The Synaptic Self: How Our Brain Becomes Who We Are - Hardcover

Joseph E. LeDoux

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0333781872 ISBN 13: 9780333781876

Publisher: Macmillan, 2002

Synopsis

Joseph Le Doux believes that the synapses - the little spaces between the neurons in our brains - are the key to everything the brain does. They are the channels of communication by which we think, act, imagine, feel and remember. But synapses do more. They also allow interactions between mental processes, allowing us to remember the important stuff in life better than the trivial. What's more, synapses encode the essence of the individual, allowing us to be the same person from moment to moment, week to week and year to year. In short, the self is synaptic.

About this title

Review

A middle-aged neuroscientist walking down Bourbon Street spots a T-shirt that reads, "I don't know, so maybe I'm not." This stimulus zooms from eyes to brain, neuron by neuron, via tiny junctions called synapses. The results? An immediate chuckle and (sometime later) a groundbreaking book titled The Synaptic Self. To Joseph LeDoux, the simple question, "What makes us who we are?" represents the driving force behind his 20-plus years of research into the cognitive, emotional, and motivational functions of the brain.

LeDoux believes the answer rests in the synapses, key players in the brain's intricately designed communication system. In other words, the pathways by which a person's "hardwired" responses (nature) mesh with his or her unique life experiences (nurture) determine that person's individuality. Here, LeDoux nimbly compresses centuries of philosophy, psychology, and biology into an amazingly clear picture of humanity's journey toward understanding the self.

Equally readable is his comprehensive science lesson, where detailed circuit speak reads like an absorbing--yet often humorous--mystery novel. Skillfully presenting research studies and findings alongside their various implications, LeDoux makes a solid case for accepting a synaptic explanation of existence and provides to the reader generous helpings of knowledge, amusement, and awe along the way. --Liane Thomas

About the Author

Joseph LeDoux is the Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science at the Center for Neural Science, New York University, and author of The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life.

Edition details

• Publisher: Macmillan
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0333781872
• ISBN 13: 9780333781876
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512