THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE MIND

by Gordon Rattray Taylor ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 16, 1979

The popular British science writer's account of mind is neither natural nor historical. It maunders through matters mysterious and inexplicable, taking delight in attacking monists (materialists) as well as dualists (mind/brain advocates). What can one say about a book whose foreword apologizes for not discussing mental illness, and which then proceeds to classify epilepsy with schizophrenia and manic depression? For openers, there is a discourse on ""autoscopy""--seeing one's double. This should clue us in that later on there will be reportage on telepathy and out-of-body experience, convincing to Taylor at least. Background chapters keep beating the dead horses of theories of mind-as-machine, -as-computer, -as-epiphenomenon. Throughout there is gleeful celebration of what is not known at the expense of advances in understanding. Thus, a chapter on pain leads off with phantom pain (as in an amputated limb) and other curiosa, lamenting the absence of insights--this in spite of Taylor's evident knowledge of the existence of opiate-like substances in the nervous system, the endorphins, and much exciting research into their functioning. The bulk of the book is taken up with challenging puzzles in neuroscience--such as the nature of consciousness or the unconscious, or the meaning of attention and awareness--always with careful selection of the outr≤ as examples. Typically, a chapter on intelligence takes off with savants, idiots and otherwise, while a discussion of memory highlights the rare individuals with perfect recall. Only in dealing with perception does Taylor do a commendable job, explaining what investigators have actually accomplished, for example, in detailing the complex patterning and structure of nerve signals underlying the visual perception of form. Otherwise it's a sloppy job; anyone interested in current research on mental phenomena would be far better served by J. Z. Young's Programs of the Brain (1978).

Pub Date: Nov. 16, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1979

Categories: NONFICTION