The Compassionate Brain presents readers with a user smanual for the brain, an evolutionary overview of its development and role in human culture, and a heartfelt plea for its intelligent and merciful use. This is the first of Hüther's books to be translated into English. Let's hope this fascinating and provocative treatise is not his last.

Here is the ultimate explanation of the brain for everyone who thinks: a guide to how the brain works, how our brains came to operate the way they do, and, most important, how to use your precious gray matter to its full capacity. The brain, according to current research, is not some kind of automatic machine that works independently of its user. In fact, the circuitry of the brain actually changes according to how one uses it. Our brains are continuously developing new capacities and refinements—or losing them, depending upon how we use them. Gerald Hüther takes us on a fascinating tour of the brain's development—from one-celled organisms to worms, moles, apes, and on to us humans—showing how we truly are what we think: our behavior directly affects our brain capacity. And the behavior that promotes the fullest development of the brain is behavior that balances emotion and intellect, dependence and autonomy, openness and focus, and ultimately expresses itself in such virtues as truthfulness, considerateness, sincerity, humility, and love. Hüther's user's-manual approach is humorous and engaging, with a minimum of technical language, yet the book's message is profound: the fundamental nature of our brains and nervous systems naturally leads to our continued growth in intelligence and humanity.

Preliminary Remarks

and Safety Precautions

Overview

1　REMOVING THE PACKING

　AND PROTECTIVE MATERIALS

2 OPTIONS FOR ASSEMBLY AND POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS

　2.1 Program-Controlled Structures: Brains of Worms, Snails, and Insects

　2.2 Initially Programmable Structures: Brains of Birds, Marsupials, and Mammals

　2.3 Lifelong Programmable Structures: The Brains of People

　2.4 Structures for Open-Ended Programs The Human Brain

3　ADVICE ABOUT INSTALLATIONS ALREADY IN PLACE

　3.1 Optimally Successful Installations

　3.2 Defective Installations

4 REPAIRING FAILED INSTALLATIONS

　4.1 Imbalances between Feeling and Intellect

　4.2 Imbalances between Dependency and Autonomy

　4.3 Imbalances between Openness and Self-Differentiation

5　MAINTENANCE AND SERVICING

　5.1 On the Ladder of Perception

　5.2 On the Ladder of Feelings

　5.3 On the Ladder of Knowledge

　5.4 On the Ladder of Consciousness

　5.5 Practical Advice

6 WHAT TO Do IN CASE OF MALFUNCTION

　6.1 User Errors

　6.2 Error Messages and Damage Control

　6.3 Complaints and Liability

Index