Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self [Hardcover]

Todd E. Feinberg (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 019513625X | ISBN-13: 978-0195136258 | Publication Date: January 15, 2001 | Edition: 1st

It may be the deepest mystery of philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience: how does the brain unite to create the self, the subjective "I"? In Altered Egos, Dr. Todd Feinberg presents a new theory of the self, based on his first-hand experience as both a psychiatrist and neurologist.
Feinberg first introduces the reader to dozens of intriguing cases of patients whose disorders have resulted in what he calls "altered egos": a change in the brain that transforms the boundaries of the self. He describes patients who suffer from "alien hand syndrome" where one hand might attack the patient's own throat, patients with frontal lobe damage who invent fantastic stories about their lives, paralyzed patients who reject and disown one of their limbs. Feinberg argues that the brain damage suffered by these people has done more than simply impair certain functions--it has fragmented their sense of self. After illustrating how these patients provide a window into the self and the mind, the author presents a new model of the self that links the workings of the brain with unique and personal features of the mind, such as meaning, purpose, and being. Drawing on his own and other evidence, Feinberg explains how the unified self, while not located in one or another brain region, arises out of the staggering complexity and number of the brain's component parts.
Lucid, insightful, filled with fascinating case studies and provocative new ideas, Altered Egos promises to change the way we think about human consciousness and the creation and maintenance of human identity.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Feinberg is a neurologist whose treatment of patients with bizarre mental illnesses has led him to ponder that sense of mental unity we call experience. As brain research has progressed, that sense has remained stubbornly resistant to explication; indeed, it has grown more mysterious even as the anatomy of the living brain has become well understood. Feinberg frequently iterates this paradox before propounding his answer to it; before then, he recounts patients who exhibited, following an injury to their brains, a drastic degradation in self-awareness. Previously ordinary people can no longer recognize themselves in mirrors; believe that their limbs belong to somebody else; and, if blinded, insist their vision is 20/20. To Feinberg, these symptoms reinforce his impression of the self's malleability and initiate his argument, with references to Descartes, about how the brain shapes the self. He offers, after refuting notions that the organ has a locus for the self as it does for vision, a version of the self-as-emergent-phenomenon idea. Avoiding undue technical jargon, Feinberg's presentation ably elucidates for general readers the material/ethereal nexus of self-perception. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Altered Egos offers us a dazzling array of neurological syndromes to show how delicately constructed is our sense of self...The shock of such tales is to see how distorted your mental realm can become withour you ever knowing the difference." --New Scientist

"Anyone perplexed by the riddle of consciousness--and who is not these days?--should read Todd Feinberg's bold, energetic account of how a brain makes a mind." --John Horgan, author of The Undiscovered Mind

"A fascinating book. I was astonished to find out that one of my favorite film characters, Dr. Strangelove, is actually displaying signs of "alien hand," a medical syndrome. There are many real-life case studies in this book used to explain the way the human mind invents and reinvents itself. A must read!"--Gus Van Sant, film director

"This is an ambitious work, tackling no less than the mind-body problem. Amazingly, it is successful in that it offers a new way of thinking about problems of self, subjectivity and meaning . . . I am extremely enthusiastic about this book." --Martha J. Farah, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania

"In the tradition of Jackson, Critchley, and Sacks, Todd Feinberg melds clinical wisdom, impressive scholarship, and profound philosophical insight to produce a lucid and enchanting account of what determines our daily actions and experiences. Far beyond the tired genre of "neurostories," Altered Egos examines the souls behind the symptoms to give the reader a stunning appreciation of how all the aspects of our lives that we take for grantedour perceptions, memories, feelings, and beliefsare actually sculpted and crafted from myriad experiential elements that can only be dissected and examined under the harsh lens of injury or disease. Above all, Altered Egos shows us how intentionalitythe purposeful seeking of meaningis what distinguishes us from both beast and computer, and this warm and thoughtful book provides a blueprint of what it truly means to be a human being."-- Laurence Miller, Ph.D., author of Inner Natures and Freud's Brain

"Altered Egos combines philosophy and psychology with case histories of neurological and psychiatric patients to paint a novel picture of how the brain makes the self. It's fascinating reading, start to finish. -Joseph E. LeDoux, Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science, New York University, and author of The Emotional Brain

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 205 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1st edition (January 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019513625X
• ISBN-13: 978-0195136258
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,111,627 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Provocative theory and interesting case studies, February 16, 2001

By 

Bruce Nunnally "Bruce from Caddyinfo.com" (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self (Hardcover)

I love books like these because I am fascinated by the brain, so I had to try it when I heard Dr. Feinberg on NPR. He does not disappoint those of us who enjoy books on the wilder side of neurology. He is very good at explaining all the most bizarre behaviors in fairly simple language, and his drawings of the brains of his patients were an outstanding addition.

I felt his theories of how the brain constructed the self were thought-provoking, but I don't think he spent enough time on them. If he had fleshed them out a little more, I would have given the book five stars.

However, if you like Oliver Sack's accounts of his patients, you'll like this book, too.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dr. Feinberg's masterpiece, June 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self (Hardcover)

Altered Egos by Todd Feinberg is a superbly written, fascinating account of a doctor's observations of his brain injured patients. Dr. Feinberg compassionately portrays their histories in riveting case reports and subsequently anchors the rich case material in philosophical and neuroscientific theories. Examination of alterations in the self that result from damage to the brain provides the basis for Dr. Feinberg's groundbreaking discussion of the complexities of the self. Dr. Feinberg artfully presents his theory of the nested hierarchy of consciousness. This book is a must read.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding neurophilosophical thinking, June 11, 2001

By 

"brainmeister" (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Altered Egos: How the Brain Creates the Self (Hardcover)

There has been a good deal of writing about the brain and mind of late, but I can't recall a more enjoyable and thought provoking read than Dr. Feinberg's new book "Altered Egos".I first heard Dr Feinberg on NPR radio and I went right out to buy his book. The first part relates numerous fascinating case studies of patients with brain damage who experience an alteration in their sense of self.For example, some patients misidentify their spouses,as in the Talking Heads song Once in a Lifetime ("This is not my Beautiful Wife"). Other cases don't recognize their own arms; still others who suffer from a condition known as "alien hand syndrome", might even attack themselves. In the later sections of the book, Feinberg uses these cases to explore how the many areas of the brain that contribute to the self combine to create a unified self and an "inner I". In simple language that is accesible to the non-professional, Feinberg draws on basic principles in neurology and philosophy and presents his case that the brain/mind is a "nested hierarchy of meaning and purpose." He argues convincingly that this nested hierarchy is the final irreducible reality of what and who we are. I personally found the combination of neurology and philosophy in this book exciting, and the best part was that I found the writing not just understandable, but fun. Feinberg's book is a must read for anyone who has wondered what it really is to be a person.