A Good Science Read: How our brains make our selves

01/09/2025 39 min

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Episode Synopsis

Professor Dame Uta Frith and Professor Frances Ashcroft discuss 'Our Brains Our Selves: what a neurologist’s patients taught him about the brain' by Masud Husain Masud Husain is a neurologist and a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Oxford. This book tells the stories of seven of his patients, whose personal and social identities were deeply affected by their neurological condition. He shows how their very different problems have illuminated our understanding of how our brains work and how they generate our sense of self. The book also illustrates how impaired brain function can lead to a loss of our social identity. It is written with great insight and compassion.

Professor Dame Uta Frith is Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Development at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. She has a special interest in autism and dyslexia and pioneered much of the key research into these brain conditions. Her book 'Autism: Explaining the Enigma' provided the first account of what happens inside the mind of a person with autism.