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books tagged “brain”
books tagged “brain”
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Accelerated Learning into the 21st Century: The Six-Step Plan to Unlock Your Master-Mindby Malcolm J. Nicholl, Colin Penfield RoseISBN 0385317034 (0-385-31703-4)
Hardcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Accelerated Learning into the 21st Century: The Six-Step Plan to Unlock Your Master-Mind'Book summary:From the authors of the now-classic Accelerated Learning comes a brilliant culmination of their groundbreaking ideas. Accelerated Learning for the 21st Century unveils a revolutionary new six-step program that shows you how to develop the core success skills of the twenty-first century--learning faster, remembering more, thinking creatively--skills that can be put to immediate use by individuals as diverse as school children and corporate executives.
Because of today's unprecedented speed of change, it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict what skills will be useful in ten years--in most professions, knowledge is doubling every few years--and no job is forever. As a result, being employable means being flexible and retraining regularly. Accelerated Learning for the 21st Century offers a simple, proven-effective plan that delivers the one key skill every working person, parent, and student must master and every teacher must teach: Learning how to learn and how to think creatively. This extraordinary work shows us how we can learn better--by using the revolutionary MASTER-Mind system.
Accelerated Learning for the 21st Century incorporates a decade of remarkable research findings by eminent neuroscientists and educational psychologists--such as the theory of eight multiple intelligences and the value of emotion for memory--as well as examples from the successful experiences worldwide of accelerated learners of all ages. And it puts forth a clear vision of how the United States can dramatically improve the educational system to remain competitive in the next century. [via]More editions of Accelerated Learning into the 21st Century: The Six-Step Plan to Unlock Your Master-Mind:
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Altered Carbonby Richard MorganISBN 0345457684 (0-345-45768-4)
Softcover, Del Rey
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Altered Carbon'Book summary:In the twenty-fifth century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a persons consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or sleeve ) making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen.
Ex-U.N. envoy Takeshi Kovacs has been killed before, but his last death was particularly painful. Dispatched one hundred eighty light-years from home, re-sleeved into a body in Bay City (formerly San Francisco, now with a rusted, dilapidated Golden Gate Bridge), Kovacs is thrown into the dark heart of a shady, far-reaching conspiracy that is vicious even by the standards of a society that treats existence as something that can be bought and sold. For Kovacs, the shell that blew a hole in his chest was only the beginning. . . .
From the Trade Paperback edition. [via] 
Anatomy Coloring Workbookby Princeton Review, John BergdahlISBN 0375763422 (0-375-76342-2)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980sby Marilyn FergusonISBN 0312904185 (0-312-90418-5)
Hardcover, J. P. Tarcher
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The Art of Happinessby Howard CutlerISBN 0340750154 (0-340-75015-4)
Softcover, Trafalgar Square
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Art of Happiness'Book summary:In this unique and important book, one of the wold's great spiritual leaders offers his practical wisdom and advice on how we can overcome everyday human problems and achieve lasting happiness. [via]
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The Asymmetrical Brainby Richard J. Davidson, Kenneth HugdahlISBN 0262582546 (0-262-58254-6)
Softcover, Bradford Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Asymmetrical Brain'Book summary:The folk belief that the left brain hemisphere is dominant for language and the right for visuospatial functions is incomplete and even misleading. Research shows that asymmetries exist at all levels of the nervous system and apply to emotional as well as to higher cognitive processes. Going beyond the authors' previous book, Brain Asymmetry, this book reflects the most recent thinking on functional asymmetries and their structural correlates in brain anatomy. It emphasizes research using new neuroimaging and neurostimulation techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI and fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), magnetoencephalography (MEG), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). It also considers clinical applications of asymmetry research. The book contains sections on animal models and basic functions, neuroimaging and brain stimulation studies, visual laterality, auditory laterality, emotional laterality, neurological disorders, and psychiatric disorders.
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Attention Deficit Disorder: The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adultsby Thomas E. BrownISBN 0300106416 (0-300-10641-6)
Hardcover, Yale University Press
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Awakeningsby Oliver W. SacksISBN 0375704051 (0-375-70405-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Awakenings'Book summary:It hardly seems fair that so many great doctors are also great writers. Perhaps it's qualities like sensitivity, craft and dedication that keep physicians like Oliver Sacks in hospitals all day and at writing desks all night; if nothing else, these qualities shine in books like Awakenings. This powerful set of case histories rises above its pathological foundation to find new literary territory, a medical-spiritual synthesis equally stimulating for the mind and the soul. It's no wonder Hollywood chose to turn it into a feature film--anyone can see the universal human struggle against bondage and despair in these pages.
