The Conscious Brain By Steven Rose (review)

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS The Conscious Brain. By Steven Rose. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1973. Fp. xi+343. $10.00. This book "reflects discussions in the atmosphere of the Black Horse" (a London pub)—and unfortunately also some of the less desirable features of alcoholic consumption. It is "not wholly academically respectable" (p. 9) and attempts an "argued case" for particular interpretations of brain and mind phenomena. It is addressed to the public at large and is written in a delightfully provocative and eminently readable style. The book contains an excellent glossary and appendices explaining terms usually used only by scientists. Dr. Rose has been professor of biology at the Open University in England since 1969 and helped establish the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science. Rose's admirable talent as an articulate teacher and commentator is evident throughout this stimulating book. Unfortunately, the distinction that emerges is that ofcontroversy rather than enlightenment. Unacceptable liberties taken altogether too often render the book totally unacceptable to the medical profession and, indeed, useless to fellow biologists. Thus there is no justification or excuse for his proud assertion that (p. 266) "I have smoked marihuana, both leafand resin, on a number ofoccasions," unkind remarks about members of the royal family, and, above all, his outrageous attempt to exculpate the Soviet Union for its flagrant abuse of psychiatry as a political weapon by his assertion that "in Britain the technique of pharmacological control seems to be applied, not so much against the articulate middle-class dissenters, or against children, but against the least articulate members of society—the unskilled working class and the unemployed." It will be a long time before Rose could match superior writings by Sir John Eccles; Aldous Huxley, designated by Rose as a "bourgeois novelist"; Teilhard de Chardin, called a "religious obscurantist"; Arthur Koestler , called a "conservative romantic"; and Descartes, accused of having "a habit of dualistic speaking which seems curiously hard to slough off, . . . whose separation of 'mind' and 'body' was to provide the impetus towards libraries of philosophical confusion." Not surprisingly, Rose explains Descartes's opinions as "the dictates of Catholic ideology." Too many of Rose's firm pronouncements are obviously well outside his own field of professional expertise. For all that, I enjoyed his book and learned much from rereading matters of a specialized nature with which most of the book is fortunately concerned. The book cannot, however, be recommended to general readers, for whom it is intended, since there are far more reliable and authoritative recent books for the general reader varying in depth from brilliant primers such as that of Keith Oatley {Brain Mechanbms and Mind [E. P. Dutton & Co., 1972]) to the sophisticated treatise by Perspectives in Biology and Medicine · Spring 1974 I 429 SirJohn Eccles, The Understanding of the Brain, just published by McGraw-Hill in paperback at less than half the price of Rose's book. Jacobus W. Mostert, M.D. University of Chicago Genetic Diversity and Human Equality. By Theodosius Dobzhansky. New York: Basic Books, 1973. Pp. xii+128. $5.95. A great deal of scientific information and humane wisdom are packed into this deceptively small volume. Indeed, its scope and the importance ofits message are anything but small. Moreover, it is well written and a pleasure to read. It presupposes no specialized background in genetics or psychology, and can be equally recommended to specialist and layman. Its author's voice in the so-called IQ controversy deserves everyone's attention. Long respected in the scientific community as one of the world's foremost geneticists and evolutionists, Professor Theodosius Dobzhansky, at age 73, is looked up to as a vigorous and sage father figure whose views shape the opinions of many students in biology and genetics and in the behavioral sciences as well. He is known not only for his prolific scientific accomplishments but also for his broad social conscience and continuing efforts to educate the public concerning the relevance of biological thought to some of the most important problems facing mankind. The book is actually a collection of three essays, of which the first two are the most closely interrelated. The first essay, which was Dobzhansky's invited lecture before...