每一天睁开眼，我们就在接收来自外界的信息，我们的眼睛究竟是如何承载这个世界的信息的，又是如何传递到我们的大脑的？人人都说眼睛是心灵和灵魂的窗户，这又是为什么？
在人群中要找一张熟悉的脸是再简单不过的事，我们习以为常。但是人类是怎么办到这件事的，这是科学界最重要的谜题之一。我们大脑的运作有三分之一与视觉相关。基本上，科学家要讲清楚人类是如何看见感知人事物的，背后牵连到人类独特的认知本能。
哈佛大学医学院特聘教授、眼科学家及脑神经科学家理查德·马斯兰在本书中试图以科学的角度来解释人类如何透过双眼与大脑去感知、学习与记忆。
从光线射到视网膜，到脑部的神经网络如何把光线承载的信息转化成人脑可以辨识与运用的知识，到计算机算法要具有什么样的功能才能被称为“人工智能”，再到我们在回忆过去时为什么会呈现出一种第三人视角……
这是一场深刻但并非不可知的探索，让我们一同探索我们的身体对这个世界的理解吧。

A look at the extraordinary ways the brain turns thoughts into actions--and how this shapes our everyday lives
From making a cup of coffee to buying a house to changing the world around them, humans are uniquely able to execute necessary actions. How do we do it? Or in other words, how do our brains get things done? In On Task, cognitive neuroscientist David Badre presents the first authoritative introduction to the neuroscience of cognitive control--the remarkable ways that our brains devise sophisticated actions to achieve our goals. Drawing on cutting-edge research, vivid clinical case studies, and examples from daily life, On Task offers an eye-opening investigation into the brain's critical role in human behavior.

神经科学家戳破大脑的聪明假象
人们都以为这东西是聪慧和进步的演化产物，可实际上它又混乱无序又容易犯错！
◎ 编辑推荐
☆听被科学耽误的单口喜剧演员讲大脑，带你感受好玩儿的脑科学！
☆全面戳破大脑的聪明假象，无情揭露大脑的奇葩属性，彻底将大脑请下神坛！
☆相信读毕此书，你 会明白，为什么大脑总在给生活添麻烦，以及它如何蠢得让人哭出声来！
◎ 内容简介
人们普遍认为，科学写作应该崇高、严肃，同时也将大脑视为一种界限模糊的构造，既是连通人类经验与未知世界的桥梁，也是一个不可亵渎的妙物。但作者站在神经科学家的立场，却一直在与此唱反调。在作者看来，大脑确实复杂难懂，也的确非常有趣，但若就此把它特殊化，认为它批评不得，就会很没意思。反倒是大脑那些较为随性、杂乱的特性，与其完全无视，反而更应该重视，甚至大书特书。
因此，本书不仅写作风格诙谐幽默，而且讲的还都是大脑如何经常犯错的糗事，将神经科学与普通日常生活之间的距离大大拉近，令神秘而引人好奇的大脑走下神坛，帮助读者快乐地了解关于大脑想知道的一切。
◎ 媒体推荐
非常有趣，一场关于现代认知科学和心理学的盛大之旅。
——《华尔街时报》（Wall Street Journal）
令人信服，旁征博引，有理有据。信得过的作者，值得读的好书。
——威尔士记者、纪录片制作人、电台主持人 乔恩·荣森（Jon Ronson）
◎ 名人推荐
一场关于我们心理过程的科学之旅，妙趣横生，引人入胜。
——环保记者、《为什么好人会在网上变坏？》作者 盖亚·文斯（Gaia Vince）
◎获奖记录
本书作为一本国际畅销的科普读物已经在25个国家出版，非常适合大众阅读和知识普及。同时，作者在《卫报》上开设的专栏两年来也已经收获了超过1,600万的阅读量，广受各界人士的赞誉。
★第十六届“文津图书奖”推荐图书

