The Cerebral Symphony [Paperback]

William Calvin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0553349945 | ISBN-13: 978-0553349948 | Publication Date: November 1, 1990

It is impossible to conceptualize the power of a symphony just from knowing the technical specifications of each instrument of the orchestra, just as it is impossible to imagine a ballet from knowing how nerves and muscles work. Many people use such an analogy when contemplating the anatomy and physiology of the human cerebral cortex that many of the uses made of this machinery are far removed from the nuts and bolts of neurons. But I think we can do much better than merely wave our hands about the machinery, as is the common practice among psychologists and humanists. I believe that we now understand how our brain creates the narrator of our conscious experience, the conductor of that cerebral symphony not in all its complexity, but at least in principle and that knowledge of the narrator machinery is going to revolutionize our concept of consciousness, make it much easier to appreciate the richness of our cerebral symphonies.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Neurobiologist Calvin's wispy, New Age-flavored travelogue--abuzz with cormorants and skunks, insects and plants of Woods Hole, Mass., and its littoral environs--ensheathes his fairly technical exposition of the neurophysiology of mind. Some readers will be enthralled; others may grow impatient with his approach. Of particular interest is his theoretical blueprint for a Darwin Machine, a type of computer that uses parallel networking in a "variation-then-selection" process to generate ideas. This hypothetical device, in his forecast, will one day exhibit most of what we now call consciousness, including the gifts of imagination and creativity. Along the way, Calvin ( The River That Flows Uphill ) offers a graceful introduction to the mechanisms underlying visual perception, memory, language acquisition, problem-solving and music appreciation--skills that the Darwin Machine, in his view, will someday possess. Illustrated.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Don't be fooled by the New Age packaging; Calvin, author of The River That Flows Uphill ( LJ 3/1/87) and The Throwing Madonna: From Nervous Cells to Hominid Brains ( LJ 7/83), is a neurobiologist and scholar with an exceptional knack for writing to the layperson. The subject here is how our brain cells work in concert to let us think, but the (necessary) neurobiology and chemistry is nicely blended with a friendly voice and the eye of a miniaturist; the author combines the newest work in the field with an engaging and graceful sense of the past, and nothing stops him from accurate and often charming analogies. This is perhaps the only book where Charles Darwin and the Grateful Dead are mentioned in the same chapter. The entire book becomes an example of Calvin's theories about the accretive and evolutionary process of thinking. Excellent for general collections and essential for collections in the social or health sciences.
- Mark L. Shelton, Columbus, Ohio
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam (November 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553349945
• ISBN-13: 978-0553349948
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,130,263 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William H. Calvin, Ph.D., is a professor emeritus at the University of Washington School of Medicine, now affiliated with the Program on Climate Change of the College of the Environment. He is the author of Global Fever: How to Treat Climate Change (University of Chicago Press 2008, see Global-Fever.org) and thirteen earlier books for general readers. He studies brain circuitry, ape-to-human evolution, climate change, and civilization's vulnerability to abrupt shocks.

In Global Fever, he writes: "The climate doctors have been consulted; the lab reports have come back. Now it's time to pull together the Big Picture and discuss treatment options. At a time when architects are thinking ahead to more efficient buildings and power planners are extolling the virtues of "renewable energy," the climate modelers have discovered that long-term planning will no longer suffice. Our fossil fuel fiasco has already painted us into a corner such that, if we don't make substantial near-term gains before 2020, the long-term is pre-empted, the efforts all for naught. We are already in dangerous territory and have to act quickly to avoid triggering widespread catastrophes. The only good analogy is arming for a great war, doing what must be done regardless of cost and convenience."

His climate talk in Beijing at the Great Hall of the People is available in streaming video as are other recent lectures at NASA and Rice University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars It's the writing style., April 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cerebral Symphony (Paperback)

Too wordy and disjointed. Too complicated. That's complicated, not complex. I can handle complex. Douglas Hofstadter talks about complex things, but I can understand him. I can remember what he wrote. And if I can understand Hofstadter, I must have SOME reading abilities. But this book of Calvin's I found forgettable, because his sentences and paragraphs and topics wander too much. And I like this stuff, the topic, that is. I eat this stuff up, books about consciousness and neuropsychology and psychology in general. But this... I read a few years ago, found it slippery at the time, and can barely remember what I got out of it. Here's a sample: "Consciousness is a very overused word, the same string of syllables being used to designate a multitide of meanings. It's much worse than the multiple meanings of brain, which, besides denoting the three pounds of nerve cells inside our heads, is also used as a verb (to club, aiming at a head), as the opposite of brawn, as a surname in England, as a term for a studious student or the chief planner of an enterprise, and more recently to designate something as inanimate as a computer. Being a neurophsyiologist, I tend to avoid the nonneurological uses of the word [WHICH ONE?], but I doubt that I'll convert the rest of the Englsih-speaking world to my more restrictive usage" (p.75).

And trust me, it gets worse in the next few sentences. Redundant. 90% of that first sentence above is tangent. By the time I get to the end I don't remember what the subject was. This guy likes to hear himself talk. I don't mean that personally, maybe he's a great guy, I don't know, but I think he needs some help with the writing style. And it wouldn't be so bad if he eventually got to some point about consciousness or psychology, but sometimes I can't find why all that tangent was there.

I can't (or won't) critique what the book is about; I think the writing style overrides it. (The type it's set in didn't help, either. Sounds like quibbling but it's true. Somehow it added to the muddiness. Too squished, maybe. I think the quoted sentence reads more clearly as I've typed it here than when one reads it on paper in the book.)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get the big picture., June 12, 2002

By 

Roger Albert (Cumberland, B.C. Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cerebral Symphony: Seashore Reflections on the Structure of Consciousness (Paperback)

I read Calvin's Cerebral Symphony some years ago and found it a refreshing and accessible look at a topic with which I had some passing familiarity and interest. As a sociology and anthropology instructor I could only have tangential knowledge in the neurosciences. I'm not suggesting that reading Calvin made me an expert in the field, but his writing technique and approach opened a new dimension of exploration for me and "connected" with a growing anthropological and archaeological literature on the nature of thought, language and the relationship of brain development and speech. His subsequent work has been even more relevant to my corner or academia.
Another Amazon reviewer has soundly panned Cerebral Symphony and I think, unfairly. Granted, there are books more stylistically compelling. For instance, Robert Persig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is much more carefully crafted than Cerebral Symphony, but I was left with the same sense after reading both of these books that I had read books that addressed in a highly engaging way topics that will prove to be pivotal in the history of scholarship.

5.0 out of 5 stars Eloquent and still useful, March 31, 2011

By 

Ejames LIEBERMAN (Potomac, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cerebral Symphony: Seashore Reflections on the Structure of Consciousness (Paperback)

I acquired this recently and find it valuable still, after 23 years. Calvin's writing is lively and attractive, sometimes prolix as one critic says, but loaded with keen observation, reflection and diverse, interesting quotes. Calvin writes with poetic sensitivity, knowledge broad and deep, and a historic/philosophic bent . Neuroscience has gone far in these decades but this book is still worth reading and keeping.