Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!apple!usc!isi.edu!vaxa.isi.edu!smoliar From: smoliar@vaxa.isi.edu (Stephen Smoliar) Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy Subject: Re: request for information Summary: understanding Edelman Message-ID: <16123@venera.isi.edu> Date: 23 Dec 90 21:53:56 GMT References: <105460001@hpcljer.HP.COM> Sender: news@isi.edu Reply-To: smoliar@vaxa.isi.edu (Stephen Smoliar) Organization: USC-Information Sciences Institute Lines: 36 In article greenba@gambia.crd.ge.com (ben a green) writes: >In article <105460001@hpcljer.HP.COM> johnr@hpcljer.HP.COM (John Rodriguez) >writes: > > I was listening to a National Public Radio interview with an author > whose name I heard as Joel Adelman. This author was introduced as > one who could write eloquently about both the neural level and the > abstract thought level of the brain; and illustrate the connections > when appropriate. > > After looking in a 'Current Titles' book of Authors at a bookstore > I found there was no Joel Adelman listed. Did anyone hear this broadcast > or have an idea of who the author might be. > >Make that Gerald Edelman. Eloquent, yes; clear, no, IMHO. The titles of the books in question are probably NEURAL DARWINISM and THE REMEMBERED PRESENT. I certainly agree that these books are not for the casual reader; but I would say they are clear enough, provided you realize that you are probably going to have to read them more than once. The reader in search of a more casual introduction to Edelman's approach would probably be best off with Israel Rosenfield's THE INVENTION OF MEMORY. Also, the November 22 issue of THE NEW YORK REVIEW had an excellent article by Oliver Sacks (always a clear writer) in which Sacks draws upon Edelman's approach to interpret some of his own case histories. ========================================================================= USPS: Stephen Smoliar 5000 Centinela Avenue #129 Los Angeles, California 90066 Internet: smoliar@vaxa.isi.edu "It's only words . . . unless they're true."--David Mamet