Download or read book Bright Air Brilliant Fire written by Gerald M. Edelman and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author takes the reader on a tour that covers such topics as computers, evolution, Descartes, Schrodinger, and the nature of perception, language, and invididuality. He argues that biology provides the key to understanding the brain. Underlying his argument is the evolutionary view that the mind arose at a definite time in history. This book ponders connections between psychology and physics, medicine, philosophy, and more. Frequently contentious, Edelman attacks cognitive and behavioral approaches, which leave biology out of the picture, as well as the currently fashionable view of the brain as a computer.
Download or read book Second Nature written by Gerald M. Edelman and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2006-10-01 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Burgeoning advances in brain science are opening up new perspectives on how we acquire knowledge. Indeed, it is now possible to explore consciousness - the very centre of human concern - by scientific means. In this illuminating book, Dr. Gerald M. Edelman offers a new theory of knowledge based on striking scientific findings about how the brain works. And he addresses the related compelling question: does the latest research imply that all knowledge can be reduced to scientific description? Edelman's brain-based approach to knowledge has rich implications for our understanding of creativity, of the normal and abnormal functioning of the brain, and of the connections among the different ways we have of knowing. While the gulf between science and the humanities and their respective views of the world has seemed enormous in the past, the author shows that their differences can be dissolved by considering their origins in brain functions. He foresees a day when brain-based devices will be conscious, and he reflects on this and other fascinating ideas about how we come to know the world and ourselves.
Download or read book Neural Darwinism written by Gerald M. Edelman and published by . This book was released on 1987-12-06 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the nation's leading neuroscientists presents a radically new view of the function of the brain and the nervous system. Its central idea is that the nervous system in each individual operates as a selective system resembling natural selection in evolution, but operating by different mechanisms. This far-ranging theory of brain functions is bound to stimulate renewed discussion of such philosophical issues as the mind-body problem, the origins of knowledge and the perceptual bases of language. Notes and Index.
Download or read book Bright Air Black written by David Vann Bright and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “sensual, brutal . . . ambitious, dazzling, disturbing, and memorable” retelling of Jason and the Argonauts seen through the eyes of Medea (Financial Times). International bestselling and multi-prize-winning author David Vann transports readers to the Mediterranean and Black Sea, 3,250 years ago, for “[a] stunning depiction of one of mythology’s most complex characters” (The Australian). It is thirteenth century BC, and the Argo is bound for its epic return journey across the Black Sea from Persia’s Colchis with the valiant Jason, the equally heroic Argonauts, and the treasured symbol of kingship, the Golden Fleece. Aboard as well is Medea, semi-divine priestess, and a believer in power, not gods. Having fled her father, and butchered her brother, she is embarking on a conquest of her own. Rejected for her gender, Medea is hungry for revenge, and to right the egregious fate of being born a woman in a world ruled by men. In Bright Air Black, “David Vann blow[s] away all the elegance and toga-clad politeness . . . around our idea of ancient Greece . . . to reveal the bare bones of the Archaic period in all their bloody, reeking nastiness (The Times, London), and to deliver a bracing alternative to the long-held notions of Medea as monster or sorceress. We witness Medea’s humanity, her Bronze Age roots and position in Greek society, her love affair with Jason, the cataclysmic repercussions of betrayal, and the drive of an impassioned woman—victim, survivor, and ultimately, agent of her own destiny. The most intimate and corporal version of Medea’s story ever told, Bright Air Black “a compelling study of human nature stripped to its most elemental” (The Guardian).
Download or read book A Universe Of Consciousness written by Gerald M. Edelman and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2008-08-01 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What goes on in our head when we have a thought? Why do the physical events that occur inside a fistful of gelatinous tissue give rise to the world of conscious experience? In The Universe of Consciousness , Gerald Edelman and Giulio Tononi present for the first time a full-scale theory of consciousness based on direct observation of the human brain in action. Their pioneering work, presented here in an elegant style, challenges much of the conventional wisdom about consciousness. The Universe of Consciousness has enormous implications for our understanding of language, thought, emotion, and mental illness.
