THE ERA OF THE NEW BRAIN...IS HERE

Genetic mapping, imaging technology, and psychopharmacology have converged to give us an unprecedented understanding of how the brain works and how we can affect its operation. But what does this mean? Already our brains are working differently than they did just one hundred years ago, as we respond to the barrage of media images, violent and provocative, and attend to the demands of the modern world. "Cosmetic" drugs that work in the brain to prevent us from feeling depressed, anxious, or fearful, or that enhance concentration and memory are already available. Dramatic treatments to repair damage in the brain are becoming common.

In the New Brain, Dr. Richard Restak guides you through the frontiers of modern brain science and offers cautionary but also optimistic thoughts on the direction of this work. He says that in the era of the New Brain it will be necessary to tread carefully, lest we imprison ourselves in concepts that diminish, rather than enhance, our freedom.

"The wise, witty, and ethical Dr. Restak has given us . . . a book vital to understanding our own role in influencing our ongoing evolution as a species. He guides us gently and humbly through synaptic connections we did not know we had, thus igniting us to insatiable curiosity about our potentials."

- Wilton S. Dillon, Ph.D. Senior Scholar Emeritus Smithsonian Institution