Often, when a clinical mystery is solved, the explanation reveals something new about how the normal, healthy brain works, and yields unexpected insights into some of our most cherished mental faculties.
-- Ramachandran (Preface)

Importance: Throughout the book, Ramachandran uses specific case studies of patients who have something unusual going on in their brain to illustrate larger points about the general workings of the typical human brain. For example, in Chapter 1, he uses the example of the phantom limb to explain how the brain makes a connection between one event and the event or consequence that follows it, more commonly known as learning.

Brain science has advanced at an astonishing pace over the past fifteen years, lending fresh perspectives on - well, just about everything. After decades of floundering in the shadow of the "hard" sciences, the age of neuroscience has truly dawned, and this rapid progress has directed and enriched my own work...
-- Ramachandran (Preface)