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ANATOMY OF THOUGHT:
The Origin and Machinery of the Mind
by Ian Glynn,
Oxford University Press,
1999 (i-vii, 464 pages)
OUTLINE OF BOOK'S
FACTS & IDEAS
2-14-16
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (pvii-viii)
PART 1 --- CLEARING THE GROUND (p1-80)
1) What is this book about? (p3-6)
2) The failure of the common-sense view (p7-16)
3) Evolution by "natural selection" (p17-39)
[1] The evolution of evolution (p18-19)
[2] The origin of the "Origin" (p19-23)
The phrase "survival of the fittest" was first used by Herbert Spencer [1820-1903] (see page 19 footnote)
[3] The success of the "Origin" (p23-30)
(1) Evidence from geographical distribution (p24-26)
(2) Evidence from comparative anatomy (p26-28)
(3) Evidence from embryology (p28)
(4) Evidence from fossils (p28-30)
[4] Darwin's "cold shudder" (p30-31)
[5] The survival of features that threaten survival (p31-33)
[6] As unlike as two peas (p33-35)
[7] Evolution at the molecular level (p35-39)
4) "The Decent of Man" (p40-61)
5) The origin of life (p62-80)
PART 2 --- NERVES AND NERVOUS SYSTEMS (p81-187)
INTRODUCTION (p83-84)
6) The nature of nerves (p85-105)
7) The nerve impulse (p106-118)
8) Encoding the message (p119-122)
9) Interactions between nerve cells (p123-137)
10) "The doors of perception" (p138-163)
11) A cook's tour of the brain (p164-187)
PART 3 --- LOOKING AT SEEING (p189-255)
INTRODUCTION (p191-192)
12) Illusions (p193-200)
13) Disordered seeing with normal eyes (p201-220)
Noninvasive methods for scanning the brain (p221-222)
14) Opening the "black box" (p223-241)
15) Natural computers and artificial brains (p242-255)
PART 4 --- TALKING ABOUT TALKING (p257-310)
INTRODUCTION (p259)
16) In the steps of the "diagram-makers" (p261-287)
17) Chomsky and after (p288-295)
18) Monkey puzzles (p296-310)
PART 5 --- THINKING ABOUT THINKING (p311-364)
INTRODUCTION (p313)
19) Memory (p315-333)
[1] How many kinds of memory (p318-320)
[2] Topographical memory (p320-321)
[3] The relation between short-term and long-term memory (p322-324)
[4] So how does memory work? (p324-330)
[5] Forgetting (p331-333)
20) The emotions (p334-350)
21) Planning and attention (p351-364)
PART 6 --- THE PHILOSOPHY OF MIND --- OR MINDING THE PHILOSOPHERS (p365-399)
INTRODUCTION (p367)
22) The "mind-body problem" --- a variety of approaches (p369-390)
23) The "mind-body problem" --- consciousness and "qualia" (p391-399)
24) Free will and morality (p400-410)
EPILOGUE (p411-413)
NOTES (p415-448)
INDEX (p449-456)
AUTHOR NOTE, SUMMARY,
AND BOOK DESCRIPTION
AUTHOR NOTE = Ian Glynn is a Professor and Former Head of the Physiological Laboratory, University of Cambridge, England. Renowned for his work on the sodium pump, the molecular process that charges the brain's batteries, he is a fellow of the Royal Society and an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
SUMMARY = Drawing on the rich history of neurological case studies, Glynn picks through the building blocks of our nervous system, examines our visual and linguistic systems, and probes deeply into our higher thought processes.
BOOK DESCRIPTION = Love, fear, hope, calculus, and game shows --- how do all these spring from a few delicate pounds of meat?
Neurophysiologist Ian Glynn lays the foundation for answering this question in the book, but stops short of committing to one particular theory. The book is a pleasant challenge, presenting the reader with the latest research and thinking about neuroscience and how it relates to various models of consciousness. Combining the aim of a textbook with the style of a popularization, it provides all the lay reader needs to know to participate in the philosophical debate that is redefining our attitudes about our minds.
