God's Brain

Be the first to write a review
Pick Up In Store

Pick Up in Store

Reserve and pick up in 60 minutes at your local store

Hardcover
$16.26
BN.com price
$25.00 List Price (Save 35%)
Marketplace (New and Used)
from
$3.18
$25.00 List Price (Save 87%)
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
All (24)  
Used (9)  
New (15)  
Close
Sort by
Page 1 of 3
Showing 1 – 9 of 24 (3 pages)
$3.18
(Save 87%)
RightChoiceBooks!
Seller since 2008

Feedback rating:

(1774)

Condition:

New — never opened or used in original packaging.

Like New — packaging may have been opened. A "Like New" item is suitable to give as a gift.

Very Good — may have minor signs of wear on packaging but item works perfectly and has no damage.

Good — item is in good condition but packaging may have signs of shelf wear/aging or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Acceptable — item is in working order but may show signs of wear such as scratches or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Used — An item that has been opened and may show signs of wear. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Refurbished — A used item that has been renewed or updated and verified to be in proper working condition. Not necessarily completed by the original manufacturer.

Like New
1616141646 UNUSED COPY!!! MAY CONTAIN SHELFWARE. SHIPS IMMEDIATELY!!

Ships from: Plainview, NY

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$3.18
(Save 87%)
whypaymorebooks? NY
Seller since 2005

Feedback rating:

(1449)

Condition: Like New
3/2/2010 Hardcover Fine 1616141646 UNUSED COPY! ! ! MAY CONTAIN SHELFWARE. SHIPS IMMEDIATELY! !

Ships from: Lindenhurst, NY

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$4.14
(Save 83%)
RightChoiceBooks!
Seller since 2008

Feedback rating:

(1774)

Condition: New
1616141646 UNUSED COPY!! SHIPS IMMEDIATELY!

Ships from: Plainview, NY

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$4.14
(Save 83%)
whypaymorebooks? NY
Seller since 2005

Feedback rating:

(1449)

Condition: New
3/2/2010 Hardcover New 1616141646 UNUSED COPY! ! SHIPS IMMEDIATELY!

Ships from: Lindenhurst, NY

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$5.00
(Save 80%)
Textbookcenter.com
Seller since 2005

Feedback rating:

(46116)

Condition: Very Good
SHIPS FAST! via UPS(AK/HI Priority Mail) within 24 hrs/ used sticker/some hilite

Ships from: Columbia, MO

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$7.73
(Save 69%)
Extremely_Reliable
Seller since 2007

Feedback rating:

(3184)

Condition: Like New
Buy with confidence. Excellent Customer Service & Return policy.

Ships from: Richmond, TX

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
$8.50
(Save 66%)
Dotcom liquidators / dc1 TX
Seller since 2005

Feedback rating:

(1483)

Condition: New
New

Ships from: Fort Worth, TX

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$12.50
(Save 50%)
bookemporium
Seller since 2007

Feedback rating:

(2223)

Condition: Very Good

Ships from: Bloomington, IN

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Canadian
  • •International
  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
  • •Express, 48 States
  • •Express (AK, HI)
$13.38
(Save 46%)
woodysbooks
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(3161)

Condition: New
Excellent customer service. May ship from alternate location depending on your zip code and availability. Satisfaction guaranteed!!

Ships from: Martinez, CA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • •Standard, 48 States
  • •Standard (AK, HI)
Page 1 of 3
Showing 1 – 9 of 24 (3 pages)
Close
Sort by

Overview

"At last count the world boasted approximately 4,200 distinct faith groups. Religion is a ritual, a soothing source of comfort, and, according to some, a crutch. Yet we cannot dismiss the staggering. galvanizing force that it plays in everyday lives and around the world. All great faiths contain supernatural elements and we are all aware of the fateful stories that have been extolled for centuries: the Hebrew god dictating his laws to Moses, the celestial appearance of Allah to Muhammad, and the stories of Jesus' teachings and miracles. These external, cosmic forces illuminate humankind and promise eternal reward for earth-bound excellence. Yet, behind the eyes of these prophets and their believers is something internal

... See more details below
Sending request ...