Download or read book Bright Air Brilliant Fire written by Gerald Edelman and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 1993-06-16 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We are on the verge of a revolution in neuroscience as significant as the Galilean revolution in physics or the Darwinian revolution in biology. Nobel laureate Gerald M. Edelman takes issue with the many current cognitive and behavioral approaches to the brain that leave biology out of the picture, and argues that the workings of the brain more closely resemble the living ecology of a jungle than they do the activities of a computer. Some startling conclusions emerge from these ideas: individuality is necessarily at the very center of what it means to have a mind, no creature is born value-free, and no physical theory of the universe can claim to be a ”theory of everything” without including an account of how the brain gives rise to the mind. There is no greater scientific challenge than understanding the brain. Bright Air, Brilliant Fire is a book that provides a window on that understanding.
Download or read book The Book of Bright Ideas written by Sandra Kring and published by Delta. This book was released on 2006-05-30 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Sandra Kring's A Life of Bright Ideas. Wisconsin, 1961. Evelyn “Button” Peters is nine the summer Winnalee and her fiery-spirited older sister, Freeda, blow into her small town–and from the moment she sees them, Button knows this will be a summer unlike any other. Much to her mother’s dismay, Button is fascinated by the Malone sisters, especially Winnalee, a feisty scrap of a thing who carries around a shiny silver urn containing her mother’s ashes and a tome she calls “The Book of Bright Ideas.” It is here, Winnalee tells Button, that she records everything she learns: her answers to the mysteries of life. But sometimes those mysteries conceal a truth better left buried. And when a devastating secret is suddenly revealed, dividing loyalties and uprooting lives, no one–from Winnalee and her sister to Button and her family–will ever be the same.
Download or read book Contemplating Minds written by William J. Clancey and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 566 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One place where the scientific debate has been written for a broad audience is in the book review column of the international journal Artificial Intelligence, which has evolved from simple reviews to a multidisciplinary forum where reviewers and authors debate the latest, often competing, theories of human and artificial intelligence.
Download or read book A Shadow Bright and Burning Kingdom on Fire Book One written by Jessica Cluess and published by Random House Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2016-09-20 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Vivid characters, terrifying monsters, and world building as deep and dark as the ocean." --Victoria Aveyard, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Queen I am Henrietta Howel. The first female sorcerer in hundreds of years. The prophesied one. Or am I? Henrietta Howel can burst into flames. Forced to reveal her power to save a friend, she's shocked when instead of being executed, she's invited to train as one of Her Majesty's royal sorcerers. Thrust into the glamour of Victorian London, Henrietta is declared the chosen one, the girl who will defeat the Ancients, bloodthirsty demons terrorizing humanity. She also meets her fellow sorcerer trainees, handsome young men eager to test her power and her heart. One will challenge her. One will fight for her. One will betray her. But Henrietta Howel is not the chosen one. As she plays a dangerous game of deception, she discovers that the sorcerers have their own secrets to protect. With battle looming, what does it mean to not be the one? And how much will she risk to save the city—and the one she loves? Exhilarating and gripping, Jessica Cluess's spellbinding fantasy introduces a powerful, unforgettably heroine, and a world filled with magic, romance, and betrayal. Hand to fans of Libba Bray, Sarah J. Maas, and Cassandra Clare. "The magic! The intrigue! The guys! We were sucked into this monster-ridden, alternative England from page one. Henrietta is literally a 'girl on fire' and this team of sorcerers training for battle had a pinch of Potter blended with a drop of [Cassandra Clare's] Infernal Devices." --Justine Magazine "Cluess gamely turns the chosen-one trope upside down in this smashing dark fantasy." --Publishers Weekly, Starred Review "Unputdownable. I loved the monsters, the magic, and the teen warriors who are their world's best hope! Jessica Cluess is an awesome storyteller!" --Tamora Pierce, #1 New York Times bestselling author "A fun, inventive fantasy. I totally have a book crush on Rook." --Sarah Rees Brennan, New York Times bestselling author "Pure enchantment. I love how Cluess turned the 'chosen one' archetype on its head. With the emotional intensity of my favorite fantasy books, this is the kind of story that makes you forget yourself." --Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of The Star-Touched Queen "A glorious, fast-paced romp of an adventure. Jessica Cluess has built her story out of my favorite ingredients: sorcery, demons, romance, and danger." --Kelly Link, author of Pretty Monsters
