The Idea of the Brain: A History: SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2020

by Matthew Cobb

Sunday Times Book of the Year

Telegraph Science Book of the Year

Shortlisted for the 2020 Baillie Gifford Prize

This is the story of our quest to understand the most mysterious object in the universe: the human brain.

Today we tend to picture it as a computer. Earlier scientists thought about it in their own technological terms: as a telephone switchboard, or a clock, or all manner of fantastic mechanical or hydraulic devices. Could the right metaphor unlock the its deepest secrets once and for all?

Galloping through centuries of wild speculation and ingenious, sometimes macabre anatomical investigations, scientist and historian Matthew Cobb reveals how we came to our present state of knowledge. Our latest theories allow us to create artificial memories in the brain of a mouse, and to build AI programmes capable of extraordinary cognitive feats. A complete understanding seems within our grasp.

But to make that final breakthrough, we may need a radical new approach. At every step of our quest, Cobb shows that it was new ideas that brought illumination. Where, he asks, might the next one come from? What will it be?

• ISBN10: 178125589X
• ISBN13: 9781781255896
• Publish Date: 12 March 2020 (first published 5 March 2020)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 15 June 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Profile Books Ltd
• Edition: Main
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 480
• Language: English

Reviews

[Jeff Sexton]

Comprehensive Review of The Field. Cobb seems to do a spectacular job here of giving a general overview of neurotypical neuroscience, from the earliest ways man thought about his brain and cognition to the most current of state of the field in some situations - one citation in particular was from 2019! He doesn't really address neurological divergences at all, instead focusing on the brain as it is understood for most. But within what he decides to address, this book seemingly gives a very solid, very comprehensive overview of the actual science of the brain. Decently easy to follow as long as you're ready for an academic review, this book really does what it sets out to do, no more, no less. Very much recommended.