Nature's Mind: The Biological Roots of Thinking, Emotions, Sexuality, Language, and Intelligence

by Michael S. Gazzaniga

The co-discoverer of the “split brain” theory tells how science is recasting the age-old question of nature versus nurture to create a startling new view of human behavior. Recent discoveries suggest that natural selection affects not only physical characteristics but also mental processes, from learning to substance abuse.

Genres: Science, Psychology, Neuroscience, Evolution, Biology, Nonfiction

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Michael S. Gazzaniga, one of the premiere doctors of neuroscience, was born on December 12, 1939 in Los Angeles. Educated at Dartmouth College and California Institute of Technology, he is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he heads the new SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind.

His early research examined the subject of epileptics who had undergone surgery to control seizures. He has also studied Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients and reveals important findings in books such as Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of the Mind.

While many of his writings are technical, he also educates and stimulates readers with discussions about the fascinating and mysterious workings of the brain. Books such as The Social Brain and The Mind's Past bring forth new information and theories regarding how the brain functions, interacts, and responds with the body and the environment.

Reviews

[Mary D]

interesting and a pretty easy read; his position is that human behavior and body issues are based more on evolutionary selection systems in the brain/body than we have previously thought; his position seems a bit extreme at times and would certainly annoy the creationists, psychoanalysts and behaviorists; he feels that most of the plasticity and "instructional" assumptions we've made are wrong

[Βασίλης Πιτσιλαδής]

Nature's Mind: The Biological Roots of Thinking, Emotions, Sexuality, Language, and Intelligence

[estella del]

lots of outdated info/terms but a classic from the father of cognitive neuroscience