Catalog All books
Gerald M. Edelman, Giulio Tononi
Consciousness : How Matter Becomes Imagination
How do the physical occurrences which take place in our brains create the world of conscious experience ? Philosophers have long disputed this question but today, it is science which is in a position to formulate real answers. Gerald M.Edelman and Giulio Tononi demonstrate that the processes which lead to consciousness are not confined to the brain, but are actually dependant on the functioning of numerous areas. They also show that these interactions are not fixed processes, but are constantly adjusted and modified. This research represents one step further towards understanding our identity and our complexity. Gerald M.Edelman, who has received the Nobel Prize for medicine, heads the Institute of Neurosciences at La Jolla in California. Giulio Tononi is a researcher at the Institute of Neurosciences.
Marek Edelman
Unpublished Notebooks from the Warsaw Ghetto
A work enriched with many elements that clarify the text and enable it to enhance the previously known history of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Gerald M. Edelman
Wider than the Sky
The brain is wider than the sky, For, put them side by side, The one the other will include With ease and you beside, wrote the American poet Emily Dickinson in the mid-nineteenth century. The fundamental mechanisms governing mental life are now the subject of scientific study. In this book, Gerald Edelman examines a major aspect of the mind - consciousness. How can the firing of neurons give rise to subjective sensations, thoughts and emotions? How can the disparate domains of mind and body be reconciled? A scientific explanation of consciousness must take into account the causal connections between these two domains. Such a theory must show how the neural bases of consciousness appeared during the evolutionary process and how certain animals developed consciousness. These are some of the key issues that Gerald Edelman examines here. He shows that consciousness cannot be located in a specific area of the brain, because it is a process linked to how the brain functions as a whole, to its wealth of connections and to its great complexity. The brain, he argues, is not a kind of computer. Edelman is regarded as one of the greatest theoreticians of the brain, and his notion of consciousness dominates all discussions on the subject among the international scientific community. This book offers the most accessible version of his theories that is available today. The winner of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Medicine, Gerald Edelman heads the Institute for Neurosciences, in La Jolla, California.
Gerald M. Edelman
The Biology of Consciousness
How do we think? What makes us beings that are endowed with conscience, capable of memory, of perceiving the surrounding world, of feeling passion? This book presents an ensemble of mechanisms that compose the human spirit and addresses the progress of the neuroscientific revolution: the biology of the brain and the study of its evolution are in the process of surrendering to us the key to conscience itself. Gerald. M. Edleman, winner of the Nobel Prize for medicine, heads the Institute of Neurosciences at La Jolla, California.
Maurice Duverger
Europe of Men
How is it possible to get many nations, separated by history, culture, political structures, to live together? If the European community functioned well with 6 members, in a mediocre way at 9, and at 12 members with difficulty, beyond, the E.E.C. will be ineffectual and paralyzed. One solution is available: to change the institutions. The author, a former member of the European Parliament, proposes here a new theory of federalism, the only way according to him, to progressively substitute to the power of the technocrats that of the members of Parliament and citizens.
Christian de Duve
Listening to the Living
Everything one should know about biology is explained here by a Nobel Prize winner, including the origin of life, its chemical production and reproduction, the history of life, its earliest forms and also human evolution, the brain, the genius of genetics, and extra-terrestrial life. Finally, the author shows that although biology has undermined arguments in favour of the existence of God, religion and faith are a necessary product of nature selection. Christian de Duve is the director of the Brussels-based International Institute on Cellular Pathology. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1974 for his findings concerning the structural and functional organisation of cells.