The stories of great scientists, like Ramon y Cajal, and famous patients, like Sperry's split-brained epileptics, illuminate the scientific issues Glynn selects as essential for understanding consciousness. Some might argue that his lengthy explorations of natural selection overemphasize evolutionary explanations of psychological phenomena, but they must also agree that evolutionary psychology has distanced itself mightily from social Darwinism in recent years and merits a reappraisal.
The great "consciousness debate" may form the core of the 21st-century Zeitgeist. Get ready for it with this book! -- Rob Lightner at Amazon.com
PROFESSIONAL BOOK REVIEWS
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY = How do we know? What do we think?
How could a philosophical problem, say, the "mind-body problem," induce a headache?
What can evolutionary theory, molecular biology, the history of medicine and experimental psychology tell us about the features of human consciousness, and (once again) how do we know?
Glynn, a physician and Cambridge University professor, meticulously attempts to answer these questions and more, setting forth the results of all sorts of research relevant to our brains --- from 19th-century dissections to Oliver Sacks-like case studies, work with monkeys and supercomputers, and the enduring puzzles of philosophy, which he rightly saves for near the end. After explaining evolution by natural selection and "clearing away much dross,"
Glynn lays out the experiments and theories that have shown "how nerve cells can carry information about the body, how they can interact" and how sense organs work; demonstrates the "mixture of parallel and hierarchical organization" in our brains and "the striking localization of function within it."
Also he considers where neuroscience is likely to go; and admits that, among the many fields of exciting research just ahead, "we can be least confident of progress [toward a complete, scientific] explanation of our sensations and thoughts and feelings."
Other recent books have sometimes advanced simplistic, or implausibly grand, claims about the nature and features of consciousness in general.
Instead, Glynn offers a patient, informed, well-laid-out researcher's eye view of what we have learned, how we figured it out and what we still don't know about neurons, senses, feelings, brains and minds.
FROM LIBRARY JOURNAL = The nature of consciousness, which perennially troubles the minds of scientists and philosophers, is the subject of an ever-growing body of literature. Glynn, a professor of physiology and head of the Physiological Laboratory at Cambridge, offers a comprehensive summary of what we know about the brain--both its evolution and its mechanisms. Among the topics he covers are natural selection, molecular evolution, nerves and the nervous system, sensory perception, and the specific structures responsible for our intellect. Using the mechanisms involved in vision and speech as models, He skillfully describes various neurological deficiencies that can lead to "disordered seeing" and problems with the use of language.
Glynn carefully distinguishes what we know through experimental evidence from what we know through the observation of patients with neurological damage. He also describes some of the major theories that attempt to explain why these structures arose. While his book concentrates on the structures that make up the mind, Glynn is well aware that some physical events appear explicable only in terms of conscious mental events --- a situation that conflicts with the laws of modern physics. Only briefly, however, does he consider the various approaches that have been taken to deal with the issues of mind/body and free will. -- Laurie Bartolini, Illinois State Lib., Springfield.
FROM BOOKLIST = The co-discoverers of natural selection --- Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace --- disagreed over the possibility of finding an evolutionary explanation for the human mind. Glynn here argues Darwin's side of the debate, tracing an eons-long path of development starting from simple amino acids floating in primal seas and extending through the erect hominids in which the powers of a massive brain first manifest themselves. Patiently adducing evidence of an evolutionary origin for the underlying molecular machinery, Glynn dissects the nerve centers that make possible speech and hearing, sight, and reading. Pressing deeper, he lays bare the cortical foundations of personality. But those who deal with the mind must attend also to the arguments advanced by philosophers. And it is when he turns from dendrites to syllogisms (especially the vexing mind-body paradox) that Glynn's empirical reasoning fails him. In the end, he concedes his perplexity in trying to conceive of an evolutionary origin for human consciousness. This concession may set the shade of Alfred Wallace to chortling, but it will draw readers into an honest confrontation with a profound enigma. Bryce Christensen.
NATURE MAGAZINE (British) = 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."
BOOK REVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
[1] "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. The book is appropriate for most academic libraries." -- Library Journal.
[2] "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.
[3] "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 ... 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)
[4] "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. His erudition is astonishing ... a hugely enjoyable intellectual journey." -- The Observer (includes quotes from the Nature Magazine above for emphasis!)
