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Adult Books - Nonfiction - Health and Medicine
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Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain.
Damasio, Antonio R. (author).
July 1994. 320p. Putnam/Grosset, hardcover, $24.95 (0-399-13894-3). 612.8.
REVIEW.
First published July, 1994 (Booklist).
Pioneering scientist Damasio’s international reputation is based on his explorations into the neurology of vision, memory, and language. His influence will extend far beyond the parameters of the scientific community with this marvelously lucid and engaging presentation of his innovative ideas about the interconnectedness of mind and body. Damasio begins with some dramatic case histories of people who have survived brain damage without severe physical impairment only to experience bizarre degradations of personality and thought processes. He explains these puzzling maladies by analyzing the various systems at work in the brain, from those associated with life support to the highest echelon of cognition. After discussing how emotions and feelings are expressed by the bodypounding heart, trembling hands, blushingDamasio launches into one of his main themes: how essential emotions are to our ability to reason and make decisions. As he illuminates numerous ways the body and the mind work together to process stimuli, draw upon memory, and fuel thought and judgment, Damasio convinces us that the self is a perpetually recreated neurobiological state. Descartes’ error, then, was his belief that the mind and body are separate entities. On the contrary, Damasio tells us, their continual collaboration is the key to consciousness and individuality. (Reviewed July 1994)— Donna Seaman
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