The first major biography of the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who discovered the neuron and transformed our understanding of the human mind-illustrated with his extraordinary anatomical drawings.
Benjamin Ehrlich is the author of The Dreams of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, the first translation of Cajal's dream journals into English. His work has appeared in The Gettysburg Review, Nautilus, and New England Review, where he serves on the editorial panel.
"Passionate and meticulous . . . Ehrlich has profound sympathy and
great insight into the workings of [Cajal's] mind. This comes
across clearly in The Brain in Search of Itself, a deeply
researched, well-written and lovingly crafted biography . . .
[Ehrlich] delivers thought-provoking metaphors, unforgettable
scenes and many beautifully worded phrases." --Benjamin Labatut,
The New York Times Book Review "Ehrlich is truly fascinated by
Cajal, his peculiar life, self-absorption, intelligence, humility,
and suffering, and in pursuing them so rigorously he gives his book
an epic quality." --Alec Wilkinson, The New York Review of Books
"One of the best ways to see how science constructively stumbles
toward truth is through the biography of a notable researcher.
Which is what we have in Benjamin Ehrlich's The Brain in Search of
Itself . . . An intimate biography that avoids hagiography."
--Matthew Hutson, The Wall Street Journal "Structured as a series
of brief, captivating chapters, [this] first major English language
biography of Cajal is a delightful read. With rigor and eloquent
prose, Ehrlich captures the essence of Cajal's visionary thought
and force of character . . . Ehrlich has done justice to Cajal,
just as Cajal did justice to the brain." --Alex Gomez-Marin,
Science "Ehrlich sketches Cajal as he moved through his life,
capturing moments both mundane and extraordinary . . . [The Brain
in Search of Itself] is meticulously researched and utterly
comprehensive . . . This biography draws a vivid picture." --Laura
Sanders, Science News
"Deeply researched and intimate . . . Vivid . . . Through colorful
anecdotes about Cajal's upbringing, education, career, marriage,
and fatherhood, [Ehrlich] reveals his character in more detail than
ever before, bringing him to life in clear and elegant prose . . .
A beautiful composition that shows Cajal's indelible contribution
to science and art." --Kirkus Reviews "Benjamin Ehrlich has pulled
off a surprise epic of scientific biography, brilliantly restoring
the strange forgotten figure of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, the Don
Quixote of Spanish science, to his original status as national
treasure and outside winner of the Nobel Prize. It is a haunting
story, colorfully told, with some of the quality of a folk tale.
Boldly and vividly written, Ehrlich's book follows Cajal
affectionately and patiently through all his struggles. Above all
he makes Cajal's brain-research fascinating, and his lost Spain
unforgettable. A marvellously accessible, fresh and
thought-provoking book." --Richard Holmes, author of The Age of
Wonder "In this beautifully written biography, Benjamin Ehrlich
brings to life the genius of Santiago Ramón y Cajal. It is the
story of a boy from a tiny mountain village in Spain who goes on to
the heights of scientific achievement, promoted by artistic talent
comparable to that of the greatest draftsmen of the Renaissance.
Cajal's vision of the brain, which Ehrlich lays out in an
accessible way, is the cornerstone of modern neuroscience." --Larry
W. Swanson, University Professor at the University of Southern
California and author of Brain Architecture: Understanding the
Basic Plan "With this gracious and engrossing life, Benjamin
Ehrlich mirrors his subject Santiago Ramon y Cajal's extraordinary
quest to wrest an ordered schema from the almost inconceivable
tangle of the brain's gelatinous muddle. With painstaking attention
to detail, Ehrlich worries out the dazzlingly confounding
intersections of chance and destiny, provenance and character, fate
and freedom, that converge to shape an exemplary life. One life in
probing search of another, the result being a sparkling gift for
the rest of us." --Lawrence Weschler, author of And How are You, Dr
Sacks? A Biographical Memoir of Oliver Sacks "The Brain in Search
of Itself is the beguiling story of 'the father of modern
neuroscience, ' a man who sketched a beautiful, alluring portrait
of the most complex object in the known universe." --Lisa Feldman
Barrett, university distinguished professor at Northeastern
University and author of How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of
the Brain and Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain "Despite
Santiago Ramón y Cajal's many autobiographical, non-fiction, and
scientific writings, we have not truly understood the man who
prophetically described the cells and circuits of the nervous
system and became the neuroscientist's muse. Benjamin Ehrlich
presents us with a thrilling and emotional narrative of how Cajal
found safe haven from a tough father in nature and art, his
passionate political beliefs, and his talent for intuiting function
from what he merely observed through the microscope. Ehrlich gives
us a brilliant, scholarly and gripping book that I couldn't put
down. His Cajalian focus on making 'composite portraits, syntheses,
and interpretations' to explain his subject is a masterpiece, an
effort that Cajal himself would admire." --Carol A. Mason,
professor at Columbia University and president of the Cajal Club
"Written with a cool, fierce eye for details, The Brain in Search
of Itself should appeal to a wide audience. Here is the first fully
researched and fleshed-out biography in English of one of the
founding fathers of neuroscience, a major figure in modern science.
Cajal and his world come to vivid life in these pages. Benjamin
Ehrlich is a natural writer, and this appealing narrative--which
has the forward momentum of a good novel--tells a story that will
astonish and delight readers." --Jay Parini, author of Borges and
Me: An Encounter "Santiago Ramón y Cajal is often called the father
of neuroscience, yet until now, his own history has remained
largely untold. In rich, poetic prose, Benjamin Ehrlich presents
him here in the full context of his life and times. This is
literary biography at its best, seamlessly uniting the personal and
the scientific in a gripping epic with universal appeal." --Casey
Schwartz, author of Attention, a Love Story and In the Mind Fields
"Thoroughly researched and beautifully written, The Brain in Search
of Itself is an exceptional new biography of one of the most
important neuroscientists who ever lived. Much as Cajal combined
careful scientific study with his unique artistic sensibility to
create striking depictions of the brain, Ehrlich unites rigorous
scholarship and evocative prose to form a compelling portrait of
Cajal himself--of his origins and intellectual growth, his dreams
and disappointments, his crises, triumphs, and continuing legacy.
To read this book is to understand the particular environment in
which Cajal's genius developed, and to get as close as possible to
the inner workings of his mind." --Ferris Jabr, contributing writer
for The New York Times Magazine and Scientific American "Benjamin
Ehrlich's biography tackles the big, unending questions that drove
Santiago Ramón y Cajal to conceive of the neuron: Where does the
soul reside? What are the structures that comprise dreams,
memories, consciousness? The Brain in Search of Itself shows what
it means to look, and to look closely, at a person's life. Through
the lens of Cajal, an unlikely visionary, Ehrlich reveals a
sweeping portrait of the history of neuroscience. Cajal brought an
artist's imagination to the microscope, and in Ehrlich's attentive
rendering, the scientist-artist's life appears like the brain
itself: both material and ethereal at once." --Jenn Shapland,
author of My Autobiography of Carson McCullers
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
