Wider than the Sky

"Wider than the Sky: The Phenomenal Gift of Consciousness" is the title of an English-language book on neuroscience by the neuroscientist Gerald M. Edelman. Yale University Press published the book in 2004 . The book includes a glossary, a bibliographic note, and an index. The title alludes to an English-language poem written by Emily Dickinson in about 1862 . (In that poem, Dickinson describes the brain as "wider than the Sky", "deeper than the sea", and "just the weight of God". Dickinson repeatedly uses the word "brain", but one could argue what she really meant was "mind".)

In the preface (page xiii), Edelman describes, as follows, the purpose of the book.

The book's content is similar to another one Edelman co-authored: "". Both books put forward the theory of neuronal group selection, also known as Neural Darwinism. Both books make a distinction between primary consciousness and higher-order consciousness.

Reviews

*cite journal |title=The major unsolved problem in biology |author=Michael Shermer |date=March 2004 |journal=Scientific American |volume=290 |issue=3 |pages=103 |url=
*cite journal |title=Wider Than the Sky: The Phenomenal Gift of Consciousness |author=David L. Wilson |date=Dec 2005 |journal=Quarterly Review of Biology |volume=80 |issue=4 |pages=501 |url=
*cite journal |title=Wider Than the Sky: The Phenomenal Gift of Consciousness |author=Steven Laureys |date=2005-04-21 |journal=New England Journal of Medicine |volume=352 |issue=16 |url= |pages=s1728 |doi=10.1056/NEJM200504213521626
*cite journal |title=Half a second to stop being wicked |author=Susan Blackmore |date=2004-10-01 |journal=Times Higher Education Supplement |volume=0 |issue=1660 |pages=26 |url=