Anil Ananthaswamy offers an intimate look at the latest neuroscience of schizophrenia, autism, Alzheimer's disease, and Cotard's syndrome among others to reveal the awesome power of the human sense of self.
Anil Ananthaswamy is a consultant for the London-based New Scientist magazine, guest editor in science journalism at UC Santa Cruz renowned science writing programme and teaches the science journalism workshop at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India. He has worked at New Scientist in various capacities since 2000, including as staff writer and deputy news editor.He has also written for National Geographic, Discover, The Times and The Independent.
Praise for The Man Who Wasn't There
“If you simply want to read a great science book, I can’t recommend
any more highly than this one.”
—Forbes
"An agreeably written travelogue through this mysterious landscape
at the frontiers of knowledge."
—The Wall Street Journal
“You’ll never see yourself—or others—the same way again.”
—People
“The gallery of personal, often tender, portraits of patients is
impressive and reminiscent of the writings of Oliver Sacks… A
skilled science journalist, Ananthaswamy excels at making
theoretical concepts and experimental procedures both
comprehensible and compelling.”
—Science
“In The Man Who Wasn’t There, science writer Anil Ananthaswamy
smartly explores the nature of the self by way of several mental
conditions that eat away at patients’ identities… Following in the
steps of Oliver Sacks’s “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat”
(1985) and V. S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee’s “Phantoms in
the Brain” (1999), Ananthaswamy uses neuropsychology and narrative
to take us inside the heads of people experiencing realities very
different from our own.”
—Washington Post
“Anil Ananthaswamy’s exploration of the human ‘self’ is a blazingly
original excursion through the brain—as well as a fascinating
catalog of bizarre disorders.”
—Entertainment Weekly
"Autobiographies hinging on conditions such as Asperger's syndrome
and schizophrenia are proliferating, but there is little to fill
the void between such accounts and the scientific literature.
Linking experiences with experiments, and individuals with numbers,
Ananthaswamy bridges that gap convincingly."
—Nature
“When you think 'beach read," you probably don't think
"neuroscience." But science journalist Ananthaswamy has a knack for
making difficult topics accessible to everyone.”
—Men’s Journal
“It is an astonishing journey and an ambitious book, bringing
together cutting-edge science and philosophy from West and East.
You will not be quite the same self after reading it.”
—New Scientist
"An excellent if unnerving book: 'you' turn out to be more fluid
than 'you' thought."
—New Scientist, CultureLab
“A thought-provoking read… Ananthaswamy relays many
interesting advances and, at the same time, challenges us to
contemplate who we really are.”
—Scientific American Mind
“[The Man Who Wasn’t There] illuminates some of the most
provocative questions at the boundary of science and
philosophy.”
—Columbus Dispatch
“Sophisticated science, sensitive storytelling and Nancy Drew-like
curiosity are at the heart of science author and journalist Anil
Ananthaswamy's The Man Who Wasn't There."
—San Jose Mercury News
“Science journalist Ananthaswamy skillfully inspects the
bewildering connections among brain, body, mind, self, and society…
Readers will be fascinated by Ananthaswamy's chronicles as he
explores, with kindness and keen intelligence, the uncomfortable
aberrations that reveal what it is to be human.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A provocative examination of deep questions.”
—Kirkus
“If you like Oliver Sacks, you’ll love this new work by
Ananthaswamy…..”
—Library Journal
“A faint-of-heart hypochondriac might wish to give Ananthaswamy’s
book a wide berth, but others should find it quite fascinating.
From the man who insisted that he was brain dead (despite walking,
talking, eating, and taking the bus) to autism, Alzheimer’s,
something called body integrity identity disorder (read the book),
and more, Ananthaswamy demonstrates how what is perceived as the
self can wiggle all over the map.”
—Booklist
“Despite the depth of scientific knowledge plumbed in the book, the
language is simple and accessible in the tradition of the late,
great neuroscientist Oliver Sacks (The Man Who Mistook His Wife for
a Hat). The series of stories that illustrate the complexity of the
brain and its creation of selfhood are imbued with emotion and
compassion for the sufferers, even as their conditions are
explained in scientific terms.”
—India Currents
“A compelling and entertaining look at the last untapped mystery,
the true final frontier: the nature of our selves. Science
journalism at its best.”
—Daniel J. Levitin, author of The Organized Mind and This Is Your
Brain on Music
“Stunning… poetic and incisive. Each of the patients is
unique, special and incredible in revealing something special about
the mind, whether healthy or fragile. Ananthaswamy discovers
the elusive nature of the very idea of self and makes sense out of
it. It is a remarkable achievement.”
—Michael Gazzaniga, author of Who’s in Charge? and Tales from Both
Sides of the Brain
“Ananthaswamy’s remarkable achievement is to make sense of these
unhappy individuals’ otherness, while holding on to their human
sameness. You’ll come away enlightened and chastened, asking
searching questions about who you are.”
—Nicholas Humphrey, Cambridge University, author of A History of
the Mind
“Like Oliver Sacks, Ananthaswamy brings both erudition and
sensitivity to his narrative so that we learn as much, and maybe
more, from his subjects as we do from the scientists we meet along
the way…. You’ll emerge with renewed wonder about the simple
experience of being you.”
—Anil Seth, University of Sussex, Editor-in-Chief, Neuroscience of
Consciousness
“A wide range of engrossing (and many just plain weird) stories
elegantly weaving together insights from psychology, psychiatry,
and neuroscience. An informative, exciting, and slightly creepy
tour of some profound questions about human nature.”
—David Poeppel, Director, Max-Planck Institute and Professor of
Psychology and Neural Science, NYU
“In this lucid and personable analysis by Ananthaswamy, the self
appears an illusion, which nevertheless feels very real to most of
us. Since no organism can do without this mental anchor, nature has
found a way to concoct one for us.”
—Frans de Waal, author of The Bonobo and The Atheist
“It is an astonishing journey and an ambitious book, bringing
together cutting-edge science and philosophy from West and East.
You will not be quite the same self after reading it.”
—Alun Anderson, New Scientist
Praise of Anil Ananthaswamy's The Edge of Physics:
“A thrilling ride!” —Sean Carroll, author of The Particle at the
End of the Universe
“Displays a writer’s touch for fascinating detail.” —The Washington
Post
“A wonder-steeped page-turner.” —Seed
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
