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The riddle of free will goes unsolved

By Graham Lawton

9 November 2011

Neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga’s Who’s In Charge? Free will and the science of the brain is fascinating, but doesn’t deliver on its promise

ABOUT half way through this fascinating book, Michael Gazzaniga harks back to his previous one, Human. He wanted to call it Phase Shift, he says, but his publisher overruled him.

Gazzaniga – one of the giants of modern neuroscience – tells this story to illustrate a point about the difference between animal and human brains, but by the end of the book it has taken on a different complexion. Because while Who’s In Charge? is full of wonderful…

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