Download or read book Wider Than the Sky written by Gerald M. Edelman and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Wider Than the Sky presents an analysis of the brain activities underlying consciousness that is based on remarkable recent advances in biochemistry, immunology, medical imaging, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology. But the implications of this rewarding book extend farther, well beyond the worlds of science and medicine into virtually every area of human inquiry."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book Bright Ruin written by Vic James and published by Del Rey. This book was released on 2018-10-09 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the “thrilling conclusion”* to the dystopian trilogy that began with Gilded Cage and Tarnished City, the people of Britain rise up against their magically gifted masters. They must break the system—or be broken. MAGIC RUINS. WE RISE. The rules are simple, the system cruel: the lower classes must give ten years in service to Britain’s powerfully gifted rulers. With one uprising crushed by the glittering elite, commoners and aristocrats alike now take sides for a final confrontation. At the center of it all are two ordinary siblings: Abi Hadley and her brother, Luke. Each has reason to hate the ruling Jardine family. Abi, who was once their servant, now seeks revenge for a terrible wrong. Luke was imprisoned on their whim—but his only hope may be an alliance with the youngest and most powerful of the clan, the cold and inscrutable Silyen Jardine. Risking everything to end a bright and shining tyranny, Abi, Luke, and Silyen find themselves bound by a single destiny. Their actions will change their fates—and change the world. But at a cost almost too terrible to contemplate. What price would you pay for freedom? *Library Journal (starred review, Pick of the Month) Look for all three books in the mesmerizing Dark Gifts trilogy: GILDED CAGE • TARNISHED CITY • BRIGHT RUIN Praise for Bright Ruin “Fast-paced, entertaining, and a satisfying end to an epic story [with] dramatic class division based not on mere financial wealth but on a family’s magic.”—Booklist “A triumphant conclusion to this outstanding fantasy series . . . It will keep you up at night until you finish it, and you’ll take a huge breath as you can’t believe the story is over. If you haven’t read the first two installments, please do so, and then jump into the finale. You’ll fly through them all as you see Britain as you’ve never imagined—and you’ll hope against hope for the freedom that may never come.”—Bookreporter “Rebellion comes to a deadly boil in the final chapter of James’s Dark Gifts alternate history fantasy trilogy (after Tarnished City). . . . [An] intricate tale of ruthless scheming and bloody betrayals backlit by an unquenchable glimmer of hope.”—Publishers Weekly
Download or read book The Matter of the Mind written by Maurice Schouten and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-05-07 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Matter of the Mind addresses and illuminates the relationship between psychology and neuroscience by focusing on the topic of reduction. Written by leading philosophers in the field Discusses recent theorizing in the mind-brain sciences and reviews and weighs the evidence in favour of reductionism against the backdrop of recent important advances within psychology and the neurosciences Collects the latest work on central topics where neuroscience is now making inroads in traditional psychological terrain, such as adaptive behaviour, reward systems, consciousness, and social cognition.
Download or read book Topobiology written by Gerald Edelman and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 1993-07-21 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you had a complete copy of a dinosaur's DNA and the genetic code, you still would not be able to make a dinosaur—or even determine what one looked like. Why? How do animals get their shape and how does shape evolve? In this important book, Nobel laureate Gerald M. Edelman challenges the notion that an understanding of the genetic code and of cell differentiation is sufficient to answer these questions. Rather, he argues, a trio of related issues must also be investigated—the development of form, the evolution of form, and the morphological and functional bases of behavior. Topobiology presents an introduction to molecular embryology and describes a comprehensive hypothesis to account for the evolution and development of animal form.
Download or read book BEYOND PERMANENCE written by Craig Eisendrath and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2011-02-17 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beyond Permanence: The Great Ideas of the West covers the full range of Western thought. Th e fi rst part reviews Western thought from its earliest beginnings in the civilization of Sumer through the philosophy of Hegel. After Sumer, it covers Egypt, Judaism, Classical philosophy focusing on Plato and Aristotle, Christianity and the Gnostics, the medieval church and the mystics, and the fi nal attempt by philosophers like Rene Descartes and Immanuel Kant to “pin down” the world in a comprehensive philosophy. Th e aim was permanence of explanation describing a world of permanence whose actions refl ected the essential nature of its constituents. Th e second part moves into the modern age with the new physics and biology and the philosophies of William James and Alfred North Whitehead. It shows, for example, how the mind is not the permanent soul, but is rather the manifestation of the body, particularly the brain. Th rough the work of John Dewey and others, it outlines a new activism whereby people don’t accept society as a permanent order, but think of it as constantly subject to improvement. We are not “in” society, but society is in us, and is open to our needs and desires.