The sleeping-sickness epidemic of 1918 caused hundreds of survivors to slip into a bizarre rigid paralysis with similarities to advanced Parkinson's disease. These patients, only occasionally able to communicate or move, were nearly all institutionalised for life, their ranks increasing every now and then with similarly afflicted men and women. Sacks came to work at a long-term care facility shortly before the first exciting results with L-DOPA and Parkinson's in the late 1960s and his patients soon embarked on dramatic, difficult recoveries from up to 50 years of torpor. He documents their spiritual and medical obstacles with great care to portray their individual personalities, long suppressed but finally released. Though many great doctors are also great writers, few can compare with Oliver Sacks for expressing the relation of medicine to the human spirit. --Rob Lightner [via]
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Becoming Virtual: Reality in the Digital Ageby Pierre Levy, Robert BononnoISBN 0306457881 (0-306-45788-1)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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Brain Asymmetryby Richard J. Davidson, Kenneth HugdahlISBN 0262540797 (0-262-54079-7)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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Brain Fiction: Self-deception And the Riddle of Confabulationby William HirsteinISBN 0262582716 (0-262-58271-6)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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Brain Sex: The Real Difference Between Men and Womenby Anne Moir, David JesselISBN 0385311834 (0-385-31183-4)
Softcover, Dell Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Brain Sex: The Real Difference Between Men and Women'Book summary:Why can't a woman be more like a man? What is this thing called "feminine intuition"? Why are men better at reading maps, and women at other people's characters? The answers lie in the basic biological differences between the male and female brain, which, say the authors, make it impossible for the sexes to share equal emotional or intellectual qualities. [via]
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Brainfood: A Provocative Exploration of the Connection Between What You Eat and How You Thinkby Jean-Marie Bourre, Charles RambleISBN 0316103624 (0-316-10362-4)
Hardcover, Little Brown & Co
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Build Your Brain Power: The Latest Techniques to Preserve, Restore and Improve Your Brain's Potentialby Ruth Winter, Arthur WinterISBN 0312010060 (0-312-01006-0)
Softcover, St Martins Pr
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- Build Your Brain Power: The Latest Techniques to Preserve, Restore and Improve Your Brain's Potential: ISBN 0312107684 (0-312-10768-4)
Hardcover, St. Martin's - Build Your Brain Power: The Latest Techniques to Preserve, Restore and Improve Your Brain's Potential: ISBN 0312010060 (0-312-01006-0)
Softcover, St Martins Pr
- Build Your Brain Power: The Latest Techniques to Preserve, Restore and Improve Your Brain's Potential: ISBN 0312107684 (0-312-10768-4)
The Cognitive Neurosciencesby Michael S. GazzanigaISBN 0262071576 (0-262-07157-6)
Hardcover, Mit Pr
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The Cognitive Neurosciences IIIby Todd F. Heatherton, Christof Koch, Michael S. Gazzaniga, Ira B. Black, J. Anthony Movshon, Joseph E. Ledoux, Alfonso Caramazza, Emilio Bizzi, Scott T. Grafton, Nikos K. LogothetisISBN 0262072548 (0-262-07254-8)
Hardcover, Mit Pr
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Coming into Being: Artifacts and Texts in the Evolution of Consciousnessby William Irwin ThompsonISBN 0312176929 (0-312-17692-9)
Softcover, Palgrave Macmillan
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The Computational Brainby Terrence J. Sejnowski, Patricia Smith ChurchlandISBN 0262531208 (0-262-53120-8)
Softcover, Bradford Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Computational Brain'Book summary:How do groups of neurons interact to enable the organism to see, decide, and move appropriately? What are the principles whereby networks of neurons represent and compute? These are the central questions probed by The Computational Brain. Churchland and Sejnowski address the foundational ideas of the emerging field of computational neuroscience, examine a diverse range of neural network models, and consider future directions of the field. The Computational Brain is the first unified and broadly accessible book to bring together computational concepts and behavioral data within a neurobiological framework.Computer models constrained by neurobiological data can help reveal how -networks of neurons subserve perception and behavior - bow their physical interactions can yield global results in perception and behavior, and how their physical properties are used to code information and compute solutions. The Computational Brain focuses mainly on three domains: visual perception, learning and memory, and sensorimotor integration. Examples of recent computer models in these domains are discussed in detail, highlighting strengths and weaknesses, and extracting principles applicable to other domains. Churchland and Sejnowski show how both abstract models and neurobiologically realistic models can have useful roles in computational neuroscience, and they predict the coevolution of models and experiments at many levels of organization, from the neuron to the system.The Computational Brain addresses a broad audience: neuroscientists, computer scientists, cognitive scientists, and philosophers. It is written for both the expert and novice. A basic overview of neuroscience and computational theory is provided, followed by a study of some of the most recent and sophisticated modeling work in the context of relevant neurobiological research. Technical terms are clearly explained in the text, and definitions are provided in an extensive glossary. The appendix contains a précis of neurobiological techniques.Patricia S. Churchland is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, Adjunct Professor at the Salk Institute, and a MacArthur Fellow. Terrence J. Sejnowski is Professor of Biology at the University of California, San Diego, Professor at the Salk Institute, where he is Director of the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
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Consciousness And Persons: Unity And Identityby Michael TyeISBN 0262701138 (0-262-70113-8)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animalby Norbert WienerISBN 026273009X (0-262-73009-X)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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Delivered From Distraction: Getting The Most Out Of Life With Attention Deficit Disorder.by Edward M. Hallowell, John J. RateyISBN 0345442318 (0-345-44231-8)
Softcover, Ballantine Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Delivered From Distraction: Getting The Most Out Of Life With Attention Deficit Disorder.'Book summary:In 1994, Driven to Distraction sparked a revolution in our understanding of attention deficit disorder. Widely recognized as the classic in the field, the book has sold more than a million copies. Now a second revolution is under way in the approach to ADD, and the news is great. Drug therapies, our understanding of the role of diet and exercise, even the way we define the disorderall are changing radically. And doctors are realizing that millions of adults suffer from this condition, though the vast majority of them remain undiagnosed and untreated. In this new book, Drs. Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey build on the breakthroughs of Driven to Distraction to offer a comprehensive and entirely up-to-date guide to living a successful life with ADD.
