A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness: From Impostor Poodles to Purple Numbers

3 e mezzo
..si, perché questo libro è buono, ma purtroppo mi aspettavo un saggio un po' più denso, invece mi sono ritrovato davanti alle trascrizioni delle conferenze che l'autore ha tenuto alla BBC. Interessantissime e illuminanti, su questo nulla da dire..ma forse non era quello che cercavo..vabbe', direte voi, ma il libro che colpa ne ha? sei tu che hai fatto un acquisto sbagliato.. si certo..però..insomma..ok compratelo, ho imparato moltissime cose comunque e, se quello che cercate è un'introduzione a qualche tema neuroscientifico allora questo "Che cosa sappiamo della mente" fa proprio per voi!!

This book was the first of V.S. Ramachandran's that i read, and i was instantly hooked. Not only is the content fascinating to begin with, he has a casual and funny way of writing that makes these inanswerable questions accessible and applicable to everyone. READ THIS BOOK

Might not need the whole thing because it's a complement to Sacks' works. But Marfita says part of is about a theory of the evolutionary value of art, iiuc, so that'd be very cool.
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Too dated for me. Even the chapter on the neurological underpinnings to the aspects of art that are universal was too obvious, in hindsight. Not a bad book though if you want to read just one very shot intro. to the field. And I do mean short, as a good third of the slim book's pages are actually notes.

Now, they're substantial notes, and a thorough reader wouldn't skip them... but the implication of them being in the back is that they are skippable.... (Well that structure bothers me... if they're worth including, either work them into the text or put show more them at the foot, or best of all, put them at the *end of each chapter.* And content notes should be distinct from referential credits, too.)

Anyway, yeah, 20 minutes and I'm done. show less

Pleasant smooth writing from Ramachandran, but overall a bit basic in terms of consciousness study.

A FASCINATING SERIES OF LECTURES EXPLORING CONSCIOUSNESS, BRAIN FUNCTION, AND HOW THE MIND EMERGES FROM PHYSICAL PROCESSES—ACCESSIBLE YET PROFOUND.

A quite interesting book, examining the workings of the human brain through deviations from normal function. Voluminous and very helpful endnotes. Need to find more from this author.

What is body image? Why do we blush? What is art? What is free will? What is the self? Until recently these questions were the province of philosophy, but studies of the brain are beginning to produce explanations. V.S. Ramachandran, leading expert in the field of neuroscience, takes us right into the heart of the problem of who we are.