The immensity of Dr. (Gerald) Edelman’s project — explaining the development of the human mind — overwhelms. Yet his ideas about how consciousness arises from the firings of neurons begin to seem eminently plausible because something similar seems to be happening in the hum and current of your own brain, in the excited state brought on by Dr. Edelman’s voluble mixture of calculation, charisma, enterprise and brilliance.” —New York Times