Synaesthesia A Very Short Introduction
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Synaesthesia A Very Short Introduction
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Author : Julia Simner
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2019-06-27
Synaesthesia A Very Short Introduction written by Julia Simner and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2019-06-27 with Medical categories.
Can you taste words, feel flavours as a shape, or hear colors? If so you may well have synaesthesia, a neurological condition that gives rise to a 'merging of the senses'. This Very Short Introduction describes synaesthesia's many forms, and delves into the underlying neuroscience. Explaining the scientific basis for synaesthesia, Julia Simner considers how we can measure the effects synaesthesia has on the everyday lives of people living with it. Exploring the fascinating stories of different synaesthetes' experiences of the world, she also discusses the documented links between synaesthesia, childhood development, memory, personality, and artistic creativity, and the potential limitations synaesthesia might impose. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Synaesthesia
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Author : Julia Simner
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Release Date : 2019
Synaesthesia written by Julia Simner and has been published by Oxford University Press, USA this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2019 with Medical categories.
In 1893 a Swiss neuroscientist called Theodore Flournoy conducted an interview with an individual known only as "Madame L", during which Madame L described the personalities of numbers, from 6, an orphaned young man, very well brought up and polite, to 9, the selfish and maniacal husband ofMadame 8, to the extravagant and self-centred 5. For Madame L it was impossible to contemplate the numbers without feeling their attendant personalities. This is one of the first records we have of synaesthesia, often described as a rare neurological condition that gives rise to a type of "mergingof the senses". For those who experience it - synaesthetes - one sense appears to cross with another. Some people experience the sensation of different flavours when they hear certain words, while others see vivid colours on reading words. In the varying forms of synaesthesia letters, numbers,words, sounds, colours, or textures can merge together, resulting in sensations of colourful chords, chicken that feels pointy when eaten, and beef that tastes dark blue.In this Very Short Introduction Julia Simner introduces the many different ways synaesthesia presents itself. Discussing the scientific tests we have developed for distinguishing true synaesthetes (who may not even be aware that their sensations are unusual), Simner considers how we can measure theeffects synaesthesia has on the everyday lives of people living with it. Exploring the fascinating stories of different individuals' experiences of the world through the many forms of synaesthesia, she discusses the increasingly documented links between synaesthesia and artistic creativity andlateral thinking, and also the potential limitations synaesthesia might impose. Delving into the neuroscience behind synaesthesia, Simner also relates contemporary attempts at understanding both the genetic causes of synaesthesia, and how synesthetic sensations occur in the brain.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, andenthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Consciousness A Very Short Introduction
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Author : Susan Blackmore
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2017-10-12
Consciousness A Very Short Introduction written by Susan Blackmore and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2017-10-12 with Psychology categories.
Consciousness, 'the last great mystery for science', remains a hot topic. How can a physical brain create our experience of the world? What creates our identity? Do we really have free will? Could consciousness itself be an illusion? Exciting new developments in brain science are continuing the debates on these issues, and the field has now expanded to include biologists, neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers. This controversial book clarifies the potentially confusing arguments, and the major theories, whilst also outlining the amazing pace of discoveries in neuroscience. Covering areas such as the construction of self in the brain, mechanisms of attention, the neural correlates of consciousness, and the physiology of altered states of consciousness, Susan Blackmore highlights our latest findings. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Emotion A Very Short Introduction
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Author : Dylan Evans
language : en
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Release Date : 2003-02-13
Emotion A Very Short Introduction written by Dylan Evans and has been published by OUP Oxford this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2003-02-13 with Psychology categories.
Was love invented by European poets in the Middle Ages or is it part of human nature? Will winning the lottery really make you happy? Is it possible to build robots that have feelings? These are just some of the intriguing questions explored in this guide to the latest thinking about the emotions. Drawing on a wide range of scientific research, from anthropology and psychology to neuroscience and artificial intelligence, Emotion: The Science of Sentiment takes the reader on a fascinating journey into the human heart. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Cognitive Neuroscience A Very Short Introduction
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Author : Richard Passingham
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2016-09-15
Cognitive Neuroscience A Very Short Introduction written by Richard Passingham and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2016-09-15 with Science categories.
