Wider than the Sky

the long version

"Dr. Gerald M. Edelman draws on a lifetime of scientific inquiry into the workings of the brain to formulate answers to the mind-body questions that intrigue all thinking people. In direct, non-technical language, he explains pertinent facts about neuroscience and describes how consciousness arises in complex brains. Edelman explores the relation of consciousness to causation, to evolution, to the development of the self, and to the origins of feelings, learning, and memory. He examines the connection of language to higher-order consciousness, and he seeks to clarify the place of values in a world of facts." "Wider Than the Sky presents an analysis of the brain activities underlying consciousness that is based on remarkable recent advances in biochemistry, immunology, medical imaging, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology. But the implications of this rewarding book extend farther, well beyond the worlds of science and medicine into virtually every area of human inquiry."--Jacket.