Washoe County Library System

"What is consciousness? How does it arise? And why does it exist? We take our experience of being in the world for granted. But the very existence of consciousness raises profound questions: Why would any collection of matter in the universe be conscious? How are we able to think about this? And why should we? /In this wonderfully accessible book, Annaka Harris guides us through the evolving definitions, philosophies, and scientific findings that...

From bizarre dreams and hallucinations to schizophrenia and multiple personalities, the human brain is responsible for a diverse spectrum of strange thoughts and behaviors. From the outside, these phenomena are written off as being just "crazy," but what if they were actually planned and logical? NeuroLogic explores the brain’s internal system of reasoning, from its unconscious depths to conscious decision-making, and how it explains our most outlandish...

For generations, we've been taught that women and men differ in profound and important ways. Women are more sensitive and emotional, whereas men are more aggressive and sexual because this or that region in a woman's brain is smaller or larger than a man's, or because women have more or less of a particular hormone. This story seems to provide us with a neat biological explanation for much of what we encounter in day-to-day life. But is it true? According...

A leading neuroscientist and a noted puzzle designer team up to reveal how solving puzzles improves one's brain function, giving readers the chance to work puzzles while learning how to boost their brain.

"Joseph LeDoux offers a new framework for understanding how biological processes give rise to the sense of being an independent personality in the world. Theorizing the intricate interdependence of the bodily, neural, cognitive, and conscious realms, Ledoux explores the evolution of the human as an "ensemble of being" unique among Earth's animals"-- "One of the world's leading experts on mind and brain takes us on an expedition that reveals a new...

Encourages parents to help optimize their child's neural development along with their vocabularies to ensure future success in school and life through tuning in to what they are doing, speaking to them using many descriptive words, and engaging them in conversations.

"This trade book takes on the widely-shared belief that learning the history of something always contributes to understanding it, is often the best way to do so, and sometimes is the only way. The aim is to explain away these three beliefs, to show why historical narrative is always, always wrong, not just incomplete or inaccurate or unfounded, but mistaken the way Ptolemaic astronomy or Phlogiston chemistry is wrong. The resources employed to do...

"The Future of the Mind gives us an authoritative and compelling look at the astonishing research being done in top laboratories around the world--all based on the latest advancements in neuroscience and physics. One day we might have a "smart pill" that can enhance our cognition; be able to upload our brain to a computer, neuron for neuron; send thoughts and emotions around the world on a "brain-net"; control computers and robots with our mind; push...