With a view to broadening the scope of medical humanities and established ideas of what this field entails, we are pleased to offer ‘Brains’ for review. Published by the Wellcome Collection, this book is mindfully and creatively exhibited and would be suited to students, academics, practitioners as well as artists of anatomy. Snapped up! Stay tuned for more review calls soon.
‘Humans have been fascinated by the brain since Antiquity, and the quest to preserve, manipulate and explain it has been long and difficult. More than 2000 years ago, Aristotle deemed the brain less important than the heart and liver. However, by the Middle Ages the brain was widely believed to be the seat of the memory and intellect. Today, equipped with powerful new technologies, the neurosciences again hold out the prospect of an objective account of consciousness: the soul or mind as nothing but intricately connected flesh.
Brains takes the novel dual perspective of exploring the brain as both a scientific and cultural object, examining what humans have done to brains in the cause of medical intervention, scientific enquiry, cultural meaning and technological advantage. Brains explores the ways that we have sought to understand and classify the brain over the centuries. It delves into the eerie world of brain collecting: the practice of storing and cataloguing brains – including those of Albert Einstein, the notorious murderer of Edward H. Rullof and pioneering feminist Helen Gardner – as well as addressing the sinister practices involving brains that took place under the Third Reich.’
If you would like to write a review on ‘Brains’ (approximately 1,000-1,500 words in length), then please email our reviews editor with a short explanation of why you are well placed to review the book.