface exploration of the mind and all. If Eagleman's name is already familiar it will be for his bestselling 2009 book Sum, a wildly imaginative collection of short stories which purported to be about the afterlife but were actually profoundly sensitive to what it means to be human in the here and now. The book, Incognito: Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman, is an engaging account of those processes packed with practical and interesting examples and insight. In this sparkling and provocative book, renowned neuroscientist David Eagleman navigates the depths of the subconscious brain. ![]()
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