Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul: Amazon.ca: Francis Crick, Nobel Laureate, Crick: Books

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From Publishers Weekly

Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Crick (co-discoverer with James Watson of DNA's double helix structure) here takes readers to the forefront of modern brain research. Geared to serious lay readers and scientists, this speculative study argues that our minds can be explained, without recourse to religious concepts of a soul, in terms of the interactions of a vast assembly of nerve cells and associated molecules. Crick delves into the nature of consciousness by focusing on visual awareness, an active, constructive process in which the brain selectively combines discrete elements into meaningful images. Early chapters include numerous interactive illustrations to demonstrate the brain's shortcuts, tricks and habits of visual perception. In later chapters Crick discusses neural networks--electronic pathways that can "remember" patterns or produce spoken language--and outlines research strategies designed to pinpoint the brain's "awareness neurons" that enable us to see.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Nobel Prize winner Crick, who with James D. Watson discovered the molecular structure of DNA, considers the nature of human consciousness, focusing in particular on visual consciousness in an explanation of how the brain "sees."
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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First Sentence
The Astonishing Hypothesis is that "You," your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews

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3.7 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars The Mundane Hypothesis, Aug 3 2011

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A. Volk (Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul (Paperback)

This book was written in 1994, so I'll start off by saying that it was definitely a much better book back then. Briefly, it describes the scientific search for the "soul" as the neuroscientific search for consciousness. More specifically, the book focuses on the simple question- "how do we see"? Not just sense light using our eyes, but how do we consciously perceive the images we see? How do we "see" Mom when we look at the face of the person we call Mom? This is surprisingly a very tough question, one that remains unsolved almost 20 years later. For posing that question, Crick deserves a lot of credit. In fact, that question itself is probably the best part of the book.

The rest of the book delves into the neuroscience of vision, circa 1994. A significant amount has been learned since then (e.g., mirror neurons), making this book rather dated (e.g., the speculated 100,000 human genes are now known to be closer to 20,000). It does generally make for a good introduction to visual neuroscience, although it isn't light reading. If you don't have some background in psychology and/or neuroscience, it's going to be a heavy read. Also, the idea that the brain is responsible for consciousness is no longer anything near astonishing for anyone with a basic science education.

Unfortunately then, given the disappointing conclusion that we don't know how we "see", it's hard for me to vigorously recommend this book. Yes, it has some interesting points of fact and argument in it. Yes, it promotes tackling a very tough issue with science, which is almost certainly a more productive method than general philosophy or religion. But we're not even close to there yet, and this book doesn't move us very far in that direction. So while it's not really a bad book, it's not really a good book either. Three stars from me, along with a wish that neuroscientists really start bearing down on the problem of consciousness more seriously. As Crick says, it's all about the neurons, so the answer is there if people can look and study hard enough. It would definitely be very cool to know not just how we "see", but how we "are".

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars What is so astonishing, Dr. Crick?, April 3 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul (Paperback)

The problem with Crick's book--a rather common problem these days--is that it does not do what it sets out to do. According to Crick, there is this revolutionary and "astonishing" hypothesis that most people either do not know or cannot accept, namely the century-old idea that neurons, as individual and independent units of the brain, are solely responsible for all the higher functions that most people attribute to God, to mind, or to some mysterious agent. Well, if you tell this to any neuroscientist, you probably won't astonish him; if you tell this to a lay man, you won't astonish him any more than, say, the god hypothesis. So Crick, who is a reductionist in need of a little sophistication, really isn't telling us anything extraordinary. His arguments neither shock nor enlighten. The primary merit of this book lies in a solid, if technical, summary of some interesting research in recent years. It is handy as reference, but not particularly a pleasure to read. Crick is not much of a writer; nor is he competent enough in other fields to talk about some of the issues that he does talk about. The more entertaining part of the book, for me, is the delightful bibliography, in which Crick briefly describes each book that he recommends. His remarks are sometimes sharp and witty. Overall, though, this is merely an average book on a most popular subject.

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5.0 out of 5 stars excellent introduction, Sep 11 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul (Paperback)

If you have high-school level biology background. This book will be a great book to know about the way people are trying to know the brain.

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