Leading neurologist and Oxford Professor Masud Husain shares fascinating and moving cases of brain disorders from across his career – and what they can teach us about ourselves.

What makes us who we are? Is it our families, our hometown, our upbringing, our jobs? Yes, all of the above, but more fundamental than any of these is our brain.

This is never more evident than if we lose even a single one of our cognitive abilities. People who develop a brain disorder might find that their identity and sense of self undergo dramatic changes. Through the stories of seven of his patients, acclaimed Oxford University neurologist Masud Husain shows us how our brains create our identity, how that identity can be changed, and sometimes even be restored.

Among the patients Dr Husain has encountered is a man who ran out of words, a woman who stopped caring what others thought of her, and another who, losing her memory, began to believe she was having an affair with the man who was really her husband. These compelling human dramas reveal how our identities are created by different brain functions, and how modern neuroscience can help explain the behavioural changes that occur when our perception, attention, memory, or empathy are altered.

In this conversation, Dr Husain will not only reveal the intricacies of the brain but also illuminate our human experience, igniting new ideas about what it really means to be human.

Tickets to this online event are free for members of How To +.

Praise for Masud Husain’s Our Brains, Our Selves:

 ‘This book is as brilliant as anything written by Oliver Sachs, a real-life medical detective story that is life-enhancing and beautiful’ – Ian Robertson, author of How Confidence Works

‘A masterful storyteller, Husain infuses this very personal memoir with scholarship and cutting-edge science, in the process, shedding light on the neural mechanisms that make us uniquely human’ – Charan Ranganath, author of Why We Remember