Soul Made Flesh: the Discovery of the Brain and How it Changed the World.

CARL ZIMMER

Prior to Thomas Willis' revolutionary 17th-century dissections of brains--human and animal--people generally believed that the soul's domain was the heart. Zimmer brilliantly details not only Willis' life but also the state of society, religion, and medicine during his forging of the science of neurology. From the first paragraph, Zimmer paints a vivid portrait by depicting the sights and smells of Oxford, England, in 1662. He then weaves the tale of Willis' rise from boy of modest beginnings to accomplished physician sharing the company of some the world's most noted thinkers, including Christopher Wren, Richard Lower, and Robert Hooke. Before Willis began mapping the brain, there was a wide perception that not much went on there. Willis proved that idea dead wrong and showed that the brain's structures could form memories, dream, and imagine, Zimmer beautifully illustrates how Willis led us to the view that the brain is central not only to the body but to our sense of self. It was this keystone that drove a new medical age that rejected metaphysics in favor of hard science--a leap that Willis himself sometimes found difficult. Free Pr, 2004, 367 p., $26.00.