Description

Drawing on a dazzling array of disciplines--physiology, neurology, psychology, anthropology, linguistics, and philosophy--Ian Glynn explains virtually every aspect of the workings of the brain, unlocking the mysteries of the mind.

Glynn writes with exceptional clarity as he illuminates the mechanics of nerve messages; the functioning of sensory receptors; the processes by which the brain sees, tastes, and smells; the seats of language, memory, and emotions. The breadth of Glynn's erudition is astonishing, as he ranges from parallel processing in computers to the specialization of different regions of the brain (illustrated with fascinating instances of the bizarre effects of localized brain damage). He explains the different types of memory, traces the path of information that leads to emotional responses, and engages in a discussion of language that ranges from Noam Chomsky to Hawaiian pidgin.

No other single volume has captured the full expanse of our knowledge of consciousness and the brain. A work of unequaled authority and eloquence, this book promises to be a new landmark of scientific writing.

"Monumental."--The Observer

"Glynn's erudition is astonishing...a hugely enjoyable intellectual journey."--Nature

Reviews

"Glynn, a professor of physiology and head of the Physiological Laboratory at Cambridge, offers a comprehensive summary of what we know about the brain....Using the mechanisms involved in vision and speech as models, Glynn skillfully describes various neurological deficiencies that can lead to 'disordered seeing' and problems with the use of language. He carefully distinguishes what we know through experimental evidence from what we know through the observation of patients with neurological damage....An Anatomy of Thought is appropriate for most academic libraries."--Library Journal

"Glynn's monumental book is a kind of grand tour of the great jelly, beginning with the origins of life some four billion years ago and pursuing the evolution of homo sapiens."--he Observer

"If every other book on the mind were to vanish overnight and all that remained were this one remarkable compendium, the lucky reader could still soon become the best-educated layman there has ever been."--Nicholas Humphrey, author of A History of the Mind

"Reading it from beginning to end, as one should, one emerges with a clear understanding of the biological issues that must be addressed to offer any satisfactory description of the brain, its functions and functioning, its sources of knowledge and its role in the ever-continuing process of evolution, not only physical but also social and intellectual.... Glynn's erudition is astonishing and it makes these pages a hugely enjoyable intellectual journey, full of illuminating anecdotes that shed light not only on the discoveries but also on the scientists themselves....a truly biological book about the most perfect product of biological evolution: the human brain. It is this emphasis on biology that sets this book apart and makes it a gem that would have thrilled Kant and Schopenhauer. It should thrill modern readers even more."--Semir Zeki, Nature (British)

Product Details

464 pages; 49 b/w halftones & line illus.; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-515803-8ISBN10: 0-19-515803-2

About the Author(s)