Brain Mind and Medicine

<p>Charles Richet was one of the most remarkable figures in the history of medical science. He is best known for his work on the body's immune reactions to foreign substances for which he won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1913. Richet was also a poet playwright historian bibliographer political activist classical scholar and pioneer in aircraft design.</p><p><em>Brain Mind and Medicine</em> is the first major biography of Richet in any language. Wolf brilliantly situates Richet's work in the intellectual currents of Europe during the latter half of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Richet was a contemporary of Wilhelm Wundt and William James. All three considered psychology to be an aspect of physiology governed by biological laws. But while James and Wundt considered consciousness as a process influenced by experience without much reference to neural structures Richet's focus was on the brain itself as shaped by genetics and experience and serving as the organ of the mind.</p><p><em>Brain Mind and Medicine </em>illuminates a significant chapter in scientific and cultural history. It should be read by medical scientists historians and individuals interested in medicine and psychology.</p>