States of Mind: New Discoveries About How Our Brains Make Us Who We Are [Paperback]

Roberta Conlan (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0471399736 | ISBN-13: 978-0471399735 | Edition: 1

An all-star lineup of scientists takes you to the front lines of brain research.

Are we born to be shy? Why do we remember some events so clearly and others not at all? Are creativity and depression somehow linked? Do our dreams really have deeper meanings?

Now in paperback, here is a wonderfully accessible introduction to the most important recent findings about how our health, behavior, feelings, and identities are influenced by what goes on inside our brains. In this timely book, eight pioneering researchers offer lively and stimulating discussions on the most exciting discoveries as well as a new way of understanding our emotions, moods, memories, and dreams. Inside, you'll find:
* J. ALLAN HOBSON, author of the groundbreaking The Dreaming Brain, leading a tour of dream states and explaining why we dream and what dream studies reveal about our minds
* ERIC KANDEL, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Medicine, taking us along the chain of biological events that create long-term memories, revealing how we stand at the brink of helping those who suffer from grave mental and memory disorders
* STEVEN HYMAN, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, tracing the links between nature and nurture, particularly in addiction and mental illness, to explain the relationship between inherited tendencies and the impact of life experience
* KAY REDFIELD JAMISON, bestselling author of An Unquiet Mind, explaining manic depression, its prevalence among gifted artists, writers, and musicians, and the societal questions raised by trying to eradicate the "depression gene"


. . . and much, much more. Whether discussing the brain-body connection, the sources of emotion, or the ethereal world of dreams, States of Mind enables you to share in the very latest explorations into the nature and function of the human mind.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In 1997, eight prominent scientist writers, experts on thought and the brain, met to give public lectures on the state of the art of the mind. Their talks emphasized the practical aspects, especially how emotions and stress affect the brain. States of Mind gathers their presentations in one place. The question they all ask is, "What can science tell us about ourselves?"

Steven Hyman, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, says, "There is no more compelling reason to attempt to understand the causes of mental illness than that these various afflictions exact an enormous human cost." He describes "the breathtaking complexity of the genes/environment dance," in which we now understand only a very few steps. Jerome Kagan, author of Three Seductive Ideas, talks about one such step: shyness. Kay Redfield Jamison, author of An Unquiet Mind, talks about another step: manic-depression.

This is not a book about the mind-brain problem or the nature of consciousness in a general or philosophical way; it's about what it means to have a specific human brain. What factors shape our personality, our temperament, our dreams, our sense of self? What does it mean to be "me" in particular? --Mary Ellen Curtin --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Eight crisply written reports about groundbreaking advances in brain research form this accessible tome based on a lecture series. Joseph LeDoux, NYU brain scientist, describes his exciting investigations into the human brain's "fear system" for detecting and responding to danger. The workings of this quick-response system, which bypasses the higher, "thinking" parts of the brain, provide a neurological basis for Freud's theory of the unconscious, he asserts. At the opposite pole, Harvard psychiatry professor J. Allan Hobson argues that while dreams consolidate memories and learning, their strange images are merely incidental physiological by-products, rather than symbols fraught with emotional meaning. Noting the prevalence of manic-depressive illness and depression among renowned artists, writers and composers, Johns Hopkins psychiatry professor Kay Redfield Jamison suggests that the genes predisposing an individual to these disorders might also confer a proclivity for creativity. Attempts to get rid of or to mute these genes pose a dilemma for society, she declares, since they may constitute one source of artistic genius. Bruce McEwen of Rockefeller University reports that chronic stress not only exacerbates a host of illnesses but also damages the hippocampus, a brain structure involved with memory, and Harvard psychologist Jerome Kagan explains why he believes our individual brain chemistries at birth predispose us to be outgoing or shy, bold or fearful. Based on a 1997 lecture series co-sponsored by Smithsonian Associates and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, an organization of U.S. brain researchers, the volume is enhanced by chapter headnotes and illustrations ranging from a medieval medical woodcut to modern brain scans.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471399736
• ISBN-13: 978-0471399735
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,826,565 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

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mind: the Final Frontier, April 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: States of Mind: New Discoveries About How Our Brains Make Us Who We Are (Hardcover)

It was with a certain amount of reluctance I approached States of Mind. For starters, it's about the brain and the mind, two topics which I often find incredibly good at inducing drowsiness. Second, and more seriously, it's a very collaborative affair. The front cover lists no less than eight authors, all experts in various aspects of neurobiology. But that turned out to be the book's saving grace.

Each article was originally a public lecture, designed for a non-specialist audience. And that's what makes the book so readable. First, the articles tend to have a very fluid, readable style, unlike so much academic prose. Because they were originally intended as lectures, they aren't as dense ... it's assumed the reader is a casual listener, rather than an expert, carefully reading and re-reading each sentence. And that makes this book a real treat. It's extremely enjoyable to read about the latest in brain research, explained by real experts in their fields, and in such a readable form.

