I Am a Strange Loop

Book Description

Douglas Hofstadter's long-awaited return to the themes of GÃ¶del, Escher, Bach--an original and controversial view of the nature of consciousness and identity.

Can thought arise out of matter? Can self, a soul, a consciousness, an "I" arise out of mere matter? If it cannot, then how can you or I be here?

I Am a Strange Loop argues that the key to understanding selves and consciousness is the "strange loop"--a special kind of abstract feedback loop inhabiting our brains. The most central and complex symbol in your brain or mine is the one called "I." The "I" is the nexus in our brain, one of many symbols seeming to have free will and to have gained the paradoxical ability to push particles around, rather than the reverse.

How can a mysterious abstraction be real--or is our "I" merely a convenient fiction? Does an "I" exert genuine power over the particles in our brain, or is it helplessly pushed around by the laws of physics?

These are the mysteries tackled in I Am a Strange Loop, Douglas R. Hofstadter's first book-length journey into philosophy since GÃ¶del, Escher, Bach. Compulsively readable and endlessly thought-provoking, this is the book Hofstadter's many readers have been waiting for.

Customer Reviews:

Very good read .......2007-09-25

Douglas Hofstadter fans will find this book fun and interesting to read. Although many of the GED ideas have been reshashed in this book but it includes some new learnings and evolution in thinking that the writer has gone through in last 30 years.

You may find the book using a bit to many analogies, but you should expect that from the writer of fluid concepts and creative analogies. Once again Hofstadter's description of Godel's incompleteness theorem is one of the best written explanation for non mathematicians.

Book maintains its focus on explanation of conciousness and overall does a decent job in making its point.

Shadman

Nice complement to GEB.......2007-09-20

If you have already read and enjoyed Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, then you should read this. Just don't expect GEB 2.

If you have not, then go read that first, then read this.

Syllogistic fantasy.......2007-09-01

There's a revealing passage in this book, in which Hofstadter tells us how he dropped out of math graduate school, having reached the limit of his ability to handle the complex abstractions in abstract algebra and topology. I went to the same graduate school, and I know what he means. I observed there that the best mathematicians handle this complexity with two hard-earned skills operating in parallel: deft and precise manipulation of strict definitions according to the rules of logic; and deep intuition. Hofstadter has the latter, and in this book you believe he's onto something. But he's not so good at the former. At some point the analogies grow tiresome, and you just want him to spell it out.

It's disappointing that a brilliant thinker and teacher writing about a fascinating subject central to his work ends up leaving too much to the reader.

The book, in essence, expresses the following syllogistic fallacy: The human brain creates an internal "symbol" for its owner, which we call "I", and which can observe itself, creating a sort of self-enriching feedback loop called a "strange loop". Now strange loops, found primarily in mathematics, are magical things. And consciousness is a magical thing. Therefore it's the strange loop we call "I" that creates consciousness.

Unfortunately, Hofstadter never really connects all the dots. For example, he never explains precisely what a "strange loop" is. He makes a "first stab" in Chapter 8, but then never tries again, so we're left with a "definition" that is more vague than no definition at all. (It involves the word "paradoxical" and "level-crossing" - terms that wouldn't fly in a math seminar.)

He does go on to explain why he believes the self creates strange loops. The idea is that by observing its interaction with the world, it creates an ever more elaborate symbol of itself. It's a compelling idea, amply illustrated by analogies to video cameras and Gödel's theorem. But then he never quite closes the loop. What's the link between that strange mechanism and the feeling of consciousness that we all find so tangible and yet mysterious?

Quite possibly Hofstadter has rushed to a conclusion based on enthusiasm and intuition rather than evidence. It's clear that the man is obsessed with self-reference. He's never lost his early fascination with hallway mirrors and video feedback and Gödel. Which is good for us, but it doesn't serve this book well. He sees a connection between the self-reference of the mind and the self-reference of numerical systems, and leaps to a conclusion without checking his work. I can imagine the moment when the young Hofstadter realized that the self is self-reflexive, just like Gödel's proof. It must have been like the time I had this sudden insight into my own mathematics research. It was thrilling. I knew I was onto something. I rushed back home to write it down, and suddenly there were a hundred little details that had to be resolved, and it was two more years before I was done. Douglas Hofstadter isn't quite done yet, but I think he's onto something, and I look forward to the result.

Relax, It's Just Physicalist Functionalism.......2007-08-25

I became interested in philosophy of mind about three years ago, and have since read a variety of books written by philosophers, neuroscientists, psychologists and computer experts. About a year ago I heard about Douglas Hofstadter and his [then] forthcoming book "I Am A Strange Loop". I also discovered his 1979 work Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, where the strange loop concept was expounded in great detail. While GEB did indeed attempt to apply strange loops to the workings of the mind, IAASL promised to focus this idea with laser intensity upon the mysteries of human consciousness. Given what I had already read about the importance of circular processes within the brain, especially regarding the "binding" of multiple sense and memory data into a "unified impression", I looked forward to IAASL with great anticipation. I hoped that it would provide cutting insights that would help dispel the fog surrounding the current consciousness debate. In the end, however, Dr. Hofstadter provided little more than a warmed-over version of an old theory, i.e. PHYSICALIST FUNCTIONALISM; albeit with a quasi-mathematical twist to it, i.e., the Godel / strange-loop approach.

Although Hofstadter is a computer scientist, his first love appears to be mathematics. He gives a great description of what mathematicians do, i.e. finding and analyzing patterns amidst groups of numbers. He gives examples of how this is done, and then shows how these patterns are analyzed and formally documented via axioms and theorems and strings of logical symbols. He then kicks it up a notch by explaining what number theory is, i.e. the foundation for those theorems and logical constructs. Not content with stopping there, he takes you to the next level by explaining how mathematician Kurt Godel performed a brilliant meta-analysis of number theory in 1931 and found that it breaks down when "indexicals" are considered (i.e., self-referential propositions such as "this quote is untrue"). By now, most of us reasonably-intelligent readers are gasping for mental oxygen, as though we're way up in the Andes. But Hofstadter then pushes us up to the peak, i.e. the "strange loop", which is an abstraction and generalization of what Godel did to number theory.

Yikes! How many levels up have we gone? Numbers can be called first-order abstractions of reality. Identified number patterns would be a second-order; documentation of these by theorems would represent a third. Number theory is four levels up, and Godel hits the fifth floor elevator button. So a "strange loop" is a sixth-order abstraction from everyday reality. No wonder it seems somewhat "strange" to mere mortals.

But strangeness doesn't mean that an idea is useless. Hofstadter makes it clear (more so in GEB) that mathematicians have come up with all sorts of abstract ideas, which often sit for years in dusty library books until some physicist comes along looking for a way to describe something rather peculiar about the data he or she has gathered from the lab. All of a sudden, an ignored system or obscure concept is found to be exactly what is needed to solve the problem of, say, electrical superconductence at room temperature. The question here is just how useful the strange loop concept would be in solving problems. It is not a logically formal idea, in the way that a math construct such as the proof of Fermat`s Last Theorem is. The strange loop paradigm is really more of a philosopher's construct, something a bit looser around the edges. Hofstadter tries to do with math what the late, great David Bohm attempted with quantum physics, i.e. to stretch it into a bigger, more holistic thought system that extends to the far corners of the human mind. What Hofstadter and Bohm found once they reached those far corners are quite different however; instead of localized loops, Bohm saw "implicate universal order". (Bohm's 1987 book Science, Order and Creativity is to "implicate order" what GEB is to strange loops).

This is important to keep in mind if you choose to climb the mountain of thought with Hofstadter. Right up through Godel's intellectual craftwork, Hofstadter stays on the pathways of formal logic. But that last jump is different, and Hofstadter does not warn you. It's easy (for those of lesser minds like myself) to be impressed by the strict methods used to get to level number five, and believe that such intellectual acuity carries through right to the top. So keep your eyes open (even though it's difficult at such intellectual heights); Hofstadter is very impressive as a wanna-be mathematician, but may not be as skilled when he shifts to philosophy, where the "strange loop" proposition actually resides.

