An Anatomy of Thought: The Origin and Machinery of the Mind [Hardcover]

Ian Glynn (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195136969 | ISBN-13: 978-0195136968 | Publication Date: April 27, 2000 | Edition: 1

Drawing on a dazzlingly wide 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.
Here are 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. Glynn writes with exceptional clarity and offers telling examples: to help explain vision, for instance, he discusses optical illusions as well as cases of patients who suffer disordered seeing through healthy eyes (such as the loss of the ability to recognize familiar faces). 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 (episodic and semantic, as well as short-term and implicit memory), traces the path through the brain of information leading to emotional responses, and engages in a discussion of language that takes in Noam Chomsky and Hawaiian pidgin. Moreover, for every subject Glynn addresses, he offers a thorough-going scientific history. For example, before discussing the evolution of the brain, he provides an account of the theory of evolution itself, from the writing and success of The Origin of Species to recent work on the fossil record, DNA, and RNA.
No other single volume has captured the full expanse of our knowledge of consciousness and the brain. A work of unequaled authority and eloquence, An Anatomy of Thought promises to be a new landmark of scientific writing.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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 his expansive An Anatomy of Thought, 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.

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. 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 An Anatomy of Thought. --Rob Lightner

From Publishers Weekly

How do we know? What do we think? How could a philosophical problem--"the mind-body problem," say--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 "clear[ing] 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"; 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 explaining-the-brain books have sometimes advanced simplistic, or implausibly grand, claims about the nature and features of consciousness in general. Instead, Glynn offers a patient, informative, 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. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (April 27, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195136969
• ISBN-13: 978-0195136968
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,730,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The robotic underpinnings of thought processes., June 29, 2000

By 

Dr. Angell O. de la Sierra, Esq. - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Anatomy of Thought: The Origin and Machinery of the Mind (Hardcover)

AN ANATOMY OF THOUGHT

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 menu, 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. ...As we finally come to the end of the tour (Freewill and Morality) of the brain, we travel from the concrete to the abstract. Things get really out of hand, when the author, having confessed being an identity theorist, finds himself in the conundrum of having to admit that, ultimately, the thoughts preceding his actions are determined by physical forces (outside his volitional power to control) and 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?

Dr. Angell de la Sierra (June, 2000)

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thorough Brain, Short Shrift to Mind, February 21, 2001

By 

Seeker of Truth (Reading something, somewhere) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Anatomy of Thought: The Origin and Machinery of the Mind (Hardcover)

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 recommend 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.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic amount of knowledge in easily digestible form!, March 19, 2003

By 

John Bower (Cambridge, Cambs United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Anatomy of Thought: The Origin and Machinery of the Mind (Paperback)

This is essential reading for anyone who is interested in human behaviour. I am a manager, currently studying behavioural 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 humour, 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.