The experts range from a Harvard professor (Jerome Kagan, director of the Mind-Brain-Behavior Initiative) to a best-selling author (Kay Redfield Jamison, who gives a fascinating look at manic depressives among the gifted). Despite covering a wide variety of topics, each article is eminently readable and flows nicely into the next. Which has to be a credit to the editor, Roberta Conlan. Obviously, this isn't a book for everyone. It does assume a certain background knowledge of the brain and how it works. But if you're interested in finding out what the state of our knowledge of the brain is, this is an excellent place to start. Our picture of the mind changes so radically with each passing year that you have to read something very up-to-date if you want to avoid "learning" something that's no longer thought to be true.

If there's any real surprise here, it's the current state of the endless "nature vs. nurture" debate. For much of this century, we seem to have been in "nurture mode", endlessly arguing the primacy of environment over genetics. But the experts in this book certainly lean the other way. Not that anyone is arguing that environment isn't relevant, but there does seem to be a strong tendency to assume that genetics are more important. So in summary it's readable, up to date and full of great information. A bit specialized, but if you're curious about how that lump of matter between your ears works, you won't do much better than this. For more science book reviews, check out my web page, at exn.net/printedmatter

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I raise my glass to science, March 30, 2001

By 

Roger McEvilly (the guilty bystander) (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: States of Mind: New Discoveries About How Our Brains Make Us Who We Are (Paperback)

I was most impressed with this book. Firstly, there is the correct attitude to approach the subject, with humility, and open discussion. There are no bones to pick, no doctrines to sell. Just a gathering together to try and understand something enormously relevant and complicated-the brain. Secondly, it is at the forefront of academic research. Thirdly, it is eminently readable.

The brain is an important subject to study. A proper understanding of its functioning and 'malfunctioning' can only help humanity. Brain scientists are gathering together from various sub-disciplines of the greater field of biology, including evolution and genetics, immunology, biochemistry, and cellular biology, to understand the brain. Those beetle watchers have upstarted the academic community again! Not surpising, since we happen to be animals, part of the biosphere. (Incidentally, this includes our brains).

There are up to date discussions on such things as susceptibility, 'second hits' (environmental influence), addiction, learning, shyness, introvert/extravert behavioural dispositions, mood disorders, creativity, manic depression, and schizophrenia, with some interesting analyses of famous poets, writers and artists included. Stress, what it means, the relationship to the immune system, and advances in therapy are discussed. Emotions, fear, and reason is discussed in the light of recent ideas and discoveries. Finally dreams, what they are, and what they do and don't mean.

There is a lot of good stuff here. Most importantly was the bringing together of ideas and research from various disciplines-we might like to compartmentalise our various learning streams in society-but that isn't necasarily how the brain operates. The links between stress, the immune system and the brain is a good example. There are real discoveries here, and real solutions. Facilitated by cross-fertilisation of ideas, and co-operation amongst disciplines. It is great stuff.

I look forward to what may be the coming 'century of the brain'. This book, in both its attitudes, and its discoveries, I found inspirational.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mind set, December 26, 2000

By 

Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: States of Mind: New Discoveries About How Our Brains Make Us Who We Are (Hardcover)

One of my friends and I have an on going email conversation regarding the evolution of mind and human behavioral attributes. This volume suggested itself to me as a worthy source of useful information on the subject, and indeed it is. Although I liked "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers" better (for which check my review or the listing), it was more because I enjoyed that author's slightly flip and irreverant style, than because this book is less informative. In fact, the two books have different purposes altogether, and each is successful. Whereas the former book is dedicated to explaining how the mind effects us physically, "States of Mind" is a collection of short essays on the research into the anatomy of the human brain, and into conciousness, emotional behavior, memory, etc. They are the written adaptations of a series of lectures delivered at a conference entitled "Understanding the Human Psyche." For anyone who has not attended such a conference or a colloquium given in honor of a respected academic, the format familiar to those of us who have is that such a collection consists of brief essays on selected, loosely related topics chosen from a given area of enquirey, each preceded by an introduction of the speaker/writter by the coordinator of the conference. This tends to produce a book that is less smooth in its transitions between chapters than one produced by an individual mind, like Zebras. The information in each chapter, while it certainly brings one up to date on some of the newer research and is a self contained unit, is not intended to carry one logically from chapter to chapter to an overriding conclusion. It is instead more like a professional journal in hard cover. The lay person will still find much of interest, as all of the authors have made their topics narrow, their terms clear, and have introduced pertinent information on results rather than on methods--although these too were added where they were significant to the discussion. The book is a quite practical volume in some respects, not merely a collection of unusual findings for the the curious; I found the subject of memory of particular significance. A friend of mine is having problems with her mother whose memory is starting to fail her. Some of the recent problems that have arisen between them might be avoided by simply knowing which areas of memory my friend's mother is most likely to have difficulty with and which are likely to remain dependable. I plan on loaning my friend the book so that she can read the appropriate chapters. I suspect she will find at least some comfort in them. I know I did. I also plan on sending the book to my friend Roger for his own perusal! I can hardly wait for our usual exchange of opinions on the subject!