Karl Deisseroth is the D.H. Chen Professor of Bioengineering and of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at Stanford University. He is known for creating and developing optogenetics and hydrogel-tissue chemistry - advanced technologies for studying the function of the brain intact, allowing complex emotions to be studied at the level of individual cells. A member of the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Engineering, Deisseroth has received numerous prizes for his discoveries, including the Kyoto Prize, the Breakthrough Prize, and most recently the 2020 Heineken Prize in Medicine. This is his first trade book.
'I find myself at a loss for how to describe this remarkable work.
Just as Karl has, through his laboratory, reimagined, and literally
redefined how we view the human brain, he has reimagined and
redefined what literary non-fiction can be, with great elegance.
For all of us who write about science for the public, this will be
a tough act to follow. It's poetic, mind-stretching, and through it
all, deeply human'
*Daniel Levitin*
'Revelatory ... it recalls the case histories of Oliver Sacks, at
times the sweep of Yuval Harari's Sapiens. He writes with an
evident love of words - but also, with a lucid line of scientific
enquiry'
*Guardian*
'There are some books that you read and forget. There are others
that you read and think about occasionally. Then there are rare
gems like Connections that you read, read again and find that the
way you think has been irreversibly changed. Incredibly
powerful'
*Sue Black, author of All That Remains*
'Karl Deisseroth is a master storyteller. Armed with an abundance
of compassion and curiosity, he takes us on a spellbinding tour of
the mysteries of the human mind through a series of fascinating
case studies. His graceful prose weaves a tapestry of complex ideas
into memorable stories, each illuminated by cutting-edge science. A
delight from the opening paragraph to the stunning conclusion, this
book is an invitation to reverence for the complexity of the human
brain and its relationship to the mind: a ticket to a state of
wonder at the essence of our selves'
*Kathryn Mannix, author of With the End in Mind*
'Deisseroth is a talented writer ... It is in his encounters with
distressed patients that his talent for marrying science and the
imagination becomes most apparent and that his writing comes truly
alive. Connections warrants comparison with books such as Do No
Harm by Henry Marsh and Brainstorm by Suzanne Sullivan . . .
Deisseroth achieves the difficult feat of moving and enlightening
the reader at the same time ... [this is] a book that is beautiful
to read and packed with cutting edge science'
*Observer*
'This hybrid memoir, by an emergency-room psychiatrist and
professor of psychiatry and bioengineering, probes the evolutionary
origins of human emotions'
*New Yorker*
'Essential...tinged with a profound humility built over years of
interactions with patients... this is big'
*Psychology Today*
'Deisseroth is a genuine pioneer, whose prize-winning research is
re-defining our understanding of the brain... a stunning work from
a relatively young man set on revealing the threads connecting our
most pressing personal concerns with our timeless biological
inheritance... Deisseroth has the imagination and literary gift to
make it speak to all of us'
*Literary Review*
'Karl Deisseroth's imaginative narrative flows effortlessly...
There is a first love of reading and writing and hints of a
literary imagination that draws on James Joyce and Toni Morrison...
Deisseroth endeavors to find an emotive language for the
psychiatric patients he meets. He accomplishes this by weaving
together... psychiatric knowledge, technology, and imagination.
These together free him to write poetically... His narratives are
always sensitive... an admixture of fact and fiction, reality and
imagination, damage and desire'
*Science*
'[Deisseroth's] scintillating and moving analysis of the human
brain and emotions, based on observations of his patients, proves
he is not exaggerating. It is also a great read'
*Nature*
'I've known Karl as a colleague, a scientist whose discoveries in
the lab have been breathtaking and revolutionary. Maybe I shouldn't
be surprised to discover he's also a stunning writer, his words
guiding us to a profound understanding of the nature of human
emotions, seamlessly invoking Ovid and optogenetics, Borges and
basal ganglia as he takes on this journey. Projections is a tour de
force'
*Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone*
'Karl Deisseroth intertwines neuroscience and human stories in a
way that is altogether new: technical, lyrical, and deeply
compassionate all at once. Through sharing what he's learned as a
groundbreaking scientist and a psychiatrist caring for patients
with severe illness, he reveals glimmer of what makes us human.
This is a crucial book for anyone who loves science, anyone who
loves someone suffering from a disorder of the brain, or anyone
who, like so many of us, loves both'
*Lucy Kalanithi*
'The writing in this exploration of what causes human emotion at a
cellular level is extraordinarily good, inviting comparisons with
the work of Oliver Sacks and Henry Marsh' (Editor's Choice)
*Bookseller*
'Deisseroth, professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, melds
the personal with the clinical in his masterful debut on how the
human mind works and what can be learned when it goes awry ...
writing with abundant empathy, Deisseroth brings his patients'
struggles to life as he educates about both neuroscience and
humanity. This is a must-read'
*Publishers Weekly*
'Unique and utterly riveting, Projections braids together three
skeins from Karl Deisseroth's life: his painstaking clinical
experience as a psychiatrist, dedicated to helping patients; his
ingenious inventions in biotechnology that have ushered in waves of
new insights into how brains work; and his life as a humble and
caring social human being with a gift for crafting a spellbinding
chronicle. This is a masterpiece written for each and every one of
us'
*Patricia Churchland, author of Conscience*
'Karl Deisseroth is already known around the world as a
groundbreaking scientist who has pioneered dazzling new techniques
for investigating the brain. In this enthralling masterpiece of a
book, he demonstrates that he is also a perceptive psychiatrist, as
well as a spellbinding writer who beautifully connects the inner
feelings within all human beings to deep insights from modern
psychiatry and neuroscience'
*Robert Lefkowitz, Nobel Laureate and author of A Funny Thing
Happened on the Way to Stockholm*
'We are living during a revolution in our understanding of the
human brain, and Karl Deisseroth has been at the forefront of these
advances. This magisterial work shows that not only is he one of
our leading scientists, but also a gifted writer and storyteller.
With precise yet luminous prose, he merges stories of cutting-edge
neuroscience with a deep reverence for his patients' humanity'
*Neil Shubin, author of Some Assembly Required*
'Deisseroth writes of heartbreaking and desperate medical cases
with a doctor's knowledge, and a novelist's skill for narrative. I
could not put this book down'
*May-Britt Moser, Nobel Laureate*
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