As Hallowell and Ratey point out, attention deficit disorder is a highly misleading description of an intriguing kind of mind. Original, charismatic, energetic, often brilliant, people with ADD have extraordinary talents and gifts embedded in their highly charged but easily distracted minds. Tailored expressly to ADD learning styles and attention spans, Delivered from Distraction provides accessible, engaging discussions of every aspect of the condition, from diagnosis to finding the proper treatment regime. Inside youll discover
" whether ADD runs in families
" new diagnostic procedures, tests, and evaluations
" the links between ADD and other conditions
" how people with ADD can free up their inner talents and strengths
" the new drugs and how they work, and why theyre not for everyone
" exciting advances in nonpharmaceutical therapies, including changes in diet, exercise, and lifestyle
" how to adapt the classic twelve-step program to treat ADD
" sexual problems associated with ADD and how to resolve them
" strategies for dealing with procrastination, clutter, and chronic forgetfulness
ADD is a trait, a way of living in the world. It only becomes a disorder when it impairs your life. Featuring gripping profiles of patients with ADD who have triumphed, Delivered from Distraction is a wise, loving guide to releasing the positive energy that all people with ADD hold inside. If you have ADD or care about someone who does, this is the book you must read. [via]More editions of Delivered From Distraction: Getting The Most Out Of Life With Attention Deficit Disorder.:
- Delivered From Distraction: Getting The Most Out Of Life With Attention Deficit Disorder.: ISBN 034544230X (0-345-44230-X)
Hardcover, Ballantine Books - Delivered From Distraction: Getting The Most Out Of Life With Attention Deficit Disorder.: ISBN 0345442318 (0-345-44231-8)
Softcover, Ballantine Books
- Delivered From Distraction: Getting The Most Out Of Life With Attention Deficit Disorder.: ISBN 034544230X (0-345-44230-X)
Digital People: From Bionic Humans to Androidsby Sidney PerkowitzISBN 0309096197 (0-309-09619-7)
Softcover, Natl Academy Pr
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Dreaming as Delirium : How the Brain Goes Out of Its Mindby J. Allan HobsonISBN 0262581795 (0-262-58179-5)
Hardcover, MIT Press
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Finite and Infinite Gamesby James P. CarseISBN 0345341848 (0-345-34184-8)
Softcover, Ballantine Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Finite and Infinite Games'Book summary:A fascinating meditation on life as a contest of games to be completed and games to be continued--and on what lies beyond winning and losing. [via]
The First Idea: How Symbols, Language, And Intelligence Evolved from Our Primate Ancestors to Modern Humansby Stanley Greenspan, Stuart G. ShankerISBN 0306814498 (0-306-81449-8)
Softcover, Perseus Books Group
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Five Star Mind: Games and Exercises to Stimulate Your Creativity and Imaginationby Tom WujecISBN 0385414625 (0-385-41462-5)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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The Freud Readerby Sigmund Freud, Peter GayISBN 0393026868 (0-393-02686-8)
Hardcover, W.W. Norton
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Games for the Superintelligentby James F. FixxISBN 0385057687 (0-385-05768-7)
Hardcover, Bookthrift Co
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Gateway to Memory: An Introduction to Neural Network Modelind of the Hippocampus and Learningby Mark A. Gluck, Catherine E. MyersISBN 0262571528 (0-262-57152-8)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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The Great Brain Debate: Nature Or Nuture?by John DowlingISBN 030909223X (0-309-09223-X)
Hardcover, Natl Academy Pr
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Image and Brain: The Resolution of the Imagery Debateby Stephen M. KosslynISBN 0262611244 (0-262-61124-4)
Softcover, MIT Press
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Image and Brain : The Resolution of the Imagery Debate'Book summary:This long-awaited work by prominent Harvard psychologist Stephen Kosslyn integrates a twenty-year research program on the nature of high-level vision and mental imagery. Image and Brain marshals insights and empirical results from computer vision, neuroscience, and cognitive science to develop a general theory of visual mental imagery, its relation to visual perception, and its implementation in the human brain. It offers a definitive resolution to the long-standing debate about the nature of the internal representation of visual mental imagery.Kosslyn reviews evidence that perception and representation are inextricably linked, and goes on to show how "quasi-pictorial" events in the brain are generated, interpreted, and used in cognition. The theory is tested with brain- scanning techniques that provide stronger evidence than has been possible in the past.Known for his work in high-level vision, one of the most empirically successful areas of experimental psychology, Kosslyn uses a highly interdisciplinary approach. He reviews and integrates an extensive amount of literature in a coherent presentation, and reports a wide range of new findings using a host of techniques.A Bradford Book [via]
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The Intentional Stanceby Daniel DennettISBN 0262540533 (0-262-54053-3)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Intentional Stance'Book summary:How are we able to understand and anticipate each other in everyday life, in our daily interactions? Through the use of such "folk" concepts as belief, desire, intention, and expectation, asserts Daniel Dennett in this first full-scale presentation of a theory of intentionality that he has been developing for almost twenty years. We adopt a stance, he argues, a predictive strategy of interpretation that presupposes the rationality of the people - or other entities - we are hoping to understand and predict.These principles of radical interpretation have far-reaching implications for the metaphysical and scientific status of the processes referred to by the everday terms of folk psychology and their corresponding terms in cognitive science.While Dennett's philosophical stance has been steadfast over the years, his views have undergone successive enrichments, refinements, and extensions. The Intentional Stance brings together both previously published and original material: four of the book's ten chapters - its first and the final three - appear here for the first time and push the theory into surprising new territory. The remaining six were published earlier in the 1980s but were not easily accessible; each is followed by a reflection - an essay reconsidering and extending the claims of the earlier work. These reflections and the new chapters represent the vanguard of Dennett's thought. They reveal fresh lines of inquiry into fundamental issues in psychology, artificial intelligence, and evolutionary theory as well as traditional issues in the philosophy of mind.Daniel C. Dennett is Distinguished Arts and Sciences Professor at Tufts University and the author of Brainstorms and Elbow Room. The Intentional Stance, along with these works, is a Bradford Book.
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Jacobson's Organ: And the Remarkable Nature of Smellby Lyall WatsonISBN 0393049086 (0-393-04908-6)
Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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Language: Structure, Processing, and Disordersby David CaplanISBN 0262031892 (0-262-03189-2)
Hardcover, Mit Pr
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Lingua Ex Machinaby Derek Bickerton, William CalvinISBN 0262531984 (0-262-53198-4)
Softcover, Bradford Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lingua Ex Machina'Book summary:Over the last four decades, most of the significant contributions to the study of language origins and evolution have come from outside the field of linguistics, which has been dominated by theories of transformational-generative grammar. As articulated by Noam Chomsky, these theories generally agree that the ability to learn and use language is innate and specific to humans; they generally sidestep the issue of how this ability came to be, preferring to treat it as a given of the human mind.
