In article <1993Oct13.070645.49823 at frodo.cc.flinders.edu.au>
psgjf at gamgee.cc.flinders.edu.au (<G.J.Fraser>) writes:
>In article <29elr0INN181 at usenet.pa.dec.com> stark at dwovax.enet.dec.com (Todd I. Stark) writes:
>>>>A recent book, The Making of Memory, by Steven Rose, seems to me
>>to be an unusual and useful introduction into the world of neuroscience
>>research.
>>>>_The_Making_Of_Memory_ (_From_Molecules_to_Mind_),
>>takes the non-specialist reader on an interesting tour through the mind and
>>30 years work of this theoretical and experimental neuroscientist,
>>who offers his thoughts on mind, body, memory, and science in general,
>>and an inside look at what really happens in a memory research lab.
>>Todd, could you give the full publishing details please.
Steven Rose, THE MAKING OF MEMORY, Anchor Books (Doubleday), 1992,
quality paperback, $12.95, ISBN 0-385-47121-1.
I don't get a chance to read many books any more, and when I do, books on
psychology are not at the top of my list (unless you count books on NLP).
But when I leafed through this at the bookstore, I realized that it was
something I absolutely had to read.
It's a marvelous book, and it touches on a number of issues that are
perenniel topics of discussion on sci.psychology, such as the nature of
scientific activity and the fact that there's a lot more to science than
the so-called scientific method taught in high school.
The main topic of the book concerns Rose's research into how memories are
actually stored in the brain. His account of this is like a fascinating
detective story. It's extremely readable and at the same time includes
all the technical details.
For those (among them NLP devotees) who believe that what we call "mind"
can best be understood as the functioning of the nervous system, this is
essential reading.
--
Being scientific is a means to an end. When being scientific becomes
more important than discovering new truth, science turns into "cargo
cult science" --- something that has all the trappings of science but
doesn't produce much in the way of results that actually work.