Mind from Body

"To paraphrase many contemporary phenomenologists, the mind is what the brain-body does. Tucker explains the brain as the creative conductor of the orchestral parts of the body, including itself. Writing for beginning psychology students in adolescence and early maturity, he describes with masterly clarity how the brain constructs information by organizing its sensory, motor, and autonomic organs in accord with its own dimensions: top-down, left-right, inside-out, and hierarchically, from reflexes to scholarly reflections." --Walter J. Freeman, Professor of the Graduate School Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Division of Neurobiology, University of California at Berkeley "This book is an original, bold, and extremely creative contribution to the growing field of cognitive neuroscience that focuses on the emergence of mind and thought in organism-environment interactions. It should take its place among the works of people like Antonio Damasio, Gerald Edelman, and Joseph LeDoux--neuroscientists who understand the important philosophical implications of recent brain science." --Mark Johnson, Knight Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Philosophy, University of Oregon "In a clear, easy and down-to-earth style that will appeal to students, Don Tucker, a pioneer of human brain recording, explains and enlightens how body and mind are inextricably connected. Tucker grounds the mind both in the brain's 'deep' mechanisms that regulate our bodily needs and urges and the 'surface' networks of the cerebral cortex that connect us to our world. Between these boundaries spanning the internal and the external, the subjective and the objective, meaningful information takes form. Mind from Body is a reconciliation of body and mind that is sure to draw the attention of philosophers and neuroscientists alike." --J. A. Scott Kelso, author of Dynamic Patterns: The Self-Organization of Brain and Behavior and co-author of The Complementary Nature "This book is a delightful romp through insights and evidence, held together by a powerful theory of brain functioning. Tucker portrays the brain as an organ of subjectivity that creates experience through its mechanisms of motivation and memory. The writing is accessible, agile, and often humorous, while remaining intellectually rigorous. Tucker's vision of the bodily basis of mind is larger and more courageous than anything we expected. For both the scientist and the interested lay person, this book feels like the intellectual adventure of the year." --Marc D. Lewis, Professor, Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology, University of Toronto "Tucker uses psychological narratives of subjective experience to light up the brain's workings and neuroscientific accounts of the brain to illuminate the mental depths hidden within everyday experience. What results is an original and compelling synthesis of psychology and neuroscience that reveals the bodily roots and neural ramifications of mental life. Engaging and informative, Mind from Body steps toward a new kind of self-knowledge--an experiential neuropsychology of the human mind." --Evan Thompson, Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto and author of Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind "To paraphrase many contemporary phenomenologists, the mind is what the brain-body does. Tucker explains the brain as the creative conductor of the orchestral parts of the body, including itself. Writing for beginning psychology students in adolescence and early maturity, he describes with masterly clarity how the brain constructs information by organizing its sensory, motor, and autonomic organs in accord with its own dimensions: top-down, left-right, inside-out, and hierarchically, from reflexes to scholarly reflections." --Walter J. Freeman, Professor of the Graduate School Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Division of Neurobiology, University of California at Berkeley "This book is an original, bold, and extremely creative contribution to the growing field of cognitive neuroscience that focuses on the emergence of mind and thought in organism-environment interactions. It should take its place among the works of people like Antonio Damasio, Gerald Edelman, and Joseph LeDoux--neuroscientists who understand the important philosophical implications of recent brain science." --Mark Johnson, Knight Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Philosophy, University of Oregon "In a clear, easy and down-to-earth style that will appeal to students, Don Tucker, a pioneer of human brain recording, explains and enlightens how body and mind are inextricably connected. Tucker grounds the mind both in the brain's 'deep' mechanisms that regulate our bodily needs and urges and the 'surface' networks of the cerebral cortex that connect us to our world. Between these boundaries spanning the internal and the external, the subjective and the objective, meaningful information takes form. Mind from Body is a reconciliation of body and mind that is sure to draw the attention of philosophers and neuroscientists alike." --J. A. Scott Kelso, author of Dynamic Patterns: The Self-Organization of Brain and Behavior and co-author of The Complementary Nature "This book is a delightful romp through insights and evidence, held together by a powerful theory of brain functioning. Tucker portrays the brain as an organ of subjectivity that creates experience through its mechanisms of motivation and memory. The writing is accessible, agile, and often humorous, while remaining intellectually rigorous. Tucker's vision of the bodily basis of mind is larger and more courageous than anything we expected. For both the scientist and the interested lay person, this book feels like the intellectual adventure of the year." --Marc D. Lewis, Professor, Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology, University of Toronto "Tucker uses psychological narratives of subjective experience to light up the brain's workings and neuroscientific accounts of the brain to illuminate the mental depths hidden within everyday experience. What results is an original and compelling synthesis of psychology and neuroscience that reveals the bodily roots and neural ramifications of mental life. Engaging and informative, Mind from Body steps toward a new kind of self-knowledge--an experiential neuropsychology of the human mind." --Evan Thompson, Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto and author of Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind "The present volume makes a major contribution to the alternative approach to the traditional view of the brain as an information processing and interpreting computer. This volumes paints a panoramic picture of the nervous system...the author weaves a fascinating story, moving from the speculative to the philosophical but never abandons reliance on a substantial amount of scientific information gathered from various disciplines...There is almost no topic of central importance to neuroscience that Tucker does not touch upon..."--The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease