a keenly interested babe but still far from knowing what i'm reading. Finally, with an enormous expansion of memory and neural integration processes, brains/minds were able to transcend the present and establish the "autobiographical self", with an accelerated capability of learning, future planning and decision making, and a dynamic self-ascribed identity of the organism based on rich and vivid emotionally-tagged memories of its own past experiences. Pretty technical and occasionally dense, but I enjoyed it overall. He also has a delightful writing style and a way with words, especially considering his discipline being neurology. the mapping onto the brain of our experiences was another aspect of this book that i sensed was well done. In “Self Comes to Mind,” the eminent neurologist and neuroscientist Antonio Damasio gives an account of consciousness that might come naturally to a highly caffeinated professor in his study. Damasio is a brilliant cognitive scientist, and I think his other books have been wonderful. If in the end you're not entirely persuaded, it's because you're remembering other evidence from other books, or experiences. (2) It's not at all well organized. On the contrary, the book is beaming with information, but that's probably the downfall of it too. References: Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain, by Antonio Damasio.. 'Will give pleasure to anyone interested in original thinking about the brain.Breathtakingly original' Financial Times. so with this book, i suspect i was operating at about a 27% comprehension level and whereas that might seem like a not-worth-it effort, it was. No doubt the author is distinguished, and places theories together to make a composite, but what he's asking the reader is to suspend disbelief at the door and accept his word. Damasio (Director/Univ. Where was your editor? I hate to sound infantile, but in a book about neural functions, a single diagram showing the location of the nucleus tractus solitarius might be a slight bit illuminating w. I give four stars. Refresh and try again. Art therapy is an excellent strategy. There were definitely sentences that I got no more out of than "[Brain region] is connected to [brain region] and [brain region] via [brain chemical.]" convergence-divergence regions, consciousness being an evolutionary mechanism for life-regulation). I was also fascinated by the concept of single cells exhibiting a “will to live”—a need for survival and adaptation that possibly became the foundation for consciousness. Antonio Damasio has spent the past thirty years researching and and revealing how the brain works. nucleus tractus solitarius and parabrachial nucleus being a basis for primordial feelings--I love this idea), about nearly everything he proposes, even if some things he states are somewhat intuitive or fundamental (i.e. I appreciated how he worked from the ground up, beginning with the development of a single cell organism and relating its basic properties to its more complex manifestations in the modern human. To begin, when writing a book about how the integration of a multiplicity of sensual perceptions led to the developement of consciousness, please, for the love of pete, use a multiplicity of sensual indulgences to illustrate your point. The awake mind gradually develops a sense of self, and it is then that consciousness emerges. VERY simply put, he traces the origins of consciousness back to the will to live and to homeostasis, the balance of physical factors that enables an organism to live and reproduce. Moreover, given that I had taken an introductory class in Neuroscience, it was not that hard to follow up with the brain regions, otherwise, I would have been lost. Start by marking “Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain” as Want to Read: Error rating book. a keenly interested babe but still far from knowing what i'm reading. Damasio is a neuroscientist of considerable stature, and therefore one of that limited range of people truly qualified to contribute to the difficult subject of how mind and consciousness arise. eBook ID: Se-54264f39abe02e4 | Author: Antonio Damasio Self Comes To Mind PDF eBook 1 Download Self Comes to Mind PDF eBook RUNNING HEAD THEORY OF MIND AMP EVOLUTION 1 THEORY OF MIND AND THE Welcome back. Nada. Quite descriptive book on neuroscience and consciousness. I have been thinking about how complex systems work, and anything which helps me to think in that direction is great fun. Besides the three traditional perspectives used to study the mind (the introspective, the behavioral, and the … Antonio Damasio has spent the past thirty years researching and and revealing how the brain works. Damasio, Antonio (2010) Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain. While I find the subject fascinating I felt it wasn't delivered in a compelling or interesting way to me. Find books One may argue that the concepts of self and consciousness are complicated concepts, and I would agree, but reading this book does not make it any easier to understand either. Self Comes to Mind can be a challenging read for those, like myself, with a non-specialist interest in neurology but Dr. Damasio addresses technical issues discretely