Product Description

Conversations on Consciousness is just that - a series of twenty lively and challenging conversations between Sue Blackmore and some of the world's leading philosophers and scientists. Written in a colloquial and engaging style the book records the conversations Sue had when she met these influential thinkers, whether at conferences in Arizona or Antwerp, or in their labs or homes in Oxford or San Diego. The conversations bring out their very different personalities and styles and reveal a wealth of fascinating detail about their theories and beliefs. Why is consciousness such a special and difficult issue for twenty-first century science? Sue, herself a researcher into this controversial and difficult topic, begins by asking each of her colleagues this simple question and is immediately plunged into the depths of the debate: How do the subjective experiences we call consciousness arise from the physical brain? Is this even the right question to ask? Can zombies - people who behave outwardly just like others but have no inner mental life - exist? What can dreams tell us about consciousness? Should we all be learning to meditate? Do we have free will, and if not is it possible to live without it? With an introduction setting out the broad structure of the debate on consciousness, and an extensive glossary, this book provides an engaging and accessible account of the most challenging problem of all, through the words of some of the leading figures involved in seeking to solve it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69880 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Guardian, 9 Dec 2006
'a fascinating insight'

Review
a fascnating insight (Guardian )

BBC Mindgames
"A great read for someone studying, or itnerested in the study of consciousness."

Customer Reviews

Brief and kept incredibly simple
Roughly the same questions are given to alot of the most interesting people in contemporary consciousness research. It spans over psychology, philosophy, neuro-science and religion - and does so without getting boring.

It's spread out into the "conversations" and it's a very good-night read - but don't expect any real depth from it. Each conversation gets about 10-15 pages (if I remember correctly) - so it's hard to be anything but superficial.

Where it REALLY wins me over is in the way it creates a map of the different ideas and thoughts within the field of consciousness. It does this REALLY well, so if you want to get a grasp of the different ideas and paths there are to explore - this would be a great place to start.

It puts focus on free will and what consciousness really "is" - and how it is formed.

If you buy this book, please remember to look at the little dictionary in the back, it's got all the terms described in a way that almost everyone can understand it.

A synopsis of current theories
This is not a detailed book on consciousness. The author interviews most of the current consciousness theoreticians to get a flavour of their ideas and how they differ from each other. Each person gets about 10 pages or so, so don't expect more than a brief appreciation of each.

The language is also quite technical (-there is a glossary, but it's very short), so I would not recommend this as a first read on the subject. Being a series of interviews, the text does not flow as well as a book and is sometimes rather stacato.

Overall, this is a good synopsis on the current thinking : use it to choose the theory you find most attractive and then search for books by that author to get the real meat of their theory.

Very informative, directly from the best people on the field!
You get all the different raprochements on the relation of consciousness to matter: You get the theories of those who believe in gods, of those who believe in classical laborious science and of those who suggest a quantum raprochement. I strongly suggest this book because it opens access to many other writers and books, depending on which theories included in this book persuade you best.