| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £11.25
Trade in Consciousness: An Introduction for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £11.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"..the style of the book lays down a challenge to the reader: to enter perplexity. Any reader carrying out the activities and practices is likely to engage personally with the subject matter in ways that other texts cannot reach." Dr Guy Saunders, University of the West of England
(The Scientific and Medical Network, No. 83, Winter 03 )One day, all consciousness textbooks will be made this way. Susan Blackmore's "Consciousness: An introduction" is an invaluable addition to the area of consciousness research. It is balanced, scholarly and yet student-friendly: no undergraduate course on consciousness should be without it.
Greg Davis
Product Description
The book examines topics such as how subjective experiences arise from objective brain processes, the basic neuroscience of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, out of body and near death experiences and the effects of drugs, dreams and meditation. It also explores the nature of self, the possibility of artificial consciousness in robots, and the question of whether animals are conscious.
The new edition has been fully revised to include the latest developments in neuroscience, brain scanning techniques, and artificial consciousness and robotics. The new website includes self-assessment exercises, advanced further reading, flashcards and MCQs.
For all those intrigued by what it means to be, to exist, this book could radically transform your understanding of your own consciousness.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
In effect the book provides the reader with a 'jumping off point', suggesting that the only way in which you will gain insight into matters related to consciousness is by introspection. In other words, no theory will do the trick - the answers lie in analysing your own subjective experience. What Blackmore does is lay out the key points of various theories through all the relevant disciplines: psychology, philosophy, religion and science.
Of course, this approach does have its weakness - and this is true of any kind of popularisation of a subject. No doubt some would complain that Blackmores approach amounts to 'dumbing down'. However, this is exactly why the book is referred to as an 'introduction', and those looking for a new take on the subject will end up disappointed. However, there are ample references, enabling the reader to pick up on the leads Blackmore gives. As Blackmore writes, studying consciousness completely changes your view of the world, and its something you have to be ready for. Another guarantee is that you will end up more confused than you begun: consciousness can demystify far more than it can explain. However, if you want an intellectual challenge that will change your life this book is worth every penny.
This new book is modestly subtitled, "An Introduction" - but I suppose many definitive works on a particular subject are thus categorized. There is little doubt that the author covers the field thoroughly and meticulously, with some references as recently published as 2003.
What is a surprise is that the book is laid out for class study, with suggested activities, comprehension questions and further reading listed with every chapter. But thumbnail biographies of relevant personages also accompany each chapter, and pithy to-the-point quotations are dotted in the margins. Susan's son contributed cute little cartoons here and there, also relevant to the context. All in all, a well thought-out presentation which succeeds admirably.
As to actual content, this fuzzy science of human consciousness doesn't lend itself to breakthrough pronouncements - the 'Illusion of consciousness' and 'No free will' concepts are well covered in previous books.
Once again, the punting of Ms. Blackmore's personal Buddhist views are a little jarring - which she admits - but they do tend to detract from the overall scientific approach to the subject.
I recommend this book to laypeople such as myself who have an interest in this 'last great mystery of science ' - but don't expect a final word on the subject.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry > Cognition & Cognitive Psychology
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry > Neuropsychology
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry > Specific Topics > Conscious & Unconscious
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Philosophy > Topics > Philosophy of Mind
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
