SOUL MADE FLESH --- THE DISCOVERY OF THE BRAIN --- AND HOW IT CHANGED THE WORLD by Carl Zimmer. Free Press, 2004
      QUOTE = "To explicate the uses of the Brain seems as difficult a task as to paint the Soul, of which it is commonly said, that it understands all things but itself." Thomas Willis, The Anatomy of the Brain and Nerves (1664)

    INTRODUCTION --- A Bowl of Curds (p3-7)

      1) HEARTS AND MINDS, LIVERS AND STOMACHS (p9-23)

        [1] Greeks explore the soul, puzzle over the brain, and embrace the heart

        [2] Christians build a soul from ancient parts

        [3] Natural philosophy is born and anatomy becomes a sacred art

        [4] Vesalius discovers monkeys where men once stood

        [5] The Greeks are transformed, the soul questioned

      2) WORLD WITHOUT SOUL (p25-41)

        [1] Anatomy of the cosmos

        [2] Galileo's new sky

        [3] Marin Mersenne makes the world a machine

        [4] Pierre Gassendi sanctifies the atom

        [5] Descartes's anatomy of clear ideas

        [6] The human body as earthen machine

        [7] The soul climbs into its cockpit

        [8] An arrest

        [9] The perfect argument

        [10] The ice queen makes Descartes an offer

        [11] The captive leaves its prison

      3) MAKE MOTION CEASE (p43-55)

      4) THE BROKEN HEART OF THE REPUBLIC (p57-81)

      5) PISSE-PROPHETS AMONG THE PURITANS (p83-115)


      6) THE CIRCLE OF WILLIS (p117-145)

        [1] William Harvey comes out of retirement

        [2] Thomas Willis searches for the agents of fever

        [3] The "Experimental Philosophy Club" fights for its life and for respectability

        [4] Hobbes as politician and neurologist

        [5] Robert Boyle gives shape to the New Science

      7) SPIRITS OF BLOOD, SPIRITS OF AIR (p147-167)

      8) A CURIOUS QUILTED BALL (p169-187)

      9) CONVULSIONS (p189-207)

      10) THE SCIENCE OF BRUTES (p209-235)


        [1] From Oxford to London

        [2] Richard Lower transfuses blood into a madman

        [3] Lower and Hooke discover Willis's mistake in the lungs of dogs

        [4] Willis constructs a doctrine of the soul

        [5] Madness explained

        [6] Thomas Willis avoids Hobbes's fate

      11) THE NEUROLOGIST VANISHES (p237-259)

        [1] A final book by Thomas Willis and a ridiculously sumptuous funeral

        [2] How John Locke buried his teacher

        [3] Robert Boyle sees the future before he dies and is not consoled

      12) THE SOUL'S MICROSCOPE (p261-296)

        [1] A long journey forward

          The four pillars of modern neuroscience: (p264)

            (1) The first pillar was Willis's discovery that animal spirits traveled through pathways in the brain and that the chemical changes they underwent governed everything in our lives, from emotions and perceptions to walking and sleeping. Today, neuroscientists know that the so-called animal spirits are actually electrical impulses and that they help pass signals between cells known as neurons.

            (2) Willis's second pillar was his second claim that the "spirits" carried out different functions of the soul as they moved through different parts of the brain. Modern neuroscience has confirmed that the brain is indeed divided into specialized networks of neurons tailored for narrow jobs, such as registering the edges of shapes or the tinge of fear in a voice.

            (3) Willis's third great achievement was demonstrating how similar the human brain is to other animals --- which neuroscientists now know is a sign of our kinship with them. All human brains (including our own) have been sculpted by evolution, and our extraordinary human gifts are tinkering with ancient plans.

            (4) The fourth pillar of Willis's neurology was to cure the diseases of the soul. He believed that all disorders of the brain (both neurological and psychological) could be cured by manipulating the atoms that composed it!

        [2] The soul as information

        [3] Lightning in a nerve

        [4] The wisdom of the reflex

        [5] Neurologists read the brain

        [6] MRI and the module

        [7] The networked mind

        [8] The able animal soul

        [9] Emotion with reason, not versus

        [10] Emphasize your concessions, minimize the other party's

        [11] Steel syrup and Prozac

        [12] The self anatomized

        [13] The social brain

        [14] Morals and neurons

        [15] Lady Conway and Dr. Willis meet again

      DRAMATIS PERSONAE --- Alphabetical Timeline by Name rather than Date (p297-301

      NOTES (p303-324)

      REFERENCES (p325-348)

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (p349-350)

      INDEX (p351-366)

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR (p367)
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