The Compassionate Brain: How Empathy Creates Intelligence - Softcover

Gerald Hüther

Softcover

ISBN 10: 159030330X ISBN 13: 9781590303306

Publisher: Trumpeter, 2006

Synopsis

Here is the ultimate explanation of the brain for everyone who thinks: a guide to how the brain works, how our brains came to operate the way they do, and, most important, how to use your precious gray matter to its full capacity.

The brain, according to current research, is not some kind of automatic machine that works independently of its user. In fact, the circuitry of the brain actually changes according to how one uses it. Our brains are continuously developing new capacities and refinements—or losing them, depending upon how we use them. Gerald Hüther takes us on a fascinating tour of the brain's development—from one-celled organisms to worms, moles, apes, and on to us humans—showing how we truly are what we think: our behavior directly affects our brain capacity. And the behavior that promotes the fullest development of the brain is behavior that balances emotion and intellect, dependence and autonomy, openness and focus, and ultimately expresses itself in such virtues as truthfulness, considerateness, sincerity, humility, and love.

Hüther's user's-manual approach is humorous and engaging, with a minimum of technical language, yet the book's message is profound: the fundamental nature of our brains and nervous systems naturally leads to our continued growth in intelligence and humanity.

About this title

About the Author

Gerald Hüther, PhD, is the head of the Department of Fundamental Neurobiological Research at the psychiatric clinic of Göttingen, Germany. His research concerns the effects of fear, stress, psychological addiction, and nourishment on the brain. The Compassionate Brain: How Empathy Creates Intelligence was the first of his numerous books to appear in English.

Reviews

A kind of users manual for the human brain, neurobiologist Hüther's work explains in straightforward terms how the brain works, how our environment and behavior affect its development, and recommendations for the most effective ways to encourage our brains (and our children's) to operate at the highest possible levels. Beginning with the scientific basics of brain function, Hüther's discussion ranges from the history of European philosophy (especially Plato, Kant and Heidegger) to current trends encouraged by the mass media. Especially striking are the final sections of the book, which begin with a quote from seventeenth-century Jesuit writer Baltasar Gracian, whose theological investigations of human conduct reach the same conclusions as Hüther's laboratory research: humans must encourage all actions and mental habits that engender feelings of deep personal concern (empathy) and reject those that do not. Although the discussion avoids moralizing, Hüther's conclusions border at times on the apocalyptic, with visions of a human race trained by TV, advertising, video games and consumerism to content themselves with material comfort and overstimulation, to the point that they become nearly incapable of survival. Hüther is an engaging writer, however, and this concise, elegant work will appeal to a great many readers, from those interested in neuroscience and psychology to those interested in philosophy, religion, and history.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Trumpeter
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 159030330X
• ISBN 13: 9781590303306
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 152