The Shape of Things Unseen

人们通常认为想象力只用于创造性活动。

事实上，当我们回忆、预测、计划、做白日梦、阅读、创造想象的世界时，我们不断地使用想象力。事实上，我们活在此时此地的时间比我们想象的要短得多。想象力在我们的日常生活中并不例外；这是我们的默认设置。

然而直到现在，我们才开始确切地理解它是如何工作的。

从幻觉到梦游，从快速眼动睡眠到妄想症，神经学家亚当·泽曼（Adam Zeman）出色地引导我们了解想象力世界的新科学研究。他通过对神经科学、人类起源和儿童发展的研究，向我们展示了人类大脑首先是一个富有创造力和想象力的器官，以及我们如何通过进化来分享我们的想象。

当我们观察、记忆、想象或行动时，我们的大脑的行为方式惊人地相似。想象一下，看着一个立方体，你的眼睛会追踪立方体的轮廓，就好像你真的在看它一样。

然而，事实证明，人们在想象体验方面存在巨大差异。有些人完全缺乏感官意象——即使被要求，他们也无法描绘出自己的家庭——但他们仍然过着充实、甚至极具创造力的生活。

从我们如何想象到我们如何理解他人的思想，从玩耍的好处到精神障碍，《看不见的事物的形状》令人眼花缭乱，令人愉悦。这是一本关于人类思维运作的新发现的重要指南。

People often think of imagination as something used only in creative endeavours.

In fact, we use imagination constantly as we reminisce, anticipate, plan, daydream, read, create imagined worlds. The truth is we live in the here and now much less than we tend to think. Imagination isn't the exception in our daily lives; it's our default setting.

Yet only now are we beginning to understand exactly how it works.

From hallucination to sleepwalking, from REM sleep to delusions, neurologist Adam Zeman brilliantly guides us through the latest scientific studies in the world of the imagination. He draws on research in neuroscience, the study of human origins and child development to show how the human brain is above all else a creative, imaginative organ - and that we have evolved to share what we imagine.

Our brains behave in strikingly similar ways when we observe, remember, imagine or act. Imagine looking at a cube and your eye will trace the contours of the cube as if you were actually seeing it.

Yet it turns out that people differ hugely in their imaginative experience. Some people lack sensory imagery altogether - they would be unable to picture their family if asked to - but still lead fulfilling, even highly creative, lives.

From how we visualise to how we understand the minds of others, from the benefits of play to mental disorders, The Shape of Things Unseen dazzles and delights. It is an essential guide to the latest discoveries about the workings of the human mind.