From Publishers Weekly
When, as a medical student in the 1950s, Kandel said he wanted to locate the ego and id in the brain, his mentor told him he was overreaching, that the brain had to be studied "cell by cell." After his initial dismay, Kandel took on the challenge and in 2000 was awarded a Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking research showing how memory is encoded in the brain's neuronal circuits. Kandel's journey into the brain spans five decades, beginning in the era of early research into the role of electrical currents flowing through neurons and ending in the age of genetic engineering. It took him from early studies of reflexes in the lowly squid to the founding of a bioengineering firm whose work could some day develop treatments for Alzheimer's and on to a rudimentary understanding of the cellular mechanisms underlying mental illness. Kandel's life also took him on another journey: from Vienna, which his Jewish family fled after the Anschluss, to New York City and, decades later, on visits back to Vienna, where he boldly confronted Austria's unwillingness to look at its collusion in the Final Solution. For anyone considering a career in science, the early part of this intellectual autobiography presents a fascinating portrait of a scientist's formation: learning to trust his instincts on what research to pursue and how to pose a researchable question and formulate an experiment. Much of the science discussion is too dense for the average reader. But for anyone interested in the relationship between the mind and the brain, this is an important account of a creative and highly fruitful career. 50 b&w illus. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Scientific American
Kandel, who received the Nobel Prize in 2000, traces advances in understanding learning and memory. His own groundbreaking findings showed that learning produces changes in behavior by modifying the strength of connections between nerve cells. He conveys his immense grasp of the science beautifully, but it is his personal recollections that make the book especially compelling. He begins with his searing childhood memories of the German annexation of Austria and his family’s escape to the U.S. when he was nine. And he ends with a conference he organized in Vienna to examine the strange reluctance of Austria (unlike Germany) to acknowledge its role in the Holocaust. One comes away in awe of the scientific advances—and of a life well and fully lived.
Editors of Scientific American --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