In GEB, Hofstadter attempts to give real-world examples of strange-loop situations. Not surprisingly, the results are of mixed efficacy. He first refers to the Escher paintings so liberally sprinkled throughout his first book (a few of which show up in IAASL). But he gains little traction - those are just optical illusions. He then refers to what almost happened during the Watergate crisis during Richard Nixon's presidency; i.e. the Supreme Court interpreting the Constitution for the Executive Branch, and the Executive Branch contrarily interpreting the Constitution regarding the Judiciary. In fact, such political situations don't loop around very much; they are resolved rather quickly by riots and bullets (luckily Nixon backed off in 1974). Hofstadter's greatest success with strange loops in GEB came in a wonderful chapter about the workings of DNA in living beings.

Hofstadter also took on the problems of the mind in GEB. However, his efforts in that field were overshadowed by the expansive brilliance of the book. And thus, in IAASL Hofstadter conveys his disappointment about not being taken more seriously by the brain-mind-consciousness crowd. He calls GEB a "shout into a chasm" - although Hofstadter did in fact team up with one of the most formidable "mind philosophers", Daniel Dennett, soon after GEB (e.g., their 1981 book The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self & Soul). I read GEB only recently, but it was rather clear to me that Hofstadter's strange-loop concept of the mind was really nothing more than physicalist functionalism, a viewpoint that has been around since the mid-1960s. Not surprisingly, Dennett is quite sympathetic to this approach. For a good introduction to functionalism and its materialist interpretation, I'd recommend David Papineau's Introducing Consciousness.

In applying strange loops to the workings of the brain, Hofstadter establishes that the mind works "recursively". Sense data flows in from the body and drives the neurons; and yet this "bottom level" activity works its way through a hierarchy to the upper levels of the mind, where sensations are felt and decisions are made. Those decisions are then "passed back down" to the neurons and synapses, completing the strange loop from low-level to high-level and back again.

The brain is thus seen as having "mind states" that exist between sensory input and behavioral output. These states are loopy and recursive; their present status is as much a function of what they were like an instant ago, as of what new sense data was just inputted into them. Through devices such as memory, they tend to stabilize human behavior, allowing a longer-term perspective. E.g., if you are chasing a rabbit for food, and the rabbit temporarily disappears behind a tree, you don't stop running just because you no longer see it - you hold a belief that it will soon reappear. Brain states, as an intermediary between stimulus and response, obviously have a function, one that contributes to survival. And thus the case for functionalism. The physicalist part rejects any dualist notions about the ontological independence of "qualia" and inner experience, and equates our mind states and their functional interactions with consciousness itself. In GEB, Hofstadter used the strange loop abstraction to get to functionalism. In IIASL, he concentrates somewhat more on the physicalist agenda.

As such, Hofstadter wears the philosopher's hat more frequently in IIASL, while in GEB he mostly kept the mathematician's cap on. But the new hat doesn't fit as well. First off, he doesn't seem to be aware that he's pouring the old wine of functionalism into the new skin of strange loopiness (to reverse the Biblical metaphor). He seems a bit too sure of himself, too ready to summarily ridicule those who have argued against functionalism, most notably philosopher John Searle. (He may be doing the bidding of his partner Daniel Dennett, who has had rather vitriolic debates with Searle over the years; but unlike Hofstadter, Dennett has spelled out in great detail his position relative to Searle's. Hofstadter, in turn, is mostly yelling insults at the enemy of his friend). He spends many pages setting up and attacking a straw man, i.e. substance dualism, a position that has not been seriously espoused since Sir John Eccles passed away.

Professor Hofstadter doesn't show any appreciation for the subtleties of modern property dualism and its hope that future progress in understanding the nature of "deep reality" may eventually close the "explanatory gap" between physics and consciousness, e.g. the "information substrate to reality" and the hologram paradigms that physicists such as John Wheeler now discuss, and which David Bohm anticipated. Hofstadter admires, yet refuses to adopt the self-doubt that his fellow materialist Derek Parfait expresses after Parfait strictly identifies qualia and self-awareness with brain electrochemistry.

Hofstadter as philosopher shows no knowledge of the "mysterian" position of Colin McGinn and Thomas Nagel; this is especially regrettable given Hofstadter's words in GEB about the human brain ultimately being a Turing algorithmic system subject, one that at some point faces a determinability limit similar to what Godel found in number theory. Is it possible that our questions regarding our own consciousness are the ultimate indexicals? Hofstadter also seeks to kill some "sacred cows" of philosophy that are antithetical to the functionalist viewpoint, such as the "inverted spectrum" thought experiment. (Hofstadter swears in the book to be a vegetarian pacifist, but I suppose that philosophic sacred cows are still fair game.) Interestingly, though, he does not attempt to "kill" the thought-experiment denizen who should trouble him the most: i.e., Frank Jackson's "Mary", the formerly color-blind neuroscientist (also explained well by Papineau, cited above).

Even when explaining his own paradigms, Hofstadter can be a bit confusing. He spends a lot of time telling us that human consciousness is like a television with a camera pointed at it (he even provides pictures of what the frame-within-frame results looks like). The implied infinite series of frames-within-frames is claimed to be much like the strange loops that power our consciousness. But if so, then how far is this paradigm from the much reviled "Cartesian theater" idea of the homunculus (tiny little person) within the brain watching a screen tied to our sense organs, with a homunculus within him/her watching a screen, with a homunculus . . . . in the end, just another infinity of screens. Nonetheless, after a lot of words about TV cameras pointed at monitors, Hofstadter then tells us that it's not the infinity of screen frames that is important; infinity would have sunk Godel had he not gotten around the problem with a finite reference to infinity. The given example of a finite reference to the infinite is the girl on the Morton Salt container, holding an identical salt container under her arm so that her image, and an infinite regress, is blocked but still implied. OK, fine, but I didn't see how the TV/screen system was squared with the salt container. Are they both kinda-sorta like indexical consciousness, but in differing ways?

And then there's Hofstadter's illusion of the marble in the box of envelopes - proving that our everyday notions regarding self-consciousness are just illusions, anyway. But illusions to who? Don't ask, just be satisfied that the illusion is had by an illusion which is perceived by another illusion . . . . ad infinitum / ad absurdum.

IAASL is an intensely personal book - it could almost be sub-titled 'Please Understand Me', with apologies to David Keirsey and his work on Myers-Briggs and human temperaments (Hofstadter is clearly an INTP "architect" - an architect of numbers, ideas and systems). You learn a lot about the life and times of Douglas Hofstadter while climbing the intellectual heights with him. He makes a lot of entertaining little jokes and quips along the way, but becomes very serious as he discusses Carol, his beloved late wife. His word are truly moving until he tries to convince you that Carol lives on in his mind, almost as much as Douglas Hofstadter does. She is still conscious within him - certainly not to the same degree that he is, but according to his hyper-functional concept of "consciousness", just as qualitatively conscious. He goes through a rather convoluted thought experiment (regarding "Twinwirld") to justify the notion that one consciousness can be shared among more than one brain.

To truly grasp what is going on here, you need to be familiar with a certain tenant of physicalist functionalism: i.e., that consciousness is "platform independent". Platform independence has been used to support the notion that living protoplasm is not a sine qua non for consciousness, and that there is no reason why artificial intelligence researchers (such as Hofstadter) will not eventually reproduce consciousness "in silico". Hofstadter has put a rather innovative twist on the platform independence theory here: why not a person-to-person transfer of conscious awareness? One could think of all sorts of skeptical questions in response, but I would like to ask something more personal: is this really healthy? At some point, don't we need to learn to let go after we lose something or someone we love? (Or am I taking Hofstadter too seriously, since he feels that all human consciousness is just a "marble in an envelope box" anyway?)