Neurophysiologist William Calvin and linguist Derek Bickerton observe in this lively book, language is probably not a deus ex machina invention, something "tacked onto an ape brain"; instead, it evolved, along with the brain, to accommodate an ever more complex social calculus. The authors suggest that this evolution had two major phases: the first ushered in "protolanguage," individual words with only a rudimentary syntax, while the second brought forth a more complicated syntax that allowed the conception and utterance of antitruths, conditionals and outright falsehoods. Bickerton writes that "it's words, not sentences, that dramatically distinguish our species from others," while Calvin takes a more pointed interest in neural adaptations that allowed for "structured language," that is, long statements with embedded clauses and phrases. Their account of human language's origins and development does not reject Chomskyan views of language out of hand, as so many scholars have tried to do, but instead attempts to forge something of a reconciliation of notions of innate structure with those of natural selection.
That's a tall order, and, although their book advances some controversial ideas about the relative importance of social intelligence in language formation, Calvin and Bickerton make a fine and comprehensible effort in its pages. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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Lingua Ex Machina: Reconciling Darwin and Chomsky With the Human Brainby William H. Calvin, Derek BickertonISBN 0262032732 (0-262-03273-2)
Hardcover, Mit Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lingua Ex Machina: Reconciling Darwin and Chomsky With the Human Brain'Book summary:Over the last four decades, most of the significant contributions to the study of language origins and evolution have come from outside the field of linguistics, which has been dominated by theories of transformational-generative grammar. As articulated by Noam Chomsky, these theories generally agree that the ability to learn and use language is innate and specific to humans; they generally sidestep the issue of how this ability came to be, preferring to treat it as a given of the human mind.
Neurophysiologist William Calvin and linguist Derek Bickerton observe in this lively book, language is probably not a deus ex machina invention, something "tacked onto an ape brain"; instead, it evolved, along with the brain, to accommodate an ever more complex social calculus. The authors suggest that this evolution had two major phases: the first ushered in "protolanguage," individual words with only a rudimentary syntax, while the second brought forth a more complicated syntax that allowed the conception and utterance of antitruths, conditionals and outright falsehoods. Bickerton writes that "it's words, not sentences, that dramatically distinguish our species from others," while Calvin takes a more pointed interest in neural adaptations that allowed for "structured language," that is, long statements with embedded clauses and phrases. Their account of human language's origins and development does not reject Chomskyan views of language out of hand, as so many scholars have tried to do, but instead attempts to forge something of a reconciliation of notions of innate structure with those of natural selection.
That's a tall order, and, although their book advances some controversial ideas about the relative importance of social intelligence in language formation, Calvin and Bickerton make a fine and comprehensible effort in its pages. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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Lying: A Metaphorical Memoirby Lauren SlaterISBN 0375501126 (0-375-50112-6)
Hardcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir'Book summary:One has good reason to be suspicious of a book that calls itself a "metaphorical memoir." If a metaphor substitutes one thing for another to which it's not ordinarily related, and a memoir relates the personal experiences of the author, then a metaphorical memoir would be... well, lying, if we're going to get technical about it. Or it could be Lying, in which case, hold that judgment and lay all categories aside: here is a book so stunningly contrary it deserves a whole genre to itself.
Lauren Slater may have grown up with epilepsy. Or she may have Munchausen syndrome, "also called factitious illness," also called lying. Or, quite possibly, she has never had any of the above, and all her exquisite evocations of auras and grand mal seizures are merely well-researched symbolic descriptions of her psychic state. In a chapter that's disguised as an extended letter to her editor (and impishly titled "How to Market This Book") she defends her decision to call the work nonfiction:
Why is what we feel less true than what is? Supposing I simply feel like an epileptic, a spastic person, one with a shivering brain; supposing I have chosen epilepsy because it is the most accurate conduit to convey my psyche to you? Would this not still be a memoir, my memoir?
Slater is peering down a slippery slope here, and for all its manifest brilliance, the pyrotechnics of its prose, reading Lying can be an unnerving experience--sort of like hanging out with a compulsive liar, actually. (It's no help to find out that "after all, a lot, or at least some, or at least a few, of the literal facts are accurate.")But if Slater is playing with our heads, she's not doing so for fashionable postmodern reasons. Lying's bag of tricks emerges from some complex and deeply felt ideas about form, reality, and consciousness itself--and what's more, it's an extraordinary memoir, "true" or not. A field full of nuns, their windblown habits tipping them over into the snow; an electric brain stimulator that makes a patient see colors and taste her own words; Slater rolling in mounds of Barbadian sugar and then running back to her mother, coated like candy--who cares whether any of these actually happened? In the end, Lying is fundamentally true, just as a great novel or indeed any great work of art is true: in a way that has nothing to do with fact. --Mary Park [via]
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Lying Awakeby Mark SalzmanISBN 0375706062 (0-375-70606-2)
Softcover, Alfred a Knopf Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lying Awake'Book summary:In his third novel, Lying Awake, Mark Salzman breaks the primary rule of fiction by creating a protagonist who has virtually no external life. Sister John of the Cross, a middle-aged nun cloistered in a Carmelite monastery in contemporary Los Angeles, languished for years in a spiritual drought--"her prayers empty and her soul dry"--until she suddenly received God's grace in the form of intense mystical visions. So vivid have her visions become that they burn a kind of afterglow into her mind that she transcribes into crystalline (and highly popular) verse. The only downside is that they are accompanied by excruciating headaches that cause her to black out.
