William H. Calvin is een theoretisch neurobioloog wiens werk de complexiteit van hersenen en evolutie onderzoekt. Hij heeft een dozijn boeken geschreven, voornamelijk gericht op algemene lezers, waardoor complexe wetenschappelijke concepten toegankelijk worden. Zijn schrijven overbrugt de kloof tussen gespecialiseerde kennis en boeiende verhalen, en biedt inzichten in de menselijke geest en de ontwikkeling ervan.
Written in the form of a scientists diary of a two-week float trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. There we find rocks of great age, fossils, dwellings of Stone Age peoples, and experience the land much as our ancestors did during all those untold generations in the dimly remembered world from which we somehow took flight.
These essays on the brain leap from the philosophical to the comical, from the scientific theory to mundane events of everyday life. The Throwing Madonna provides a window through which the average person can peer into the elusive world of neurobiology and find greater understanding of the human race.
Exploring the intersection of Darwinian processes and brain function, this work presents a theory on how mental images evolve from chaotic memories into coherent thoughts within seconds. It delves into the hidden mechanisms that contribute to our unique human consciousness and intelligence, suggesting that the mind's intricate operations shape our ability to articulate complex ideas. The author reveals the transformative journey of thoughts, akin to the evolution of species, highlighting the brain's remarkable capacity for creativity and clarity.
William Calvin and Derek Bickerton suggest that other evolutionary developments, not directly related to language, allowed language to evolve in a way that eventually promoted a Chomskian syntax.
Seashore Reflections on the Structure of Consciousness
Set amidst the Woods Hole research colony on Cape Cod. Daniel C. Dennett said, Thinking along with Calvin is sheer delight. This book has the most vivid and lucid explanations of brain function I have seen, and his discussions of evolution place him in the same league with Stephen Gould and Richard Dawkins as elegant expositors in the life sciences.
Remarkable for both its wealth of information and its compelling presentation, this book by two accomplished neuroscientists lets us share the stunning achievements and irresistible excitement of those who have accepted the ultimate challenge to the human mind to probe itself.
This book tries to fathom how our inner life evolves from one topic to another, as we create and reject alternatives. Drawing on anthropology, evolutionary biology, linguistics, and the neurosciences, Calvin also considers how a more intelligent brain developed using slow biological improvements over the last few million years.
Daniel C. Dennett's description of this scientist’s travelogue: “How did the mind evolve? It takes a scientist of extraordinary breadth who is also a master storyteller to sketch the boundaries of this mega-narrative, and William Calvin has once again given us a feast of new perspectives, enriching the vision of our future as much as our past.”
In Search of Ancient Prophet-Scientists from Stonehenge to the Grand Canyon
Explores shamanistic practices that started humankind on the path to scientific knowledge
Mit seiner Gabe, komplexe Zusammenhänge einleuchtend und spannend zu erläutern, bringt William Calvin die Steine zum Sprechen: Er beschreibt, wie geologische Formationen im Grand Canyon, Anasazi Valley und Rio Grande – lange vor Beginn jeglicher Zeitrechnung – Forschern erste Erkenntnisse über Himmelsphänomene lieferten, mit denen sie eine ungeheure Macht begründen konnten: die Macht über Mythen.
