Paul Broca: Founder of French Anthropology, Explorer of the Brain - Softcover

Schiller, Francis

9780195074963: Paul Broca: Founder of French Anthropology, Explorer of the Brain

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195074963 ISBN 13: 9780195074963

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1992

This elegant and comprehensive scientific biography recounts the life of Paul Broca, one of the world's most inventive and prolific scientists, whose work touched not only the fields of surgery, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and the neuropathology of speech, but statistics, hypnosis, blood transfusion, and the grounding of the French school of anthropology, as well. Although Broca is known primarily for providing the working basis for all future cerebral localization (he was the first to identify "Broca's area" --a small patch on the convoluted surface of the brain--as the central organ for speech), this portrait of Broca also describes his fundamental role in the establishment of modern scientific "laboratory" medicine, and his broad capacity and appetite for science as a whole. His enduring curiosity and insistent pursuit of truth led him through an exciting course of study, which often placed him philosophically in the position of utilizing doubt as his strongest investigative impetus. The author, Francis Schiller, --himself a neurologist-- underscores Broca's vast contributions to both practical and moral science with keen insights and scholarly acumen. Historians of science, neuroscientists, and general readers alike will enjoy this enlightening and important biography.

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About the Author:

Francis Schiller is at University of California, San Francisco.

Review:

"It is surprising that Schiller's study is the first biography of [Broca]. Judging by its excellence there will be no need for another for many years. Schiller writes with scholarly charm, and being a neurologist, he is especially well-equipped to deal with the neurological aspects of his
subject's work. . . .[Broca] has found a biographer who can encompass his life and work with skill, scholarship, and understanding."--Science

"Dr. Schiller has written a scholarly and highly readable biography which will be read with interest and pleasure not only by neurologists and other brain specialists, but by anyone with a taste for the history of medicine."--Times Literary Supplement

"Schiller's biography of this great man is a delight. It refreshes the palate jaded by the torrent of technical books on neuroscience, brings life to history, and vividly recreates the momentous moments of Broca's life. It would make an excellent present for the neurological tyro or
teacher."--Psychiatry

"Schiller provides a rich account of the life, times, and work of Broca, his education, his friendships, and his reactions to political events. This important work is essential for history of medicine and history of science collections." --Library Journal

"Excellent. . . . Schiller's biography lives up to the demands of its subject. Schiller may be the only living person with the knowledge to write on all facets of Broca's life. . . . preserves Broca's life and thought for future generations." --Journal of the American Medical
Association

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