Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Scribner (1995), Paperback, 336 pages
Description
Traditionally, the human soul is regarded as a nonphysical concept that can only be examined by psychiatrists and theologists. In his new book, The Astonishing Hypothesis, Nobel Laureate Francis Crick boldly straddles the line between science and spirituality by examining the soul from the standpoint of a modern scientist, basing the soul's existence and function on an in-depth examination of how the human brain "sees."
User reviews
LibraryThing member SkepChris
The bulk of the book is spent on describing how the brain, step by step, processes the information that the retina provides into the 3-dimensional 'motion picture' we observe, and which parts of the brain are involved and what they do.
He stresses several times that patients are not aware about
Only at the very end the author carefully speculates on the relation between what he described, and consciousness/the soul.
I think the title of the book should have been: A Technical Explanation of Vision, with maybe a subtitle And Some Speculations about Consciousness. That would have been way more honest, though he would have sold far less copies...
He stresses several times that patients are not aware about
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several types of damage. And that blind sight exists.Only at the very end the author carefully speculates on the relation between what he described, and consciousness/the soul.
I think the title of the book should have been: A Technical Explanation of Vision, with maybe a subtitle And Some Speculations about Consciousness. That would have been way more honest, though he would have sold far less copies...
Show Less
LibraryThing member tgraettinger
Not all that astonishing - I really expected more.
LibraryThing member richardtaylor
Francis Crick (who discovered the structure of DNA with James Watson) presents the evidence for "The Astonishing Hypothesis" that the human mind and soul are no more than emergent properties of the human brain.
The evidence is well presented and it is an interesting read. Whether you conclude that
The evidence is well presented and it is an interesting read. Whether you conclude that
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the hypothesis is "astonishing", "obvious" or "wrong" will probably depend on your preconceptions. Show Less
LibraryThing member aketzle
Really interesting. Pretty scientific & technical.
Language
Physical description
336 p.; 9.13 inches
ISBN
0684801582 / 9780684801582