United States
£ GBP
Presents an explanation of consciousness in the human brain, based on known anatomy and physiology, and it shows how consciousness arose during evolution. It also argues that it will soon be possible to create consciousness in computers.
1. Introduction; 2. The ultimate black box; 3. Under the lid; 4. Games neurons play; 5. Lasting impressions; 6. From percept to concept; 7. The grand design; 8. The first half second; 9. Midwives of reflection; 10. The depth of reason; 11. The message and the medium.
'Rodney Cotterill has performed a greatly needed service ! to clarify for readers freshly arriving on the scene the hundreds of threads making up the tapestry of current neuroscience ! Cotterill is to be commended for bringing his work and person again to the fore.' Journal of Consciousness Studies ' ! three things about this book make it exceptional. First, that Rodney Cotterill is equipped to talk authoritatively about all three of the areas - neurophysiology, psychology and artificial intelligence ! Second, that as a brilliant teacher he has an extraordinary gift not only for clear exposition but also for seeing analogies that force one to look at things anew ! Finally ! he has a humility in expressing it that is quite exceptional in a field dominated by egotistical dogmatists ! where Cotterill absolutely stands out from other authors in the field is that he can actually write. He is a master of the well-balanced phrase, the appropriate epithet, the exact choice of word: much is almost poetry ! it is full of novel insights and new ways of looking at old problems, to the extent that even the most-knowledgeable reader will come away with a feeling of having learnt a great deal from it.' Roger Carpenter, Trends in Neurosciences 'The book is well structured, moving easily between anatomical detail, functional theories, methodologies and the analyses of others, making it mandatory reading for those considering doing research on this topic.' The Times Higher Education Supplement
