A six-part PBS series
Join me for an exhilarating tour into the inner cosmos that generates your reality. In the infinitely dense tangle of billions of brain cells and their trillions of connections, I hope you’ll be able to squint and make out something that you might not have expected to see in there. You.
THE BRAIN aired in the United States on PBS (Oct - Nov 2015). In the United Kingdom it aired on BBC4 (February 2016). In Australia it aired on SBS (March 2016).
See clips from the episodes on the PBS website. Or stream full episodes from Amazon Prime
Six one-hour episodes tell the story of the inner workings of the brain and take viewers on a journey into their thoughts, actions, and beliefs.
This epic series focuses on the basic questions of being human, going into the inner cosmos to explore questions from the meaning of reality to the behavior of societies.
In a cubic centimeter of brain tissue there are as many connections as stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. Our thoughts, our hopes, and our dreams are contained in these three pounds of wet biological material. I hope that when viewers watch THE BRAIN, they will take away a new love of science and sense of awe at the human condition.
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From the book dustjacket:
Locked in the silence and darkness of your skull, your brain fashions the rich narratives of your reality and your identity. Join renowned neuroscientist David Eagleman for a journey into the questions at the mysterious heart of our existence. What is reality? Who are “you”? How do you make decisions? Why does your brain need other people? How is technology poised to change what it means to be human? In the course of his investigations, Eagleman guides us through the world of extreme sports, criminal justice, facial expressions, genocide, brain surgery, gut feelings, robotics, and the search for immortality.
"He is a gifted educator with considerable communication skills... Eagleman is a convincing tour guide, and his unstated goal of being an ambassador of neuroscience - a public intellectual taking on subject matter some may consider too esoteric or controversial for widespread dissemination - is laudable in a time when so much new knowledge may prove so valuable to society."
- Neurology Today
"A magical, mystical tour of the brain showing how life shapes your brain and your brain shapes your life."
- Parade
"In the fine tradition of Carl Sagan, Eagleman shows that science is captivating without hyped embellishment, and, if you pay attention, you’ll find yourself immersed in it."
- Forbes
"An ideal introduction to how biology generates the mind.... structured around crucial and wide-ranging questions, saturated with personal and social relevance. And Eagleman’s answers are consistently clear, engaging and thought-provoking."
- Nature
"An intellectual thrill-ride. Plus, Eagleman isn't merely a brilliant guide, he can turn a phrase, too."
- Newsday
"The show and its companion book by Eagleman, “The Brain: The Story of You,” are testaments to the neuroscientist’s fervent belief in the relevance of his field to ordinary people."
- NY Magazine
"This ranks as the most fascinating and unsettling science series of the year, setting out the state of contemporary research into the human brain in terms that any interested layperson can comprehend."
- OC Register
"David Eagleman's wide-ranging roundup of the current state of knowledge about the brain is concise, accessible and often very surprising. It's a strange new world inside your head."
- Brian Eno
"David Eagleman’s The Brain its an astonishing read. On every page there is a revelation so fantastic as to make one gasp. It would be impossible to take in if we didn’t all possess that impossibly extraordinary thing, a brain. Eagleman comes closer than anyone to solving the mystery of how to find the self inside the grey electric mush between our ears.”
- Stephen Fry
"David Eagleman makes it easy to comprehend the most complex collection of cells in the Cosmos - our brain. If neuroscience had a rock legend this would be him.”
- Ruby Wax