Given all the psychological sharing in IAASL, one can see how much even a brilliant person's views are shaped by their own personal history and circumstances. It's not surprising that the wrapping of physicalist functionalism with a strange loop bow comes from a fellow of prodigious intellectual talents who, as a young boy, bought math treatises and who got goose bumps thinking about self-referential propositions, and whose teenage music thrills came from Albert Schweitzer doing Bach's greatest hits. (I wonder if Hofstadter considered calling this book "Godel, Schweitzer and Bach"?) Professor Hofstadter didn't know that Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes also recorded a song using the refrain "it ain't the meat, it's the motion", which Hofstadter uses to mockingly attack Searle's consideration of the idea that living protoplasm might be essential to consciousness. Hofstadter is being unfair here, as Searle is in fact quite cautious in discussing this. As to Southside and Mr. Popeye, well, they will probably get over the slight eventually . . . .

I'd give this book two stars from the perspective of the general reader who might want an overview on the current debate regarding how our brains, minds and consciousness relate. If you are already familiar with philosophy of mind, then perhaps Hofstadter earns a third star - he will at least give YOUR mind a work-out. And if you enjoyed GEB and more-or-less understood it, then IAASL could be a four or even five-star read for you. So I've averaged it out to three stars overall. As with Hofstadter's sense of humor, which is liberally sprinkled throughout the book (aside from the Carol chapters), some will enjoy and benefit from Hofstadter's approach, but many won't.

A final note about Douglas Hofstadter's admittedly touching tribute to his late wife. Despite his heartfelt attempts to weave his theories into something of beauty in her honor, recursive mathematical constructs still pale in comparison with Tennyson's "In Memoriam":

I trust I have not wasted breath:
I think we are not wholly brain,
Magnetic mockeries; not in vain,
Like Paul with beasts, I fought with Death;

Not only cunning casts in clay;
Let Science prove we are, and then
What matter Science unto men,
At least to me? I would not stay.

As Dr. Parfait realized, dualism will not be easily vanquished. Like Professor Hofstadter, I too am a vegetarian romanticist computer geek, albeit a considerably less brilliant one. But as to being a strange loop . . . no way.

The mind plays tricks on us.......2007-08-24

Interesting fellow this author.

He has done a good job illuminating the inner clouds of thought rolling around in the brain.

Takes you on an interesting trip. Still a little tough to grasp.

Extraordinary Knowing: Science, Skepticism, and the Inexplicable Powers of the Human Mind

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Extraordinary Knowing
I knew you would read this book ; )
Moves discussion into the new millenium
where the beef?
Excellent

Extraordinary Knowing: Science, Skepticism, and the Inexplicable Powers of the Human Mind
Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0553803352
Release Date: 2007-02-27

Book Description

In 1991, when her daughter’s rare, hand-carved harp was stolen, Lisby Mayer’s familiar world of science and rational thinking turned upside down. After the police failed to turn up any leads, a friend suggested she call a dowser–a man who specialized in finding lost objects. With nothing to lose–and almost as a joke–Dr. Mayer agreed. Within two days, and without leaving his Arkansas home, the dowser located the exact California street coordinates where the harp was found.

Deeply shaken, yet driven to understand what had happened, Mayer began the fourteen-year journey of discovery that she recounts in this mind-opening, brilliantly readable book. Her first surprise: the dozens of colleagues who’d been keeping similar experiences secret for years, fearful of being labeled credulous or crazy.

Extraordinary Knowing is an attempt to break through the silence imposed by fear and to explore what science has to say about these and countless other “inexplicable” phenomena. From Sigmund Freud’s writings on telepathy to secret CIA experiments on remote viewing, from leading-edge neuroscience to the strange world of quantum physics, Dr. Mayer reveals a wealth of credible and fascinating research into the realm where the mind seems to trump the laws of nature.

She does not ask us to believe. Rather she brings us a book of profound intrigue and optimism, with far-reaching implications not just for scientific inquiry but also for the ways we go about living in the world.

Customer Reviews:

Extraordinary Knowing.......2007-09-25

Finally, a book that reviews the scientific evidence for the existence of extra-ordinary events. It is disturbing to see how scientists, under the guise of skepticism, have refused to look at well-designed studies that, unfortunately for them, challenge their perception of the world AS THEY WOULD LIKE IT TO BE. Skepticism is certainly healthy, but prejudice is not. To decide beforehand that events that appear to not quite follow natural laws are totally unworthy of study is simply not good science. In this book Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer points us to the many high-quality studies (and scientists) that have been simply ignored by mainstream science. Reading this book should certainly open your eyes to the variety of human experience that modern science both rejects and neglects.

I knew you would read this book ; ).......2007-06-07

Mayer takes on a taboo subject - often ridiculed by the religious AND the scientific communities but for different reasons. The scientists -because it is difficult to explain how esp works. The religious -because if humans were to develop their esp abilities -then we would all be prophets.
This book is filled with interesting anecdotes, experiments, ideas, and people who figure prominently in the field of esp practice and esp research. If you are interested in the topics of psychic healing, subliminal messages, meditation, premonition, intuition, dreams, remote viewing, dowsing, and why Sigmund Freud was not fond of music (and more!)- this is the book for you. Read with an open mind. There is a notes section and an index.

Moves discussion into the new millenium.......2007-05-14

This book is courageous in its sharing of the author's personal journey toward a greater understanding of our complete and yet mysterious humanity, backed up by scrupulous clinical and research data. She takes the idea that we are more than we can ever really know about ourselves consciously out of the age of gullible new age mysticism, and puts it in the middle of thinking people's daily contemplation, challenging everyone from the church to psychologists, to even physicists to take on her incredible yet undeniable assertions about the unlmited frontier of human consciousness which she leads us to. The author died right after completing this book, yet this book has an important and exciting message for humanity that needs to be carried forward without her. It is the perfect antidote to all the fervent God-haters of late, injecting awe, humility and intelligence into the discussion of where we have been, and where we are going--to a place where God and science meet.

where the beef?.......2007-05-13

The author makes good use of describing multiple studies that support some amazing mental powers that the human mind appears to be capable of performing. Unfortunately, none of the studies are sufficiently referenced to allow an interested reader to review the actual data. A more detailed account of the experimental set up, control group, number of participants, etc. along with the actual data would have allowed a skeptical reader to assess the validity independently, rather than accepting the "highly statistically significant" conclusion the author presents. Extraordinary claims do require extraordinary evidence. While I believe the evidence may be there, the author does not make the "ordinary" effort to share this important information with her readers. Even an appendix with more detail would have been useful. I was left wanting for more than just an appetizer, how about some real beef!

Excellent .......2007-05-09

Lisby Mayer lived long enough to complete the manuscript for this excellent story of how an extraordinary event changed her life. Must reading.

Influence: Science and Practice (4th Edition)

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A Classic - and for Good Reason!
Automobile
influence certinly influenced me
I read this into the small hours...
Still one of the greatest works of all time.

Influence: Science and Practice (4th Edition)
Robert B. Cialdini
Manufacturer: Allyn & Bacon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0321011473

Book Description

Influence: Science and Practice is an examination of the psychology of compliance (i.e. uncovering which factors cause a person to say “yes” to another's request).

Written in a narrative style combined with scholarly research, Cialdini combines evidence from experimental work with the techniques and strategies he gathered while working as a salesperson, fundraiser, advertiser, and in other positions inside organizations that commonly use compliance tactics to get us to say “yes.” Widely used in classes, as well as sold to people operating successfully in the business world, the eagerly awaited revision of Influence reminds the reader of the power of persuasion.

Cialdini organizes compliance techniques into six categories based on psychological principles that direct human behavior: reciprocation, consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity.

Customer Reviews:

A Classic - and for Good Reason!.......2007-09-18

It would be rare to find a social psychologist who does not view Cialdini as the master of persuasion and influence. I'm no exception. Not only is his knowledge comprehensive, but it is presented in an understandable and compelling way. This is why this book is in its Fourth Edition.