More About This Book

Overview

"At last count the world boasted approximately 4,200 distinct faith groups. Religion is a ritual, a soothing source of comfort, and, according to some, a crutch. Yet we cannot dismiss the staggering. galvanizing force that it plays in everyday lives and around the world. All great faiths contain supernatural elements and we are all aware of the fateful stories that have been extolled for centuries: the Hebrew god dictating his laws to Moses, the celestial appearance of Allah to Muhammad, and the stories of Jesus' teachings and miracles. These external, cosmic forces illuminate humankind and promise eternal reward for earth-bound excellence. Yet, behind the eyes of these prophets and their believers is something internal that long predates the Bible and the Qur'an." "Taking a perspective rooted in evolutionary biology with a focus on brain science, renowned anthropologist Lionel Tiger and pioneering neuroscientist Michael McGuire - a primary discoverer of serotonin's crucial role in brain chemistry - team up to explore the biological miracles that happen every day in your brain and possibly the most enduring legacy of humankind - religion. What is its purpose? What is its source? Why does every known culture have some form of it?" With wit and grace, the authors pick God's brain and yours, discussing the latest research on religion's neurological effects and its origins within the brain. They consider religion's role in providing mind-melding socialization, its seemingly relentless obsession with regulating sex, its conceptions of an afterlife, its influence on law, and its connection with the biological scaffolding that links nonhuman primates and humans. They also demonstrate religion's ability to help the brain adjust to stress and anxiety in lieu of modern-day drugs and therapy.

What People Are Saying

Jay R. Feierman
If God's Brain sounds whimsically paradoxical, it is only because the authors believe that most people of faith have been looking for God in all the wrong places. The authors suggest that religious believers should look inward, rather than outward, to find God. The book is a well-written, easy to read, unique perspective on religion. Yes, God has a brain. The book will captivate all but the piously religious faint-of-heart. (Jay R. Feierman. Editor, The Biology of Religious Behavior: The Evolutionary Origins of Faith and Religion)
Melvin Konner
Recent, often bitter, debates have lacked a scientific take on religion that is not at the same time trying to destroy it. This lively, creative account helps fill that gap. It may even help you with your own trials of faith. (Melvin Konner, author of The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit and the forthcoming The Evolution of Childhood: Relationships, Emotion, Mind)
R. Curtis Ellison
Tiger and McGuire have concocted an amazing and insightful look - based on sound science - into how the human brain 'seeks' religion. The book beautifully describes how belief, ritual, and socialization within a closed group work together to help humans survive the stresses of everyday life. (R. Curtis Ellison, MD, professor of Medicine & Public Health, Boston University School of Medicine)
Robin Fox
With economy, evidence and no little wit and elegance, Lionel Tiger and Michael McGuire look for the answer to religion's ubiquity and persistence in the only place possible: the human brain. To say more would be to give away their answer, and that would spoil a great read and a serious and informative argument. This is easily the best book on the nature of religion to appear for a long time. (Robin Fox, University Professor of Social Theory, Rutgers University)

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781616141646
  • Publisher: Prometheus Books
  • Publication date: 3/23/2010
  • Pages: 256
  • Sales rank: 694,198
  • Product dimensions: 6.20 (w) x 9.10 (h) x 0.90 (d)

Meet the Author

Lionel Tiger (New York, NY) is the bestselling author of Men in Groups, The Imperial Animal (with Robin Fox), The Pursuit of Pleasure, Optimism: The Biology of Hope, and The Decline of Males. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Harvard Business Review, and Brain and Behavioral Science. He is the Charles Darwin Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University.

Michael McGuire, MD (Cottonwood, CA), is the author or editor of ten books, including Darwinian Psychiatry (with A. Troisi). He is the president of the Biomedical Research Foundation, director of the Bradshaw Foundation and the Gruter Institute of Law and Behavior, and a trustee of the International Society of Human Ethology. Formerly, he was a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the University of California at Los Angeles and editor of Ethology and Sociobiology.

Table of Contents

Preface 7

Acknowledgments 9

1 And What an Amazing, If Improbable, Story It Is 11

2 You Need Both a Zoom Lens and a Microscope to See Religion 21

3 Adventures of the Soul 45

4 Faith in Sex 69

5 Religion as Law and the Denial of Biology 83

6 Is Religion Monkey Business? 101

7 My Brain. Your Liturgy. Our State of Grace 123

8 The Elephant in the Chapel Is in Your Skull 143

9 Puzzles, Answers, and More Puzzles 165

10 And What's Your Brainsoothe Score? 183

11 Rather a Beginning, Not a Conclusion 193

Endnotes 217

Index 239

Customer Reviews

Be the first to write a review
( 0 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(0)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identiy on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

We're sorry, but penname is already taken.

Please select one of the following:
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

penname is available!

By visiting the BN.com website or marking a purchase on BN.com, a User is deemed to have accepted the Terms of Use.

Continue Anonymously

Welcome, penname

You have successfully created your Pen Name. Start enjoying the benefits of the BN.com Community today.

If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
Why is this product inappropriate?
Comments (optional)
500 character limit