Book description
Timothy Ferris, bestselling author of Coming of Age in the Milky
Way, brilliantly synthesizes inner and outer space with a
penetrating examination into the nature of the universe and the human
brain that perceives it. Through the lenses of two innovative fields
of scientific research - neuroscience and the search for
extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI - Ferris brings into focus a
startling new vision of the relationship between mind and universe.
Whether he is contemplating the possibility of otherwordly
life-forms or pondering the consequences of virtual reality computer
technology, Timothy Ferris captures our sense of wonder with a lucid
and imaginative look at one of modern science's greatest challenges;
how we can understand, interpret and, ultimately, reconcile the
equally mysterious realms of mind and universe. From ancient Stone Age
burial mounds to today's state-of-the-art laboratories, solving this
eternal riddle has been the goal of philosophers and mystics,
occultists and poets, alchemists and scientists. In The Mind's Sky,
Ferris examines the 'dance' between mind and cosmos, showing how the
universe is partly a construct of the mind itself and asking whether
intelligence - far from being a product of our world alone - may have
universal currency.
Ferris considers the intriguing complexity of the human brain and
what constitutes real intelligence. Laughter, near-death experiences,
athletic performance ('Joe Montana's Premotor Cortex'), the
neurobiology of mystical experience, and a subtle mental program
called 'the interpreter' are all part of his freewheeling quest into
the nature of consciousness.
Ferris advances the provocative thesis that SETI, our current search
for life on other planets, could reward the human race with the fruit
of cosmic knowledge - or prove as cataclysmic as Eve's desire for the
apple. And he gives us an inside look at IT - information theory - a
new philosophy of knowledge and communication.
Filled with the combination of scientific fact, human anecdote, and
provocative insight that has become his trademark, Timothy Ferris's
The Mind's Sky offers a rare, life-enhancing perception of
our world and our cosmos and underscores the unique choices we face as
a species capable of deciding our own fate on the planet - and among
the stars.
Timothy Ferris is the author of
Coming of Age in the Milky Way
,
Galaxies
,
The Red Limit
, and other popular books on astronomy and physics. He has received the
American Institute of Physics Prize, the American Association for the
Advancement of Science Prize, the Klumpke-Roberts Prize, and a
Guggenheim Fellowship. Books by Ferris have been nominated for the
National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Professor Ferris lives with
his family in San Francisco and teaches at the University of California,
Berkley.
