The quantum brain : the search for freedom and the next generation of man /

At very small scales and at very low temperatures, subatomic particles (e.g., protons and electrons) can behave in very strange ways. In the normal large-scale, high temperature world, humans are completely oblivious to all this quantum weirdness unless they perform relatively sophisticated experiments to amplify these ultramicroscopic effects. Satinover (Yale Univ.) states that Darwinian natural selection has led to the development of brains, especially the human brain, which act as "quantum amplifiers." The quantum behavior of electrons and protons in the protein tubulin generate waves within the networks of microtubules that permeate brain nerve cells. Such waves change the macroscopic behavior of brain electrical activity, endowing human thinking with some "quantum uncertainty." Within this presumed "quantum uncertainty" Satinover finds God and human free will. Because he supports his hypothesis by citing research from physics, neuroscience, biochemistry, and computer science, the book appears at first to be a scientific analysis of human brain function. In fact, it is a religious treatise about God and free will as seen through the devout eyes of a scientifically literate man (Satinover is a practicing psychiatrist). Academic institutions with significant numbers of students and faculty that are deeply religious and interested in science may find this a very good book. General readers; undergraduates through faculty. D. M. Senseman University of Texas at San Antonio