The Ghost in the Machine Book

I'm a little torn on this one. At times, Koestler's brilliance dazzles, as when he describes his conception of "holons", Janus-faced part/holes ubiquitous in natural systems. His deconstruction of behaviorism is also quite entertaining, and devastating, though dated by now. And overall, the book is filled with piercing insights by a thoughtful and perceptive author. However, there's also a whole lot of crap in this book, just flat out nonsense, particularly as related to evolutionary theory. Perhaps many of these errors represent the state of the art in 1967, though from my limited readings of that era I don't think so. Koestler positions himself as a revolutionary thinker and it's always a gamble to step outside of the mainstream. My biggest disappointment with this book was with the rather trite and creepy advice Koestler gives us at the end to address his diagnosis of humanity's inherent "delusional" character.

Worth a read to see the historical genesis of a great word/concept (holon) and for some beautifully articulated scientific insights, but beware of copious factual quicksand.