The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human [Hardcover]

V. S. Ramachandran (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 2011

Drawing on strange and thought-provoking case studies, an eminent neurologist offers unprecedented insight into the evolution of the uniquely human brain.

V. S. Ramachandran is at the forefront of his field-so much so that Richard Dawkins dubbed him the "Marco Polo of neuroscience." Now, in a major new work, Ramachandran sets his sights on the mystery of human uniqueness. Taking us to the frontiers of neurology, he reveals what baffling and extreme case studies can teach us about normal brain function and how it evolved. Synesthesia becomes a window into the brain mechanisms that make some of us more creative than others. And autism—for which Ramachandran opens a new direction for treatment—gives us a glimpse of the aspect of being human that we understand least: self-awareness. Ramachandran tackles the most exciting and controversial topics in neurology with a storyteller's eye for compelling case studies and a researcher's flair for new approaches to age-old questions. Tracing the strange links between neurology and behavior, this book unveils a wealth of clues into the deepest mysteries of the human brain. 15 black-and-white illustrations

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Ramachandran (A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness), director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at UCSD, explores why humans, who are "anatomically, neurologically and genetically, physiologically apes," are not "merely" apes. While animals can communicate with sound and gesture, and chimpanzees can even use words to express immediate needs, humans have developed the ability to speak in structurally complex sentences, and often speak in metaphor. Ramachandran speculates that, as we can map another's actions and intuit their thoughts, we also map our own sensory apparatus, perceiving our surroundings—and perceiving ourselves perceiving our surroundings. We imagine the future and speculate about the past and seek to understand our place in the universe, laying the foundation for our the sense of free will; we not only envisage future actions, but are aware of their potential consequences and the responsibility for our choices. Richard Dawkins has called Ramachandran "the Marco Polo of neuroscience," and with good reason. He offers a fascinating explanation of cutting-edge-neurological research that deepens our understanding of the relationship between the perceptions of the mind and the workings of the brain. (Jan.)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* The twentieth was the century of physics, with the grand unified theory its quest and goal. The twenty-first is shaping up as the century of neuroscience, with its quest and goal the reaffirmation of human exceptionalism. Boldly asserting, right off the bat, that Homo sapiens is “no mere ape,” Ramachandran tells us why the day of neuroscience has dawned. The discovery of mirror neurons (see Marco Iacoboni’s exciting Mirroring People, 2008) has made a real science out of psychology, for it gives the study of consciousness and the host of mental states contingent on it something physical to theorize about and experiment with. A physician (like Oliver Sacks, a neurologist) as well as a researcher, Ramachandran uses his neurology patients’ predicaments to inspire inquiries into how we see and know, the origins of language, the mental basis of civilization, how we conceive of and assess art, and how the self is constructed. Always careful to point out when he is speculating rather than announcing research findings, he is also prompt to emphasize why his speculations, or theories, are not just of the armchair variety but can be put to the test because of what neuroscience has already discovered about the active structures of the human brain. --Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 357 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (January 17, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393077829
• ISBN-13: 978-0393077827
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 1.2 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #257,350 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

209 of 216 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ramachandran Raises the Bar - Yet Again! January 2, 2011

By Warren R. Grayson

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The preeminent neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran has, without a doubt, raised the bar in this, his newest book, The Tell-Tale Brain. He states in the preface, "Readers who have assiduously followed my whole oeuvre over the years will recognize some of the case histories that I presented in my previous books, Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind and A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness: From Impostor Poodles to Purple Numbers. These same readers will be pleased to see that I have new things to say about even my earlier findings and observations. Brain science has advanced at an astonishing pace over the past fifteen years, lending fresh perspectives on - well, just about everything. After decades of floundering in the shadow of the "hard" sciences, the age of neuroscience has truly dawned, and this rapid progress has directed and enriched my own work." And what an enriching book this is!

In a nutshell, what Ramachandran does is to discover how the normal brain works by studying individuals with abnormal neurological conditions. In this respect, his books are similar to Oliver Sacks (The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales and The Mind's Eye). Some of the disorders Ramachandran discusses are: Agnosia, Anosognosia, Autism, Capgras Syndrome, Cotard Syndrome, and Synesthesia, to name a few.... However, one of the finest things about Ramachandran's book is that this doesn't account for everything in the book; it's not simply Ramachandran rolling out one bizarre disorder after another. He hits the subject matter from every angle - anatomically, evolutionarily, psychologically, and philosophically. It's exceedingly evident that Ramachandran knows all of the topics - inside-and-out - in regards to mind, brain, and consciousness. And still, the writing was never over my head. It was just as Ramachandran said it would be, "I presume some degree of interest in science and curiosity about human nature, but I do not presume any sort of formal scientific background or even familiarity with my previous works. I hope this book proves instructive and inspiring to students of all levels and backgrounds, to colleagues in other disciplines, and to lay readers with no personal or professional stake in these topics."

Ramachandran states in the Epilogue, "One of the major themes in the book - whether talking about body image, mirror neurons, language evolution, or autism - has been the question of how your inner self interacts with the world (including the social world) while at the same time maintaining its privacy. The curious reciprocity between self and others is especially well developed in humans and probably exists only in rudimentary form in the great apes. I have suggested that many types of mental illness may result from derangements in this equilibrium. Understanding such disorders may pave the way not only for solving the abstract (or should I say philosophical) problem of the self at a theoretical level, but also for treating mental illness."

