LIFE magazine — August 21, 1971
TEN BILLION thought cells are helping you to read this page. And, as your mind yields up its mysteries to science, those cells — which manufacture thoughts, dreams, sensations and feelings — have been tracked down. Those which generate damaging emotions and behavior are submitting to chemical control. Those which aid learning are being multiplied in their efficiency. The day of the super-mind may be dawning.
All the new facts and exciting implications in this field are presented in an extraordinary volume, The Mind, prepared for the general reader by the Editors of the LIFE Science Library.
In The Mind you'll see revolutionary teaching machines that assail the senses — you'll consider alcoholism as a biochemical deficiency responsive to medication — you'll find intelligence tests to sample and you'll learn how they're constructed — you'll see the world the psychotics inhabit through the medium of their fantastic paintings reproduced in stark color — you'll gain understanding from the brilliant photo-essay on the life and works of Sigmund Freud — you'll learn about "mind changing" drugs and see a witch doctor preparing "magic mushrooms" to induce holy vision — and you'll be amazed at the incredible teamwork of body and spirit required in the making of music.
THIS CONQUEST of inner space, the mind, is even more exciting than our adventures in outer space. In the foreseeable future, we may be able to increase the mind's powers.
To discover the scope of the findings, why not borrow a copy of The Mind, without obligation? Let this excursion into self knowledge be your introduction to the LIFE Science Library. Prepared with a unique combination of authority, clarity, and visual drama. The Mind is typical of this exciting series designed to simplify, unify, organize and dramatize the whole fascinating world of science. Even if your knowledge of psychology extends scarcely beyond your ability to spell the word, you'll be caught up in a world of wonders.
In The Mind you'll learn about physical and chemical possibilities which make standard psychiatry seem pale. Brain chemistry is working new miracles every day. It has already largely replaced shock treatment for the disturbed, and has made some forms of brain surgery, such as prefrontal lobotomy, a thing of the past. Minute electrical charges promise the basis for a new therapy. Experiments indicate that altering the current in the thalamus at the base of the brain can effect tremendous personality changes — even to the altering of sex.
Examine it free. These few words and pictures can't do justice to this achievement. That's why we want you to borrow a copy without obligation for 10 days. Then return it if you wish. Or keep it for less than you'd expect to pay for such a lavish book. In either case be sure your children see the book. This series holds a special fascination for people of all ages.