Susan Greenfield, one of the world's pre-eminent scientists, takes the reader on a guided tour of the final frontier in human understanding: the brain.
Locked away remote from the rest of the body in its own custom-built casing of skull bone, with no intrinsic moving parts, the human brain remains a tantalising mystery. But now, more than ever before, we have the expertise to tackle this mystery - the last 20 years have seen astounding progress in brain research.
Susan Greenfield begins by exploring the roles of different regions of the brain. She then switches to the opposite direction and examines how certain functions, such as movement and vision, are accommodated in the brain. She describes how a brain is made from a single fertilized egg, and the fate of the brain is traced through life as we see how it constantly changes as a result of experience to provide the essence of a unique individual.
Dr Susan Greenfield ... is rightly admired as a popular communicator and THE HUMAN BRAIN: A GUIDED TOUR will appeal as a Baedeker to the brain, even to the non-scientist - THE TIMES
Superb ... I recommend it to anyone interested in this area of science - SUNDAY TIMES
Baroness Susan Greenfield is Professor of Pharmacology at Oxford University and Director of the Royal Institution. She is also an Honorary Fellow of the College of Physicians and has received 24 honorary degres from universities all over the world. Neuroscientist, broadcaster and author, she has received the Michael Faraday medal from the Royal Society for developing public understanding of science and made the Daily Mail's 100 Most Influential Women in Britain list in 2003. She is based in Oxford.