Jean-Didier Vincent

Two leading neuroscientists introduce the concepts of "cerebral plasticity" and the "regenerating brain," describing what we know now about the processes through which the brain constantly reconstructs itself and the potential benefits this knowledge could have in addressing concerns for neurological, cognitive, and emotional health. The authors begin with a survey of the fundamental scientific developments that led to our current understanding of the regenerative mind, elucidating the breakthrough neurobiological studies that paved the way for our present understanding of the brain's plasticity and regenerative capabilities. They then discuss the application of these findings to such issues as depression, dyslexia, schizophrenia, and cognitive therapy, incorporating the latest technologies in neuroimaging, optogenetics, and nanotechnology. Their work shows the brain is anything but a static organ, ceasing to grow as human beings become adults. Rather, the brain is dynamic, evolving organically in relation to physical, cultural, historical, and affective stimuli, a plasticity that provides early hope to survivors of trauma and degenerative disorders.

What is love? Can we explain Romeo's love for Juliet? What is desire, pleasure and pain, the taste for power and domination? In short, how can we explain our passions? Going beyond the traditional divide between the soul and the body, between the brain which would be the organ of reason and the body that of impulses, Jean-Didier Vincent proposes a new ""theory of emotions"", which harmonizes our conception of man. Not, of course, that it is possible to put love into an equation The author is too aware of the subtlety and complexity of our states of mind to claim to reduce them to chemical combinations. On the contrary, he knows what love and beauty mean with this book where the smile is combined with purely literary talent.