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Karl Deisseroth has dedicated his life to understanding the mind and is one of the few neurologists who is also a practicing psychiatrist. That combination gives rise to an extremely original approach that looks for the biological basis of mental illness. Drawing on cutting-edge research and experience with his own patients, he tells, with deep empathy, the great story of the origins of human emotion. Thus, the case of a young woman with an eating disorder explains how the mind can rebel against impulses as primitive as hunger and thirst; that of an older man, stifled by depression and dementia, shows how human beings evolved to feel not only joy, but also its absence; and that of a lonely Uyghur woman, far from her homeland, reveals the importance and challenges of social ties. A work that transforms what we know about ourselves and vividly illustrates, through human stories, always essential, our search for connection and meaning.