Product Description

This text charts the brain's mind, progressing from single nerve cells to co-operative nerve cell assemblies to the emergence of complex brain patterns. By drawing on recent developments in brain imaging and theories of chaos and non-linear dynamics it shows how brains create intention and meaning.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1432044 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

About the Author
Walter Freeman is a professor in the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught Brain science for forty years. He is the author of more than 300 articles and two books, Mass Action in the Nervous System and Societies of Brains.

Customer Reviews

Don't blame Freeman if you can't keep up with him
This is one of the most brilliant theoretical works in contemporary neuroscience. Freeman is a genius. And no, his ideas and his descriptions are not an easy read. It would be surprising if they were, given that he is forging completely new territory. There are few global, yet detailed, comprehensive models of brain function, and fewer still that respect the finest details of interneuronal mechanisms. Freeman's integration between the concept of intentionality and his vision of the brain as a multi-chambered self-organizing system is 30 years ahead of its time. Instead of criticizing him for being unclear, read the book again. And again. You'll get it eventually.

nothing concrete to grab on to
I found this short little book to be wordy, murky and unclear. No one knows how thought/meaning is conveyed in the brain. Freeman suggests that chaos, transistions, and repeating patterns have something to do with memory, learning and meaning, and that context is important, but so what. Those ideas have been suggested before, and I didn't find any highly compelling new arguments, either theoretical or experimental, in support for how or why these particular ideas should be correct. There are some interesting tidbits here and there when he explains some experiments in the field.

Interesting combination of neuroscience, philosophy and math
This is one of several books in the last couple of years written by leading neuroscientists attempting to explain consciousness. Outstanding examples are Damasio's "The Feeling of What Happens" and Edelman and Tononi's "A Universe of Consciousness," which are both very worthwhile reading. Freeman takes a different tack, based on his years of research into the olfactory system. Though this short book appears to be aimed at the educated layman, many will be stopped short in their tracks by his "ten building blocks" of "how neural populations sustain the chaotic dynamics of intentionality," such as the ever-popular #8, "Attenuation of microscopic sensory-driven activity and enhancement of mesoscopic amplitude modulation patterns by divergent-convergent cortical projections underlying solipsm." These ten statements form the core of the book, and although they are ultimately explained with some degree of clarity, I found myself wishing for more specific examples from the neuroscientific literature beyond the very limited samples provided, which tended to be either very basic circuit diagram type drawings, or taken from his work in the olfactory system. I did find the application of chaos theory to brain dynamics fascinating, though for a critique of Freeman's approach and an alternative view see the article by Laurent et al in the 2001 Annual Review of Neuroscience. Overall, though, I found the book a stimulating and interesting read.