Casey Schwartz, neuroscience writer and journalist, to discuss new book "In the Mind Fields," October 6, 2015

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Casey Schwartz, author of "In the Mind Fields" (2015)

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ALBANY, NY (09/23/2015)(readMedia)-- Casey Schwartz, former science and health reporter for Newsweek/The Daily Beast, will discuss her new book, In the Mind Fields: Exploring the New Science of Neuropsychoanalysis (2015), a witty, accessible, and entertaining introduction to new developments in brain science on Tuesday, October 6, 2015 at 8 p.m. in the Huxley Theatre, New York State Museum, in downtown Albany. Earlier that same day at 4:15 p.m., the author will offer an informal seminar in the D'Ambra Auditorium, Life Sciences Building, on the University at Albany's uptown campus. Free and open to the public, the events are sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute, and cosponsored in conjunction with the launch of UAlbany's Women in Science and Health group (WISH), in association with the RNA Institute and the School of Public Health.

Casey Schwartz is a journalist specializing in neuroscience and a former science and health reporter for Newsweek/The Daily Beast. She is also the author of the new book, In the Mind Fields: Exploring the New Science of Neuropsychoanalysis (2015), a witty, accessible, and entertaining introduction to new developments in brain science-notably the reconciliation of neuroscience and psychoanalysis.

A graduate of University College London with a Masters Degree in psychodynamic neuroscience, Schwartz spent a year studying psychoanalytic theory at the Anna Freud Centre, and the following year studying neuroscience at Yale. She has spent the last two decades reporting on exciting developments in those fields.

The book takes the form of a journey of personal discovery that traces her experiences as a young woman on the frontiers of a rapidly evolving field. In her introduction, she writes, "I'd never been a science person. I didn't relate at all. So it was with a sense of surprise, a year out of college, that I discovered I loved studying the brain."

Scott Stossel, editor of The Atlantic, said, "In the Mind Fields is a brilliant and enthralling exploration of a scientific and philosophical conundrum that has preoccupied thinkers from Descartes to Freud to Oliver Sacks: the relationship between brain and mind. Weaving together intellectual history, science reporting, bits of memoir, and a deep reservoir of humane sympathy, Casey Schwartz brings readers along with her on a bracing quest to bridge psychoanalysis and neuroscience. A work of remarkable brio, wisdom, and wit, with gems of insight shimmering on nearly every page."

Alan Alda, host of the PBS show Scientific Frontiers, said, "If psychoanalysis studies the brain as mind and neuroscience studies the mind as brain, can they somehow learn to work together to help us understand who we are? Casey Schwartz takes us on a charming, personal quest to reconcile hard to reconcile views-watching, fascinated, as the brain, maybe the most unfathomable thing in the universe, tries to fathom itself."

In addition to her work as a reporter for Newsweek/The Daily Beast, Schwartz has published articles on the mind and brain in the New York Times and the New York Sun, and has appeared on ABC News.

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.

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