Synopses & Reviews
The publication of this book is an event in the making. All over the world scientists, psychologists, and philosophers are waiting to read Antonio Damasio's new theory of the nature of consciousness and the construction of the self. A renowned and revered scientist and clinician, Damasio has spent decades following amnesiacs down hospital corridors, waiting for comatose patients to awaken, and devising ingenious research using PET scans to piece together the great puzzle of consciousness. In his bestselling Descartes' Error, Damasio revealed the critical importance of emotion in the making of reason. Building on this foundation, he now shows how consciousness is created. Consciousness is the feeling of what happens-our mind noticing the body's reaction to the world and responding to that experience. Without our bodies there can be no consciousness, which is at heart a mechanism for survival that engages body, emotion, and mind in the glorious spiral of human life. A hymn to the possibilities of human existence, a magnificent work of ingenious science, a gorgeously written book, The Feeling of What Happens is already being hailed as a classic.
Review
"One of the best brain stories of the decade...A must read book for anyone wanting a neurologist's perspective on one of the great unsolved mysteries."and#8212;The New York Times
"Stunning...Unashamedly grapples with these issues, and in the process provides the first truly compelling neurobiological account of the self."and#8212;Nature
"Both Descartes' Error and The Feeling of What Happens are essential reading. They are ground-breaking classics of psychology and neuroscience. These are books to buy, keep and ponder upon."and#8212;Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
"A tour de force of intuition, investigation and integration."and#8212;Sunday Times (London)
"What makes his views so noteworthy is that they're grounded not in theoretical musings but in years of clinical research."and#8212;Time
"This is not casual reading, but eventually anyone can master it; it will change your experience of yourself."and#8212;The New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice
"A landmark in the interdisciplinary project of consciousness research."and#8212;Scientific American
"Damasio is just the one to show you how fascinating you really are."and#8212;The Bloomsbury Review
Review
"Antonio Damasio has done it again! Writing for the layman as well as the scientist, he constructs a compelling solution to the problem of consciousness."and#8212;Victoria Fromkin, UCLA
"This is an extraordinary book. I know of nothing like it."and#8212;Jerome Kagan, Harvard University
"There is no simpler way to say this: read the book to learn who you are."and#8212;Jorie Graham, Poet and Pulitzer Prize Winner
"Everyone will be talking about it; everyone will have to read it."and#8212;Patricia and Paul Churchland, UCSD
Synopsis
In The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, director of UCLA's Brain and Creativity Institute, presents the first truly compelling neurobiological account of the self...a remarkable work of intellectual daring (Nature).
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
Widley praised for his innovative scientific thinking and elegant writing, Antonio Damasio, the international bestselling author of Descartes' Error achieves an understanding of consciousness by asking and answering profound questions: How is it we know what we know? How is it that our conscious and private minds have a sense of self?
In this groundbreaking book, Damasio -- a renowned and revered scientist and clinician who spent decades following amnesiacs down hospital corridors, waiting for comatose patients to awaken, and devising ingenious research using PET scans to piece together the great puzzle of consciousness -- explores the biological roots of sentient awareness and its role in survival.
Consciousness is the feeling of what happens-our mind noticing the body's reaction to the world and responding to that experience. Without our bodies there can be no consciousness, which is at heart a mechanism for survival that engages body, emotion, and mind in the glorious spiral of human life. Linking body and emotion in an arresting and original study of what it is to be human, The Feeling of What Happens will change your experience of yourself (The New York Times).
Both Descartes Error and The Feeling of What Happens are essential reading. They are ground-breaking classics of psychology and neuroscience. -- Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
Synopsis
Widely praised for his innovative scientific thinking and elegant writing, Antonio Damasio achieves a new understanding of consciousness by asking-and answering-profound questions: How is it that we know what we know? How is it that our conscious and private minds have a sense of self? A gifted medical clinician with decades of caring for patients with brain damage, a great scientific thinker, and an extraordinary writer, Damasio offers a new understanding of the biological roots of consciousness and its role in survival. Damasio's work on feeling and emotion forever joins our minds and bodies, offering an arrestingly original way of understanding what it is to be human. After reading Damasio's landmark, Descartes' Error, Jonas Salk wrote, "You will never again look at yourself or another without wondering what goes on behind the eyes that so meet." As to The Feeling of What Happens, the New York Times wrote, "Unlike any other book here, it will change your experience of yourself."
Synopsis
Antonio Damasio examines the biological roots of consciousness and its role in our survival in The Feeling of What Happens. and#160;
How is it that we know what we know? How is it that our conscious and private minds have a sense of self? A gifted medical clinician and scientific thinker, Damasio helps readers to ask and answer questions about what it is to be human. His elegant investigation of feeling and emotion offers a new understanding of the conscious mind and, as the New York Times has noted, and#8220;will change your experience of yourself.and#8221;and#160;
About the Author
Antonio Damasio is the Van Allen Professor and head of the department of neurology at the University of Iowa Medical Center and is an adjunct professor at the Salk Institute in San Diego. Descartes' Error was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and has been translated into twenty-three languages. He lives in Iowa City and Chicago.