The Healing Brain presents an easy-to-read, amusing, entertaining, and yet highly authoritative account of how our brain "minds" our body - actively guarding and defending our health and wellbeing. Neurologist Robert Ornstein and physician David Sobel highlight the themes most important to understanding this fascinating science. They explain that, contrary to many of our assumptions about the main purpose of our brain, it evolved primarily for "higher thinking" - and that, in fact, it works tirelessly to adapt to the changing world around us. This essential reference book helps us understand our brain as the original "health maintenance organization," and gives us the understanding we need to help it do what it does best: guard our health and help us to heal. This pioneering book helped bring about a new way of looking at the brain, one that restored the perspective that its major role is to mind the body and maintain health. The Healing Brain provided much of the raw material for the new view, and the collective weight of the findings helped close the artificial gap between mind and body.