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By Alwyn Scott
The nature of human consciousness is a mystery that philosophers, artists, and scientists have struggled with for centuries. What is the basis for our awareness of ourselves and the universe around us? Some believe consciousness to be a purely physical phenomenon; others think it transcends the material world. In Stairway to the Mind, Alwyn Scott offers a new perspective-based exclusively on evidence from the natural sciences-in which materialism and dualism co-exist.
The author, a distinguished pioneer of nonlinear dynamics, bases his argument on a hierarchical view of mental organization in which atoms give rise to molecules, neurons form the brain, and individual consciousness leads to shared culture. It is an organization Scott symbolizes with a stairway-all steps are needed to complete the structure, and each level emerges from the previous one. Stairway to the Mind also features Scott's evenhanded yet penetrating evaluation of the many conflicting concepts of brain and mind. Few topics have been the subject of such divergent theories, and readers will appreciate Scott's insight as he compares the work of writers as diverse as William James and Francis Crick.
The book cuts across intellectual boundaries, incorporating particle physics, chemistry, cell biology, neuroscience, psychology, sociology, and mathematics. For readers with specific knowledge in those areas, the book shows what each field adds to an overall investigation of consciousness. For general readers, it is an introduction to bold new scientific methods of probing the mind.
"a clear and competent synthesis of empirical data from many disciplines bearing on the mind-brain problem. Without popularizing, and in a style that is both precise and entertaining, [Scott] succeeds in making the material accessible to the general scientific audience ... a work of enormous scope and ambition, yet written in a lucid style, with great modesty. Scott is a expert guide on this exciting journey, doing justice to all the human qualities without leaving the solid footing of science." -- Journal of Consciousness Studies
"Although dealing with some very heady material, such as quantum theory and biophysics, Scott has clearly made an enormous effort, in which he is largely successful, to be intelligible to the general reader. Not only is the depth of his topics impressive, but the breadth is astonishing for such a concise book ... the critical survey of 20th-century thought is fascinating and highly rlelvant" -- Times Higher Education Supplement
"All levels of readers will appreciate the linkage of basic sciences to a nonlinear theory of human consciousness ... The text is a jewel of presentations--a small package of 187 pages of ideas presented intelligently, poetically, and even humorously, on a serious subject that has confounded famous thinkers for centuries ... an impressive and concise accomplishment" -- Choice
Alwyn Scott is a professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Arizona and in the Institute of Mathematical Modeling at the Technical University of Denmark. He is the founding editor of Physica D-Nonlinear Phenomena, and the founding director of the Center for Nonlinear Studies at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Have a look at Alwyn Scott's homepage, and at his more complete page of reviews (Denmark) page of reviews (CI site - US) of Stairway to the Mind.
August 1995 / 248 pages, illustrations
Hardcover / 0-387-94381-1
List Price: $27.95