Wider Than the Sky: The Phenomenal Gift of Consciousness (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780300107616)

How does the firing of neurons give rise to subjective sensations, thoughts, and emotions? How can the disparate domains of mind and body be reconciled? The quest for a scientifically based understanding of consciousness has attracted study and speculation across the ages. In this direct and non-technical discussion of consciousness, Dr. Gerald M. Edelman draws on a lifetime of scientific inquiry into the workings of the brain to formulate answers to the mind-body questions that intrigue every thinking person.
Concise and understandable, the book explains pertinent findings of modern neuroscience and describes how consciousness arises in complex brains. Edelman explores the relation of consciousness to causation, to evolution, to the development of the self, and to the origins of feelings, learning, and memory. His analysis of the brain activities underlying consciousness is based on recent remarkable advances in biochemistry, immunology, medical imaging, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology, yet the implications of his book extend farther--beyond the worlds of science and medicine into virtually every area of human inquiry.

Author: Gerald M. Edelman
ISBN-10: 0300107617
ISBN-13: 9780300107616
Publisher: Yale University Press
Language: English
Published: 05/10/2005
Pages: 224
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 7.78h x 5.00w x 0.57d

Review Citation(s):
Science Books & Films 01/01/2007 pg. 16