Already the subject of considerable pre-publication discussion, this magisterial work by one of the nation's leading neuroscientists presents a radically new view of the function of the brain and nervous system. Its central idea is that the nervous system in each individual operates as a selective system resembling natural selection in evolution, but operating by different mechanisms. By providing a fundamental neural basis for categorization of the things of this world it unifies perception, action, and learning. The theory also completely revises our view of memory, which it considers to be a dynamic process of recategorization rather than a replicative store of attributes. This has deep implications for the interpretation of various psychological states from attention to dreaming. Neural Darwinism ranges over many disciplines, focusing on key problems in developmental and evolutionary biology, anatomy, physiology, ethology, and psychology. This book should therefore prove indispensable to advanced undergraduate and graduate students in these fields, to students of medicine, and to those in the social sciences concerned with the relation of behavior to biology. Beyond that, this far-ranging theory of brain function is bound to stimulate renewed discussions of such philosophical issues as the mind-body problem, the origins of knowledge, and the perceptual basis of language.

One of the human brain’s most remarkable achievements is that it is able to investigate its own working. In An Anatomy of Thought, Ian Glynn takes full advantage of this facility to explain why the nature of consciousness is now much more of a mystery to science than the nature of life. Assuming no specialized knowledge, Glynn demonstrates how it is that nerve cells in our eyes and ears, on our tongues, and on our finger tips (as well as many other places) are able to interact with our nerve cells in our brains to analyse situations, make decisions and remember past events. Drawing deeply on a dazzlingly wide array of disciplines – physiology, neurology, psychology, anthropology, linguistics and philosophy – he explains the nature of seeing, of language and of thought, in the process often telling us not only what is known but also how we have come to know it, and where, precisely, the gaps remain in our knowledge. In his concluding chapters, Glynn provides an account of recent attempts by philosophers to explain the relationship between mind and body, and explains why we possess free will and ethical responsibilities. In its scope and ambition, and in the extraordinary range of the sciences on which it draws, An Anatomy of Thought is indispensable for anyone seeking a truly comprehensive and state-of-the-art understanding of what is still the most complex object in the known universe.