Books

"The theory of neuronal group selection was formulated to explain a number of apparent inconsistencies in our knowledge of the development, anatomy, and physiological function of the central nervous system. Above all, it was formulated to explain how perceptual categorization could occur without assuming that the world is prearranged in an informational fashion or that the brain contains a homunculus."

"The reasons for abandoning information processing as the primary mode of brain function will be presented in the next chapter; my main purpose here is to outline the central ideas of an alternative view. To account for categorization without assuming information processing or computing, the theory proposes that the key principle governing brain organization is a populational one and that in its operation the brain is a selective system."

Marc: Based on the microscopic reality of neuroanatomy (as described by Ramón y Cajal and his successors) and the molecular biology he researched in his revolutionary work in discovering how the immune system works, along with the Darwinian population thinking he used in that project, Edelman in this book offers a very plausible model of how the structure of the brain explains memory and the ability to categorize perceptions, which then enables responding in ways appropriate to survival.

What I understood from the book is we are born with vast numbers of neurons initially connected only according to a general plan, with bundles going from most regions to most others, and at each end of these bundles connections are random (because even if it was useful, specifying each connection would be too much to fit in our chromosomes). There are regions in the brain where nerve inputs from elsewhere in the body arrive, and regions from which nerve output flow out. These regions form the equivalent of maps. Out of these large numbers of redundant connections between regions, those which happen to get stimulated more often, whether by events outside the body or inside it, get reinforced and thus become more likely to get triggered in the future. Connections that don't get stimulated end up going away. This forms the neural basis for memory. Then Edelman gives examples of connection architectures that based on this and also neuronal groups in multiple areas getting stimulated at the same time, perform categorization of complex stimuli, such as linking various types of images together and then with sounds, which eventually results in being able to recognize for example birds. And then have these categories associated with actions, in accordance with inborn emotional goals (food, safety, play, mating, etc.)

This is by far the most complete and evidence-based model of how the brain works that I'm aware of. I like the ideas of Marvin Minsky, and Lev Vygotsky, but Edelman offers a concrete mechanism based on the actual constituting elements of the brain, the groups of neurons themselves. I find the ideas of Crick and others, about vague "quantum" this or that, and consciousness as something external that we somehow "tap into", totally unsubstantiated and even, laughable. Edelman's The Remembered Present, by contrast, builds upon the foundation laid here, to explain consciousness as a process that takes place inside our skulls, in a way that I find plausible.

I think of Gerald Edelman as one of the greatest scientists of all time, and this book as his most important one, in a series of remarkable works. Watch Dr. Edelman give an overview here, and here is an excerpt of a recent talk in which he explains how questions such as consciousness or imagination which so far could only be discussed theoretically are now being opened to experimental exploration.

"One of the most creative and stimulating psychologists in the Western World... a combination of acute intelligence and a delightful humor." Alan Watts

"Most of the essays in this book deal with the therapeutic situation, from the point of view of both victim and executioner. He instructs the therapists on how to fail; the schizophrenic on how to stay schizoid; the analyst on how to remain one-up on the analysand..." John Leonard, The New York Times

Jay Haley was born in 1923, received his BA from UCLA, his BLS from Berkeley, and his Masters Degree from Stanford. He has done research on popular films, animal behavior, hypnosis, schizophrenia, therapy, families and family therapy. He has been a Research Associate in both the Department of Anthropology at Stanford and the Palo Alto Medical Research Foundation. Formerly an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, he was also a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Howard University ... Currently he is Co-Director of the Family Therapy Institute of Washington, D.C. ...

Milton H. Erickson, M.D. is generally acknowledged to be the world's leading practitioner of medical hypnosis. His "strategic therapy", using hypnotic techniques with or without actually inducing trance, allows him to get directly to the core of a problem and prescribe a course of action that can lead to rapid recovery.

This book provides a comprehensive look at Dr. Erickson's theories in practice, through a series of case studies covering the kinds of problems that are likely to occur at various stages of the human life cycle. The results Dr. Erickson achieves sometimes seem to border on the miraculous, but they are brought about by a finely honed technique used by a wise, intuitive, highly trained psychiatrist-hypnotist whose work is recognized as a major contribution to the field.

The great Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky has long been recognized as a pioneer in developmental psychology. But his theory of development has never been well understood in the West. Mind in Society corrects much of this misunderstanding. Carefully edited by a group of outstanding Vygotsky scholars, the book presents a unique selection of Vygostky's important essays.

"This selection of Vygotsky's important writings (most were previously unavailable in English) offers the Western reader a new appreciation of the seminal contributions of one of Russia's most influential psychologists." --Psychology Today

"Vygotsky was a genius. After more than half a century in science I am unable to name another person who even approaches his incredible analytic ability and foresight. All of my work has been no more than the working out of the psychological theory which he constructed." --A. R. Luria

This newly revised edition of Vygotsky's seminal work contains much new material and many references that were previously unavailable. Vygotsky's ideas become fresh and contemporary in this translation, and Alex Kozulin's foreword to the book is in itself a contribution to the history of psychology in the twentieth century." --Jean Berko Gleason, Professor and chair, Department of psychology, Boston University

Linking the music of J.S. Bach, the graphic art of Escher and the mathematical theorems of Goedel, as well as ideas drawn from logic, biology, psychology, physics and linguistics, Douglas Hofstadter illuminates one of the greatest mysteries of modern science: the nature of human thought processes.

