Neuroscience
In the past two years there have been quite a number of fictional works dealing with the brain and its disorders.
I just found a new entry to that niche area of fiction in one of my neighborhood bookstores this afternoon: The Echo Maker by Richard Powers (FSG Press). The condition, Capgras. The dedication page, a quote by Luria.
Powers has done some remarkable fiction with the intertwine of Glenn Gould's recordings of Bach's Goldberg Variations and DNA in the massive The Gold Bug Variations and with medical science, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality in other works.
- The Evolution Of Memory In A Paragraph
"Energy fell on an ancient cell; the cell registered. Some prodding set off a chemical cascade that incised the cell and changed its structure, forming a cast of the signals that fell on it. Eons later, two cells clasped, signalling each other, squaring...
- Reading Novels Linked With Increased Empathy
"'Oh! it is only a novel!' or, in short, only some work in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusion of wit and humour are to be conveyed to the world in the best chosen...
- The Repressed Memory Challenge
The Biological Psychiatry Laboratory at McLean Hospital is offering: $1000 award to anyone who can produce a published case of "repressed memory" (in fiction or non-fiction) prior to 1800.From the New York Times: A Study of Memory Looks at Fact and Fiction...
- Amnesia Fiction From Joyce Carol Oates
The new novel from Joyce Carol Oates is about a person with amnesia and his relationship with his clinical scientist. Place this work of fiction adjacent to the non-fiction work about Patient H.M and - voila! - the covers seem to create what could...
- Reading Fiction Improves Empathy
Stephen Abram pointed out a fascinating article from the (Toronto) Globe and Mail, citing some research which shows that folks who read fiction have "exceptionally strong" social skills. The Globe and Mail interview Keith Oatley about his research, and...
Neuroscience
Brain Fiction
In the past two years there have been quite a number of fictional works dealing with the brain and its disorders.
I just found a new entry to that niche area of fiction in one of my neighborhood bookstores this afternoon: The Echo Maker by Richard Powers (FSG Press). The condition, Capgras. The dedication page, a quote by Luria.
Powers has done some remarkable fiction with the intertwine of Glenn Gould's recordings of Bach's Goldberg Variations and DNA in the massive The Gold Bug Variations and with medical science, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality in other works.
- The Evolution Of Memory In A Paragraph
"Energy fell on an ancient cell; the cell registered. Some prodding set off a chemical cascade that incised the cell and changed its structure, forming a cast of the signals that fell on it. Eons later, two cells clasped, signalling each other, squaring...
- Reading Novels Linked With Increased Empathy
"'Oh! it is only a novel!' or, in short, only some work in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusion of wit and humour are to be conveyed to the world in the best chosen...
- The Repressed Memory Challenge
The Biological Psychiatry Laboratory at McLean Hospital is offering: $1000 award to anyone who can produce a published case of "repressed memory" (in fiction or non-fiction) prior to 1800.From the New York Times: A Study of Memory Looks at Fact and Fiction...
- Amnesia Fiction From Joyce Carol Oates
The new novel from Joyce Carol Oates is about a person with amnesia and his relationship with his clinical scientist. Place this work of fiction adjacent to the non-fiction work about Patient H.M and - voila! - the covers seem to create what could...
- Reading Fiction Improves Empathy
Stephen Abram pointed out a fascinating article from the (Toronto) Globe and Mail, citing some research which shows that folks who read fiction have "exceptionally strong" social skills. The Globe and Mail interview Keith Oatley about his research, and...