In conclusion, I strongly recommend reading this book. The writing is great, the style is flawless, and Ramachandran's self deprecating humor really keeps the material lively. Every issue in contemporary Mind/Brain/Consciousness literature has been addressed in one way or another and I think everyone would have something to gain from reading it. I would put this book right on par with Antonio Damasio's, Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain, and Paul Nunez's, Brain, Mind, and the Structure of Reality. Along with V.S. Ramachandran, these men, each in his own way, is pointing the way for the entire Neuroscientific community..."The question of how neurons encode meaning and evoke all the semantic associations of an object is the holy grail of neuroscience, whether you are studying memory, perception, art, or consciousness." Ramachandran's book is not to be missed! Read more ›

59 of 64 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars There's definitely an "I" in Ramachandran March 23, 2011

By D. Eigenvector

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

V.S. Ramachandran is a genius, a modern wizard of neuroscience, the foremost pioneer - the Galileo - of neurocognition. How do I know this? Well, it's not just because it says so on the back cover. No, I have an even more reliable source - Ramachandran himself! This is an interesting book and Ramachandran really is quite a clever fellow. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to realize that his cleverness is readily apparent and not something of which the reader needs to be continuously reminded. Known for gleaning important new insights from simple experiments and ideas, he often leaves the impression that his methods are sometimes a bit too simple. For example, he describes a "three boxes experiment" and speculates freely and wildly about how this experiment will help explain the evolution of language. He leaves us hanging by saying mysteriously: "The three boxes experiment has not been done yet." Well... why the hell not? We're not talking Einstein here, with predictions that had to wait until technology had sufficiently advanced to be checked. No, we're talking about watching how people stack three boxes in order to reach a high-hanging reward. One might expect "a latter-day Marco Polo" such as Ramachandran to be getting the job done in the lab, but he seems content to toss ideas into the air and wait for others to actually perform the experiments, at which point he'll be poised and ready to swoop in to take his fair share of the credit. In this same chapter, he tells how a postdoc and he suggested that apraxia is a disorder related to mirror neurons. The next sentence reads: "Paul and I opened a bottle to celebrate having clinched the diagnosis." Huh?? Surely - hopefully?... - there was quite a bit of hard work between the hypothesis and "clinching the diagnosis" but he doesn't bother telling the story.

Fortunately, it's fairly easy to navigate around the ego eruptions and bad jokes to enjoy Ramachandran's clear and insightful writing. There's lots of positive things to say about this book, as other reviewers have noted. Bouba kiki! Read more ›

39 of 47 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Tell-tale Brain January 21, 2011

By peterg

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

A well written and very readable book by the "Master" of neuro-science. However there is a lot of repetition of material previously published by the Author which detracts from its overall attraction. Nevertheless recommended reading - with patience because old material does get some up dating.

57 of 73 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Deja vu February 11, 2011

By Marco Moriconi

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have read Phantoms in the Brain, which I think is one of the best popular books on neuroscience: informative, well-written,cutting edge research. All you want in one sigle package. I eagerly awaited for Ramachandran's next book, but I have to say that The Tell-Tale Brain is quite disappointing. I am still half way through and wonder: why did he write another version of his previous book? Does he want to place some of his (controversial) ideas in the popular mind?

I will finish reading it for sure, since I already bought it. But if you want to save some money, buy Phantoms in the Brain.

23 of 29 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars More of the same February 10, 2011

By R. V. Hollingshead

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

While I have read all of the authors previous efforts, this strikes me as the weakest. The preliminary introduction to the actual "guts" of the book take longer to read than the new information. He is not the "new" Oliver Sachs by any means. I will not buy any more.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable effort to explain humanity's physiological essence February 14, 2011

By MSK

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

As a novelist (Sikander), who likes to pick apart the complexities of thought processes in human characters, I enjoyed Dr. Ramachandran's book immensely. Apart from the comments others have made in these reviews, I was particularly interested to read Dr. Ramachandran's ideas about possible ways in which we grasp and interpret art. It resonates with my own thinking which I myself separately articulated (though not from a neurologist's perspective) in piece on abstract art appreciation I'd written back in October of 2009 on writers' website Helium. I found the author's insights into fundamental explanations involving neuronal pathways and the brain's physical regions together with his demonstration of how effective the study of disorders can prove to be, were enlightening.

Given the compelling nature of the writing and the easy-to-understand nature of the explanations, I felt hungry for at least a few more elaborations. First, I would have liked to see Dr. Ramachandran dedicate some ink to the question of dynamic aesthetics. Some artifacts seem to acquire their aesthetic quality performing their function rather than simply from a static "shape-texture-color" sense, and his insights into this phenomenon would have been interesting. Also, I was disappointed not to get Dr. Ramachandran's perspective on dreams given his lucid description of the centers for syntactic and semantic control. I'm particularly fascinated by the way in which these controls progressively degrade as we become drowsy. Understanding of the role of syntax outside of language, i....e in the sense of "rule engines" for everyday experiences and to what extent they share any physiological underpinnings with the brain's syntax center, would also have been welcome. These are minor issues though and perhaps the subject of a yet to be written work. Certainly, Dr. Ramachandran himself seems to be full of ideas concerning further research.

Does the book fulfill its objectives of helping us to understand what makes us human? I think it advances the subject immensely and perhaps equally importantly, keeps it interesting for the likes of a lay person such as myself. I highly recommend this work. Read more ›