“It's all about complex, entangled networks. That's the theme of this superb book about the brain and its role in generating cognition and behavior. For anyone who wants to learn about the brain and its relationship to the mind, this book is essential reading.”
Evan Thompson, author of Mind in Life and Waking, Dreaming, Being; coauthor of The Embodied Mind
“In this ambitious book, Luiz Pessoa deftly argues the case that the brain is not a modular system that can be understood one region at a time—but rather a complex network of interconnected, interdependent parts. Drawing from comparative neuroanatomy, mathematical biology, and complex systems theory, he convincingly demonstrates that brain regions can participate in specific functions only when embedded within larger networks. In this highly readable work that will appeal to everyone from curious youths to seasoned neuroscientists, he takes on the age-old question: How does the brain work? It turns out, the answer is: It's complicated.”
Lucina Q. Uddin, Professor, University of California Los Angeles
“Luiz Pessoa's The Entangled Brain should be welcomed as an equally informed and bold endeavor... Thanks to its engaging style, Pessoa's book is ultimately aimed at all readers who are interested in how the brain really works.”
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry
“The Entangled Brain is part survey, part manifesto. It provides an interesting and valuable overview of recent research on emotion, learning, extinction learning, the evolution of the human brain, and other phenomena, interspersed with pleas for a different approach to studying the mind and brain…Pessoa's guiding theme is easily stated: neuroscience has been dominated by a view that the brain can be understood via an analysis into small, local functional units, but the actual functions that cause behavior are highly distributed and a proper understanding of them will not be possible with a reductive local account.”
Metascience
“Pessoa's enthusiasm for his 'favourite topic' permeates the text and makes reading a pleasure....Throughout this iconoclastic volume, the concept of the brain as a sophisticated complex system is illuminated by real life examples....[Pessoa] has certainly achieved his aim.”
The British Neuroscience Association