The story hinges on Sister John's discovery that her visions are in fact the result of mild epileptic seizures. As she learns from her neurologist, temporal-lobe epilepsy commonly brings about "hypergraphia (voluminous writing), an intensification but also a narrowing of emotional response, and an obsessive interest in religion and philosophy." Dostoyevsky, the classic victim of this condition, wrote of his raptures: "There are moments, and it is only a matter of five or six seconds, when you feel the presence of eternal harmony.... If this state were to last more than five seconds, the soul could not endure it and would have to disappear." An exact description of Sister John's visions. The question she now faces is whether to go ahead with surgery--and risk obliterating both her spiritual life and her art--or cling to a state of grace that may actually be a delusion ignited by an electrochemical imbalance.
Using a very limited palette, Mark Salzman creates an austere masterpiece. The real miracle of Lying Awake is that it works perfectly on every level: on the realistic surface, it captures the petty squabbles and tiny bursts of radiance of life in a Los Angeles monastery; deeper down it probes the nature of spiritual illumination and the meaning and purpose of prayer in everyday life; and, at bottom, there lurks a profound meditation on the mystery of artistic inspiration. Salzman made a highly auspicious debut in 1986 with Iron and Silk, a memoir of his years in China, and since then he has dramatically changed key in every book--most recently from the absurdist American suburban chronicle of Lost in Place to the artistic-crisis-cum-courtroom-drama novel The Soloist. Lying Awake is quieter and more sober than Salzman's previous narratives, but it is also more accomplished, more thought-provoking, and more highly crafted. --David Laskin [via]
The Making of Memory: From Molecules to Mindby Steven RoseISBN 0385471211 (0-385-47121-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Man and His Symbolsby C. G. JungISBN 0385052219 (0-385-05221-9)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Man and His Symbols'Book summary:hard cover [via]
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Man, Beast, and Zombie: What Science Can and Cannot Tell Us About Human Natureby Kenan MalikISBN 0297643053 (0-297-64305-3)
Hardcover, Weidenfeld & Nicolson
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Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mindby Paul M. ChurchlandISBN 0262530740 (0-262-53074-0)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind'Book summary:In Matter and Consciousness, Paul Churchland clearly presents the advantages and disadvantages of such difficult issues in philosophy of mind as behaviorism, reductive materialism, functionalism, and eliminative materialism. This new edition incorporates the striking developments that have taken place in neuroscience, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence and notes their expanding relevance to philosophical issues. Churchland organizes and clarifies the new theoretical and experimental results of the natural sciences for a wider philosophical audience, observing that this research bears directly on questions concerning the basic elements of cognitive activity and their implementation in real physical systems. (How is it, he asks, that living creatures perform some cognitive tasks so swiftly and easily, where computers do them only badly or not at all?) Most significant for philosophy, Churchland asserts, is the support these results tend to give to the reductive and the eliminative versions of materialism. A Bradford Book. [via]
More editions of Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind:
- Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind: ISBN 0262530503 (0-262-53050-3)
Softcover, MIT Press - Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind: ISBN 0262031035 (0-262-03103-5)
Hardcover, MIT Press - Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind: ISBN 0262031353 (0-262-03135-3)
Hardcover, MIT Press - Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind: ISBN 0262530740 (0-262-53074-0)
Softcover, Mit Pr
- Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind: ISBN 0262530503 (0-262-53050-3)
Mega Brainby Michael HutchisonISBN 0345341759 (0-345-34175-9)
Softcover, Ballantine Books
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Microcognition : Philosophy, Cognitive Science, and Parallel Distributed Processingby Andy ClarkISBN 0262530953 (0-262-53095-3)
Softcover, MIT Press
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Mind Design II: Philosophy, Psychology, Artificial Intelligenceby John HaugelandISBN 0262581531 (0-262-58153-1)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Mind Design II: Philosophy, Psychology, Artificial Intelligence'Book summary:Mind design is the endeavor to understand mind (thinking, intellect) in terms of its design (how it is built, how it works). Unlike traditional empirical psychology, it is more oriented toward the "how" than the "what." An experiment in mind design is more likely to be an attempt to build something and make it workas in artificial intelligencethan to observe or analyze what already exists. Mind design is psychology by reverse engineering.
When Mind Design was first published in 1981, it became a classic in the then-nascent fields of cognitive science and AI. This second edition retains four landmark essays from the first, adding to them one earlier milestone (Turing's "Computing Machinery and Intelligence") and eleven more recent articles about connectionism, dynamical systems, and symbolic versus nonsymbolic models. The contributors are divided about evenly between philosophers and scientists. Yet all are "philosophical" in that they address fundamental issues and concepts; and all are "scientific" in that they are technically sophisticated and concerned with concrete empirical research.
