Here is the essential guide to the human brain, an authoritative reference book and timeline that examines the one point four kilos of matter inside our heads that does all our thinking for us.

With 100 billion nerve cells joined by thousands more joining every corner of the body, the brain is wired together with 100 trillion connections. That makes each and every human brain a contender for the most complex system in the universe, endowing us with an intellect that far outstrips any other creature. However, one difficult question remains: Are we intelligent enough to understand our own brains?

Follow the journey as history’s greatest brains, including Avicenna, Thomas Willis, Charles Darwin, and Paul Broca try to figure it out by linking structure to function. How does the brain control the body, make sense of our surroundings, and allow us to understand, empathize with, and love other people-and their brains? And how does it create that most mysterious feature of the universe, consciousness?