The Mind Within the Brain

"The Mind Within the Brain is a very valuable introduction to the neuroscientific paradigm and to understanding how we make choices. It is an enjoyable read, easy to relate to and very educational... is ambitious in its scope and style; not only does he want to explain how action-selection systems work in the brain, but also how they malfunction whilst delving into the philosophical and ethical consequences of analysing the mind in such a manner. " -- Jodie Russell (University of Edinburgh), British Society for Literature and Science "I think it is accurate that there is not another book out there with the scope of this one, and I imagine it will attract a great deal of interest from lay audience and academics alike. Redish's writing is very engaging, sprinkling in examples of real-world phenomena that every reader can relate to. He does this with humor and with several entertaining footnotes.... He also describes his own contributions to this literature, making it clear that his lab has made substantive contributions to our understanding but again discussed in a way that should be appreciated -- striking a nice balance between simple but not overly simplistic or distorted as is all too often the case in science writings for non-scientists." -- Michael J. Frank, PhD, Laboratory for Neural Computation and Cognition, Brown University "Dr. David Redish is a known well-respected scientist. He's made his mark on the mathematical modeling of decision-making. The three chapters provided to the reviewer evidence a nice, easy read. The concepts are in general well-explained... It seems that the idea of the book came from interacting with individuals who really seem to crave this kind of information. I am not sure of the existence of a similar manual. There is a book on neuroeconomics by Peter Politser from your group, but it is more complex, and does not have the broad perspective proposed by David Redish.... this book would have a place as a source of dissemination of knowledge recently gained on brain function and ways in which impairment in brain function can lead to disorders such as addiction. I believe that a large audience would be interested in this manual, including scientists." -- Monique Ernst, MD, PhD, Head of Neurodevelopment of Reward Systems, Emotional Development and Affective Neuroscience Branch (EDAN), NIMH "Well researched and delivered with a light touch." - Nature "Redish's multiple-system analysis is intriguing and instructive." --PsycCRITIQUES