In the Palaces of Memory: How We Build the Worlds Inside Our Heads

Johnson, George

ISBN 10: 0394583485 / ISBN 13: 9780394583488

Published by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1991

About this Item

8vo, 255 pp.

Seller Inventory # 056863

Bibliographic Details

• Title: In the Palaces of Memory: How We Build the Worlds Inside Our Heads
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York
• Publication Date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0394583485
• ISBN 13: 9780394583488
• Binding: hardcover
• Edition: 1st.
• Condition: Fine copy in fine dust jacket
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Psychology

About this title

Synopsis

Explores how the human mind transforms experience into stored memory

Reviews

How does the brain create memories? It seems that under the impact of experience, the brain actually changes its structure, filing away patterns of newly connected neurons for future recollection. But the exact mechanisms remain a mystery. Johnson ( Machinery of the Mind ) focuses on three experts who attack this enigma from the vantage of their different disciplines. Biologists Gary Lynch puts forth a controversial hypothesis which holds that the breakup of a single type of molecule inside cerebral neurons makes possible memory formation. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Cooper uses computer simulations to show that memory is inseparable from perception and logic. Philosopher Patricia Churchland depicts the brain as a "Rube Goldberg machine," an assemblage of evolutionary tricks for translating sensory data into mental constructs--memories--that help ensure survival. This elegantly written report is science on the cutting edge--messy, intuitive and exciting.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.