"A startling view of man, stripped of the facade we try so hard to hide behind." In view of man's awesome creativity and resourcefulness, we may be inclined to regard him as descended from the angels, yet, in his brilliant study, Desmond Morris reminds us that man is relative to the apes--is in fact, the greatest primate of all. With knowledge gleaned from primate ethnology, zoologist Morris examines sex, child-rearing, exploratory habits, fighting, feeding, and much more to establish our surprising bonds to the animal kingdom and add substance to the discussion that has provoked controversy and debate the world over.

Natural History Magazine praised The Naked Ape as "stimulating . . . thought-provoking . . . [Morris] has introduced some novel and challenging ideas and speculations."

"He minces no words," said Harper's. "He lets off nothing in our basic relation to the animal kingdom to which we belong. . . He is always specific, startling, but logical."

"Neil Shubin, the paleontologist and professor of anatomy who co-discovered Tiktaalik, the "fish with hands", tells the story of our bodies as you've never heard it before. By examining fossils and DNA, he shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our heads are organized like long-extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genome look, and function, like those of worms and bacteria. Your Inner Fish makes us look at ourselves and our world in an illuminating new light. This is science writing at its finest--enlightening, accessible, and told with irresistible enthusiasm."

Though we share 98 percent of our genes with the chimpanzee, our species evolved into something quite extraordinary. Jared Diamond explores the fascinating question of what in less than 2 percent of our genes has enabled us to found civilizations and religions, develop intricate languages, create art, learn science-and acquire the capacity to destroy all our achievements overnight. The Third Chimpanzee is a tour de force, an iconoclastic, entertaining, sometimes alarming look at the unique and marvelous creature that is the human animal.

"Even more enlightening than Machiavelli's The Prince, this book describes power takeovers and social organizations in a chimpanzee colony... I'll never look at academic or corporate politics the same way." - Jim Collins, Inc.

"Precise but eminently readable and indeed exciting... This excellent book achieves the dual goal which eludes so many writers about animal behavior--it will both fascinate the non-specialist and be seen as an important contribution to science." - Robert Hind, Times Literary Supplement

"How could such an intricate object as the human eye -so complex and working so precisely- have come about by chance? In writing described by the New York Times as "a masterpiece," Richard Dawkins builds a carefully reasoned and lovingly illustrated argument for evolutionary adaptation as the mechanism for life on earth.
The metaphor of "Mount Improbable" represents the combination of perfection and improbability that we find in the seemingly "designed" complexity of living things."

"This is a brilliantly written, passionate, whirlwind tour through 13,000 years of history on all the continents - a short history of everything about everybody. The origins of empires, religion, writing, crops, and guns are all here. By at last providing a convincing explanation for the differing developments of human societies on different continents, the book demolishes the grounds for racist theories of history. Its account of how the modern world was formed is full of lessons for our own future. After reading the first two pages, you won't be able to put it down." -Paul R. Ehrlich

"Jane Goodall's work with chimpanzees represents one of the Western world's great scientific achievements" - Stephen Jay Gould

"By dint of heroic patience and labour in the accumulation of verifiable data, she has substantiated her once startling revelations - that chimpanzees think, and can reason out simple problems; that, contrary to general belief, they will eat meat; that they know love and jealousy, grief and boredom; and that they will murder, and make war - and has taken her place as a world authority ... A totally absorbing book" - New Yorker

"An extremely well-written, highly provocative discussin of the origins and meaning of culture." - Kirkus Reviews

"For those ready for some self-scrutiny, and a less biased view of culture and learning in our fellow creatures, this book will be a revelation." - Scientific American

"Every one of the short works is a pleasure. Feynman is always outrageous, at times courageous, and often movingly eloquent as he ranges from computers to the role of science in society." - Rocky Kolb, author of Blind Watchers of the Sky

Marc: Lerner shows how throughout history people's conception of the universe and their place in it has strongly affected how society is structured. The psychological and social perspective he offers comes in addition to his description of comtemporary physics: he shows how observations do not support the big bang theory but instead an infinite and self-organizing universe where electric forces interact with gravity to form an expanding fractal plasma giving rise to ever more richness and complexity. He credits Hannes Alfvén for having originated these studies of plasma.

First formulated in the early years of the 20th century, Einstein's theories of relativity overturned long-held concepts of space and time. They provided a radically new way of looking at the physical work and explanations for many questions unanswered by classical physics. Unfortunately, many laypeople consider relativity so abstruse and complicated that they despair of ever understanding it. In reality, the ideas, although profound, are quite simple.

That simplicity is strikingly illuminated in this delightfully nontechnical book, which explains relativity in a straightforward, carefully illustrated manner the intelligent layperson can understand. A little high-school geometry will enable the reader to follow the discussion. Moreover, the book includes more than 60 drawings to illustrate concepts more clearly than verbal explanations could ever do.