Any serious student of persuasion and influence, theoretical or applied, needs this book in their library. Becoming familiar with Cialdini's six principles of influence (reciprocity, consistency, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity) will broaden your world . . . and when applied, increase your bottom line.

You also will want to read Kevin Hogan's books, including "The Psychology of Persuasion" and "The Science of Influence". I'd also recommend, especially for applied sales and influence practitioners, Dave Lakhani's more recent book, "Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want".

Mollie Marti, Ph.D., J.D.
Author, Selling: Powerful New Strategies for Sales Success

Automobile.......2007-09-07

Definitely something you want to read before making a major decision, to include buying a new car, buying a new home, joining a new church, or voting for the next world leader.

influence certinly influenced me.......2007-08-26

This was a supplementary text to an MBA Negotiations course (main text was Thompson's, Heart and Mind of a Negotiator)
Influence is a a very insightful book and a very easy read compared to usual academic texts.

I read this into the small hours..........2007-08-07

... because I couldn't put it down.

The theory is clever. In six headings and crisply written. The proof is laid out and it's like Cialdini is talking to you. It's easy to remember.
But the examples are harrowing: Why cult leaders do what they do; why initiation rites are brutal; why normal people do nasty things to each other if the conditions are set; why my daughter always gets what she wants; why there's no safety in crowds ...and why reasonable people like me are the MOST likely to be suckered by conmen.

But it closes well. Cialdini gives us tips and exercises to resist the persuaders and to use the same tactics for our own benefit - ethically. This is a great book. I've thrown others out but this one's staying.

Still one of the greatest works of all time........2007-08-07

This is one of the first and still one of the best books on the practical applications of social psychology out there. It is hard to put this book down. Cialdini organizes his main points simply and understandably using several examples from both his personal observations and psychological research. I believe everyone should read this book; it is a stellar example of how psychology can improve the human condition and give us great insight into who we are.

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Beware of the digital upgrade
From Start to End
Impressive for a textbook
Great Reference Book
A Masterful Medical Book of Great Importance Written by a Nobel Laureate!

Principles of Neural Science
Eric R. Kandel , James H. Schwartz , and Thomas M. Jessell
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Medical
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Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Now in resplendent color, the new edition continues to define the latest in the scientific understanding of the brain, the nervous system, and human behavior. Each chapter is thoroughly revised and includes the impact of molecular biology in the mechanisms underlying developmental processes and in the pathogenesis of disease. Important features to this edition include a new chapter - Genes and Behavior; a complete updating of development of the nervous system; the genetic basis of neurological and psychiatric disease; cognitive neuroscience of perception, planning, action, motivation and memory; ion channel mechanisms; and much more.

Customer Reviews:

Beware of the digital upgrade.......2007-09-05

I wanted to forwarn other users, especially students, of the pitfalls of the digital upgrade option:

1) Don't buy the upgrade if you're hoping to get access to it through the library computers, instead of having to lug the massive book to school. Apparently, you cannot view any online book from more than 7 different computers within a 30 day period. And, consequently, if the cache happens to get cleared after each session (as is the case with most shared computers), then you're limited to only 7 sessions with ANY computer.

2) Beware that the book is hard to read online. It's great for adding annotations (highlighting text, adding bookmarks, typing notes, etc.), but it's a real strain on the eyes if you try to read a full chapter. The text is low contrast (gray on white) and low resolution. Even when you use the Zoom-in feature (which lets you increase the size a little bit), it's still hard on the eyes. The text is still just blurry enough to make you think you might need glasses. After several chapters, you probably will need glasses :-)

You can check the quality first by viewing the Preview. That's representative of the whole book. Try reading an entire page and decide for yourself. On the plus side, if you do buy the book, and realize that these issues really do pose a problem for you, Amazon lets you request a refund, as long as you have viewed less than 20% of the book. 20% of 1300 pages is a lot, so you should be fine.

From Start to End.......2007-03-28

This is a great educational text. Each chapter starts from cellular level and progresses to the functional and clinical level. Being a chiropractor and working with the spine everyday I need to understand exactly where the problem starts and not focus on the symptoms. This text has allowed me to understand what is neurophysiologically going on with my patients and improve their course of treatment. As described the neurological system is the electricity of the body and if a fuse decides to blow you need to know where to look.

Impressive for a textbook.......2007-02-13

As far as textbooks go, this has to be one of the best that I have come across...and I have come across quite a few. The material is divided into closely related sections, and the text is clear and to the point in its explanation. Not much filler text or needless material. The diagrams are pretty clear and well positioned in the sections also.

Great Reference Book.......2007-01-06

The text is extremely clear and to the point. The diagrams are also simple to understand. Every major topic in neurosci is discussed, allowing you to get an excellent foundation such that you could read any recent publications on that topic and understand completely what the authors are referring to.

A Masterful Medical Book of Great Importance Written by a Nobel Laureate!.......2006-06-07

I am a Female Reconstructive Surgeon who while reading a diversified field of topics have fallen very fond of a particular work. This is Principles of Neural Science. having just completed the 2000 edition I can guarrantee that the new edition due June 2006 will be even more captivatiing. If you have the opportunity to see Dr Kandel speak please do he is an academic historian who gives a broad history of each critical piece of medical history to each of his topics. But returning to his epic, Principles of Neural Science is akin to Newtons Principia in that is a sublime masterpiece. The Kandell prose is colorful, smooth and insightful for medical science. I have found it easy to read 100-200 pages a day so that the 1400 page book took only a week to discover. The illustrations are the best for any field of Medicine and I have read alll the classics- Harrisions & Cecils Medicine and Schwartz and Sabistons General Surgery neither of these books elucidates the subjugate field with this type of clarity and instructional prose. Do as I have done and preorder the new edition. Those with any interest in the brain will certainly be amazed at the easy depth of information you will achieve. Believe me I am writing a book -Female Reconstructive Surgery and I will be implementing operative 17.2 million pixel photography to achieve the splendid vision the Kandel has produced with his illustrations. I have learned so much on how a book for Surgeons should be written from this Nobel Laureate

Average customer rating:

Memories are Made of This
Rusiko Bourtchouladze
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0231120206

Book Description

Memory enables us to make experience meaningful and to form coherent identities for ourselves and intelligible perceptions of others. Indeed, our ability to imagine, anticipate, and create the future is directly commensurate with our ability to retrieve and recollect past experiences.

But for all its vital importance in human cognition, for all that it seems so ordinary and obvious, memory remains in many ways as complex and mysterious today as it seemed to ancient philosophers. We need only to think about the "tip-of-the-tongue" experience to wonder how memories are formed, where they reside in our brains, and why some are retained, while others are forgotten. What is the difference between long- and short-term memory? Can memory be strengthened? Memories Are Made of This is an account of current memory science that offers answers to these and a host of other questions, comprehensively distilling much diverse and

rigorous science. It delves into the biology of memory functions and researches into the

mechanics and genetics of memory and the importance of emotions, particularly those resulting from trauma, in the memory process. Of special focus are investigations of cognition in other species. Are we the only animals who remember and forget? If not, are there commonalties in the memories of different species? The book also surveys our understanding of the effects of injury and disease on memory and concludes with an assessment of emerging pharmacological efforts to preserve and protect our memories and, in turn, ourselves.

In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind

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Experiments on Short and Long term memory
Great Product plus excellent delivery time
Detailed
In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind
Both more simple and complex than imagined

In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind
Eric R. Kandel
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and the New Biology of Mind
Stumbling on Happiness
I Am a Strange Loop
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code (Eminent Lives) (rough edge)

ASIN: 0393329372

Book Description

"A stunning book."—Oliver Sacks

Charting the intellectual history of the emerging biology of mind, Eric R. Kandel illuminates how behavioral psychology, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and molecular biology have converged into a powerful new science of mind. This science now provides nuanced insights into normal mental functioning and disease, and simultaneously opens pathways to more effective healing.

