Exploring Consciousness: An Introduction to the Fascinating Mystery of the Mind

Cassio: High-quality science, Harris goes deep and wide in a vast range of areas in order to collect valuable evidence to support (or break down if that's the case) the theories and hypotheses towards what consciousness is and might be responsible for. One key ingredient to it is the aim to defy intuition and bring about the possibility that no one is willing to take a chance in. If you're in psychology (or else) and have an open mind, this is a "must read and understand" kinda book!

Brazil on Jul 17, 2023

Luis A.: En excelente resumen de las principales filosofías al abordar la conciencia. Me encantó.

Mexico on Jun 08, 2023

Ray Rice: Great read. Thought provoking. The material, for a novice like myself, the material is presented in such a way that it is "understandable". Having said that, one comes away from the book with many questions one didn't even know needed to be asked.....clearly a success. Well done.

Canada on Jan 07, 2023

jcornetp: With an easy way Annaka share with us the main question and concerns on consciousness. She is able to takeaway different theories and summarize where we are on the science of consciousness. Like a good film looks like to be continued. A big thanks to Annaka Harris

Spain on Oct 29, 2022

V: One of the best books on conciousness I've read, and I've read a few. Crisp, concise and comprehensive.

Lends a ton of clarity to an otherwise highly cryptic subject.

India on Dec 25, 2019

Andrew Wyllie: This book is an introduction to the topic of Consciousness and breaks down the different areas of consideration into separate chapters. Each chapter then goes on to detail the current, and past, research and thought on that topic and brings the reader up to date on that topic. It does not bury the reader into detail or use terms or ideas that the average person would not be able to follow along with.

This book is a quick read and does not bury the reader in too much detail. Each chapter is only a few pages long so you are able to read up on a particular idea or topic in a single short reading session without having to dedicate too much time to a chapter. I read the book during my morning and evening commute to work and had not problem finishing a chapter before my commute ended.

I can highly recommend this book to someone who is interested in this topic and wants a good starting point. This book has just come out in 2019 and reflects the current thinking and research so it is an excellant starting point to use. If you are just mildly curious about this topic, I would recommend this book too since it is not too detailed and can give you a brief introduction if that is...

United States on Aug 25, 2019

Dan Hawkley: The author presents additional evidence in favor of "panpsychism" as scientifically tenable. If she is open to feedback, about "the combination problem" for example: identifying the simplest deniable system (AB) is exactly synonymous with identifying the first law of thermodynamics (aka the first law of information dynamics):

(point A): everything will be (including point A)
created at some point in the past
destroyed at some point in the future

(point B): everything will be (including point B)
neither (point A) created at some point in the past
nor (point A) destroyed at some point in the future

In summary (diagonal argument disproving all creation and destruction myths as reps of prediction A): given more points than none, the simplest deniable system explains how predictions and observations work (between points) according to nature's law. The "math" is simply one-character (rather than four-character) words identifying "more" as "+" , "than" as the differentiator "square root symbol", and "none" as "-". Any other theory can't account for false predictions or fiction or "changing our minds" as additional evidence.

That is essentially what...

United States on Aug 23, 2019

Imsharaf Minahi: I was going to write an encouraging and supportive review of this book, not only because it, to a certain degree, summarizes a significant number of Sam’s podcasts and point of discussion and contention which I am sure he discussed with Annaka all day long, but also because my wife is a big fan of Annaka’s work on meditation for children and have had it as one of the offerings in her own Montessori school. But then I received the email announcement and now on the book description that the book is now a New York Times Bestseller. For me it was disappointing that an esteemed couple like Annaka and Sam utilize their publishing-industry know-how’s and their contacts and network of influence to seek after and be granted such a used to be meaningful now meaningless status of New York Times Bestseller without earning it organically through real sales. At the time of writing this review, I can only count 60 reviews the book has received on Amazon and it has only been in the market for a less than two months. I was so enthusiastic for Annaka and even bought the book as a gift for my wife, but this New York Time Bestseller thing all of a sudden and not earned organically was for me a...

United States on Jul 25, 2019

Frank J. Spence: This book offers a brief but interesting introduction to the current thinking about consciousness. Ms Harris gives a clear description of the "hard problem" of figuring out how consciousness fits into a physical world that seems to have no use for it. After all, human behavior in all its complexity is still ostensibly explained by the behavior of material phenomena. There is no obvious reason why it should feel a certain way to act a certain way. This of course is based on the assumption of the validity of materialism, the idea that everything that is real is ultimately material and exists as part of a space-time continuum.

Harris does take tentative exception to this when trying to understand how we can talk about consciousness without it somehow affecting brain activity, and this concern makes sense from the first person perspective, but from a third person perspective, there's no great difficulty understanding how a brain might generate the activity required to lead to speech acts that suggest some mysterious feeling when none actually exists, a perspective defended by many materialists including Daniel Dennett, e.g., in his presumptuously entitled “Consciousness...

United States on Jun 05, 2019