Up to the 1960s, psychology was deeply under the influence of behaviourism, which focused on stimuli and responses, and regarded consideration of what may happen in the mind as unapproachable scientifically. This began to change with the devising of methods to try to tap into what was going on in the 'black box' of the mind, and the development of 'cognitive psychology'. With the study of patients who had suffered brain damage or injury to limited parts of the brain, outlines of brain components and processes began to take shape, and by the end of the 1970s, a new science, cognitive neuroscience, was born. But it was with the development of ways of accessing activation of the working brain using imaging techniques such as PET and fMRI that cognitive neuroscience came into its own, as a science cutting across psychology and neuroscience, with strong connections to philosophy of mind. Experiments involving subjects in scanners while doing various tasks, thinking, problem solving, and remembering are shedding light on the brain processes involved. The research is exciting and new, and often makes media headlines. But there is much misunderstanding about what brain imaging tells us, and the interpretation of studies on cognition. In this Very Short Introduction Richard Passingham, a distinguished cognitive neuroscientist, gives a provocative and exciting account of the nature and scope of this relatively new field, and the techniques available to us, focusing on investigation of the human brain. He explains what brain imaging shows, pointing out common misconceptions, and gives a brief overview of the different aspects of human cognition: perceiving, attending, remembering, reasoning, deciding, and acting. Passingham concludes with a discussion of the exciting advances that may lie ahead. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
American Business History A Very Short Introduction
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Author : Walter A. Friedman
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2020-06-01
American Business History A Very Short Introduction written by Walter A. Friedman and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2020-06-01 with History categories.
By the early twentieth century, it became common to describe the United States as a "business civilization." President Coolidge in 1925 said, "The chief business of the American people is business." More recently, historian Sven Beckert characterized Henry Ford's massive manufactory as the embodiment of America: "While Athens had its Parthenon and Rome its Colosseum, the United States had its River Rouge Factory in Detroit..." How did business come to assume such power and cultural centrality in America? This volume explores the variety of business enterprise in the United States and analyzes its presence in the country's economy, its evolution over time, and its meaning in society. It introduces readers to formative business leaders (including Elbert Gary, Harlow Curtice, and Mary Kay Ash), leading firms (Mellon Bank, National Cash Register, Xerox), and fiction about business people (The Octopus, Babbitt, The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit). It also discusses Alfred Chandler, Joseph Schumpeter, Mira Wilkins, and others who made significant contributions to understanding of America's business history. This VSI pursues its three central themes - the evolution, scale, and culture of American business - in a chronological framework stretching from the American Revolution to today. The first theme is evolution: How has U.S. business evolved over time? How have American companies competed with one another and with foreign firms? Why have ideas about strategy and management changed? Why did business people in the mid-twentieth century celebrate an "organizational" culture promising long-term employment in the same company, while a few decades later entrepreneurship was prized? Second is scale: Why did business assume such enormous scale in the United States? Was the rise of gigantic corporations due to the industriousness of its population, or natural resources, or government policies? And third, culture: What are the characteristics of a "business civilization"? How have opinions on the meaning of business changed? In the late nineteenth century, Andrew Carnegie believed that America's numerous enterprises represented an exuberant "triumph of democracy." After World War II, however, sociologist William H. Whyte saw business culture as stultifying, and historian Richard Hofstadter wrote, "Once great men created fortunes; today a great system creates fortunate men." How did changes in the nature of business affect popular views? Walter A. Friedman provides the long view of these important developments.
The U S Supreme Court A Very Short Introduction
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Author : Linda Greenhouse
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2020-05-29
The U S Supreme Court A Very Short Introduction written by Linda Greenhouse and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2020-05-29 with Law categories.
