Год: 2004
Автор: Steven Johnson / Стивен Джонсон
Издательство: Scribner
ISBN: 0-7432-5879-7
Язык: Английский
Формат: PDF, EPUB
Качество: Изначально компьютерное (eBook)
Количество страниц: 98
Автор рассказывает об эмоциональных процессах нашей повседневной жизни с точки зрения последних достижений нейронауки.
Given the opportunity to watch the inner workings of his own brain, Steven Johnson jumps at the chance. He reveals the results in Mind Wide Open, an engaging and personal account of his foray into edgy brain science. In the 21st century, Johnson observes, we have become used to ideas such as "adrenaline rushes" and "serotonin levels," without really recognizing that complex neurobiology has become a commonplace thing to talk about. He sees recent laboratory revelations about the brain as crucial for understanding ourselves and our psyches in new, post-Freudian ways. Readers shy about slapping electrodes on their own temples can get a vicarious scientific thrill as Johnson tries out empathy tests, neurofeedback, and fMRI scans. The results paint a distinct picture of the author, and uncover general brain secrets at the same time. Memory, fear, love, alertness--all the multitude of states housed in our brains are shown to be the results of chemical and electrical interactions constantly fed and changed by input from our senses. Mind Wide Open both satisfies curiosity and provokes more questions, leaving readers wondering about their own gray matter.

This book would have been impossible to write without my many able guides through the world of brain science: Jaak Panksepp, Joseph LeDoux, Shelley Taylor, Sue Carter, Simon Baron-Cohen, Antonio Damasio, John Rodenbough, Wes Sime, Leslie Seiden, Hal Rosenblum, Tom Blue, James McGaugh, Kamran Fallahpour, Susan Othmer, John Donoghue, Robert Provine. I'm grateful to all of them for putting up with my sometimes strange lines of questioning and for collaborating on some of the book's experiments. I'm particularly grateful to Joy Hirsch, who lent me both her fMRI machine and her gifts as a mind reader in making sense of what we discovered.

I'm also indebted to a number of people who read partial or entire drafts of the manuscript and made many helpful suggestions: Simon Baron-Cohen, Joy Hirsch, Antonio Damasio, Aimee Troyen, Gordon Wheeler, John Rodenbough, Eric Liftin, Alexa Robinson, Zack Lynch, and most of all, my research assistant Nesha Burghardt, whose knowledge of the brain sciences and acute eye played an essential role throughout the writing of this book. I'd also like to thank the many readers of my website (stevenberlinjohnson.com) who contributed ideas and critiques to the book excerpts I posted online.

Several sections of the book appeared, in modified form, in magazine articles. My wonderful editors at Discover—Dave Grogan and Stephen Petranek—generously let me explore the world of emotions in a three-part series for them. Art Winslow was brave enough to let me publish a defense of evolutionary psychology in The Nation. Joel Lovell at The New York Times Magazine made many helpful contributions to the sections on neurofeedback. I'd also like to thank Stefanie Syman and Jamie Ryerson for helping me put together the FEED special issue on the brain many years ago—my first foray into the world of brain science. I am grateful to the Esalen Center for Theory and Research for inviting me to participate in a conference on Emergence and Consciousness as I was completing this book; the comments and the camaraderie there added a last-minute boost to my work.

Gillian Blake at Scribner took a leap of faith in buying this book originally, given that the premise was very much unproven in the proposal. After Gillian switched houses, Colin Harrison did a masterful job of exposing my stylistic tics and challenging my occasional short-decay ideas, while still inspiring me with his enthusiasm for the book. I apologize to his family for any damage done to his brain by his having to read the manuscript five times. Sarah Knight kept me honest, and more or less on time, throughout the editing process. Nan Graham and Susan Moldow were both inspirational as always. As for my agent, Lydia Wills—it's rare enough to have an agent who does such a good job representing your interests, but it's practically a miracle to have one that also contributes so much intellectually to your publishing career. (Not to mention being fun to talk to on the phone!)

To me, one of the most moving discoveries in the brain sciences—after a century of Darwinian conflict and Oedipal struggle—has been the emerging understanding of the brain's affiliative systems. Our brains are designed to love and connect as much as they are designed to flee and fight. I had ample reminders of those systems every day writing this book: our older boy scrambling up on my lap to pound away on the keyboard; reading copyedits while our one-month-old slept beside me on the couch; debating the fine points of the book's argument with my wife over dinner. I'm grateful to all of them—especially my wife, who knew what she was getting into—for allowing me to draw upon our family experiences at several points in the text. It's strange to think that the boys will someday be old enough to read these pages, but if ten or twenty years from now they should happen to pick up a copy, I hope they'll know how much their presence colored every sentence—and how much I loved these early years together.

New York City June 2003