Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain—and How It Changed the World

Contemporary Review, Nov, 2004

Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain--and How It Changed the World. Carl Zimmer. William Heinemann. [pounds sterling]17.99. xii 367 pages. ISBN 0-434-01046-4. This study, which was first published in the U.S., is concerned with Thomas Willis, the seventeenth-century Oxford scientist who led research into man's nervous system and began the field of neurology.

Mr Zimmer claims that Willis and his fellow scientists began the 'neurocentric age' in which 'the brain is central not only to the body but to our conception of ourselves'. Willis' discoveries led to 'a new way of thinking about thinking and a new way of conceiving the soul'. After an introduction the author gives readers a 'layman's account of some of the brain's history' with Willis and his world as his centre. Willis epitomised a debate that continues today and the history behind that debate is well described. The author is best when discussing scientific questions: on general history he is less sure-footed: incense was most definitely not used in Oxford chapels when Charles II came into his own and Oxford undergraduates were never fellows. (O.G.R.)