For 30 years, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Linda Greenhouse chronicled the activities of the U.S. Supreme Court and its justices as a correspondent for the New York Times. In this Very Short Introduction, she draws on her deep knowledge of the court's history and of its written and unwritten rules to show readers how the Supreme Court really works. Greenhouse offers a fascinating institutional biography of a place and its people--men and women who exercise great power but whose names and faces are unrecognized by many Americans and whose work often appears cloaked in mystery. How do cases get to the Supreme Court? How do the justices go about deciding them? What special role does the chief justice play? What do the law clerks do? How does the court relate to the other branches of government? Greenhouse answers these questions by depicting the justices as they confront deep constitutional issues or wrestle with the meaning of confusing federal statutes. Throughout, the author examines many individual Supreme Court cases to illustrate points under discussion, ranging from Marbury v. Madison, the seminal case which established judicial review, to the recent District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), which struck down the District of Columbia's gun-control statute and which was, surprisingly, the first time in its history that the Court issued an authoritative interpretation of the Second Amendment. To add perspective, Greenhouse also compares the Court to foreign courts, revealing interesting differences. For instance, no other country in the world has chosen to bestow life tenure on its judges. The second edition of Greenhouse's Very Short Introduction tracks the changes in the Court's makeup over the last eight years, considers the landmark decisions of the Obama and Trump eras, and reexamines the precarious fates of such precedents as Roe v. Wade. A superb overview packed with telling details, this volume offers a matchless introduction to one of the pillars of American government.
Condensed Matter Physics A Very Short Introduction
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Author : Ross H. McKenzie
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2023-04-25
Condensed Matter Physics A Very Short Introduction written by Ross H. McKenzie and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2023-04-25 with Science categories.
There are many more states of matter than just solid, liquid, and gas. Examples include liquid crystal, magnet, glass, and superconductor. New states are continually, and unexpectedly, being discovered. Some states, such as superconductor, can act like Schrödinger's cat and exhibit the weirdness normally associated with the quantum theory of atoms, photons, and electrons. Condensed matter physics seeks to understand how states of matter and their distinct physical properties emerge from the atoms of which a material is composed. A system of many interacting parts can have properties that the parts do not have. Water is wet, but a single water molecule is not. Your brain is conscious, but a single neuron is not. Such emergent phenomena are central to condensed matter physics and also occur in many fields, from biology to computer science to sociology, leading to rich intellectual connections. When do quantitative differences become qualitative differences? Can simple models describe rich and complex behaviour? What is the relationship between the particular and the universal? How is the abstract related to the concrete? Condensed matter physics is all about these big questions. The materials in silicon chips, liquid crystal displays, and magnetic computer memories, may have transformed society, but understanding them has transformed how we think about complex systems. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Fire A Very Short Introduction
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Author : Andrew C. Scott
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2020-06-25
Fire A Very Short Introduction written by Andrew C. Scott and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2020-06-25 with Science categories.
Fire is rarely out of the headlines, from large natural wildfires raging across the Australian or Californian countrysides to the burning of buildings such as the disasters of Grenfell tower and Notre Dame. Fire on these scales can represent a serious risk to human life and property. But the advent of fire made and controlled by humans also represented a crucial point in our evolution, allowing us to cook our food, forge our weapons, and warm our homes. This Very Short Introduction covers the fundamentals of fire, whether wild or under human control, starting with the basics of ignition, combustion, and fuel. Andrew Scott considers both natural wildfires and the role of humans in making and suppressing fire. Despite frightening reports of wildfire destruction, he also shows how landscape fires have been part of our planet's history for 400 million years, and do not always have to be extinguished. He also considers the problem of fires in urban settings, including new ways to prevent fires. The cost of wildfire can be steep - as well as the burning, post-fire erosion and flooding can have a great impact on both humans and the environment. It can also have a lasting effect in shaping ecosystems and plant life. Scott ends by examining the relationship between fire and the climate, and considering the future of wildfire in a warming world. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Microbiomes A Very Short Introduction
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Author : Angela E. Douglas
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2022-11-10
Microbiomes A Very Short Introduction written by Angela E. Douglas and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2022-11-10 with Science categories.
Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring The term 'microbiomes' encapsulates an important scientific breakthrough of recent years. This is the realization that humans, other animals, and plants harbour communities of microorganisms which are mostly beneficial but can occasionally cause or exacerbate disease. Our quickly developing understanding of microbiomes is being translated into novel microbial therapies for human disease and is contributing to sustainable practices in agriculture and food production. On the flipside, there is a growing concern that some claims for microbiomes, especially in relation to human health, far exceed the scientific data. This Very Short Introduction is an essential guide to the fast-moving discipline of microbiome science. It accessibly distills the key facts about our resident microbiomes, explains how and why our health and wellbeing depend on them, and provides readers with the fundamental knowledge they need to judge the reliability of claims about microbiome-based applications. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introduction series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.