Driven by vibrant curiosity, Kandel's personal quest to understand memory is threaded throughout this absorbing history. Beginning with his childhood in Nazi-occupied Vienna, In Search of Memory chronicles Kandel's outstanding career from his initial fascination with history and psychoanalysis to his groundbreaking work on the biological process of memory, which earned him the Nobel Prize.

A deft mixture of memoir and history, modern biology and behavior, In Search of Memory traces how a brilliant scientist's intellectual journey intersected with one of the great scientific endeavors of the twentieth century: the search for the biological basis of memory. 50 illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Experiments on Short and Long term memory.......2007-08-13

Eric Kandel's work represents a harmonious mixture of autobiography and a description of research into the workings of the Brain, particularly memory. Having been tormented by childhood memories of Nazi hounding in Vienna in the early years of the second world war, he wanted to find out how these memories are held in the Brain. At the same time, he was also very curious about how Freud's (a fellow Viennese) representation of Id, Ego and Superego mapped to the Brain in terms of neurons and signaling.

He starts off with a history of discoveries in the structure of the Brain, starting with Santiago Cajal's study of the basic form of neurons. Leading to chemical and electrical signaling between the neurons. He dwells into the details of how the electrical signals are converted into chemicals at the synapses while crossing to a neighboring neuron and how the chemicals change back to the electricity after the crossing has been accomplished. He describes his own experiments with short and long term memories. He brings out the distinction very clearly. Short term memory results from strengthening or synapses, while long term memory results from growing of new synapses. Protein synthesis is involved in such a growth and can come only from a conscious effort on part of an individual to commit something to long term memory. This also explains why cramming for an exam does not really result in a long term learning.

He explains clearly why metal illnesses are difficult to diagnose and treat, unlike the other structural damages like tumors, strokes etc. Mental illnesses do result from multiple genes and sometimes the environmental factors as well. The book ends with the Nobel Prize ceremony and a critique of Austria's turning of blind eye towards Hitler's invasion and persecution of Jews.

The beauty of the book is that it is not restricted to just the students and practitioners of Psychiatry. Anyone with some initiation into Basic Sciences at College level can appreciate the work.

Great Product plus excellent delivery time.......2007-07-18

I am very satisfied with my order, got here in less then a week which is great as i was anxios to get this book.

Had no problems with the seller and would definetly buy from them again

Thanks

Detailed.......2007-07-12

This book is certainly written for those that have a keen interest in the biological fundamentals and intricacies of memory. Do not expect much from a psychological or phenomenological perspective. It is a well written book but a lot of neuroscience nuts and bolts.

In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind.......2007-06-17

An interesting weaving of personal recollection and history that takes the reader on a voyage through some of the discoveries in neural science. The logic of science and twists and turns of fate combine to make for fascinating reading. The book details how the molecular biology of the nervous system is responsible for short term and long term memory, and has been preserved through evolution from primitive snails through human beings, and lays the pathway for possible future understanding and research. On a personal level, the book details how a Jewish boy flees Austria in 1938 as Hitler rises to power, enters medical student with an interest in psychoanalysis and becomes one of the leading neuroscientists of our time, earning a Nobel Prize in the process. Though the book does contain some details of molecular biology, "In Search of Memory" is well worth the time to read.

Both more simple and complex than imagined.......2007-06-15

Is it in his eyes? Is it in his kiss? No, it's in his cells. That's where it is.
For those who have toiled in the field of psychology this book tells the story of where we've been and where we are now. And it tells it well.
It's hard to imagine the author starting with elegant psychoanalytic theory and ending up with utter reverence for a single celled organism. But that's the road science has taken us. The mind is both more and less complicated than we imagined.
In addition to explaining the basics of cell memory, the author recounts his own life experiences, adding humanity to this technical topic.

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Average customer rating:

Down the Rabbit Hole...
Come one, come all
Bound with the "braid"?
Excellent book!
"This sentence is false."

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
Douglas R. Hofstadter
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0465026567

Amazon.com

Twenty years after it topped the bestseller charts, Douglas R. Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid is still something of a marvel. Besides being a profound and entertaining meditation on human thought and creativity, this book looks at the surprising points of contact between the music of Bach, the artwork of Escher, and the mathematics of Gödel. It also looks at the prospects for computers and artificial intelligence (AI) for mimicking human thought. For the general reader and the computer techie alike, this book still sets a standard for thinking about the future of computers and their relation to the way we think.

Hofstadter's great achievement in Gödel, Escher, Bach was making abstruse mathematical topics (like undecidability, recursion, and 'strange loops') accessible and remarkably entertaining. Borrowing a page from Lewis Carroll (who might well have been a fan of this book), each chapter presents dialogue between the Tortoise and Achilles, as well as other characters who dramatize concepts discussed later in more detail. Allusions to Bach's music (centering on his Musical Offering) and Escher's continually paradoxical artwork are plentiful here. This more approachable material lets the author delve into serious number theory (concentrating on the ramifications of Gödel's Theorem of Incompleteness) while stopping along the way to ponder the work of a host of other mathematicians, artists, and thinkers.

The world has moved on since 1979, of course. The book predicted that computers probably won't ever beat humans in chess, though Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in 1997. And the vinyl record, which serves for some of Hofstadter's best analogies, is now left to collectors. Sections on recursion and the graphs of certain functions from physics look tantalizing, like the fractals of recent chaos theory. And AI has moved on, of course, with mixed results. Yet Gödel, Escher, Bach remains a remarkable achievement. Its intellectual range and ability to let us visualize difficult mathematical concepts help make it one of this century's best for anyone who's interested in computers and their potential for real intelligence. --Richard Dragan

Topics Covered: J.S. Bach, M.C. Escher, Kurt Gödel: biographical information and work, artificial intelligence (AI) history and theories, strange loops and tangled hierarchies, formal and informal systems, number theory, form in mathematics, figure and ground, consistency, completeness, Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry, recursive structures, theories of meaning, propositional calculus, typographical number theory, Zen and mathematics, levels of description and computers; theory of mind: neurons, minds and thoughts; undecidability; self-reference and self-representation; Turing test for machine intelligence.

Book Description

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this book applies Godel's seminal contribution to modern mathematics to the study of the human mind and the development of artificial intelligence.

Customer Reviews:

Down the Rabbit Hole..........2007-05-18

This is a difficult book.

Difficult to read. Difficult to understand. And, I'm finding, difficult to review. What's it about? Good question. The author, himself, isn't very clear on this point, describing it as "a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll." I'm not sure I can do better than that. I will tell you this, however: if the book has a "point," it does seem to be that man's consciousness is ultimately mechanical and, therefore, that there is no reason that machines cannot finally be intelligent in the same sense that man is. (And, in fact, be as man in just about every internal way.)

While I take issue with this conclusion, and some of Hofstadter's reasoning along the way, I don't think that my debating his points is the basis on which a prospective reader should decide whether or not to pick up this book. Instead, the prospective reader should know: that this is a lengthy and deep work. It will take a *long* time to read properly, and most readers should not read more than a chapter a day. Many of the sections, and especially the various dialogues that preface the chapters, are quite clever. (These dialogues are usually between Achilles and the Tortoise, of Zeno's paradoxes, and their friends.) Some of the chapters grow incredibly technical. The subject matters vary, wildly and rapidly, and there will be points in reading where you will question your investment.

In the end, you will feel good for having pushed through the hard bits. It will coalesce, more or less, into a whole. Whether you finally agree with Hofstadter's conclusions or not, you'll have learned much and thought about important topics you might otherwise not have.

A good book, certainly not for everyone... but, if you're the "right" audience--someone deeply interested in questions of intelligence, mathematics, computer science and free will, and possessed of a bit of an ironic sense of humor--then this book cannot be recommended highly enough.

