Postcards From The Brain Museum (2005)

Comprising some 60 billion neurons, the human brain is an incomprehensibly complex structure — even the most brilliant neurologists can only guess at what really goes on in those three and a half pounds of soft, squishy tissue. For now, the curious are hereby directed to this satisfying survey of the human mind. A math professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Brian Burrell organizes Postcards from the Brain Museum around the still-preserved brains of the famous and infamous, scattered in museums and libraries throughout the world. For instance, Lord Byron — whose brain and vital organs were, against his stated wishes, removed from his body — inspires a musing on the handling of brain specimens. Smart and engaging, Postcards is a thoughtful glimpse at a mostly hidden realm.