ALPHABETICAL BRAIN® VOCABULARY HUMANIST HUB OF SECULAR SCIENCE STARS MICHAEL CORBALLIS July 13, 2022 Note: Michael Corballis was born in 1936 in New Zealand. He is a psychologist and author who earned a Master's degree in Mathematics at the University of New Zealand in 1959 and attained a Master of Arts in psychology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in 1962. He then moved to McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where he gained a PhD in psychology in 1965, and taught in the Department of Psychology from 1968 to 1978. During his years as a professor at McGill, the main focus of his research was in cognitive neuroscience. He was appointed professor of psychology at the University of Auckland in 1978. Books by Corballis include: Psychology of Left and Right; The Ambivalent Mind — The Neuropsychology of Left and Right; A Very Short Tour of the Mind; The Wandering Mind — What the Brain Does When You're Not Looking [2015]; and The Truth About Language — What it Is and Where it Came From [2017]; and most recently, The Recursive Mind — the Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization [2011, 2014]. Book #1 THE TRUTH ABOUT LANGUAGE: What It Is and Where It Came From by Michael C. Corballis. University of Chicago Press, 2017 (i-xi, 260 pages) "Michael Corballis argues that language is not the product of some 'big bang' 60,000 years ago, but rather the result of a typically slow process of evolution with roots in elements of grammatical language found much farther back in our evolutionary history. He explains that language evolved as a way to share thoughts — and, crucially for human development, to connect our own 'mental time travel,' our imagining of events and people that are not right in front of us, to that of other people." (Paraphrased slightly by webmaster from publisher's summary) Book #2 THE WANDERING MIND: What the Brain Does When You're Not Looking. by Michael Corballis' University of Chicago Press, 2015 (i-ix, 173 pages) "Drawing on the latest research from cognitive science and evolutionary biology, Michael Corballis believes that 'mind-wandering' strengthens our imagination, fuels flights of invention, and improves storytelling and empathy, two primary values which underlie our shared humanity. Furthermore, he explains, that our tendency to wander back and forth through the timeline of our lives is fundamental to our very sense of ourselves as coherent, continuing personalities." (Paraphrased slightly by webmaster from the publisher's blurb) Book #3 THE RECURSIVE MIND: The Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization by Michael Corballis. Princeton University Press, 2011, 2014 revised paper edition (312 pages) "This book challenges the commonly held notion that language is what makes us uniquely human. In this compelling book, Corballis argues that what distinguishes us in the animal kingdom is our capacity for 'recursion', which is the ability to embed our thoughts within other thoughts. 'I think, therefore I am!', is an example of recursive thought. This is because the thinker has inserted himself or herself into his or her thought processes. This intellectual process of 'recursion' enables us to conceive of our own minds and the minds of others. It also gives us the power of 'mental time travel' — which is the ability to insert past experiences, or imagined future ones, into present consciousness." (Paraphrased slightly by webmaster from publisher's summary) Click or Tap Links to Outlines and Reviews Book #1: THE TRUTH ABOUT LANGUAGE: What It Is and Where It Came From OR Book #2: THE WANDERING MIND: What the Brain Does When You're Not Looking. OR Book #3: THE RECURSIVE MIND: The Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization Click or Tap Star to: RETURN TO THE HUMANIST GALAXY OF SECULAR SCIENCE STARS ALPHABETICAL BRAIN® VOCABULARY produced by Infinite Interactive Ideas®