Five stars, for the work it represents, and the doors it opens to the reader.

Come one, come all.......2007-05-16

As you can see from other reviews, people tend to walk away from this book with a variety of different impressions. Math, Art, Logic, Philosophy, Human Perception and Thought, it has it all. This is second to the Bible in my collection as a book I've read multiple times and can still come back to a read again for even more insight and perspective.

Bound with the "braid"?.......2007-05-14

Can someone tell me, in plain English, what this book is about? On the little matter of determinism--is he for it or against it? He does not seem to have come to praise Godel, Escher, Bach for their strangeness but rather to bury strangeness and its resistance to materialism. He seems to be saying that strangeness is hardwired and can be programmed into a formal system by someone who sees it for what it is--in short, that computers will some day rise to the level of consiousness and self-reference. But wouldn't such a system be curved in upon itself and lack strangeness? If strangeness could be hard-wired into AI, would it still seem strange? Nothingness annihilates strangeness, but then the absense of strangeness is the actual limit of the theories of value seen in those who follow Heidegger. In order to eliminate the difference between soul and matter, they must give up the resistance of soul to the limitations of material existence; at which point "strangeness" becomes a matter of verbal virtuosity and conceptual sleight of hand. "Strangeness" becomes the same thing as cleverness. Or am I misreading this fascinating book?

Excellent book!.......2007-05-14

Hofstadter combines the awe in math, music, art, artificial intelligence, language and computers into one big book called GEB. Its takes the reader on an ecstatic journey with a clever use of parallels between the structure of math, music and finite but endless loops that appear in Escher's works. Dialogs between Achilles and Tortoise are very interesting.

"This sentence is false.".......2007-03-19

A simple example of recursiveness in music is the song "row, row, row your boat." The song becomes recursive as each new line is started when the original line makes it to "gently down the stream." In this way, we have a musical example of the artistic portrayals of Maurits Cornelius Escher whose paintings invariably fosuc on recursive visual themes such as two hands in the process of drawing each other.

In each case, the depiction challenges our ability to pidgeon hole the phenomenon we are examining. Which line is the harmony, which is the melody in "row, row, row your boat"? Which hand is drawing which in the Escher print?

Liguistically, the same effect occurs when we examine the statement "This sentence is false." Logically if we accept the statement at its face value being false then it becomes an accurate representation (in that it correctly asserts its falseness). On the other hand, we are also drawn to the conclusion that the statement is true (again because it is self referentially accurate).

Ultimately, we are forced to logically conclude that we can neither bracket the statement "This sentence is false" with either all true statements or all untrue statements. As indicated previously, like the song "row, row, row your boat" or an Escher painting, the sentence defies pidgeon holing owing to its recursive quality.

Back in 1931, Kurt Godel shocked the mathematics community with his assertion that mathematically consistent systems themselves necessarily produce formally undecideable propositions (the math equivalent of "This sentence is false"). At the time of presenting his paper, it was Godel's intent to demonstrate the unique nature of human intellect because if we can resolve undecideable propositions then there must be something unique to the process of human intellect.

While Godel certainly brought undeniable genius to the creation of his theorem, it doesn't follow that the theorem proves the uniqueness of human intellect. And the reason Godel's theorem doesn't prove the uniqueness of human intellect is because its logical limitations are our own.

Just as Godelian mathematics can't prove undecideable propositions, neither can we "prove" them.

However, we can "believe" undecideable propositions. (In this regard, two easy cases in point are Goldbach's conjecture -- that all even numbers are the sum of two primes -- and that parallel lines really are parallel.) In this way, Godel's theorem, in combination with modern research on artificial intelligence, shows that it is the emotive side of reason that defies the strict logical limitations of Godelian constructs.

These hard won discoveries have combined to make for some surprising findings.

Probably the first among these most observable to the general public through the misconception of science fiction is that emotion somehow stagnates the operation of intellect. In this way, it was HAL 9000's personality as much as the creepiness of that personality that was surprising to 1968 movie goers watching "2001: A Space Odessy." As demonstrated in the movie, it was the fact of HAL's emotive connections with the ongoing actions of his crew that prompted "him" to formulate and act on plans.

Second, modern research has shown that human intellect is not best characterized as being a "blank slate" but rather a delicate combination of various systems that survey reality in the own ways. An easy example is the human eye which uses a combination of three different light cones to measure redness, greenness and blueness. It is the relative comparisons of these cone findings that nudges your visual perception to observe the color of an object. At the intellectual level, one system is entirely devoted to our understanding of artifacts. How do they work? How can they be modified for use in a situation? Another system comprehends animate creatures. Yet another system recognizes faces. Still another system is devoted to language acquisition.

And significantly all these systems acquire information emotively. We see the face of a parent and emotively appreciate it (unless we suffer from a particular cognitive disorder that has disabled our ability to do so as for example discussed by Oliver Sacks in his great book "The man who mistook his wife for a hat"). We remember a concept learned and emotively evaluate it. In this way, freedom, communism, taxes are not just intellectual constructs but ideas that spark real feelings on our part.

In creating Godel, Escher, Bach, Douglas Hofstadter displayed true genius in linking three domains wherein recursiveness seems to play such a pivatol role. As he indicated, they are three shadows cast from the same source.

In re-concluding this book, however, I couldn't help but think of other possible titles that could be added to a Godel, Escher, Bach type encyclopedia: "Phi, Di Vinci, Bach" -- the story of the "golden ratio" of phi which plays a role in Di Vinci's art work and as it so happens also in the music of Bach; "Pascal, State Lotteries, Happy Birthday" -- the story of Pascal's wager and how an appreciation of statistics will make us understand why states will never lose money running a state lottery for reasons akin to why relatively small groupings of people will have at least two that share the same birthday; and "Klein, Carroll, Kubrick" -- the story of Oscar Klein's bottle which can resort to the fourth dimensionj to fill itself up and how speculations by the physicist J Richard Gott suggest that Alice and all of us may have originallyu gone down the rabbit hole for a real space odessy through time itself.

The point here is not that Hofstadter was incorrect but (no pun intended) merely incomplete in his survey when he said that Godel's proof, Escher's paintings and Bach's music were but three shadows cast from the same source. The point here is that -- properly examined -- those three shadows, together with the encyclopedia I've suggested, would direct us not only to the origins of consciousness but also the origin of origins itself.

Learning and Behavior: A Contemporary Synthesis

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A pleasant, deep, thorough review of a beautiful science

Learning and Behavior: A Contemporary Synthesis
Mark E. Bouton
Manufacturer: Sinauer Associates Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0878930639

Book Description

The considerable progress that has been made researching fundamental learning processes tells an important and interesting story. In this new book--written for undergraduates, graduate students, and curious professionals--Mark Bouton recounts that story, providing a strong background in modern learning and behavior theory that is informed by the history of the field. The text reflects the author's conviction that the study of animal learning has a central place in psychology, and that understanding its principles and theories is important for students, psychologists, and scientists in related disciplines (e.g., behavioral neuroscience and clinical psychology).

Almost all of the chapters are organized to illustrate how knowledge is accumulated through the systematic development of theory and research. The book opens with a brief history that connects the modern issues with their philosophical and biological roots. The second chapter addresses the idea that basic learning processes are designed to help an organism adapt to a changing world; in the process, it introduces the reader to a wide range of interesting examples of learning. After analyzing some fundamental phenomena in Pavlovian learning, the book then provides a very clear and readable review of modern conditioning theories since the Rescorla-Wagner model, discusses memory retrieval and behavior-system processes that govern performance, and addresses the question (posed by research in the late 1960s and 1970s) of whether the laws of learning and behavior uncovered in the laboratory maze and Skinner box have generality--by studying learning in honey bees and categorization and causal judgments in humans. Instrumental learning is then discussed from various perspectives in chapters on behavior and its consequences (research in behavior analysis), how stimuli guide instrumental action (a survey of the field of animal cognition), and how motivation influences instrumental action. The final chapter reviews and integrates the major themes of the book, describing avoidance learning, learned helplessness, and related examples of learning before reviewing the modern cognitive and synthetic perspective on instrumental action.

