“The brain unfolds like a flower. The more I have explored neuroscience, the more it has rewarded me with new stories. In 2010, I published Brain Cuttings: Fifteen Journeys Through the Mind. Here are fifteen more journeys. In some pieces, I look at some of the surprising ways in which the brain works. In others, I consider some of the many ways the brain goes wrong. And finally, I try to look at the brain as a whole—how the 100 billion neurons add up to a person’s life of the mind, and produce consciousness.”

—Carl Zimmer