Product Description

A leading expert of the neurophysiology of emotions, Damasio shows how our consciousness arose out of the development of emotion. At its core human consciousness is consciousness of the feeling and experiencing self.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17549 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
As you read this, at some level you're aware that you're reading, thanks to a standard human feature commonly referred to as consciousness. What is it--a spiritual phenomenon, an evolutionary tool, a neurological side effect? The best scientists love to tackle big, meaningful questions like this and neuroscientist Antonio Damasio jumps right in with The Feeling of What Happens, a poetic examination of interior life through lenses of research, medical cases, philosophical analysis and unashamed introspection. Damasio's perspective is, fortunately, becoming increasingly common in the scientific community; despite all the protestations of old-guard behaviourists, subjective consciousness is a plain fact to most of us and the demand for new methods of inquiry is finally being met.

These new methods are not without rigour, though. Damasio and his colleagues examine patients with disruptions and interruptions in consciousness and take deep insights from these tragic lives while offering greater comfort and meaning to the sufferers. His thesis, that our sense of self arises from our need to map relations between self and others, is firmly rooted in medical and evolutionary research but stands up well to self-examination. His examples from the weird world of neurology are unsettling yet deeply humanising--real people with serious problems spring to life in the pages but they are never reduced to their deficits. The Feeling of What Happens captures the spirit of discovery as it plunges deeper than ever into the darkest waters yet. --Rob Lightner

Amazon.co.uk Review
As you read this, at some level you're aware that you're reading, thanks to a standard human feature commonly referred to as consciousness. What is it--a spiritual phenomenon, an evolutionary tool, a neurological side effect? The best scientists love to tackle big, meaningful questions like this and neuroscientist Antonio Damasio jumps right in with The Feeling of What Happens, a poetic examination of interior life through lenses of research, medical cases, philosophical analysis and unashamed introspection. Damasio's perspective is, fortunately, becoming increasingly common in the scientific community; despite all the protestations of old-guard behaviourists, subjective consciousness is a plain fact to most of us and the demand for new methods of inquiry is finally being met.

These new methods are not without rigour, though. Damasio and his colleagues examine patients with disruptions and interruptions in consciousness and take deep insights from these tragic lives while offering greater comfort and meaning to the sufferers. His thesis, that our sense of self arises from our need to map relations between self and others, is firmly rooted in medical and evolutionary research but stands up well to self-examination. His examples from the weird world of neurology are unsettling yet deeply humanizing--real people with serious problems spring to life in the pages but they are never reduced to their deficits. The Feeling of What Happens captures the spirit of discovery as it plunges deeper than ever into the darkest waters yet. --Rob Lightner, Amazon.com

Customer Reviews

Tony tumbles temples
Damasio is not one to let traditional concepts restrain expression of good research. This book overturns many long-held ideas, replacing them with fresh insights on how our minds and bodies interact. Not afraid to tackle the big questions, Damasio offers a rich, substantial analysis of how our brains and bodies interact. That interaction is called our "mind". It's not always easy to see how these two aspects of ourselves are so intimately merged, but Damasio makes it all clear in this book. Why does consciousness feel to us in the manner it does?

Essential to Damasio's analysis of consciousness is his division of it. "Core" consciousness is the brain's "automatic" processes - breathing, heartbeat and the countless other biological functions. "Extended" consciousness is the realm of memory, conception, "thinking" and other aspects we generally associate with the mind. The latter are those featured in most cognitive studies, which he argues are inadequate. Damasio stresses repeatedly that the "core" - "extended" distinction isn't absolute. The links between core and extended consciousness are multiple and varied. They occur in many places in the brain and its association with the rest of the body. He calls for further studies on those interactions as the foundation for a better understanding of full consciousness.

Damasio has particularly fine presentation skills. He puts us at ease in describing his patients, his theories and how they fit together. His patients, after all, are only us with some brain disturbance. Many are people we could encounter daily. They have, however, suffered some malady that disconnects essential parts of their brains' mechanism. Damasio explains in an intimate conversational style what they are suffering. Consciousness in these people has been impaired. The impairment is in the realm of emotion and feeling.

Those two terms are the core of Damasio's thesis. Unlike mainstream cognitive scientists, he separates them, with one being the "public" expression and the other private. Feelings belong to us, where emotions are shared with the world. He is breaking new ground in cognitive studies with his work. The result is a highly detailed book, with intense examination of brain operations. A reader unfamiliar with these topics may find the book increasingly challenging as you progress through the topics. The rewards for persistence, however, are rich. Damasio has provided an innovative scenario of how consciousness is structured. This book deserves serious attention and will remain fundamental for some time.[stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

The Feeling of Self
Beware! This book will change forever your idea about your self. Starting from the premise that selves begin in bodies, Damasio outlines how the brain's ability to build a map of the state of the body, using electrical and chemical mesages, forms the basis of the 'proto-self' and how 'second-order' maps of the changes which result in the body as a result of stimuli ( both external and internal) add a second-order of mapping which, by being repeatedly recreated over time emerge as the 'self'. It is, says Damasio, upon this self that higher orders of memory and intellect create the elaborate structure of the individual.When I first read it, I suspected the author of the usual slight of hand which gets us from biology to awareness, but I've read it three times now and am convinced. This is really the only biology of Self that I have encountered. Personally I'd like to add a little of Daniel Dennett's 'centre of narrative' to the mix (see 'Consciousness Explained'), despite his less convincing biology, but my neuroscience contacts tell me that Damasio's approach is now the most widely accepted, and I can well understand why. A stunning idea lucidly expounded. Read it!

No body, nevermind ... and other gems
This is a book about a difficult subject, but Damasio makes it a pleasure to explore. His writing style is wonderful and exhibits the humanity and feeling that is so inherent to his theories. In this way the book is not just a dry academic account, but it attemps to integrate into LIFE. As it should.

His work is also a philosophical one, although that is not his major purpose of the book. However, his foundational idea that the body is the frame of reference for consciousness have some wide ranging consequences. Considering things like the soul and other spiritual concepts in the Damasian view makes you think twice.

His book is mostly about things normal, although he provides some examples from neuro-pathology to make his points. As such he doesn't speak much about curing the mentally ill, but his work will, eventually, have an immense importance for how we humans view ourselves and our curious condition. The body is such a little-liked thing in Western culture, yet it is all we have. Perhaps when we learn to cherish and understand that body, we will learn how to fully realize our potential.

Don't miss this book. (And be sure to check out Descartes' Error if you haven't read that one yet)