Lively and current, Learning and Behavior: A Contemporary Synthesis engages students while illustrating the interconnectedness and excitement of modern research.

Customer Reviews:

A pleasant, deep, thorough review of a beautiful science.......2007-06-13

Bouton's "Learning and Behavior" provides one of the best current introductions to the science of animal learning. This book might feel "hard to digest" at first due to the great amount of literature reviewed in it, as well as because of the many connections the author makes among different findings and theories (in my opinion, these are feats, rather than flaws). Don't desist... keep reading it! The beauty of this journey lies in its many different paths. If you view psychology as a scientific endeavor, you will enjoy the openness of this book to different interpretations, rebuttals, refutations, and alternative accounts. A patient, persistent reader won't be disappointed with this book, and will reach the end of the last chapter with the irreplaceable satisfaction of realizing that much has already been done in the science of associative learning, but there's still plenty of room for further research too.

Average customer rating:

Bridges the gap b/t AI theory and application.
This is how the brain works!
Best Brain Book
Amazing
Insightful, and ambitious

On Intelligence
Jeff Hawkins , and Sandra Blakeslee
Manufacturer: Holt Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind

ASIN: 0805078533
Release Date: 2005-07-14

Amazon.com

Jeff Hawkins, the high-tech success story behind PalmPilots and the Redwood Neuroscience Institute, does a lot of thinking about thinking. In On Intelligence Hawkins juxtaposes his two loves--computers and brains--to examine the real future of artificial intelligence. In doing so, he unites two fields of study that have been moving uneasily toward one another for at least two decades. Most people think that computers are getting smarter, and that maybe someday, they'll be as smart as we humans are. But Hawkins explains why the way we build computers today won't take us down that path. He shows, using nicely accessible examples, that our brains are memory-driven systems that use our five senses and our perception of time, space, and consciousness in a way that's totally unlike the relatively simple structures of even the most complex computer chip. Readers who gobbled up Ray Kurzweil's (The Age of Spiritual Machines and Steven Johnson's Mind Wide Open will find more intriguing food for thought here. Hawkins does a good job of outlining current brain research for a general audience, and his enthusiasm for brains is surprisingly contagious. --Therese Littleton

Book Description

Jeff Hawkins, the man who created the Palm Pilot, Treo smart phone, and other handheld devices, has reshaped our relationship to computers. Now he is revolutionizing neuro-science and computing with this new look at intelligence itself. In On Intelligence, Hawkins develops a powerful theory of how the human brain works, explaining why computers are not intelligent. The brain is not a computer but a memory system that stores experiences in a way that reflects the true structure of the world, remembering sequences of events and their nested relationships and making predictions based on those memories. It is this memory-prediction system that forms the basis of intelligence, perception, creativity, and even consciousness. Based on this new theory, we can finally build intelligent machines, ones that will likely exceed human ability in surprising and useful ways. Written with acclaimed science writer Sandra Blakeslee and endorsed by a host of scientists and technology experts, On Intelligence reveals how we truly think and how this understanding will transform the technology age.

Download Description

From the inventor of the PalmPilot comes a new and compelling theory of intelligence, brain function, and the future of intelligent machines.

Customer Reviews:

Bridges the gap b/t AI theory and application........2007-10-01

Excellent book. Bridges the gap b/t AI theory and application. Author also has a downloadable programming API based on the research in the book. So you can actually put his theories to the test.

This is how the brain works!.......2007-09-06

This is an amazing book. Especially when I combine the knowledge acquired here with other things I've known and read. I promise you, there's a new book coming out of all this and I'll have it out in 24 months or so. Buy this you'll like it. Buy mine when it comes out, you'll love it!

Best Brain Book.......2007-08-16

Jeff Hawkin's does it ! If you want to know the latest information on how a brain works (and why computers are NOT intelligent) put On Intelligence at the top of your list of 'must reads'...

Paul J. Friday, PhD
Chief, Clinical Psychology
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center - Shadyside
Author: Friday's Laws: How to Become Normal When You're Not and How to Stay Normal When You Are

Amazing.......2007-07-29

Hawkins ideas on how the human brain works are profound. I'm re-reading this book again after finishing it only 4 months ago. With Hierarchical Temporal Memory, Hawkins is not only theorizing how the human brain works, he's also on the path to proving his theories at Numenta. As can be expected, he's building on existing research and theories, which is generally how scientific theories evolve.

Insightful, and ambitious.......2007-07-08

Jeff Hawkins's 'On Intelligence' is an ambitious journey towards a unified theory of cognition and the brain. Varying between the insightful and the minute details that Jeff feels are required to back his theories, the book itself is a mixed read and is probably best aimed at a reader with prior exposure to the field. If you are interested in AI, cognition, or even our physical brains, this is a good read, but take it with a grain of salt - a lot of details and counter-arguments have been conveniently swept under the rug.

Why We Believe What We Believe: Uncovering Our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality, and Truth

Average customer rating:

Very interesting and helpful
Why We Believe What We Believe
Well-written and compelling, although with obvious biases
An Astonishing Book

Why We Believe What We Believe: Uncovering Our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality, and Truth
Andrew Newberg , and Mark Robert Waldman
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Applied Psychology | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Neuropsychology | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Physiological Aspects | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Cognitive | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Psychology | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief
In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion (Evolution and Cognition Series)
The Mystical Mind: Probing the Biology of Religious Experience (Theology and the Sciences)
The "God" Part of the Brain: A Scientific Interpretation of Human Spirituality and God
The God Gene: How Faith Is Hardwired into Our Genes

ASIN: 0743274970

Book Description

WHY DO YOU BELIEVE THE THINGS YOU BELIEVE? Do you remember events differently from how they really happened? Where do your superstitions come from? How do morals evolve? Why are some people religious and others nonreligious? Everyone has thoughts and questions like these, and now Andrew Newberg and Mark Waldman expose, for the first time, how our complex views emerge from the neural activities of the brain. Bridging science, psychology, and religion, they demonstrate, in simple terminology, how the brain perceives reality and transforms it into an extraordinary range of personal, ethical, and creative premises that we use to build meaning, value, spirituality, and truth into our lives. When you come to understand this remarkable process, it will change forever the way you look at the world and yourself.

Supported by groundbreaking research, including brain scans of people as they pray, meditate, and even speak in tongues, Newberg and Waldman propose a new model for how deep convictions emerge and influence our lives. You will even glimpse how the mind of an atheist works when contemplating God. Using personal stories, moral paradoxes, and optical illusions, the authors demonstrate how our brains construct our fondest assumptions about reality, offering recommendations for exercising your most important "muscle" in order to develop a more life-affirming, flexible range of attitudes.

You'll discover how to:

Recognize when your beliefs are altered by others

Guard against mental traps and prejudicial thinking

Distinguish between destructive and constructive beliefs

Cultivate spiritual and ethical ideals

Ultimately, we must always return to our beliefs. From the ordinary to the extraordinary, they give meaning to the mysteries of life, providing us with our individual uniqueness and the ability to fill our lives with joy. Most important, though, they give us inspiration and hope, beacons to guide us through the light and dark corners of the soul.

Customer Reviews:

Very interesting and helpful.......2007-09-11

Was struggling with faith. This book helped me sort things out. Very, very helpful.

Why We Believe What We Believe.......2007-08-24

I'm just about done reading this book and have enjoyed it very much. The author doesn't go on any tangents, go off the subject or include any difficult theories to weed through. The author does mentioned several scientific experiments but they are necessary to back up his findings. He doesn't bash people who believe in spiritual things but he doesn't sway that way himself he just looks at what he discovered with a scientific eye. I prefer books that don't bash other people with an opposing view but prefer someone who is looking for the reason of things with an open mind. I still would recommend that if you are a Christian you will need an open mind to enjoy this book.