Contributors: Rodney A. Brooks, Paul M. Churchland, Andy Clark, Daniel C. Dennett, Hubert L. Dreyfus, Jerry A. Fodor, Joseph Garon, John Haugeland, Marvin Minsky, Allen Newell, Zenon W. Pylyshyn, William Ramsey, Jay F. Rosenberg, David E. Rumelhart, John R. Searle, Herbert A. Simon, Paul Smolensky, Stephen Stich, A. M. Turing, Timothy van Gelder [via]More editions of Mind Design II: Philosophy, Psychology, Artificial Intelligence:
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The Naked Neuron: Evolution and the Languages of the Body and Brainby Rhawn JosephISBN 0306445107 (0-306-44510-7)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Naked Neuron: Evolution and the Languages of the Body and Brain'Book summary:In the beginning there was not only life but the ability to communicate and eventually to cooperate among the most basic, primeval creatures. In The Naked Neuron Dr. Joseph - an internationally respected neuroscientist and author of the highly praised The Right Brain and the Unconscious: Discovering the Stranger Within - takes us on an intriguing journey through time as he traces the evolution of communication and language from the most primitive single-celled animals to our earliest ancestors to humans today. As he so clearly demonstrates, we are linked to all levels of animals in a common bond of sensing, feeling, and communication. Be it singing wolves, dancing bees, or writhing rock and roll dancers, all communicate a treasure chest of meaning in the absence of the spoken word. Approximately 700 million years ago, a unique type of cell came into being - the neuron. This "naked" neuron, or nerve cell, lacked a protective fatty sheath. Still, it marked a monumental and world altering development, since it would become the building block of the brain. The naked neuron generated a revolutionary change resulting in a greater complexity and subtlety of thought. Dr. Joseph vividly depicts how neurons conferred on early humans advanced powers of mental and sensory acuity, including the gift of remembering one's past and contemplating the future. Although humans possess much of the same ancient brain tissue as our fellow primates, Dr. Joseph reveals to us the singular features of the human brain that have enabled humans uniquely to develop complex, spoken language. He holds us spellbound, revealing that although the new and old brain tissue are couched within the same brain, each often has difficulty understanding the impulses and language of the other. This ground-breaking book draws on Dr. Joseph's brilliant and original research and theories, fusing the latest discoveries made in neuroscience, sociobiology, and anthropology. He illuminates how the languages of th[via]More editions of The Naked Neuron: Evolution and the Languages of the Body and Brain:
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The Nature of Consciousness: Philosophical Debatesby Owen Flanagan, Guven Guzeldere, Ned Joel BlockISBN 0262522101 (0-262-52210-1)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Nature of Consciousness: Philosophical Debates'Book summary:Almost everyone agrees that we possess consciousness, but as this book demonstrates, that's where the agreement ends. What can we say about the mind without fear of contradiction? Not much, and that's how the study of consciousness stands out from other scientific and philosophical endeavors--the field's great minds argue cogently with little common ground, and nothing is safe from questioning.
For the adventurous and thoughtful reader, this is a paradise on the frontiers of knowledge. The Nature of Consciousness presumes a basic familiarity with science and philosophy, as well as a willingness to think and read carefully. With articles by such bright lights as Daniel Dennett, John Searle, Patricia Smith Churchland, and even the great William James, it provides both a comprehensive overview of the field and in-depth analyses of such issues as the mind-body problem and how we can study a phenomenon that may not be observed directly. It is best read as an update on Western scientific and philosophical replies to one of the great questions: Who are we? Given the universal appeal of such a question, the reader will undoubtedly find much within to challenge, puzzle, frustrate, and delight. --Rob Lightner [via]
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Opening the Mind's Eye : How Images and Language Teach Us How to Seeby Ian RobertsonISBN 0312306571 (0-312-30657-1)
Hardcover, St. Martin's Press
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Perceptrons : An Introduction to Computational Geometryby Marvin L. Minsky, Seymour A. PapertISBN 0262631113 (0-262-63111-3)
Softcover, MIT Press
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Perceptrons : An Introduction to Computational Geometry'Book summary:Perceptrons - the first systematic study of parallelism in computation - has remained a classical work on threshold automata networks for nearly two decades. It marked a historical turn in artificial intelligence, and it is required reading for anyone who wants to understand the connectionist counterrevolution that is going on today.Artificial-intelligence research, which for a time concentrated on the programming of ton Neumann computers, is swinging back to the idea that intelligence might emerge from the activity of networks of neuronlike entities. Minsky and Papert's book was the first example of a mathematical analysis carried far enough to show the exact limitations of a class of computing machines that could seriously be considered as models of the brain. Now the new developments in mathematical tools, the recent interest of physicists in the theory of disordered matter, the new insights into and psychological models of how the brain works, and the evolution of fast computers that can simulate networks of automata have given Perceptrons new importance.Witnessing the swing of the intellectual pendulum, Minsky and Papert have added a new chapter in which they discuss the current state of parallel computers, review developments since the appearance of the 1972 edition, and identify new research directions related to connectionism. They note a central theoretical challenge facing connectionism: the challenge to reach a deeper understanding of how "objects" or "agents" with individuality can emerge in a network. Progress in this area would link connectionism with what the authors have called "society theories of mind."Marvin L. Minsky is Donner Professor of Science in MIT's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department. Seymour A. Papert is Professor of Media Technology at MIT. [via]
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Possessing Genius: The Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein's Brainby Carolyn AbrahamISBN 031228117X (0-312-28117-X)
Hardcover, St. Martin's Press
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Powers of Mindby Adam SmithISBN 0345283805 (0-345-28380-5)
Softcover, Random House Publishing Group
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Probabilistic Models of the Brain: Perception and Neural Functionby Rajesh P. N. Rao, Michael S. Lewicki, Bruno A. OlshausenISBN 0262182246 (0-262-18224-6)
Hardcover, Mit Pr
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Right Brain Learning in 30 Daysby Keith Harary, Pamela WeintraubISBN 0312064527 (0-312-06452-7)
Softcover, St Martins Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Right Brain Learning in 30 Days'Book summary:[via]Right-brain learning rallies the powers of your intuitive and nonverbal right brain to help you better absorb all kinds of new information in your personal and professional life. Opening up right-brain channels of learning should make you much more adept at absorbing new concepts and mastering complex skills that simply bogged you down before.
Even if you're an excellent student and have enjoyed great personal and professional success, you can still benefit from Harary and Weintraub's exercises as a means of enhancing the prowess of your right brain and your overall ability to learn.
