Montague, Read (P. Read Montague, Jr.)

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Montague, Read (P. Read Montague, Jr.)

PERSONAL:

Education: Auburn University, B.S., 1983; University of Alabama at Birmingham, Ph.D., 1988.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Neuroscience, Human Neuroimaging Lab, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Ste. 104, Houston, TX 77030. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Professor and writer. Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, professor of neuroscience, 1993—, director of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory, 2001—, director of the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, 2003—; University College London, London, England, honorary professor of computational neuroscience, 2006—. Institute Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology, Rockefeller University's Neurosciences Institute, 1989-91; fellow and staff scientist, Salk Institute for Biological Studies' Computational Neurobiology Lab, 1991-93; fellow, Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, 2005-06. Has also developed software through the Montague Group, 1982—, and served as adjunct associate professor at Rice University, Houston, TX.

WRITINGS:

Why Choose This Book? How We Make Decisions, Penguin Group (New York, NY), 2006, published as Your Brain Is (Almost) Perfect: How We Make Decisions, Plume (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor of articles to periodicals, including Nature, Science, Nature Neuroscience, Vision Research, Neuron, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

SIDELIGHTS:

While an undergraduate studying mathematics at Auburn University, Read Montague shifted his focus from track and field to neuroscience after sustaining a number of injuries. Working with a researcher in the field of quantum chemistry had piqued Montague's interest in how quantum mechanics affects the human thought process. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics from the University of Alabama at Birmingham before heading to New York City to work with Nobel Prize-winning biologist Gerald Edelman. The latter experience, Montague told a contributor to American Scientist Online, broadened his horizons; he stated that "mainly I learned how to think big, reach far and go out on a limb despite the number of people just delighting in the fact that I would probably fall."

Montague's research focuses on how the brain functions like a computer in the decision-making process. He explores this topic in his first book, Why Choose This Book? How We Make Decisions. In a review for Publishers Weekly, a contributor wrote that the book "deftly marries psychology and neuroscience" but "doesn't always explain the complex science for general readers." Carol Feltes, writing for the Library News of Rockefeller University, remarked that Montague's "engaging style and … examples make what could be a mathematical labyrinth into a fascinating story."