The Elusive Brain

Featuring a foreword by renowned neuroscientist Joseph E. LeDoux, The Elusive Brain is an illuminating, comprehensive survey of contemporary literatures engagement with neuroscience. This fascinating book explores how literature interacts with neuroscience to provide a better understanding of the brains relationship to the self. Jason Tougaw surveys the work of contemporary writersincluding Oliver Sacks, Temple Grandin, Richard Powers, Siri Hustvedt, and Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyayanalyzing the way they experiment with literary forms to frame new views of the immaterial experiences that compose a self. He argues that their work offers a necessary counterbalance to a wider cultural neuromania that seeks out purely neural explanations for human behaviors as varied as reading, economics, empathy, and racism. Building on recent scholarship, Tougaws evenhanded account will be an original contribution to the growing field of neuroscience and literature.