Brain Culture investigates the American obsession with the health of the brain. The brain has become more than a bodily organ, acquiring a near-mystical status. The message that this organ is the key to everything is everywhere--in self-help books that tell us to work on our brains to achieve happiness and enlightenment, in drug advertisements that promise a few tweaks to our brain chemistry will cure us of our discontents, and in politicians' speeches that tell us that our brains are national resources essential to our economic prosperity.

Davi Johnson Thornton looks at these familiar messages, tracing the ways that brain science and colorful brain images produced by novel scientific technologies are taken up and distributed in popular media. She tracks the impact of the message that, "you are your brain" across multiple contemporary contexts, analyzing its influence on child development, family life, education, and public policy. Brain Culture shows that our fixation on the brain is not simply a reaction to scientific progress, but a cultural phenomenon deeply tied to social and political values of individualism and limitless achievement.

About the Author
DAVI JOHNSON THORNTON is an assistant professor of communication studies at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

Reviews
"Innovative, well written, and persuasively argued, Brain Culture is the most accessible book on the sociology, rhetoric, and culture of cognitive neuroscience." -- Majia Nadesan * author of Constructing Autism *
"Thornton's captivating cultural study provides an insightful analysis of the brain's impact on our contemporary understandings of identity, subjectivity, and agency-a fascinating and important read!" -- John M. Sloop * Vanderbilt University *
"Captivatingly written, intelligently argued, and refreshingly grounded, Brain Culture offers an essential blueprint to becoming better-informed consumers of cognitive science and, perhaps more importantly, having a healthier relationship with our own brains and our expectations of them." * The Atlantic *
"Sharply written, acutely insightful, often grimly hilarious, and quite persuasive. As thoroughly researched as it is accessible, this is a book for every brain. Highly recommended."
* Choice *
"Innovative, well written, and persuasively argued, Brain Culture is the most accessible book on the sociology, rhetoric, and culture of cognitive neuroscience." -- Majia Nadesan * author of Constructing Autism *
"Thornton's captivating cultural study provides an insightful analysis of the brain's impact on our contemporary understandings of identity, subjectivity, and agency-a fascinating and important read!" -- John M. Sloop * Vanderbilt University *
"Captivatingly written, intelligently argued, and refreshingly grounded, Brain Culture offers an essential blueprint to becoming better-informed consumers of cognitive science and, perhaps more importantly, having a healthier relationship with our own brains and our expectations of them." * The Atlantic *
"Sharply written, acutely insightful, often grimly hilarious, and quite persuasive. As thoroughly researched as it is accessible, this is a book for every brain. Highly recommended."
* Choice *



Book Information
ISBN 9780813550138
Author Davi Johnson Thornton
Format Paperback
Page Count 208
Imprint Rutgers University Press
Publisher Rutgers University Press
Weight(grams) 340g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 15mm