Neural Darwinism: The Theory of Neuronal Group Selection. (PRESENTATION COPY, SIGNED BY GERALD M. EDELMAN.)

EDELMAN, Gerald M. [Maurice] (1929-2014):

ISBN 10: 0465049346 / ISBN 13: 9780465049349

Published by New York: Basic Books, 1987., 1987

About this Item

Signed, presentation copy of the the first printing of the First Edition. xxii, 346 pp; figs.; tables. Original cloth. Offsetting to front flyleaf, else Near Fine, in near fine dust jacket. Inscribed on flyleaf: 'For Bill Baker/with admiration/and warm regards/Gerry.' Gerald M. Edelman: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1972 (shared with Rodney R. Porter), 'for their discoveries concerning the chemical structure of antibodies.' See William H. Calvin's review for Science 240: 1802-1803, 1988, on Calvin's site. 'When chaos theory came along (which, for me, is dated to Otto Rössler's famous paper of 1983), it started to become evident how basins of attraction lived in the connectionists' networks. When complexity theory and artificial life came along on their heels, the possibilities of getting to the bottom of Hebb's dual-trace memory seemed promising. Then in 1988, I spent more than two months digesting Edelman's Neural Darwinism, thanks to a request from Science to write a book review that explained it all. I said that Neural Darwinism was essential reading (and it still is) for anyone interested in brains and development' (Calvin in 'Partitioning the Playfield', Chapter 6 of his The Cerebral Code: Thinking a Thought in the Mosaics of the Mind (Cambridge & London: MIT Press, 1996). 'Dr. Edelman has formulated a detailed theory to explain the development and organization of higher brain functions in terms of a process known as neuronal group selection. This theory was presented in his 1987 volume Neural Darwinism, a widely known work' (Nobel Foundation Web site). The recipient Baker is probably a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital: see video at www [dot] webofstories [dot] com/play/gerald.edelman/5 When I got there I remember talking to a physician Bill Baker, who was in the room the first time, and I said, 'Bill, why did you ask me about a cyclotron?' He said, 'Oh, I ran out of questions and I just sort of thought, well, you know, try something.' And I said, 'Well, that's amazing because I couldn't answer most of your questions.' He said, 'That wasn't the important thing; it was the style of your response' (transcript). Seller Inventory # 24210

Bibliographic Details

Title: Neural Darwinism: The Theory of Neuronal ...

Publisher: New York: Basic Books, 1987.

Publication Date: 1987

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

Already the subject of considerable pre-publication discussion, this magisterial work by one of the nation's leading neuroscientists presents a radically new view of the function of the brain and nervous system. Its central idea is that the nervous system in each individual operates as a selective system resembling natural selection in evolution, but operating by different mechanisms. By providing a fundamental neural basis for categorization of the things of this world it unifies perception, action, and learning. The theory also completely revises our view of memory, which it considers to be a dynamic process of recategorization rather than a replicative store of attributes. This has deep implications for the interpretation of various psychological states from attention to dreaming. Neural Darwinism ranges over many disciplines, focusing on key problems in developmental and evolutionary biology, anatomy, physiology, ethology, and psychology. This book should therefore prove indispensable to advanced undergraduate and graduate students in these fields, to students of medicine, and to those in the social sciences concerned with the relation of behavior to biology. Beyond that, this far-ranging theory of brain function is bound to stimulate renewed discussions of such philosophical issues as the mind-body problem, the origins of knowledge, and the perceptual basis of language.

About the Author:

Gerald M. Edelman is director of the Neurosciences Institute and chairman of the Department of Neurobiology at the Scripps Research Institute. He received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1972. He is also the author of Bright Air, Brilliant Fire; Tobiology ; and The Remembered Present .