AMAZON READER REVIEWS
[1] The robotic underpinnings of thought processes by Dr. Angell O. de la Sierra on June 29, 2000 = This book is essentially, in the words of the author, Prof. Dr. Ian Glynn of Trinity College in Cambridge, a "guided tour of the brain" (without too much expenditure of time or effort). To get a general idea of the area to be toured, hurry through the dull parts, linger in those that are more interesting, and emerge knowing a little of the history and features of the area and much better equipped to make more detailed visits later.
Like all well prepared tours through foreign territory, there is a thorough preparation for the journey. In this long-winded introduction the well-traveled guide takes you by the hand through the phylogenesis, ontogenesis and history of the human brain, from Darwinian evolutionary theory through the origin of life to a neuro-physiology of the human brain. He brings observations, experiments and arguments to bear on a view of how networks of interacting neurons form the basis of control systems capable of detecting environmental changes, coding the acquired information, transmitting it along nerves to be processed in such a way that adaptive decisions can be made, a memory of the experienced can be compiled and learning results in the process.
All of this worthwhile effort is necessary for the reader to understand how events in such neural networks account for the emergence of human sensations, thoughts and feelings. Like so many other attempts by outstanding scholars, in the opinion of this reviewer, Prof. Glynn has succeeded in providing a fairly complete picture of the robotic aspects of our brains, however, he has not been able to account for the existence of the same sensations, thoughts and feelings, the current contents of consciousness.
The trip sails along relatively safe as the author courses through memory, emotions and attention but, as expected, things get rough again as he approaches the end of the tour, when he discusses the philosophy of the mind. Of the varieties of approaches possible, such as behaviorism, functionalism, etc., he selects a variant of the 'ídentity' theory and immediately gets tangled in the logic of the argument when trying to distinguish a 'necessary' identity from a 'contingent' identity and challenging Kripke's argument.
At the end of the brain book, which deals with Freewill and Morality, Glynn is in the conundrum of having to admit that, ultimately, the thoughts preceding his actions are determined by physical forces outside of his volitional power to control. Thus he has no free will!
To escape his own trap, he argues that, being a unique creation (DNA signature), he exercises his free will in a more restricted immanent domain. He never confesses as to the possibility of being determined by any extra physical agency, from another domain. Is there any other alternative present?
[2] Thorough Brain, Short Shrift to Mind by Seeker of Truth on February 21, 2001 = This book begins with an excellent review of neuro-chemistry and this is followed with a clear and lucid discussion of how nerve signals propagate throughout the body. It then discusses where various functions reside in the brain (for instance, vision, understanding, data reduction and the like). As a scientist, with very little background in neurophysiology, I found this part of the book very interesting and informative. I would highly recomend the book to anyone with an interest in this information.
The book then changes direction into a discussion of consciousness. I did not find this portion of the book very satisfying. The book became rather fuzzy and speculative and read in many places as a poorly edited introductory philosophy book. It is clear that Ian Glynn is a good writer, with a fine command of the relevant neurobiology. I learned a lot. But I believe that a reader interested in bridging the brain-mind barrier will not find this book as helpful in this topic as one might hope.
[3] A fantastic amount of knowledge in easily digestible form! by John Bower on March 19, 2003 = This is essential reading for anyone who is interested in human behavior. I am a manager, currently studying behavioral psychology and its impact on performance, and received the book as a Christmas Present. From the first of its more than 500 pages to the last, it held my attention, and it seemed like every paragraph contains an insightful piece of wisdom. I can safely say that I have learned more about evolution, about psychology, psychiatry and philosophy, and about the factors that impact the brain and its working, during the 5 weeks it took me to finish than in any other 5 weeks of my life.
At times dispassionately relating observed facts, at times showing a shrewd sense of humor, Professor Glynn makes easy work of a subject that can only be described as gargantuan. Full of references to academic work accumulated through centuries of scientific study, he has created an easy introduction that brings together a multitude of apparently conflicting fields of study into a coherent whole. Whether your interest is in practical matters such as training and development, or you are looking for a more academic review of physiology and neurology, you simply cannot find a more comprehensive, relevant and readable book on the subject.
