Whenever someone asks me, “What do you do for a living?” I never know what to say. For the truth is I do very little. But I have surrounded myself with people who seem to get a lot done. My contribution is to nudge them every once in a while, and when necessary try to redirect the team down a new path. To the extent that I have had success in my career, I owe it mostly to the hard work and intelligence of my colleagues.

I have had the chance to meet many scientists and almost all of them have taught me something and therefore they have all contributed to the ideas in this book. I thank them all but can mention only a few here. Bruno Olshausen, who has joint positions at the Redwood Neuroscience Institute (RNI) and the University of California at Davis, is a walking encyclopedia of neuroscience. He is constantly pointing out what I don’t know and suggesting ways to rectify my ignorance, which is one of the most valuable things a person can do. Bill Softky, also at RNI, was the first person to teach me about reduction in time in the cortical hierarchy and the properties of thin dendrites. Rick Granger at the University of California at Irvine gave me insights into sequence memory and how the thalamus could play a role. Bob Knight at the University of California at Berkeley and Christof Koch at the California Institute of Technology have been instrumental in the formation of the Redwood Neuroscience Institute and many other science matters. All the staff at RNI have challenged me and forced me to refine my ideas; many of the proposals in this book were a direct result of meetings and discussions at RNI. Thank you all.

Donna Dubinsky and Ed Colligan have been my business partners for a dozen years. Through their hard work and assistance, I was able to be an entrepreneur while simultaneously working part-time on brain theory, an unusual arrangement. Donna used to say one of her objectives was to make our businesses successful so I could afford to spend more time on brain theory. This book wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Donna and Ed.

I couldn’t have written On Intelligence without lots of help. Jim Levine, my agent, believed in this book even before I knew what I would write. Don’t write a book without an agent like Jim. He introduced me to Sandra Blakeslee, my coauthor. I wanted this book to be readable by a wide audience and Sandy was essential for achieving that. I take all the blame for the difficult sections. Matthew Blakeslee, Sandy’s son and also a science writer, provided several examples used in the book and suggested the term memory-prediction framework. All the folks at Henry Holt have been great to work with. I would like to especially thank John Sterling, president and publisher of Henry Holt. I met John face-toface only once, and we talked on the phone only a few times. That is all it took for him to have a huge impact on the structure of this book. He immediately understood the issues I would face proposing a theory of intelligence and then he suggested how the book should be written and positioned.

I would like to thank my daughters, Anne and Kate, for not complaining when their dad spent many weekends at the computer keyboard. And, finally, I want to thank my wife, Janet. Being married to me can’t be all that easy. I love her more than brains.