The Genius Within: Discovering the Intelligence of Every Living Thing

Front Cover
Harcourt, 2002 - Medical - 354 pages
Can bacteria be as smart as we are? Can ants think? And fish? Yes, says Frank Vertosick, a neurosurgeon who combats our elitism about intelligence in this brilliant book. Gifted writer and author of the widely praised Why We Hurt, Vertosick shows us that intelligence--the ability to react to the outside world, to change behavior, and survive-can be found wherever life exists. He demonstrates the keen intelligence of our immune system, how lowly bacteria mutate and outwit antibiotics, and how canny cancer cells elude our natural defenses. A fascinating journey through worlds of unknown science and an unsettling argument against our valuing of brain intelligence above all else, The Genius Within tells a fascinating scientific story, one that could shake our ethical foundation to its core.

From inside the book

Contents

Introduction
3
The Microbial Mind
21
The Immune Intellect
56
Copyright

7 other sections not shown

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About the author (2002)

Frank T. Vertosick, Jr., M.D., is a neurosurgeon and author of When the Air Hits Your Brain, a highly acclaimed memoir of his surgical training. A former president of the Pennsylvania Neurosurgical Society and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, he lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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