The Human Brain Book: A Visual Guide to the Structure and Function

This new edition of the award-winning The Brain Book uses the latest findings from neuroscience research and brain-imaging technology to take you on a journey into the human brain.

Artworks and scans reveal the brain's anatomy in unprecedented detail. Step-by-step sequences unravel and simplify complex processes, such as how nerves transmit signals and how a memory is laid down and recalled. The book answers fundamental and compelling questions about the brain and cognitive neuroscience, such as what it means to be conscious and what happens in the brain when we use language to communicate. It also explains the brain’s resilience and neuroplasticity – the ability to constantly adapt and reorganize neural connections to learn new skills or to cope with traumatic brain injuries.

Written by award-winning author Rita Carter, this is an accessible reference book to a fascinating part of the human body. Thanks to improvements in scanning technology, our understanding of the brain is changing fast. Now in its fourth edition, The Brain Book draws on the latest information to provide a fascinating guide to one of science's most exciting frontiers.

Rita Carter is a science and medical writer who contributes to many publications, including New Scientist and numerous newspapers. She has twice been awarded the Medical Journalists' Association prize for her outstanding contribution to medical journalism. She is the author of several books that have been published internationally, including Consciousness, Multiplicity: The New Science of Personality and Mapping the Mind, which was shortlisted for the Rhône-Poulenc Prize (now the Royal Society Prize for Science Books). Rita also lectures about the brain at seminars, conferences, and workshops around the world.