The Creative Loop: How the Brain Makes a Mind (Helix Books) [Paperback]

Erich Harth (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0201489384 | ISBN-13: 978-0201489385 | Publication Date: September 1995 | Edition: First Edition

The author of Windows on the Mind offers a new way of understanding consciousness that takes us out of the old Newtonian world and into the almost mythical realm of contemporary physics--reconciling the cold facts of neuroscience with our most humanistic aspirations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rejecting computer-based models of the brain as flawed, Syracuse physics professor Harth sets forth a provocative alternative model according to which simple neural mechanisms account for creativity and imagination. If Harth ( Windows on the Mind ) is correct, the mental image of a rose or a rabbit occurs near the beginning of the sensory pathways, not in a higher "command center" of the brain. In his model, the cerebral cortex creates these images using the thalamus as a "sketchpad" on which it projects the image and modifies it, drawing on previous sensory input. Similar "creative loops" exist for all the senses, combining to form a system of neural networks between the brain and the body that generates messages about the world. Consciousness, in this view, wells up through a reactivation of images, and selfhood arises from a deliberately assembled self-image grounded in experience encoded as neural memory. Based on the author's two decades of research, this elegantly written treatise will challenge neuroscientists, psychologists and students of the mind. Illustrated.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Perseus Books; First Edition edition (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201489384
• ISBN-13: 978-0201489385
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,471,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great and accessible book, February 4, 2004

By 

Frikle - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Creative Loop: How the Brain Makes a Mind (Hardcover)

This book is a theory in the field of cognitive science that's presented in a way accessible to people who haven't had much experience. The book focuses on creative thinking, which is a nice change from the much-adopted discipline of analysing largely the "rational" parts of the mind.

The main premise of the book is that creativity is enabled by a feedback loop in the brain, whereby what we see is interpreted very basically and that information fed back to the sections of the brain dealing with vision. This enhances what we perceive as important in the object and also makes seemingly simple things like vision very subjective.

The book does tend to be a little too broad and all over the place at times but there's still a unified organisation. There are plenty of diagrams and references to culture and mysticism in terms of the function of the brain. Overall the book isn't brilliant but a very worthwhile read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Slippery Slope, March 1, 2000

By 

Mr Nicholas R Cooper (London. England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Creative Loop: How the Brain Makes a Mind (Helix Books) (Paperback)

An excellent book and a very enjoyable read BUT be careful - it's a slippery slope. 5 years ago I was a happy-go-lucky, carefree musician. This book was one of the major influences that finally made me get around to going to college - and now I'm studying for a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience. You have been warned!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Artful and Scientific., June 2, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Creative Loop: How the Brain Makes a Mind (Hardcover)

Readers are in for a mind-opening treat. Brilliance not only an the presentation of up-to-date science, but also in Professor Harth's artful writing leads the reader to thorougly uplifting experience. This book is a "don't miss" for anyone interested in the ongoing dialectic of science and philosophy