The Man Who Wasn't There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self

Anil Ananthaswamy

Aug 2015 · Sold by Penguin

About this eBook

*Nominated for the 2016 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award*
*An NBC News Notable Science Book of 2015*
*Named one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2015*
*A Book of the Month for Brain HQ/Posit Science*
*Selected by Forbes as a Must Read Brain Book of 2015*
*On Life Changes Network’s list of the Top 10 Books That Could Change Your Life of 2015*


In the tradition of Oliver Sacks, a tour of the latest neuroscience of schizophrenia, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, ecstatic epilepsy, Cotard’s syndrome, out-of-body experiences, and other disorders—revealing the awesome power of the human sense of self from a master of science journalism.

Anil Ananthaswamy’s extensive in-depth interviews venture into the lives of individuals who offer perspectives that will change how you think about who you are. These individuals all lost some part of what we think of as our self, but they then offer remarkable, sometimes heart-wrenching insights into what remains. One man cut off his own leg. Another became one with the universe.

We are learning about the self at a level of detail that Descartes (“I think therefore I am”) could never have imagined. Recent research into Alzheimer’s illuminates how memory creates your narrative self by using the same part of your brain for your past as for your future. But wait, those afflicted with Cotard’s syndrome think they are already dead; in a way, they believe that “I think therefore I am not.” Who—or what—can say that? Neuroscience has identified specific regions of the brain that, when they misfire, can cause the self to move back and forth between the body and a doppelgänger, or to leave the body entirely. So where in the brain, or mind, or body, is the self actually located? As Ananthaswamy elegantly reports, neuroscientists themselves now see that the elusive sense of self is both everywhere and nowhere in the human brain.

Ratings and reviews

This book deals with very complex psychological medical issues which we hear now and then and just shrug it off, because we might not have come across such patients. But these issues are very real and so many have done a lot of research and have tried to not only understand but have tried very hard to analyze in quest of a cure. But the tools/equipment available then were not only limited and current day computers were non-existent. Even then they worked very hard. This book deals with such complex human problems and the efforts of many doctors, psychologists and scientists in chronological order all over the world in a simple understandable language. The issues like Schizophrenia, Anosognosia, Asperger syndrome, Somatoparaphrenia, doppelgangers etc are very clearly explained with illustrations of case histories (actual patients and doctors). The author of this book Anil Anantha Swamy has tried to explain the impact of these with reference to the brain functions, the effect on the memory regions in the brain and the scientific correlation making use of the MRI and ECT. Another very conspicuous and philosophical aspect of this book is how the author starts from the Self theory and builds up the argument and Just when we think we have some understanding amazingly we end up with No self theory supported by Advaita propounded by Adi Shankara (early 8th century CE) and Budha’s preaching. The author has traveled all over the world even to remote areas to discuss at great length, the issues with doctors and psychologists involved with their actual case studies of patients and in some cases even their relatives and friends. In conclusion it will help us to understand and appreciate the efforts of so many in trying so hard finding the cure. We may not only understand the nature of these complex phenomena and it may even come as a surprise when we find that this could exist in our close family circles.

About the author

ANIL ANANTHASWAMY is former deputy news editor and current consultant for New Scientist. He is a guest editor at UC Santa Cruz’s renowned science-writing program and teaches an annual science journalism workshop at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India. He is a freelance feature editor for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science’s “Front Matter” and has written for National Geographic News, Discover, and Matter. He has been a columnist for PBS NOVA’s The Nature of Reality blog. He won the UK Institute of Physics’ Physics Journalism award and the British Association of Science Writers’ award for Best Investigative Journalism. His first book, The Edge of Physics, was voted book of the year in 2010 by Physics World.  He lives in Bangalore, India, and Berkeley, California.