Marcus, Gary F.

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Marcus, Gary F.

(Gary Fred Marcus)

PERSONAL: Male. Education: Hampshire College, B.A., 1989; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ph. D., 1993.

ADDRESSES:

CAREER: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, instructor, 1993–97; New York University, New York, NY, associate professor of psychology and director of Infant Language Center.

AWARDS, HONORS: Robert L. Fantz award for new investigators in cognitive development.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

The Algebraic Mind: Integrating Connectionism and Cognitive Science, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

The Birth of the Mind: How a Tiny Number of Genes Create the Complexity of Human Thought, Basic Books (New York, NY), 2004.

(Compiler) The Norton Psychology Reader, Norton (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to periodicals, including Cognition, Cognitive Psychology, and Journal of Child Language.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A book synthesizing developmental biology and cognitive development.

SIDELIGHTS: Gary F. Marcus takes a scientific look at the workings of human consciousness in his book The Birth of the Mind: How a Tiny Number of Genes Create the Complexity of Human Thought. Library Journal reviewer Laurie Bartolini praised his "lively text," which delves into the ways that various genes interact to produce a mind that is further modified by experiences and environment. The author supports his ideas with research from the fields of psychology and biology, and points out the important role that learning plays in stimulating the proper development of the brain cells. Marcus takes the reader all the way to the molecular level, explaining brain function in terms of strings of chemical reactions. He further includes his own theories on the ways human mental genes may have evolved to their current state. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly stated that Marcus "strikes a rare and delicate balance of scientific detail and layperson accessibility," presenting his story in "compelling" style. The Birth of the Mind was also recommended as a "lucid, pleasing chronicle" of genetics and the mind by Booklist reviewer Gilbert Taylor.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 15, 2003, Gilbert Taylor, review of The Birth of the Mind: How a Tiny Number of Genes Create the Complexity of Human Thought, p. 550.

Library Journal, January, 2004, Laurie Bartolini, review of The Birth of the Mind, p. 150.

Publishers Weekly, November 17, 2003, review of The Birth of the Mind, p. 58.