New Books in Neuroscience

Nov 04 2024 183 ep. 63 mins 252
New Books in Neuroscience Podcast artwork

Interviews with Neuroscientists about their New Books

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Anneli Jefferson, "Are Mental Disorders Brain Disorders?" (Routledge, 2024)

Nov 04 2024 88 mins  
The question of whether mental disorders are disorders of the brain has led to a long-running and controversial dispute within psychiatry, psychology and philosophy of mind and psychology. While recent work in neuroscience frequently tries to identify underlying brain dysfunction in mental disorders, detractors argue that labelling mental disorders as brain disorders is reductive a

David Peña-Guzmán: Animals Dream and that Makes Them Morally Considerable (JP)

Oct 31 2024 51 mins  
In his marvelous new book, When Animals Dream: The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness (Princeton UP, 2023), David Peña-Guzmán (SF State as well as the lovely philosophical podcast Overthink) offers up something new in animal studies--"a philosophical interpretation of biological subjectivity." Although we share no linguistic schema with animals there is lots more evidence than

Francisco Aboitiz, "A History of Bodies, Brains, and Minds: The Evolution of Life and Consciousness" (MIT Press, 2024)

Oct 19 2024 71 mins  
Francisco Aboitiz is a professor at the Medical School and the director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Neuroscience at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. A History of Bodies, Brains, and Minds: The Evolution of Life and Consciousness (MIT Press, 2024) tells the story of life and nervous systems. It introduces the conceptual framework and terminology of evolution, gives

Daniel J. Levitin, "Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives" (Dutton Books, 2020)

Oct 07 2024 40 mins  
In Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives (Dutton Books, 2020), Daniel J. Levitin delivers powerful insights: • Debunking the myth that memory always declines with age • Confirming that “health span”—not “life span”—is what matters • Proving that sixty-plus years is a unique and newly recognized developmental stage • Rec

Neil Vickers and Derek Bolton, "Being Ill: On Sickness, Care and Abandonment" (Reaktion Books, 2024)

Oct 05 2024 58 mins  
A serious illness often changes the way others see us. Few, if any, relationships remain the same. The sick become more dependent on partners and family members, while more distant contacts become strained. The carers of the ill are also often isolated. This book focuses on our sense of self when ill and how infirmity plays out in our relationships with others. In Being Ill: On Sic

Camilla Nord, "The Balanced Brain: The Science of Mental Health" (Princeton UP, 2024)

Sep 20 2024 26 mins  
There are many routes to mental well-being. In this groundbreaking book, neuroscientist Camilla Nord offers a fascinating tour of the scientific developments that are revolutionising the way we think about mental health, showing why and how events--and treatments--can affect people in such different ways. In The Balanced Brain: The Science of Mental Health (Princeton UP, 2024), Nor

Nick Chater, "The Mind Is Flat: The Remarkable Shallowness of the Improvising Brain" (Yale UP, 2019)

Aug 24 2024 102 mins  
Psychologists and neuroscientists struggle with how best to interpret human motivation and decision making. The assumption is that below a mental “surface” of conscious awareness lies a deep and complex set of inner beliefs, values, and desires that govern our thoughts, ideas, and actions, and that to know this depth is to know ourselves. In the The Mind Is Flat: The Remarkable

Iris Berent, "The Blind Storyteller: How We Reason about Human Nature" (Oxford UP, 2020)

Aug 11 2024 56 mins  
Do newborns think-do they know that 'three' is greater than 'two'? Do they prefer 'right' to 'wrong'? What about emotions--do newborns recognize happiness or anger? If they do, then how are our inborn thoughts and feelings encoded in our bodies? Could they persist after we die? Going all the way back to ancient Greece, human nature and the mind-body link are the topics of age-old s

David Badre, "On Task: How Our Brain Gets Things Done" (Princeton UP, 2020)

Jul 21 2024 42 mins  
On Task: How Our Brain Gets Things Done (Princeton UP, 2020) is a look at the extraordinary ways the brain turns thoughts into actions—and how this shapes our everyday lives. Why is it hard to text and drive at the same time? How do you resist eating that extra piece of cake? Why does staring at a tax form feel mentally exhausting? Why can your child expertly fix the computer an

John Thomas Maier, "The Disabled Will: A Theory of Addiction" (Routledge, 2024)

Jun 26 2024 49 mins  
John T. Maier's The Disabled Will: A Theory of Addiction (Routledge Press, 2024) defends a comprehensive new vision of what addiction is and how people with addictions should be treated. The author argues that, in addition to physical and intellectual disabilities, there are volitional disabilities - disabilities of the will - and that addiction is best understood as a species of v