1998-12-08 A great popular science book on the field of motor control

This book is an extraordinary combination of a piece of history with the state-of-the-art research in the field of motor control. It contains a translation of a popular-science book by the Russian physiologist Nicholai A. Bernstein, and then a few commentaries describing the current state of the research in the field of motor control. Bernstein is one of the pioneers in the research of motor control and his book describes in a simple language the main properties and problems that are to be solved in order to understand the amazing dexterity of human motor control. Dexterity is in finding a motor solution for any situation and in any conditions. Bernstein describes many nice tails and legend to illustrate this ability, such as the Bible legend about the giant Goliath and young David, who defeated the giant with dexterity. Then he describes the origin and construction of movement and the problem of the excess degrees of freedom, which is referred to in the scientific literature as the Bernstein problem. This problem is due to the biological system being redundant. Redundancy is by no mean redundant, it contributes to the flexibility and reliability of the system, therefor I prefer to relate to the redundancy as a virtue rather then a problem. Bernstein considers redundancy as the main distinction between the motor apparatus in man and the higher animals and artificial devices, and after half of a century this problem is still open and we keep trying to understand and imitate the great dexterity that nature developed in controlling redundant systems. This book is recommended for the general scientific oriented public, such as the readers of Scientific American and especially to students in engineering and in medicine that are interested in the field of motor control.