Warhead - by Nicholas Wright (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A researched narrative of how wars are a consequence of brain systems that deal with conflict, competition, and social cooperation.

Nicholas Wright's WARHEAD is a groundbreaking new book that shows readers how wars are a consequence of common brain systems that deal with conflict, competition, and social cooperation. Journeying through ten brain regions, Wright begin his explanation at the base of the brain, the brainstem, climbing step-by-step until he reaches the frontal pole looking at how each region influences the human propensity towards war. While brain anatomy provides the framework, each chapter is brought to life through battle stories from history.

Wright considers what it was like for, say, a foot soldier at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 or one in China's Red Army during the Long March in 1934-5 to fight. He thinks about commanders like Heinz Guderian or Shaka Zulu and asks how they could see through the fog of war, make better decisions and communicate with those who must carry them out. In telling these stories Wright connects the biological with the historical through medical records of soldiers who fought in both World Wars, in Vietnam and in the Gulf Wars. Using similar methods, he looks at drone pilots deep in a Nevada air base, the children of the Islamic State's "Cubs" and others while also considering the records of leaders who had to make the hardest choice.

Focusing finally on what to come, he asks how the internet or GPS can provide a window into war's technological futures. We will never be without war. Nicholas Wright's Warhead explains this unfortunately recurring biological imperative and shows us how no human, given our common neuroanatomy, is immune to its prosecution and resolution.

Review Quotes

"This remarkable book charts the living history of war and conflict, from what unfolds on the evening news to spellbinding examples from military history. Nicholas Wright's analysis of our capacity for planning, introspection, perspective taking and metacognition lays bare our capacity for deceit, dehumanisation and destruction. However, the books dénouement revisits these fundaments of the human mind, and they point to another path - a path in which the horrors of war can be avoided through our complementary capacities for consciousness, communication, and construction." - Karl Friston, Professor Neuroscience, University College London

"I learned a great deal from Nicholas Wright's unique book about how today's neuroscience can better explain the workings of the brain, and provide understanding of how our brains feed the roots of human conflict. Highly recommended." - Professor Sir David Omand, War Studies Department King's College London and former Director of GCHQ

"In a survival scenario, such as war, fundamental questions arise: How do we survive hunger? How can we think when tired? How do we detect deception? How do we choose our collaborators? In war, if we can't answer these questions, we will doom ourselves and many others as well. In this distinctive and fascinating book, Nick Wright reminds us of the true importance of all the various brain functions, wherever they may be in the brain's hierarchy of function." -- Chris Frith, Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychology, University College London, and author of Making up the Mind: How the Brain Creates our Mental World.

"This is a lively, ingenious and original book. Taking us on a journey through the distinctive parts of the brain, Nicholas Wright is able to make human behaviour during the extreme circumstances of war make more sense." - Sir Lawrence Freedman, Emeritus Professor of War Studies, King's College, London

"A mind-expanding journey through the literal war for our minds. Combines neuroscience, history and memoir in the best traditions of popular science and military history. Invigorating, educational and entertaining."
- Peter Pomerantsev, Senior Fellow, Johns Hopkins University and award-winning author of How to Win an Information War and Nothing is True and Everything is Possible

About the Author

DR. NICHOLAS WRIGHT, MRCP, PhD is a neuroscientist who researches the brain, technology and security at University College London, Georgetown University, and the New America think tank in Washington DC, where he also advises the Pentagon Joint Staff. On emerging technologies he has worked with the White House, UK Cabinet Office, Australian Prime Minister's office. He has published over 20 peer-reviewed research papers, many of which have been covered by the BBC and New York Times. He has appeared on CNN and the BBC, and regularly contributes to high profile outlets like Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Atlantic, and Slate.