States of Mind

States of Mind is a wonderfully accessible introduction to the most important recent findings about how our health, behavior, feelings, and identities are influenced by what goes on inside our brains. The book covers the sources of depression and how it can be treated; the effects of stress on our brains and general health; how memory works and the phenomenon of false memory; why we dream and the role dreams play in our lives; how genes and life experience combine to shape our personalities and temperaments; and more. Adapted from the original talks by J. Allan Hobson, Steven Hyman, Jerome Kagan, Eric Kandel, Joseph LeDoux, Bruce McEwen, Kay Redfield Jamison, and Esther Sternberg at the Smithsonian Associates-Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives lecture series, "Understanding the Human Psyche". Kay Redfield Jamison bestselling author of An Unquiet Mind, on depression J. Allan Hobson, author of the groundbreaking The Dreaming Brain, on dreams Steven Hyman, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, on genes and environment Jerome Kagan, director of Harvard's Mind-Brain Behavior Initiative, on temperament Eric Kandel, director of Columbia's Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, on memory Joseph LeDoux, author of the acclaimed The Emotional Brain, on emotions Bruce McEwen, director of the Neuroendocrinology Laboratory at Rockefeller University, on stress Esther Sternberg, head of Immunology and Behavior at the National Institute of Mental Health, on the brain and disease