"Richard Dawkins, one of the most brilliant of the rising generation of biologists, gently and expertly debunks some of the favourite illusions of social biology about the evolution of altruism, but this is on no account to be thought of as a debunking kind of book: it is, on the contrary, a most skillful reformulation of the central problems of social biology in terms of the genetical theory of natural selection. Beyond this, it is learned, witty and very well written." Sir Peter Medawar, Spectator

"Who should read this book? Everyone interested in the universe and their place in it." Jeffrey R. Baylis, Animal Behaviour

If there was any one who articulated the anger, the struggle, and the beliefs of African Americans in the 1960s, that man was Malcolm X. His Autobiography is now an established classic of modern America, a book that expresses like none other the crucial truth about our violent times.

Marc: With more time, this great man would likely have freed himself from religion as well.

The world is complex, dynamic, multidimensional; the paper is static, flat. How are we to represent the rich visual world of experience and measurement on mere flatland?

This book celebrates escapes from flatland, rendering several hundred superb displays of complex data. Revealed here are design strategies for enhancing the dimensionality and density of protrayals of information--techniques exemplified in maps, the manuscripts of Galileo, timetables, notation describing dance movements, aerial photographs, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, electrocardiograms, drawings of Calder and Klee, computer visualizations, and a textbook of Euclid's geometry.

"Brilliant work on the best means of displaying information." - Sci-Tech News

This unique guide to interactive system design reflects the experience and vision of Jef Raskin, the creator of the Apple Macintosh Project. Other books may show how to use today's widgets and interface ideas effectively. Raskin, however, demonstrates that many current interface paradigms are dead ends, and that making computers significantly easier to use requires new approaches. He explains how to effect desperately needed changes, offering a wealth of innovative and specific interface ideas for software designers, developers, and product managers.

The Apple Macintosh helped to introduce a previous revolution in computer interface design, drawing on the best available technology to establish many of the interface techniques and methods now universal in the computer industry. With this book, Raskin proves again both his farsightedness and his practicality. He also demonstrates how design ideas must be built on a scientific basis, presenting just enough cognitive psychology to link the interface of the future to the experimental evidence and to show why that interface will work.

The digital revolution did not begin with the teenage millionaires of Silicon Valley, claims Howard Rheingold, but with such early intellectual giants as Charles Babbage, George Boole, and John Von Neuman. In a highly engagin style, Rheingold tells the story of what he calls the patriarchs, pioneers, and infonauts of the computer, focusing in particular on such pioneers as J.C.R. Licklider, Doug Engelbart, Bob Taylor, and Alan Kay. Taking the reader step by step from nineteenth-century mathematics to comtemporary computing, he introduces a fascinating collection of eccentrics, mavericks, geniuses, and visionaries.

The book was originally published in 1985, and Rheingold's attempt to envision computing in the 1990s turns out to have been remarkably prescient. This edition contains an afterword, in which Rheingold interviews some of the pioneers discussed in the book. As an exercise in what he calls "retrospective futurism", Rheingold also looks back at how he looked forward.

Marc: An html version of the original 1985 text is available at the author's site.

In this groudbreaking new book, the American biologist Edward O. Wilson, considered to be one of the world's greatest living scientists, argues for the fundamental unity of all knowledge and the need to search for consilience--the proof that everything in our world is organized in terms of a small number of fundamental natural laws that comprise the principles underlying every branch of learning.

Professor Wilson, the pioneer of sociobiology and biodiversity, now once again breaks out of the conventions of current thinking. He shows how and why our explosive rise in intellectual mastery of the truths of our universe has its roots in the ancient Greek concept of an intrinsic orderliness that governs our cosmos and the human species--a vision that found its apogee in the Age of Enlightenment, then gradually was lost in the increasing fragmentation and specialization of knowledge in the last two centuries. Drawing on the physical sciences and biology, anthropology, psychology, religion, philosophy, and the arts, Professor Wilson shows why the goals of the original Enlightenment are surging back to life, why they are reappearing on the very frontiers of science and humanities scholarship, and how they are beginning to sketch themselves as the blueprint of our world as it most profoundly, elegantly, and excitingly is.

A Twist of the Wrist, the acknowledged number one book on rider improvement for ten years straight, brought riders worldwide to a new understanding of vital skills. Twist, volume II, uncovers and traces, action by action, the direct links between man and machine.

Keith Code has trained more riders than anyone in the world. His training and teaching methods are responsible for scores of victories by top riders around the globe. Keith's unique ability to unravel complexities and establish simple, essential principles, provides both street and race riders with real tools to think about, and understand for themselves, the problems of riding.

For a sample of Keith Code's ideas, read his articles in "Keith's Corner" at the California Superbike School site.

Marc: Learning or re-learning to run barefoot is a great joy, and will do wonders for your running form.

"Fascinating and fun! We all feel somewhat dumb when it comes to electronics. There Are No Electrons would be a proper tonic for this ignorance" - Ray Bradbury, author of The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, etc