Dr. Glynn is a neurophysiologist who has written a general introduction to cognitive science. He has an interesting approach, building from evolution to considering the complex visual mechanisms, changing to language mechanisms, and then to consider consciousness. I found that I was familiar with many of the concepts already, but the book formed a pleasing and concise argument ( )

Not that this book isn't well written and informative, but it's too flat and mechanistic for my taste. Glynn offers a solid overview of the historical development of evolutionary theory and neurobiology, but he's loath to speculate on what any of it means or where it's going, which is where my appetite lies.

That said, at least he doesn't push any idiosyncratic agenda that's going to date the book badly. It's a level-headed read almost to a fault. Anyone looking to get a feel for how eyes, ears and nerves work will enjoy those parts of it; ironically, one of my favourite bits was an old quote by Aldous Huxley, which Glynn called "absurd" and "unhelpful". ( )