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A Scanner Darklyby Philip K. DickISBN 0375424024 (0-375-42402-4)
Hardcover, Pantheon Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Scanner Darkly'Book summary:Mind- and reality-bending drugs factor again and again in Philip K. Dick's hugely influential SF stories. A Scanner Darkly cuts closest to the bone, drawing on Dick's own experience with illicit chemicals and on his many friends who died from drug abuse. Nevertheless, it's blackly farcical, full of comic-surreal conversations between people whose synapses are partly fried, sudden flights of paranoid logic, and bad trips like the one whose victim spends a subjective eternity having all his sins read to him, in shifts, by compound-eyed aliens. (It takes 11,000 years of this to reach the time when as a boy he discovered masturbation.) The antihero Bob Arctor is forced by his double life into warring double personalities: as futuristic narcotics agent "Fred," face blurred by a high-tech scrambler, he must spy on and entrap suspected drug dealer Bob Arctor. His disintegration under the influence of the insidious Substance D is genuine tragicomedy. For Arctor there's no way off the addict's downward escalator, but what awaits at the bottom is a kind of redemption--there are more wheels within wheels than we suspected, and his life is not entirely wasted. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk [via]
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Second Nature: Brain Science And Human Knowledgeby Gerald M. EdelmanISBN 0300120397 (0-300-12039-7)
Hardcover, Yale Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Second Nature: Brain Science And Human Knowledge'Book summary:Burgeoning advancements in brain science are opening up new perspectives on how we acquire knowledge. Indeed, it is now possible to explore consciousnessthe very center of human concernby 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?[via]
Edelmans 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.More editions of Second Nature: Brain Science And Human Knowledge:
Secret Life of Numbers: 50 Easy Pieces on How Mathematicians Work And Thinkby George G. SzpiroISBN 0309096588 (0-309-09658-8)
Hardcover, Natl Academy Pr
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The Secret Life of the Brainby Richard Restak, David GrubinISBN 0309074355 (0-309-07435-5)
Hardcover, Natl Academy Pr
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The Sexual Brainby Simon LevayISBN 0262620936 (0-262-62093-6)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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The Ship Who Sangby Anne McCaffreyISBN 0345334310 (0-345-33431-0)
Softcover, Ballantine Books
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Six Thinking Hatsby Edward De BonoISBN 0316178314 (0-316-17831-4)
Softcover, Little Brown & Co
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Six Thinking Hats'Book summary:YOUR SUCCESS IN BUSINESS DEPENDS ON HOW WELL YOU THINK Six Thinking Hats can help you think better-with its practical and uniquely positive approach to making decisions and exploring new ideas. It is an approach that thousands of business managers, educators, and government leaders around the world have already adopted with great success. "The main difficulty of thinking is confusion," writes Edward de Bono, long recognized as the foremost international authority on conceptual thinking and on the teaching of thinking as a skill. "We try to do too much at once. Emotions, information, logic, hope, and creativity all crowd in on us. It is like juggling with too many balls." The solution? De Bono unscrambles the thinking process with his "six thinking hats": * WHITE HAT: neutral and objective, concerned with facts and figures * RED HAT: the emotional view * BLACK HAT: careful and cautious, the "devil's advocate" hat * YELLOW HAT: sunny and positive * GREEN HAT: associated with fertile growth, creativity, and new ideas * BLUE HAT: cool, the color of the sky, above everything else-the organizing hat Through case studies and real-life examples, Dr. de Bono reveals the often surprising ways in which deliberate role playing can make you a better thinker. He offers a powerfully simple tool that you-and your business, whether it's a start-up or a major corporation-can use to create a climate of clearer thinking, improved communication, and greater creativity. His book is an instructive and inspiring text for anyone who makes decisions, in business or in life. [via]
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Six Thinking Hats: An Essential Approach to Business Management from the Creator of Lateral Thinkingby Edward De BonoISBN 0316177911 (0-316-17791-1)
Hardcover, Little Brown & Company
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Steps to an Ecology of Mindby Gregory BatesonISBN 0345301781 (0-345-30178-1)
Softcover, Random House Publishing Group
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Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousnessby Daniel C. DennettISBN 0262541912 (0-262-54191-2)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness'Book summary:In the years since Daniel Dennett's influential Consciousness Explained was published in 1991, scientific research on consciousness has been a hotly contested battleground of rival theories -- "so rambunctious," Dennett observes, "that several people are writing books just about the tumult." With Sweet Dreams, Dennett returns to the subject for "revision and renewal" of his theory of consciousness, taking into account major empirical advances in the field since 1991 as well as recent theoretical challenges.In Consciousness Explained, Dennett proposed to replace the ubiquitous but bankrupt Cartesian Theater model (which posits a privileged place in the brain where "it all comes together" for the magic show of consciousness) with the Multiple Drafts Model. Drawing on psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and artificial intelligence, he asserted that human consciousness is essentially the mental software that reorganizes the functional architecture of the brain. In Sweet Dreams, he recasts the Multiple Drafts Model as the "fame in the brain" model, as a background against which to examine the philosophical issues that "continue to bedevil the field."With his usual clarity and brio, Dennett enlivens his arguments with a variety of vivid examples. He isolates the "Zombic Hunch" that distorts much of the theorizing of both philosophers and scientists, and defends heterophenomenology, his "third-person" approach to the science of consciousness, against persistent misinterpretations and objections. The old challenge of Frank Jackson's thought experiment about Mary the color scientist is given a new rebuttal in the form of "RoboMary," while his discussion of a famous card trick, "The Tuned Deck," is designed to show that David Chalmers's Hard Problem is probably just a figment of theorists' misexploited imagination. In the final essay, the "intrinsic" nature of "qualia" is compared with the naively imagined "intrinsic value" of a dollar in "Consciousness -- How Much is That in Real Money?"
