A Hole in the Head is Charles Gross's second collection of essays in which he illuminates the study of the brain with fascinating episodes from the past. This volume s tales range from the history of trepanation (drilling a hole in the skull) to neurosurgery as painted by Hieronymus Bosch to the discovery that bats navigate using echolocation. The emphasis is on blind alleys and errors as well as triumphs and discoveries, with ancient practices connected to recent developments and controversies. Gross first reaches back into the beginnings of neuroscience, then takes up the interaction of art and neuroscience, exploring, among other things, Rembrandt s Anatomy Lesson paintings, and finally, examines discoveries by scientists whose work was scorned in their own time but proven correct in later eras.