Download or read book Before Tomorrow written by Catherine Malabou and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is contemporary continental philosophy making a break with Kant? The structures of knowledge, taken for granted since Kants Critique of Pure Reason, are now being called into question: the finitude of the subject, the phenomenal given, a priori synthesis. Relinquish the transcendental: such is the imperative of postcritical thinking in the 21st century. Questions that we no longer thought it possible to ask now reemerge with renewed vigor: can Kant really maintain the difference between a priori and innate? Can he deduce, rather than impose, the categories, or justify the necessity of nature? Recent research into brain development aggravates these suspicions, which measure transcendental idealism against the thesis of a biological origin for cognitive processes. In her important new book Catherine Malabou lays out Kants response to his posterity. True to its subject, the book evolves as an epigenesis the differentiated growth of the embryo for, as those who know how to read critical philosophy affirm, this is the very life of the transcendental and contains the promise of its transformation.
Download or read book Perspectives on Genetics written by James Franklin Crow and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 748 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than ten years, the distinguished geneticists James F. Crow and William F. Dove have edited the popular "Perspectives" column in Genetics, the journal of the Genetics Society of America. This book, Perspectives on Genetics, collects more than 100 of these essays, which cumulatively are a history of modern genetics research and its continuing evolution.
Download or read book The End Of Science written by John Horgan and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2015-04-14 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As staff writer for Scientific American, John Horgan has a window on contemporary science unsurpassed in all the world. Who else routinely interviews the likes of Lynn Margulis, Roger Penrose, Francis Crick, Richard Dawkins, Freeman Dyson, Murray Gell-Mann, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Hawking, Thomas Kuhn, Chris Langton, Karl Popper, Stephen Weinberg, and E.O. Wilson, with the freedom to probe their innermost thoughts? In The End Of Science, Horgan displays his genius for getting these larger-than-life figures to be simply human, and scientists, he writes, "are rarely so human . . . so at there mercy of their fears and desires, as when they are confronting the limits of knowledge."This is the secret fear that Horgan pursues throughout this remarkable book: Have the big questions all been answered? Has all the knowledge worth pursuing become known? Will there be a final "theory of everything" that signals the end? Is the age of great discoverers behind us? Is science today reduced to mere puzzle solving and adding detains to existing theories? Horgan extracts surprisingly candid answers to there and other delicate questions as he discusses God, Star Trek, superstrings, quarks, plectics, consciousness, Neural Darwinism, Marx's view of progress, Kuhn's view of revolutions, cellular automata, robots, and the Omega Point, with Fred Hoyle, Noam Chomsky, John Wheeler, Clifford Geertz, and dozens of other eminent scholars. The resulting narrative will both infuriate and delight as it mindless Horgan's smart, contrarian argument for "endism" with a witty, thoughtful, even profound overview of the entire scientific enterprise. Scientists have always set themselves apart from other scholars in the belief that they do not construct the truth, they discover it. Their work is not interpretation but simple revelation of what exists in the empirical universe. But science itself keeps imposing limits on its own power. Special relativity prohibits the transmission of matter or information as speeds faster than that of light; quantum mechanics dictates uncertainty; and chaos theory confirms the impossibility of complete prediction. Meanwhile, the very idea of scientific rationality is under fire from Neo-Luddites, animal-rights activists, religious fundamentalists, and New Agers alike. As Horgan makes clear, perhaps the greatest threat to science may come from losing its special place in the hierarchy of disciplines, being reduced to something more akin to literaty criticism as more and more theoreticians engage in the theory twiddling he calls "ironic science." Still, while Horgan offers his critique, grounded in the thinking of the world's leading researchers, he offers homage too. If science is ending, he maintains, it is only because it has done its work so well.