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Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles To A Science Of Consciousnessby Daniel Clement DennettISBN 0262042258 (0-262-04225-8)
Hardcover, Mit Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles To A Science Of Consciousness'Book summary:In the years since Daniel Dennett's influential Consciousness Explained was published in 1991, scientific research on consciousness has been a hotly contested battleground of rival theories -- "so rambunctious," Dennett observes, "that several people are writing books just about the tumult." With Sweet Dreams, Dennett returns to the subject for "revision and renewal" of his theory of consciousness, taking into account major empirical advances in the field since 1991 as well as recent theoretical challenges.In Consciousness Explained, Dennett proposed to replace the ubiquitous but bankrupt Cartesian Theater model (which posits a privileged place in the brain where "it all comes together" for the magic show of consciousness) with the Multiple Drafts Model. Drawing on psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and artificial intelligence, he asserted that human consciousness is essentially the mental software that reorganizes the functional architecture of the brain. In Sweet Dreams, he recasts the Multiple Drafts Model as the "fame in the brain" model, as a background against which to examine the philosophical issues that "continue to bedevil the field."With his usual clarity and brio, Dennett enlivens his arguments with a variety of vivid examples. He isolates the "Zombic Hunch" that distorts much of the theorizing of both philosophers and scientists, and defends heterophenomenology, his "third-person" approach to the science of consciousness, against persistent misinterpretations and objections. The old challenge of Frank Jackson's thought experiment about Mary the color scientist is given a new rebuttal in the form of "RoboMary," while his discussion of a famous card trick, "The Tuned Deck," is designed to show that David Chalmers's Hard Problem is probably just a figment of theorists' misexploited imagination. In the final essay, the "intrinsic" nature of "qualia" is compared with the naively imagined "intrinsic value" of a dollar in "Consciousness -- How Much is That in Real Money?"
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The Terminal Manby Michael CrichtonISBN 0345354621 (0-345-35462-1)
Softcover, Random House Publishing Group
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Thinking in Pictures: And Other Reports from My LIfe with Autismby Temple Grandin, Oliver W. SacksISBN 0307275655 (0-307-27565-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Thinking in Pictures: And Other Reports from My LIfe with Autism'Book summary:Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is a gifted animal scientist who has designed one third of all the livestock-handling facilities in the United States. She also lectures widely on autismbecause Temple Grandin is autistic, a woman who thinks, feels, and experiences the world in ways that are incomprehensible to the rest of us.
In this unprecedented book, Grandin delivers a report from the country of autism. Writing from the dual perspectives of a scientist and an autistic person, she tells us how that country is experienced by its inhabitants and how she managed to breach its boundaries to function in the outside world. What emerges in Thinking in Pictures is the document of an extraordinary human being, one who, in gracefully and lucidly bridging the gulf between her condition and our own, sheds light on the riddle of our common identity. [via]More editions of Thinking in Pictures: And Other Reports from My LIfe with Autism:
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Welcome, Silence: My Triumph over Schizophreniaby Carol S. NorthISBN 038070627X (0-380-70627-X)
Softcover, Harpercollins
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Welcome, Silence: My Triumph over Schizophrenia'Book summary:This is the amazing true story of one woman's journey deep into mental illness and her return to sanity -- and to a successful life and career. Carol North was diagnosed with schizophrenia in college. The story of her life is traced from her early life in a middle class small-town family in the Midwest. For many years, Carol struggled against overwhelming odds to achieve in school in spite of her illness and was finally admitted to medical school to pursue her hopes and dreams of becoming a doctor. In medical school, however, she slid further into psychosis and finally succumbed the inexorable incapacitation so often characteristic of the illness. Carol was fortunate enough, however, to find a skilled psychiatrist who understood her dedication to becoming a physician and who worked with her to stay well enough to remain in school. When all hope seemed lost, her doctor enrolled her in an experimental dialysis program, similar to the treatment given to patients with kidney failure. With this treatment, her illness went away and she no longer required medication for it. This engrossing and ultimately triumphant story of courageous struggle against mental illness will inspire anyone who has ever had to battle for achievement against overwhelming odds. After recovering from her illness, Carol returned to school and received her medical degree from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri in 1983. She then completed her internship and residency at Barnes Hospital/Washington University, and subsequently obtained a masters degree in psychiatric epidemiology (the study of psychiatric disorders in populations) while simultaneously pursuing a NIMH fellowship in psychiatric epidemiology at Washington University. Dr. Carol North is currently a board-certified psychiatrist and full Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine. She treats patients with schizophrenia and a range of psychiatric illness, trains young physicians and psychiatrists, and pursues federally funded research in psychiatric epidemiology. She is the recipient of numerous national awards and has appeared on many national television and radio programs. [via]
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What Your Third Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good Third-Grade Educationby E.D. HirschISBN 0385336268 (0-385-33626-8)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'What Your Third Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good Third-Grade Education'Book summary:Grade by grade, these groundbreaking and successful books provide a solid foundation in the fundamentals of a good education for first to sixth graders.
B & W photographs, linecuts, and maps throughout; two-color printing. [via]More editions of What Your Third Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good Third-Grade Education:
- What Your Third Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good Third-Grade Education: ISBN 0385312571 (0-385-31257-1)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group - What Your Third Grader Needs to Know: ISBN 0385411170 (0-385-41117-0)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing - What Your Third Grader Needs to Know : Fundamentals of a Good Third-Grade Education: ISBN 0385497199 (0-385-49719-9)
Hardcover, Doubleday Publishing - What Your Third Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good Third-Grade Education: ISBN 0385336268 (0-385-33626-8)
Softcover, Bantam Dell Pub Group
- What Your Third Grader Needs to Know: Fundamentals of a Good Third-Grade Education: ISBN 0385312571 (0-385-31257-1)
Whole Brain Thinking : Working from Both Sides of the Brain to Achieve Peak Job Performanceby Jacquelyn Wonder, Priscilla DonovanISBN 0345322045 (0-345-32204-5)
Softcover, Random House Publishing Group
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Without Miracles: Universal Selection Theory and the Second Darwinian Revolutionby Gary CzikoISBN 026253147X (0-262-53147-X)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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