Brain Wars: The Scientific Battle Over The Existence Of The Mind - Softcover

Beauregard, Mario

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1443407070 ISBN 13: 9781443407076

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2013

Synopsis

An acclaimed neuroscientist transforms our understanding of the relationship between the brain, the mind and consciousness

Where does our sense of self originate? What happens to "us" after our body perishes? Can the mind exist without the body?

These profound questions have engendered considerable debate throughout history and have led successive cultures to develop beliefs about human nature, immortality and the afterlife. Over the last several centuries, scientists working under the presumption that matter is all that exists have concluded that consciousness can simply be reduced to a collection of nerve cells in the brain. That is, there is no separation between self, consciousness and mind-who we are-and the function of brain.

Dr. Beauregard disagrees. He asserts that there are multiple lines of-hard evidence that reveal that the mind and consciousness are transmitted and filtered through the brain, but they are not generated by the brain. This controversial theory turns accepted science on its head by-showing how mental events-which significantly influence the functioning of our brains and our bodies-can also affect events outside the confines of the body. In other words, humans are more than complex biological machines. The fact that our minds function apart from our brains invites a whole new understanding of the universe.

Filled with the latest scientific research and remarkable stories of the-mind's incredible abilities,Brain Warsis a page-turning, paradigm-shifting-work. The evidence can no longer be ignored, and Dr. Beauregard introduces-a major shift in our understanding of the age-old mind/body-debate. Our consciousness transcends the material world, and this new-understanding has profound social and moral implications for the future.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

The brain can be weighed, measured, scanned, dissected, and studied. The mind that we conceive to be generated by the brain, however, remains a mystery. It has no mass, no volume, and no shape, and it cannot be measured in space and time. Yet it is as real as neurons, neurotransmitters, and synaptic junctions. It is also very powerful.
—from Brain Wars

Is the brain "a computer made of meat," and human consciousness a simple product of electrical impulses? The idea that matter is all that exists has dominated science since the late nineteenth century and led to the long-standing scientific and popular understanding of the brain as simply a collection of neurons and neural activity. But for acclaimed neuroscientist Mario Beauregard, Ph.D., along with a rising number of colleagues and others, this materialist-based view clashes with what we feel and experience every day.

In Brain Wars, Dr. Beauregard delivers a paradigm-shifting examination of the role of the brain and mind. Filled with engaging, surprising, and cutting-edge scientific accounts, this eye-opening book makes the increasingly indisputable case that our immaterial minds influence what happens in our brains, our bodies, and even beyond our bodies. Examining the hard science behind "unexplained" phenomena such as the placebo effect, self-healing, brain control, meditation, hypnosis, and near-death and mystical experiences, Dr. Beauregard reveals the mind's capabilities and explores new answers to age-old mind-body questions.

Radically shifting our comprehension of the role of consciousness in the universe, Brain Wars forces us to consider the immense untapped power of the mind and explore the profound social, moral, and spiritual implications that this new understanding holds for our future.

About the Author:

Mario Beauregard, Ph.D., is an associate research professor at the Departments of Psychology and Radiology and the Neuroscience Research Center at the University of Montreal. He is the coauthor of The Spiritual Brain and more than one hundred publications in neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1443407070
• ISBN 13: 9781443407076
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256