What accounts for the remarkable ability to get inside another person's head-to know what they're thinking and feeling? "Mind reading" is the very heart of what it means to be human, creating a bridge between self and others that is fundamental to the development of culture and society. But, until recently, scientists didn't understand what in the brain makes it possible.
This has all changed in the last decade. Marco Iacoboni, a leading neuroscientist whose work has been covered in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal, explains the groundbreaking research into mirror neurons, the "smart cells" in our brain that allow us to understand others. From imitation to morality, from learning to addiction, from political affiliations to consumer choices, mirror neurons seem to have properties that are relevant to all these aspects of social cognition. As The New York Times reports: "The discovery is shaking up numerous scientific disciplines, shifting the understanding of culture, empathy, philosophy, language, imitation, autism and psychotherapy."
Mirroring People is the first book for the general reader on this revolutionary new science.
"A fascinating account of an unexpected discovery that is changing the way that psychologists and neuroscientists think about everything from language to social interaction."
Daniel Gilbert, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of Stumbling on Ha
"Those of us who thirty years ago began to speculate about the social brain never guessed what riches were in store. Iacoboni's book is both a thrilling account of how research on mirror neurons is revolutionising our understanding of inter-subjectivity, and a passionate manifesto for what he calls 'existential neuroscience.' Mirroring People does for the story of mirror neurons what The Double He
Nicholas Humphrey, author of Seeing Red: A Study in Consciousness