Well-written and compelling, although with obvious biases.......2006-09-21

Andrew Newberg, professor of Radiology and Psychiatry, has written (along with Mark Robert Waldman) a sequel to his book, Why God Won't Go Away. The new book has strengths and weaknesses, but, should be of some interest to those who have an interest in spiritual matters and human behavior. The book is primarily written to address the question of how the brain works so that we arrive at what we believe to be true. The authors write from a spiritual perspective, but take numerous jabs at Christians and Christianity throughout the book. In contrast, New Age and Far Eastern religions seem to receive little or no criticism (co-author, Mr. Waldman seems to be into New Age type spirituality), and are actually endorsed. Likewise, atheists may not be entirely comfortable with the content, since it clearly challenges their cherished belief that that have no beliefs.

Even with this viewpoint bias, the first two parts of the book ("How the brain makes our reality" and "Childhood development and morality") are nothing less than fascinating. The topics are broad, so a lot of details are not included (especially supporting studies), although doing so would have increased the length considerably. Even so, I would have preferred more details and citations and a little of the controversy, which must be present in such a complex field. One gets the distinct impression that the results are not quite as neat and tidy as presented, and one wonders if studies that do not support the authors' premises are omitted as a form of viewpoint bias or just to save space.

A particularly interesting chapter entitle, "Ordinary Criminals Like You and Me," presents numerous experiments (many of which would be considered unethical today) that demonstrate that the vast majority of individuals will do extremely immoral acts, given the right conditions. For example, if enough people (planted experimental confederates) go along with a lie, test subjects will do likewise. In another study, participants "electrocuted" a "student" who was a "poor learner." Studies simulating prison conditions showed that the "officers" (experimental subjects) routinely mistreated the "prisoners" (also experimental subjects). In other experiments, subjects would usually act in selfish ways, rather than take the moral high ground. Newberg suggests that barring interception by our frontal lobes of our brain, all our actions would be immoral and selfish.

The book's third section, spiritual beliefs and the brain, presents Newberg's latest (and earlier) functional brain scan results on religious people. Previously, Newberg had studied the brain activity of Buddhists practicing meditation and Franciscan nuns practicing "centering prayer," a Roman Catholic method of meditating deeply on a specific biblical passage or concept. These results had shown similar patterns of brain activity for those meditating on "becoming one with the universe" or "inner peace" (Buddhists) and those meditating on God or the Bible. Both groups showed increased activity in the frontal lobes (primarily the prefrontal cortex), which represents the "attention area" and decreased activity in the parietal lobes (the "orientation area"). Each group interpreted their experience on the basis of their beliefs (e.g., inner peace for the Buddhists or God's presence for the nuns). In this book, Newberg added a third group - Pentecostal Christians who "speak in tongues." When analyzed, the brain scans showed increased activity in the thalamus (as in Buddhists and nuns). Speaking in tongues also resulted in high activity in the temporal lobes (involved in making emotions) and in the midbrain (probably resulting from the activities of speech and dance). Like Buddhists and nuns, Pentecostals represent a small percentage of the American population (probably only about 1% of Americans claim to speak in tongues). Newberg presented one case (not exactly a scientific sampling) of a spiritual atheist. Like the Buddhists, he practiced meditation, and presented with a brain scan similar to the Buddhists and nuns (though the actual scans were not shown in the book).

Also noteworthy was the finding of asymmetric thalamic activity in the Buddhists, nuns, Pentecostals, and even the one "spiritual" atheist, which is not found in the vast majority of people. The question arises whether these people are born with this asymmetry, resulting in the ability to play these mind games or whether the continual practice of the games themselves lead to the asymmetry. None of Newberg's studies were able to address these questions. An even more fundamental question concerns the rest of us, who lack the asymmetry, but still have religious beliefs. Maybe none of these studies really tell us anything about the kind of religious belief that most of us exhibit, since all the groups chosen for study represent extremely small minorities.

In conclusion, the book is well-written and compelling, although the obvious biases of the writers will probably annoy most Christian readers. The topic is complex and experimental design is difficult at best. Future studies will likely shed more light on this subject.

An Astonishing Book.......2006-09-21

This fascinating book examines how human beings construct their beliefs about everything: how we map the realities of the world, build moral and political beliefs, and develop religious and spiritual beliefs about the universe. The authors base their premises on neurobiological research and then they integrate their findings with contemporary psychology and sociology without ever becoming overly technical, a difficult feat when it comes to explaining the neurological processes of the brain.

The introductory chapter introduces the basic premises of the book, using the case history of a man who riddled with cancer and is about to die in a research hospital at UCLA. Placebo injections are given, and within a week all tumors disappear, but when newspaper reports describe the ineffectiveness of the medicine the patient thought he was taking, the tumors returned. The doctor convinced the patient that a "new and improved" medication was available, and again the tumors disappeared. The FDA then pronounced the medical study a failure, and again, the tumors returned. The authors return to this story throughout the book to explain how our beliefs can deeply influence the neurobiological processes in the brain.

In Chapter 3, the authors use numerous optical illusions to How the brain incorporates perceptual errors into its maps of the world. In this way, they show how many supernatural beliefs are literally perceived as real within the brain. In the next chapter, they show how different cognitive functions contribute to the foundations of everyday beliefs about reality, and how a child's brain is prone towards seeing monsters, believing in Santa Claus, and relying on magic to explain unusual occurrences in the world. The authors also show what happens in the brain when adults attempt to perceive the unperceivable, i.e. God and other spiritual realms.

In Chapter 5, Parents, Peas, and "Putty Tats," Newberg opens his chapter on developmental neuropsychology with a story of how his mother got him to eat his plate of peas. He uses this cute tale to show how early childhood beliefs can shape the remainder of one's adult life. The authors show how easy it is to implant false memories in children and adults, why autobiographical memories are faulty, and why false memories remain imprinted in various circuits of the brain well into adulthood. They also offer a brilliant integration of neurological development with the psychological development of morality (unfortunately, our brains begin to deteriorate in our thirties, and the likelihood of us changing our beliefs, especially inaccurate ones, becomes less and less the older we get.

As the title of Chapter 6 implies (Ordinary Criminals Like You and Me) we are not as moral as we like to think we are. Using brain scan research, they show how we are easily manipulated by authorities to lie, hurt and even kill. Ultimately, the more complex the moral dilemma, the longer it takes our brain to react. Thus we are likely to stand by and watch when others commit immoral acts.

In Chapter 7, Newberg describes his brain scan research with a group of Franciscan nuns engaged in prayer, and the authors suggest how spiritual beliefs become neurologically real in the minds of practitioners.

Chapter 8 includes the first brain scan study of Pentecostal practitioners who speak in tongues, and the findings show that this uniquely creative form of prayer is very different from other forms of spiritual practice, and is probably very similar to shamanic trance states, hypnotherapy, and certain altered states of consciousness brought about by drugs. The authors are careful to point out that Pentecostal practices are inherently beneficial and do not represent pathological processes of illness.

In Chapter 9, the authors conduct the first brain scan on an atheist who attempts to pray to God. They found that when a person focuses on opposing beliefs, a neurological dissonance takes place that prejudices the individual to reject them. Atheists are physiologically healthy individuals, even though they are one of the most despised groups in America. This chapter sheds light on why political parties tend to despise one another and goes a long way in explaining why there is so much religious discord in the world.

Finally, in Chapter 10, the authors discuss ways to become "a better believer" by developing a more cautious, skeptical, yet openminded approach when evaluating information from the media and from science. An overview of 27 forms of cognitive biases are presented, along with a systematic critique of prayer/religion research. They also summarize contemporary research on the placebo effect.

Overall, an astonishing book that was equally fun to read--but then again, that's what I believe.

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