Humanity's quest to understand the brain has led to crucial discoveries in science and medicine. In his gripping book, science populariser Matthew Cobb tells how thorny this path was, with the road to the high-tech present dotted with weirdos who carried out unnecessary or cruel experiments. The book is divided into three parts, "Past," "Present" and "Future," in which the author talks about the terrible experiments of innovative scientists on people in order to strive to understand the structure and functions of the most mysterious organ. The first part describes the period from ancient times, when the heart (and not the brain) was considered a source of thoughts and emotions. In the second, the author says that today almost all scientific research and development is controlled by private companies, and explains to us why it is dangerous. In the final part, Matthew Cobb speculates in which direction the researchers will move in the near future. After all, despite incredible scientific breakthroughs, we still have only a vague idea of ​ ​ the brain.