Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain

From the author of How Emotions Are Made, a myth-busting primer on the brain in the tradition of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.

Have you ever wondered why you have a brain? Let renowned neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett demystify that big gray blob between your ears and explain how the brain works. In seven short essays (plus a bite-sized story about how brains evolved), this slim, entertaining, and accessible collection reveals mind-expanding lessons about the human mind from the front lines of neuroscience research. You’ll learn where brains came from, how they’re structured (and why it matters), and how yours works in tandem with other brains to create everything you experience. Along the way, you’ll also learn to dismiss popular myths such as the idea of a “lizard brain” and the alleged battle between thoughts and emotions, or even between nature and nurture, to determine your behavior.

Sure to intrigue casual readers and scientific veterans alike, Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain is full of surprises, humor, and important implications for human nature―a gift of a book that you will want to savor again and again.

What other brain myths will be busted, and what new discoveries await inside?

• Body Budgeting: Discover your brain’s most important job—and why it isn’t thinking. Learn how your brain manages a complex budget for your body to keep you alive and well.
• A Predictive Brain: Find out why your brain doesn’t react to the world but actively predicts it, constructing your experience of reality from inside a dark, silent box.
• One Brain, Not Three: Dismiss popular but incorrect myths like the 'lizard brain' and the supposed battle between thoughts and emotions once and for all.
• Socially Wired: Understand how your brain works in tandem with other brains, constantly affecting and being affected by the people around you in surprising ways.

LISA FELDMAN BARRETT, PhD, is a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University. She received a National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award for her groundbreaking research on emotion in the brain, and is an elected member of the Royal Society of Canada. Barrett is the author of How Emotions are Made and Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain.