What do you think?
Rate this book
How Brains Make Up Their Minds
This text charts the brain's mind, progressing from single nerve cells to co-operative nerve cell assemblies to the emergence of complex brain patterns. By drawing on recent developments in brain imaging and theories of chaos and non-linear dynamics it shows how brains create intention and meaning.
Hardcover
First published August 26, 1999
7 people are currently reading
486 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 29, 2020
While I find Freeman's ideas very convincing, I'm not sure I fully agree with the complete mechanism he is proposing.
I could see that he was very knowledgeable in many fields and I enjoyed how he compares his view with the materialist and cognitivist view. Before just talking about consciousness he did his homework and dug into both old and recent theories of possible mechanisms before proposing his own.
I got the feeling his ideas could have been explained more deeply and have structured them in a more organized way. Instead he tried to cramp up all his ideas into only 7 chapters. The read was sometimes enjoyable but sometimes it sounded as if he was just writing from the top of his head. Especially when he brings up random facts from other domains without any context.
Bottom line: this book could've easily been a 5 star read if he had spent more time developing and organizing his ideas in a more readable and coherent way. Still, it was the first time I hear from this point of view of the brain and I'm glad to have found this.
I could see that he was very knowledgeable in many fields and I enjoyed how he compares his view with the materialist and cognitivist view. Before just talking about consciousness he did his homework and dug into both old and recent theories of possible mechanisms before proposing his own.
I got the feeling his ideas could have been explained more deeply and have structured them in a more organized way. Instead he tried to cramp up all his ideas into only 7 chapters. The read was sometimes enjoyable but sometimes it sounded as if he was just writing from the top of his head. Especially when he brings up random facts from other domains without any context.
Bottom line: this book could've easily been a 5 star read if he had spent more time developing and organizing his ideas in a more readable and coherent way. Still, it was the first time I hear from this point of view of the brain and I'm glad to have found this.
February 21, 2010
Difficult, but fantastic. How chaos theory helps explain how the neural networks in our brains work, and thus how we human beings work (and think and feel).
July 2, 2012
If I disliked the book, I would describe it as "strange." If I liked it, I would describe it as "unusual." The ideas and the structure of Freeman's book are truly out there, and it cuts both ways for Freeman. His ideas about intentionality are important for informing a lot of discussion in psychology, neurobiology and philosophy of mind. I think that Freeman's views might be the sort of thing that give some of the positions by Daniel Dennett a lot of power in philosophical discourse, and a new position of scientific applicability.
That said, Freeman's book is very short, which leaves him with very little time to unpack his ideas. He spends a lot of time working through the history of some of those ideas, contrasting various views about modular and non-modular theories of neurobiology and mind and speaking to their credit and discredit and then moving into discussion of pragmatism and cognitivism. Overall, the discussions are enlightening, but not exactly cogent and it makes for a very clunky read.
Overall, though, I'd have to strongly recommend a few subsections of the book to anyone getting started in epistemology and philosophy of mind, or in action theory. Freeman tackles both in ways that are novel, thoughtful, and deeply fascinating. I'm not sure whether I agree with Freeman, or even where his views would lead me philosophically, but I think that the ideas are worth exploring.
That said, Freeman's book is very short, which leaves him with very little time to unpack his ideas. He spends a lot of time working through the history of some of those ideas, contrasting various views about modular and non-modular theories of neurobiology and mind and speaking to their credit and discredit and then moving into discussion of pragmatism and cognitivism. Overall, the discussions are enlightening, but not exactly cogent and it makes for a very clunky read.
Overall, though, I'd have to strongly recommend a few subsections of the book to anyone getting started in epistemology and philosophy of mind, or in action theory. Freeman tackles both in ways that are novel, thoughtful, and deeply fascinating. I'm not sure whether I agree with Freeman, or even where his views would lead me philosophically, but I think that the ideas are worth exploring.
November 15, 2012
The first book I read about the brain as a nonlinear dynamical system -- fascinating, although I remember it as requiring a lot of concentration. Was super-helpful, though, in getting past the reductionistic idea of the brain as a collection of "brain bits" functioning like some complicated machine.
August 23, 2022
This is a very difficult read. But wow! How filled with interesting and valuable knowledge this book is! It took me double the time than it takes for any normal book of this size to read. There were so many interesting details that caused me to search for more explanation on the internet. Wikipedia was amongst others the standard companion whilst reading this book.
I must say though that the writing style of this author is pretty much a mix between popular science and an academic/scholarly one. So before deciding to read this book, you need to be prepared for some complex reading material.
I also need to mention that you need to be aware with some basics about the functionality and anatomy of the brain. If you have further background in (non-)linear dynamics, that is a real aid in reading this book. And please rest assured: this book has no mathematical equations in it.
The real gem in this book are the experimental results of the mapping of the oligofactory bulb (smell) with a matrix of 8x8 electodes. By using the measurement data, the reader gets a good idea - and insights - on what happens in the neuronal network that goes from nose, oligofactory bulb to the olfactory nucleus in the brain.
The only part that I can criticize is the chapter on awaress and conciousness. It is one of the final chapters and I personally didn't like it that much. It was just too much an act of philosophy and really didn't have much value to me.
Finally, I want to mention that this book is part of a series of books - "maps of the mind" - about the working of the brain. The series seems to consist of some 10 books in total. After reading this book, I decided to buy two other books of that serie. If they are as excellent as this book, I will for sure continue buying more books of the series.
Even with the chapter that I didn't like so much, I still give this book a 5-star rating. I really found it that good.
I must say though that the writing style of this author is pretty much a mix between popular science and an academic/scholarly one. So before deciding to read this book, you need to be prepared for some complex reading material.
I also need to mention that you need to be aware with some basics about the functionality and anatomy of the brain. If you have further background in (non-)linear dynamics, that is a real aid in reading this book. And please rest assured: this book has no mathematical equations in it.
The real gem in this book are the experimental results of the mapping of the oligofactory bulb (smell) with a matrix of 8x8 electodes. By using the measurement data, the reader gets a good idea - and insights - on what happens in the neuronal network that goes from nose, oligofactory bulb to the olfactory nucleus in the brain.
The only part that I can criticize is the chapter on awaress and conciousness. It is one of the final chapters and I personally didn't like it that much. It was just too much an act of philosophy and really didn't have much value to me.
Finally, I want to mention that this book is part of a series of books - "maps of the mind" - about the working of the brain. The series seems to consist of some 10 books in total. After reading this book, I decided to buy two other books of that serie. If they are as excellent as this book, I will for sure continue buying more books of the series.
Even with the chapter that I didn't like so much, I still give this book a 5-star rating. I really found it that good.
February 17, 2022
It is an interesting book, but I do recommend having at least an intuitive idea of what dynamical systems are, especially the concept of "attractor basin". The author does explain the concepts but if your first time reading about these concepts, it might be challenging. I liked that the book explains the basic principles of neurodynamics. The book also explains most of the concepts and ideas that it talks about from the materialist, cognitive, and pragmatist points of view of neuroscience, giving an interesting perspective of the field. It is a good read if you have either knowledge of neuroscience or knowledge of mathematics.
February 2, 2015
One of the recent books trying to show an allegedly superior alternative to the allegedly misguided mainstream view of "cognitivism" or "materialism" (in a specific Freeman's meaning of the term, because he is for sure a metaphysical materialist re. the body/mind problem).
Freeman nicely tries to explain how fundamental and central to our cognition intentional action is and what some of the neural mechanisms for it are (including hot topics like the dynamical systems theory and a version of predictive coding). I was expecting he would be trying to find some "chaos theory loophole" for conscious causation as the basis for free will but he does no such thing. Refreshingly, for him, consciousness is not "something that does things". Intentional action is free even if produced by unconscious processes. In the end he presents some interesting thoughts about the implications of those mechanisms for society, including the importance of "unlearning".
But then there are other aspects about which I was a bit less thrilled. I was lacking a bit more conceptual rigor when talking about things like "meaning" etc. Furthermore, it seemed to me he was very often making "explanations" of behavior and cognition directly in terms of low-level neural dynamical systems, like "this behavior is such because this and that happens with those attractors in a state space". I do not find this an explanation at all, much more bridging is needed. Finally, even though he tries to explain things in quite some detail, the book is not really suitable for those less familiar with the topics of dynamical systems, basic neuroscience, psychology and philosophy.
Freeman nicely tries to explain how fundamental and central to our cognition intentional action is and what some of the neural mechanisms for it are (including hot topics like the dynamical systems theory and a version of predictive coding). I was expecting he would be trying to find some "chaos theory loophole" for conscious causation as the basis for free will but he does no such thing. Refreshingly, for him, consciousness is not "something that does things". Intentional action is free even if produced by unconscious processes. In the end he presents some interesting thoughts about the implications of those mechanisms for society, including the importance of "unlearning".
But then there are other aspects about which I was a bit less thrilled. I was lacking a bit more conceptual rigor when talking about things like "meaning" etc. Furthermore, it seemed to me he was very often making "explanations" of behavior and cognition directly in terms of low-level neural dynamical systems, like "this behavior is such because this and that happens with those attractors in a state space". I do not find this an explanation at all, much more bridging is needed. Finally, even though he tries to explain things in quite some detail, the book is not really suitable for those less familiar with the topics of dynamical systems, basic neuroscience, psychology and philosophy.
November 27, 2010
This book is for those interested in neuroscience, but already well-versed in the basics - and probably with a decent background in math. There are some very complex topics that are not well-explained for the casual reader. However, Freeman does give a good synopsis of over 50 years worth of cognitive neuroscience and neurodynamics research.
Want to read
January 21, 2008A student gave me this. I promised I'd read it and have it back to him by the end of the year. He probably meant the semester, silly beans!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews