Soul Made Flesh is the remarkable untold story of a dramatic turning point in history, the exciting discovery of how the human brain works. In an unprecedented examination of how the secrets of the brain were revealed in seventeenth-century England, award-winning author Carl Zimmer tells an extraordinary tale that unfurls against a deadly backdrop of civil war, plague, and the Great Fire of London. At the beginning of that turbulent century, no one knew how the brain worked or even what it looked like intact. By the century's close, the science of the brain had taken root, helping to overturn many of the most common misconceptions and dominant philosophies about man, God, and the universe. Presiding over the rise of this new scientific paradigm was the founder of modern neurology, Thomas Willis, a fascinating, sympathetic, even heroic figure who stands at the center of an extraordinary group of scientists and philosophers known as the Oxford circle. Chronicled here in vivid detail are their groundbreaking revelations and often gory experiments that first enshrined the brain as the chemical engine of reason, emotion, and madness, indeed as the very seat of the human soul. Called 'as fine a science essayist as we have' by The New York Times, Zimmer tells the story of this scientific revolution through the lives of a colorful array of alchemists, mystics, utopians, spies, revolutionaries, and kings. He recreates the religious, ethical, and scientific struggles involved in the pioneering autopsies of the brain carried out by Thomas Willis; the discovery of the circulation of blood by William Harvey and his flight from London with his besieged king, Charles I; René Descartes's persecution by Catholics and Protestants alike for his views of the brain and soul; and the experiments and personal dramas of gifted men who forever changed the way science is practiced as they simultaneously upended our view of our human selves and our place in the world. In this distant mirror to our own time of continuing scientific revolution and worldwide social upheaval, Zimmer brings to life the painstaking, innovative discoveries of Willis and his contemporaries, the taproots of the amazing work of today's neuroscientists, who continue to explore the brain, revealing the hidden workings of emotions, memories, and consciousness. Graced with beautiful illustrations by Christopher Wren, Soul Made Flesh conveys a contagious appreciation for the wonder of the brain, its structure, its many marvelous functions, and the implications for human identity, mind, and morality. It is the definitive history of the dawn of a world-changing science and attitude, the age of the brain and modern consciousness.

Humanity has always been intrigued by the timeless question: Where did we come from? In 1974, the discovery of the fossilised bones of a three-million-year-old female dubbed 'Lucy' captured the world's attention. This nearly complete skeleton of an early human ancestor not only triggered widespread interest in our human origins but also prompted a thorough re-evaluation of established scientific doctrines. Today, hardly a month goes by without news of significant discoveries that are changing our understanding of human origins at what seems like the speed of lightning. But what does all this new knowledge about our species mean? That's exactly what acclaimed science writer Carl Zimmer tackles in this accessible, up-to-the-minute guide to human origins. Zimmer offers an entertaining and illuminating journey through our ancestry - beginning sixty-five million years ago with the first primates and ending today, as we enter a new phase of evolution. From ancient fossils unearthed in the Sahara Desert to the analysis of DNA by robots at the National Human Genome Research Institute in suburban Maryland, Zimmer weaves together the varied clues about our human ancestry in an entertaining, informative and highly readable volume that will appeal to expert and general reader alike.