[4] Mental Machinery Examined by Bucherwurm on March 20, 2002 = This is another "primer" on nerve and brain function written for the layman. I should qualify that statement by saying that this subject is never an easy read. You need to have more than a middling interest in order to pursue such studies beyond a superficial level. My way of studying scientific topics is to read several books on a subject, gaining different perspectives, and letting it all sink in by the repetition involved. The book is a fine place to start. Unlike other brain books such as Richard Thompson's "The Brain," Glynn decided to expand his coverage to include a discussion of evolution, origins of life, and the history of nervous system discovery.
It is very interesting, but some readers may be put off by having to wait until after page 100 to start learning about the main topic.
Glynn describes neuron structure and activity, and focuses much attention on vision and linguistics. A very nice coverage of those topics, but only four pages are dedicated to hearing. Much fascinating information is provided on how brain damage affects vision and speech (read also books by Klawans, Sacks and Ramachandran if this topic interests you). Personally I think much of the "nervous history" section could have been skipped in order to provide a carefully detailed description of nerve function. More pictures and diagrams would also have been helpful. The final section of the book is quite interesting. Forty some pages are devoted to the philosophy of mind, a discussion of the mind-body problem, and free will versus determinism. If philosophy leaves you cold then you'll be relieved to know that this is really an elective section that can be easily skipped.
[5] By Hoang Nguyenon January 13, 2004 --- I call this book my Bible = Having a background of tertiary education including chemistry and medicine, some time ago I came up with a crazy thought that the chemical activities in our brains, the nervous impulses only obey the laws of physics, or, the laws of nature. Hence we are like machines. I abandoned that thought as it was too crazy, until I found this book by Ian Glynn.
Using the scientific approach, the Glynn came up with the most profound philosophical view I have ever seen. Armed with the scientific and philosophical knowledge of the book (especially his view of free will), one would have a much deeper understanding on many Eastern philosophies (Taoism, Buddhism). To me, the philosophical part of the book could lead readers to the enlightenment state, as religions could do to their believers, but via a logical, scientific path. As far as I understand the book, we, human beings, are "conscious automata," meaning we are a kind of machine that can operate automatically.
That is hard to believe, but it is much harder not to believe it, after reading this book. It may change readers' views, hence change their feelings or emotions! That's why it's now my Bible.
[6] Solid by Carlos Camaraon April 1, 2002 = This book is a solid introduction to neuroscience. It is not prone to controversy, and it sticks to what we know so far. This is why this is a "safe tour" of the machinery of the mind. Two things make this book better than most other popular introductions to the brain. It covers, or tries to, general and specific knowledge of brain science. That is, it covers individual experiments and discoveries (Say, Hubel and Weisel on vision, or Treinsman on attention, or Singer and synchronization) as well as overviews of higher and lower faculties. It even goes into philosophy of the mind and some thoughts about consciousness, although I am sure some philosophers would not agree with Glynn and his discussion of Kripke's identity arguments. Glynn is a professed identity theorist who believes that mind states are identical to brain processes.
The second thing is that it just does not start at an arbitrary level, like genes, development, or cellular biology, but sets from the beginning the brain and mind in an evolutionary framework. And a thorough one at that. Glynn uses the first 100 or so pages to lay out the hominid evolution story, and it rivals some other lengthy books on that specific subject.
The style is easy, and it has a swift pace lacking in many other books on the subject. So the 450 pages are actually welcome --- brain science is something to be taken whole or not at all. As I said before, the combination of specific studies with general accounts makes the book complete. You will learn of Alexander Luria's mnemonist, as well as Gazzinaga's split-brain patients, all in the course of explaining the brain. It also goes into historical details, with Santiago Ramon y Cajal and Sherington's "enchanted looms".
There is also computer talk, as well as a philosophical discussion, although this may not be Glynns forte. I have to say that the consciousness sections are not very informative, and this is one of the most promising fields of research right now. So if you want to learn about the brain, through a popular science book, I would recomend this one along with a handful of others. You will not miss any important points, but will be spared some details. I have to say that the sections on vision are some of the best overviews on that subject, short of full works that deal exclusively with it.
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