The Feeling of what Happens

Author: Antonio R. Damasio
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780156010757
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 404

Book Description
The publication of this book is an event in the making. All over the world scientists, psychologists, and philosophers are waiting to read Antonio Damasio's new theory of the nature of consciousness and the construction of the self. A renowned and revered scientist and clinician, Damasio has spent decades following amnesiacs down hospital corridors, waiting for comatose patients to awaken, and devising ingenious research using PET scans to piece together the great puzzle of consciousness. In his bestselling Descartes' Error, Damasio revealed the critical importance of emotion in the making of reason. Building on this foundation, he now shows how consciousness is created. Consciousness is the feeling of what happens-our mind noticing the body's reaction to the world and responding to that experience. Without our bodies there can be no consciousness, which is at heart a mechanism for survival that engages body, emotion, and mind in the glorious spiral of human life. A hymn to the possibilities of human existence, a magnificent work of ingenious science, a gorgeously written book, The Feeling of What Happens is already being hailed as a classic.

Feeling & Knowing

Author: Antonio Damasio
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 1524747564
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Book Description
From one of the world’s leading neuroscientists: a succinct, illuminating, wholly engaging investigation of how biology, neuroscience, psychology, and artificial intelligence have given us the tools to unlock the mysteries of human consciousness “One thrilling insight after another ... Damasio has succeeded brilliantly in narrowing the gap between body and mind.” —The New York Times Book Review In recent decades, many philosophers and cognitive scientists have declared the problem of consciousness unsolvable, but Antonio Damasio is convinced that recent findings across multiple scientific disciplines have given us a way to understand consciousness and its significance for human life. In the forty-eight brief chapters of Feeling & Knowing, and in writing that remains faithful to our intuitive sense of what feeling and experiencing are about, Damasio helps us understand why being conscious is not the same as sensing, why nervous systems are essential for the development of feelings, and why feeling opens the way to consciousness writ large. He combines the latest discoveries in various sciences with philosophy and discusses his original research, which has transformed our understanding of the brain and human behavior. Here is an indispensable guide to understanding how we experience the world within and around us and find our place in the universe.

Looking for Spinoza

Author: Antonio R. Damasio
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780156028714
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 372

Book Description
Publisher Description

Descartes' Error

Author: Antonio Damasio
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 014303622X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Book Description
Since Descartes famously proclaimed, "I think, therefore I am," science has often overlooked emotions as the source of a person’s true being. Even modern neuroscience has tended, until recently, to concentrate on the cognitive aspects of brain function, disregarding emotions. This attitude began to change with the publication of Descartes’ Error in 1995. Antonio Damasio—"one of the world’s leading neurologists" (The New York Times)—challenged traditional ideas about the connection between emotions and rationality. In this wondrously engaging book, Damasio takes the reader on a journey of scientific discovery through a series of case studies, demonstrating what many of us have long suspected: emotions are not a luxury, they are essential to rational thinking and to normal social behavior.

The Strange Order of Things

Author: Antonio Damasio
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307908763
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 331

Book Description
From one of our preeminent neuroscientists: a landmark reflection that spans the biological and social sciences, offering a new way of understanding the origins of life, feeling, and culture. The Strange Order of Things is a pathbreaking investigation into homeostasis, the condition of that regulates human physiology within the range that makes possible not only the survival but also the flourishing of life. Antonio Damasio makes clear that we descend biologically, psychologically, and even socially from a long lineage that begins with single living cells; that our minds and cultures are linked by an invisible thread to the ways and means of ancient unicellular life and other primitive life-forms; and that inherent in our very chemistry is a powerful force, a striving toward life maintenance that governs life in all its guises, including the development of genes that help regulate and transmit life. In The Strange Order of Things, Damasio gives us a new way of comprehending the world and our place in it.

The Feeling of Life Itself

Author: Christof Koch
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262042819
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 277

Book Description
A thought-provoking argument that consciousness—more widespread than previously assumed—is the feeling of being alive, not a type of computation or a clever hack In The Feeling of Life Itself, Christof Koch offers a straightforward definition of consciousness as any subjective experience, from the most mundane to the most exalted—the feeling of being alive. Psychologists study which cognitive operations underpin a given conscious perception. Neuroscientists track the neural correlates of consciousness in the brain, the organ of the mind. But why the brain and not, say, the liver? How can the brain—three pounds of highly excitable matter, a piece of furniture in the universe, subject to the same laws of physics as any other piece—give rise to subjective experience? Koch argues that what is needed to answer these questions is a quantitative theory that starts with experience and proceeds to the brain. In The Feeling of Life Itself, Koch outlines such a theory, based on integrated information. Koch describes how the theory explains many facts about the neurology of consciousness and how it has been used to build a clinically useful consciousness meter. The theory predicts that many, and perhaps all, animals experience the sights and sounds of life; consciousness is much more widespread than conventionally assumed. Contrary to received wisdom, however, Koch argues that programmable computers will not have consciousness. Even a perfect software model of the brain is not conscious. Its simulation is fake consciousness. Consciousness is not a special type of computation—it is not a clever hack. Consciousness is about being.

