Mapping the mind
by Rita Carter · first published 1998
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
A fun, broad overview of brain science with useful information. It serves as a good starting point for recent research on volition and agency, and works as a top-level primer to read before textbooks.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
This book shows how the latest scans, which reveal thoughts, memories - even our moods - as clearly as an X-ray reveals our bones, can be used to help explain aspects of our behaviour, and how behavioural eccentricities can be traced to abnormalities in an individual brain. Dyslexia, for example, may be caused by a short-circuit in the messages converting sound to visual cues ; addiction, eating disorders and alcoholism stem from dysfunction in the brain's reward system ; violent criminals may begin life with a small neurological fault.
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…the nurture vs. nature debate, except to mention for those interested in learning more about recent research into volition and agency (i.e. what is commonly referred to as "free will"), Rita Carter's Mapping the Mind is a good place to start. Remember though that this book covers recent experimental work in psychology, so the usual disclaimers apply.
on “The Myth of Self-Reliance: An encounter with Emerson’s essays” ↗YT, for example, contains many resources on brain anatomy and more. Plus, for example, the lessons from Robert Sapolsky at Stanford. Plus, there exist the primer books from Rita Carter (first of all, Mapping the Mind). There are loads of good material around. Note though, that CS is "forward" engineering, while Brain Science is backward engineering. So, if you do not find material that build from the ground up...…
on “Neuroscientists roll out first comprehensive atlas of brain cells” ↗…supplement since these give a nice top-level overview (and thus stimulate motivation) before diving into the details in a textbook. Two i have found useful are The Accidental Mind by David Linden and Mapping the Mind by Rita Carter. You can get pdfs of the Handbook of Unconventional Computing if you ask Google and/or Anna ;-) One more book that i hope to get my hands-on is Peter Kogge's *The Zen of Exotic Computing"…
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗…supplement since these give a nice top-level overview (and thus stimulate motivation) before diving into the details in a textbook. Two i have found useful are The Accidental Mind by David Linden and Mapping the Mind by Rita Carter. Cool, I will look into those. I have a whole pile of similar pop-sci stuff to churn through already, but the more the merrier! > One more book that i hope to get my hands-on is Peter…
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗Mapping the Mind is a fun book. It probably doesn't serve as an introduction to neuroscience, but it has a lot interesting, useful information.
on “Ask HN: What is a good introduction to neuroscience?” ↗