二十世纪神经科学发展史宏大画卷
诺奖科学家的成长经历和科研历程
令人信服地展示了何为一流科学、如何创造一流科学
出版十几年来引领无数学子走进科学殿堂
◎ 编辑推荐
☆ 从第一人称的视角，展现伟大科学家的研究路径、问题意识与情志襟怀
作者以清晰易读的文笔，从研究者本人的角度 向读者介绍了最好的科学研究是如何一步步展开的，从确定题目，到提出假说，寻找实验对象和方法，结识最合适的合作者，直到最后将自己的研究成果公之于众并使之进入商业领域的整个过程，为科学爱好者和有志于科学事业的学生提供了行动的指引。
☆ 同时这也是一部二十世纪神经科学发展史
坎德尔的职业生涯，恰逢现代科学史上最为激动人心的一个时期。在他进入医学院后不久，沃森和克里克发现了DNA的分子结构，给整个生物学界带来了革命性的巨变。神经科学——对记忆、情感、判断等心智活动的生物学机制的研究——在此时作为一个全新的学科浮现出来，而坎德尔就全程见证并参与了这个新学科从无到有的整个经过。
☆ 本书面向的读者群体较为多元，值得推荐给那些渴望从名人传记中汲取人生经验的普通读者、有志于从事学术研究的专业读者、想了解神经科学和心理学的读者，以及对“二战”奥地利犹太难民史感兴趣的读者。此外，本书译者还认为它是一本“赴美留学指南”，它如实地反映了美国高等院校及科研机构的文化氛围，能给那些打算赴美留学的学子及其家长提供绝佳的参考。
◎ 内容简介
本书是美籍犹太裔神经科学家、诺贝尔奖得主埃里克·坎德尔的自传，在书中他不仅表达了个人对其生活和历史的感受和思考，也以亲历者的身份叙述了神经科学这个学科从无到有的发展史——人们如何开始用生物科学的方法研究学习和记忆，在过去的一个世纪里这个领域得到了哪些发展，科学界又对未来怀有哪些愿景和期待。通过阅读这本书，读者不仅可以了解神经科学这一学科的动向，更能窥见最顶尖科学家进行科学探索的思考路径，以及一个伟大科学家的素质和襟怀。本书已被翻译成德语、法语、俄语、意大利语、西班牙语、波斯语等十多个语种，先后荣获2006年度《洛杉矶时报》图书奖和2007年度美国国家学院知识传播奖。
◎ 名人推荐
☆ 恐怕没人能像坎德尔那样在细胞和分子的层面上推动人类记忆机制的研究。他破译大脑记忆密码的激情影响了一代又一代的年轻科学家。在这本书中，我们可以看到一位伟大科学家如何进行思考，并带动了科学的发展。
——蒲慕明，中国科学院院士、神经科学研究所所长，美国科学院院士
☆ 埃里克·坎德尔的这本书别人写不出来。他通过毕生的视角透视科学，跌宕起伏、硕果累累。我们受到了坎德尔持久的激情和坚定的决心指引。我向所有那些正在寻找有关大脑和记忆知识的个人观点，以及那些正在考虑开启科学生涯的读者推荐此书。
——安东尼奥·达马西奥，美国科学院院士，著名神经科学家
☆ 埃里克·坎德尔写出了一部绝佳作品，从头至尾行云流水、一气呵成，展现了神经科学在令人惊叹的20世纪后半叶的壮丽图卷。坎德尔把个人经历与科学研究融为一体，他带来的巨大影响和广泛交流，使得科学成为全世界最重要的共同事业。
——奥利弗·萨克斯，美国人文与科学院院士，著名科普畅销书作家
☆《追寻记忆的痕迹》动人地讲述了埃里克·坎德尔站在脑科学前沿领域的大胆人生，他以分子生物学方法革新了我们对感受到的信息如何存储的认识。
——詹姆斯·沃森，DNA双螺旋结构的发现者之一，诺贝尔生理学或医学奖得主
☆ 我向所有对一位重要科学家的人生和工作，或者对我们这个时代的科学进程感兴趣的读者推荐此书。……坎德尔优雅地做出的这些研究，会极大地诱惑有天赋的学生将他开启的这些令人难忘的工作向前推进。
——霍华德·加德纳，美国心理学会威廉·詹姆斯奖得主，著名认知心理学家
☆《追寻记忆的痕迹》融自传、科学史和基础生物学于一炉，是一部无出其右的才华横溢之作。它令人信服地展示了何谓一流科学，以及如何创造一流科学。
——E. O.威尔逊，美国科学院院士，被誉为“社会生物学之父”

We know that each of us is unique, but science has struggled to pinpoint where, precisely, our uniqueness resides. Is it in our genes? The structure of our brains? Our genome may determine our eye color and even aspects of our personality. But our friendships, failures, and passions also shape who we are. The question is: how?Sebastian Seung, a dynamic professor at MIT, is on a quest to discover the biological basis of identity. He believes it lies in the pattern of connections between the brain’s neurons, which change slowly over time as we learn and grow. The connectome, as it’s called, is where our genetic inheritance intersects with our life experience. It’s where nature meets nurture.Seung introduces us to the dedicated researchers who are mapping the brain’s connections, neuron by neuron, synapse by synapse. It is a monumental undertaking—the scientific equivalent of climbing Mount Everest—but if they succeed, it could reveal the basis of personality, intelligence, memory, and perhaps even mental disorders. Many scientists speculate that people with anorexia, autism, and schizophrenia are "wired differently," but nobody knows for sure. The brain’s wiring has never been clearly seen.In sparklingly clear prose, Seung reveals the amazing technological advances that will soon help us map connectomes. He also examines the evidence that these maps will someday allow humans to "upload" their minds into computers, achieving a kind of immortality. Connectome is a mind-bending adventure story, told with great passion and authority. It presents a daring scientific and technological vision for at last understanding what makes us who we are. Welcome to the future of neuroscience.