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"The Second Brain"

Your gut has a mind of its own.

Dr. Michael Gershon has devoted his career to understanding the human bowel (the stomach, esophagus, small intestine, and colon). His thirty years of research have let to an extraordinary rediscovery: nerve cells in the gut that act as a brain.

Dr. Gershon writes in his preface to The Second Brain:

"We now know that there is a brain in the bowel, however inappropriate that concept might seem to be. The ugly gut is more intellectual than the heart and may have greater capacity for "feeling."  It is the only organ that contains an intrinsic nervous system that is able to mediate reflexes in the complete absence of input from the brain or spinal cord."

This second brain can control our gut all by itself. Our two brains--the one in our head and the one in our bowel--must cooperate. If they do not, then there is chaos in the gut and misery in the head--everything from "butterflies" to cramps, from diarrhea to constipation.

"This is not a book for anyone who has a digestive problem
who wants a cure -- it is a book for understanding digestion
and/or the nervous system"

Dr. Gershon's work has led to radical new understandings about a wide range of gastrointestinal problems including gastroenteritis, nervous stomach, and irritable bowel syndrome. The Second Brain represents a quantum leap in medical knowledge and is already benefiting patients whose symptoms were previously dismissed as neurotic or "its all in your head."