Journey Through the Brain

The books, in order

1. 1

   Psychology · 14 min

   The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

   Oliver Sacks

   Extraordinary talent has a human cost too: treating someone only by what they can do is losing sight of the person.

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2. 2

   Psychology · 15 min

   An Anthropologist on Mars

   Oliver Sacks

   A change in the brain often reorganizes a person rather than erasing them: they rebuild themselves with what remains and what they've gained.

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3. 3

   Psychology · 13 min

   Phantoms in the Brain

   V. S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee

   Someone who looks at their mother's face and feels nothing might still have a mind trying to explain that emptiness with an absurd idea.

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4. 4

   Psychology · 17 min

   Descartes' Error

   Antonio Damasio

   A famous brain-injury case, like that of Phineas Gage, teaches a lot, but its details have been embellished over time.

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5. 5

   Psychology · 15 min

   In Search of Memory

   Eric R. Kandel

   According to the book, learning means strengthening connections, which is why an unused trail fades from the brain's map.

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6. 6

   Psychology · 16 min

   Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

   Robert M. Sapolsky

   The prefrontal cortex keeps maturing until around the early to mid twenties, which is why teenage decisions call for patience and clear rules.

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7. 7

   Psychology · 15 min

   The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature

   Steven Pinker

   Much of the resistance to the idea of human nature stems from fear of what it might justify, rather than an objective analysis of the facts.

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8. 8

   Psychology · 14 min

   The Art of Reading Minds

   Henrik Fexeus

   Rapport comes from genuine interest in the person speaking, and it is what makes them lower their guard.

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9. 9

   Psychology · 15 min

   Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence

   Rick Hanson

   The human brain was shaped by evolution to act like Velcro for bad experiences and Teflon for good ones.

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10. 10

    Psychology · 15 min

    The Brain and Emotional Intelligence

    Daniel Goleman

    Your emotional alarm goes off in fractions of a second, and reasoning kicks in afterward. That's why taking a breath before responding changes the outcome.

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