Self Comes to Mind

Author: Antonio Damasio
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307379493
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Book Description
A leading neuroscientist explores with authority, with imagination, and with unparalleled mastery how the brain constructs the mind and how the brain makes that mind conscious. Antonio Damasio has spent the past thirty years researching and and revealing how the brain works. Here, in his most ambitious and stunning work yet, he rejects the long-standing idea that consciousness is somehow separate from the body, and presents compelling new scientific evidence that posits an evolutionary perspective. His view entails a radical change in the way the history of the conscious mind is viewed and told, suggesting that the brain’s development of a human self is a challenge to nature’s indifference. This development helps to open the way for the appearance of culture, perhaps one of our most defining characteristics as thinking and self-aware beings.

Letting Go

Author: David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D.
Publisher: Hay House, Inc
ISBN: 1401945015
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 401

Book Description
This groundbreaking bestseller describes a simple and effective way to let go of challenges from world-renowned author, psychiatrist, clinician, spiritual teacher, and researcher of consciousness, David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. “Letting Go” is a guide to helping to remove the obstacles we all have that keep us from living a more conscious life, it is truly a life-changing book. Many of us have trouble Letting Go in our lives even though it can have profound impact on our life.” —Wayne Dyer During the many decades of Dr. David Hawkins’, clinical psychiatric practice, the primary aim was to seek the most effective ways to relieve human suffering in all of its many forms. In Letting Go, he shares from his clinical and personal experience that surrender is the surest route to total fulfillment. This motivational book provides a mechanism for letting go of blocks to happiness, love, joy, success, health, and ultimately Enlightenment. The mechanism of surrender that Dr. Hawkins describes can be done in the midst of everyday life. The book is equally useful for all dimensions of human life: physical health, creativity, financial success, emotional healing, vocational fulfillment, relationships, sexuality and spiritual growth. It is an invaluable resource for all professionals who work in the areas of mental health, psychology, medicine, self-help, addiction recovery and spiritual development. "Letting go is one of the most efficacious tools by which to reach spiritual goals." — David Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D. This profound self-development book offers a roadmap to release emotional burdens, unlock inner peace, and embrace a life of fulfillment. It is a classic that will help you break free from limitations and unlock your true potential. Learn how to navigate challenges with grace and emerge as a stronger, more resilient version of yourself. By incorporating the principles of surrender, "Letting Go" provides practical tools for personal growth and transformation. This consciousness-expanding book will help you: · Release past traumas, negative beliefs, and self-imposed limitations. · Experience a newfound sense of freedom, joy, and authenticity. · Recover from addiction · Enhance your personal relationships · Achieve success in your career Join millions who have experienced profound transformations through the principles outlined in "Letting Go." "Letting Go" is a must-read for anyone on a quest for personal growth, spirituality, and self-improvement. Whether you're new to the realm of self-help books or a seasoned seeker, Dr. David Hawkins' insights will inspire you to embrace a life of conscious living, emotional well-being, positive thinking, and unlimited possibilities. Experience the transformative power of letting go and unlock a life of healing, success, and spiritual growth.

The Power of Strangers

Author: Joe Keohane
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1984855786
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Book Description
A “meticulously researched and buoyantly written” (Esquire) look at what happens when we talk to strangers, and why it affects everything from our own health and well-being to the rise and fall of nations in the tradition of Susan Cain’s Quiet and Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens “This lively, searching work makes the case that welcoming ‘others’ isn’t just the bedrock of civilization, it’s the surest path to the best of what life has to offer.”—Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Homeland Elegies In our cities, we stand in silence at the pharmacy and in check-out lines at the grocery store, distracted by our phones, barely acknowledging one another, even as rates of loneliness skyrocket. Online, we retreat into ideological silos reinforced by algorithms designed to serve us only familiar ideas and like-minded users. In our politics, we are increasingly consumed by a fear of people we’ve never met. But what if strangers—so often blamed for our most pressing political, social, and personal problems—are actually the solution? In The Power of Strangers, Joe Keohane sets out on a journey to discover what happens when we bridge the distance between us and people we don’t know. He learns that while we’re wired to sometimes fear, distrust, and even hate strangers, people and societies that have learned to connect with strangers benefit immensely. Digging into a growing body of cutting-edge research on the surprising social and psychological benefits that come from talking to strangers, Keohane finds that even passing interactions can enhance empathy, happiness, and cognitive development, ease loneliness and isolation, and root us in the world, deepening our sense of belonging. And all the while, Keohane gathers practical tips from experts on how to talk to strangers, and tries them out himself in the wild, to awkward, entertaining, and frequently poignant effect. Warm, witty, erudite, and profound, equal parts sweeping history and self-help journey, this deeply researched book will inspire readers to see everything—from major geopolitical shifts to trips to the corner store—in an entirely new light, showing them that talking to strangers isn’t just a way to live; it’s a way to survive.

The Brain

Author: Rob DeSalle
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300183569
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 531

Book Description
“An engaging and complex examination of the development of the human brain throughout its evolutionary history” (Publishers Weekly). After several million years of jostling for ecological space, only one survivor from a host of hominid species remains standing: us. Human beings are extraordinary creatures, and it is the unprecedented human brain that makes them so. In this delightfully accessible book, the authors present the first full, step-by-step account of the evolution of the brain and nervous system. Tapping the very latest findings in evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and molecular biology, Rob DeSalle and Ian Tattersall explain how the cognitive gulf that separates us from all other living creatures could have occurred. They discuss • The development and uniqueness of human consciousness • How human and nonhuman brains work • The roles of different nerve cells • The importance of memory and language in brain functions, and much more Our brains, they conclude, are the product of a lengthy and supremely untidy history—an evolutionary process of many zigs and zags—that has accidentally resulted in a splendidly eccentric and creative product.