Rita Carter

Today a brain scan reveals our thoughts, moods, and memories as clearly as an X-ray reveals our bones. We can actually observe a person's brain registering a joke or experiencing a painful memory. Drawing on the latest imaging technology and the expertise of distinguished scientists, Rita Carter explores the geography of the human brain. Her writing is clear, accessible, witty, and the book's 150 illustrations - most in color - present an illustrated guide to that wondrous, coconut-sized, wrinkled gray mass we carry inside our heads. "Mapping the Mind" charts the way human behavior and culture have been molded by the landscape of the brain. Carter shows how our personalities reflect the biological mechanisms underlying thought and emotion and how behavioral eccentricities may be traced to abnormalities in an individual brain. Obsessions and compulsions seem to be caused by a stuck neural switch in a region that monitors the environment for danger. Addictions stem from dysfunction in the brain's reward system. Even the sense of religious experience has been linked to activity in a certain brain region. The differences between men and women's brains, the question of a 'gay brain', and conditions such as dyslexia, autism, and mania are also explored. Looking inside the brain, writes Carter, we see that actions follow from our perceptions, which are due to brain activity dictated by a neuronal structure formed from the interplay between our genes and the environment. Without sidestepping the question of free will, Carter suggests that future generations will use our increasing knowledge of the brain to 'enhance those mental qualities that give sweetness and meaning to our lives, and to eradicate those that are destructive'.

Multiplicity presents an entirely new view of our selves. Instead of seeing each person as a single personality, Carter argues that we all consist of multiple characters, each one with its own viewpoint, emotions and ambitions. The mother who feeds breakfast to her children, for example, has quite different concerns and opinions from the woman taking part in a boardroom discussion two hours later, and from the woman she will be with her husband that night. Yet all three may share the same body, and none is any more "authentic" than another. Personality changes in a person are conventionally frowned upon, but Carter shows that in today's world our ability to switch from one personality to another according to what is demanded of us is a huge strength, providing one's personalities work together as a team rather than against each other. In addition to its groundbreaking scientific thesis, Multiplicity contains extensive exercises designed to help readers achieve this harmony.

Today a brain scan reveals our thoughts, moods, and memories as clearly as an X-ray reveals our bones. We can actually observe a person's brain registering a joke or experiencing a painful memory. Drawing on the latest imaging technology and the expertise of distinguished scientists, Rita Carter explores the geography of the human brain. Her writing is clear, accessible, witty, and the book's 150 illustrations - most in color - present an illustrated guide to that wondrous, coconut-sized, wrinkled gray mass we carry inside our heads. "Mapping the Mind" charts the way human behavior and culture have been molded by the landscape of the brain. Carter shows how our personalities reflect the biological mechanisms underlying thought and emotion and how behavioral eccentricities may be traced to abnormalities in an individual brain. Obsessions and compulsions seem to be caused by a stuck neural switch in a region that monitors the environment for danger. Addictions stem f...

The financial and social costs of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are staggering. In the United States, the disease accounts for about $100 billion per year in medical and custodial expenses, with the average patient requiring an average expenditure of about $27,000 per year for medical and nursing care. In addition, 80% of family caregivers report stress, and about 50% manifest symptoms of depression. 1,2 Clearly, the monetary, social, medical, and familial burden of caring for individuals suffering from AD and related dementias has emerged as one of the most important public health policy issues of our times. The American Alzheimer’s Association estimates that about 4.5 million individuals currently suffer from this condition in the United States, and many of those afflicted, in varying stages of their dementia, reside in assisted living environments. Epidemiologists estimate that there may be as many as 14 million individuals in the United States by the year 2050. Perhaps, more than any...

Multiplicity presents an entirely new view of our selves. Instead of seeing each person as a single personality, Carter argues that we all consist of multiple characters, each one with its own viewpoint, emotions and ambitions. The mother who feeds breakfast to her children, for example, has quite different concerns and opinions from the woman taking part in a boardroom discussion two hours later, and from the woman she will be with her husband that night. Yet all three may share the same body, and none is any more "authentic" than another. Personality changes in a person are conventionally frowned upon, but Carter shows that in today's world our ability to switch from one personality to another according to what is demanded of us is a huge strength, providing one's personalities work together as a team rather than against each other. In addition to its groundbreaking scientific thesis, Multiplicity contains extensive exercises designed to help readers achieve this...

... A. Mitchell, Mike Mosher, Kevin Murray, Frieder Nake, Maureen A. Nappi, Angela Ndalianis, Simone Osthoff, Jack Ox, Rene van Peer, Robert Pepperell, Cliff Pickover, Patricia Pisters, Michael Punt, Harry Rand, Sonya Rapoport, Stefaan van Ryssen, Shirley Shor, George K ...