so that one could simply skip those sections; personally I read through them and benefitted from the effort. (1) It's unclear who the target audience is supposed to be. a very thorough job of writing about "self" coming to mind/existence. of Southern California Brain and Creativity Inst. We recovered minds with a complete sense of self and a complete sense of our own existence — yet we hardly ever pause to consider this wonder.”, “We have our body in mind because it helps govern behavior in all manner of situations that could threaten the integrity of the organism and compromise life.”, Corine Internationaler Buchpreis for Zukunftspreis (2011). About Self Comes to Mind A leading neuroscientist explores with authority, with imagination, and with unparalleled mastery how the brain constructs the mind and how the brain makes that mind conscious. Damasio's overall theme is that the conscious self is the product of biological value (survival - technically, homeostatic balance - and well-being) that is defined by the body in terms of pleasure or pain. VERY simply put, he traces the origins of consciousness back to the will to live and to homeostasis, the balance of physical factors that enables an organism to live and reproduce. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain by Antonio Damasio (Paperback / softback) at the best online prices at eBay! Sign up to our newsletter using your email. In Self Comes to Mind, he goes against the long-standing idea that consciousness is somehow separate from the body, presenting compelling new scientific evidence that consciousness—what we think of as a mind with a self—is to begin with a biological process created by a living organism. Definitely the best approach to consciousness/the self-process that I've come across, even if it doesn't solve the hard problem. Our brain perceives in patterns. After these primordial feelings co-evolved with certain types of memory, they would generate pulses of experience (specifically of the changes to the internal state of the organism) thus forming what Damasio calls the "core self". Or consider a text or photo you've just uploaded to social media. I feel like I was reading a shopping list. S. Naipaul, Nobel laureate and author of A Bend in the River Even the simplest organisms, those without consciousness, minds, or even brains, have responses to outside stimuli that maintain their homeostasis to permit their continue. Damasio theorizes that the precursor to consciousness would have been a proto-self with primordial feelings resulting from neurons being intimately and consistently connected to the body, forming a map of the internal state of the organism and a feedback-loop in order to maintain homeostasis. Damasio claims he has shifted the proto-self to a primordial self by adding feelings into the process of becoming a self in an. seeks to understand “the mystery of consciousness.” “Consciousness is a state of mind in which there is knowledge of one’s own existence and of the existence of surroundings”—i.e., where the self introduces the property of subjectivity to the mix. "Part One of a Series In Self Comes to Mind, world-renowned neuroscientist Antonio Damasio goes against the long-standing idea that consciousness is separate from the body, presenting compelling new scientific evidence that consciousness - what we think of as a mind with a self - is in fact a biological process created by a living organism. November 9th 2010 What makes the images, sounds, and smells arriving at our sense organs, compile a frame of 'experience' that one can be subjective about: that is, sensing our sensing, and being aware of our awareness. You may start with this one or not, does not matter, as Dr Damasio, a genius writer, takes it very didactically. in perceptual, resonant loops between the ed future are in play. Neurology has figured out what certain brain structure do and how they work together. In Self Comes to Mind he gives us a fascinating window of this inter­face between the brain and the world, which is grounded in our own body.” — Le Figaro (France) “The marvel of reading Damasio’s book is to be convinced one can follow the brain at work as it makes the private reality that is the deepest self.” —V. It is a lucid and important work. After reading this book for the second time, I am more impressed than ever that the author has described the working of the human brain better than anything I have ever read. Self Comes to Mind is often an exhilarating read. I was disappointed in this book. I have read books which tackle self philosophically, however, to think of it this way was a lot of fun. Antonio Damasio's Self Comes to Mind is the third in a sequence of books in this blog following John Searle's Philosophy in the 21st Century (see January 21, 2011 post) and David Hume's Treatise on Human Nature (see February 27, 2011 post) relating to consciousness and the mind. Though it might be a weird choice, after reading it three times I think this is my favorite book. Through evolution, such responses become more sophisticated and lead to the development of brains and neurons that can carry out such responses appropriately. This one is repetitive and lacked scientific depth. Three stars only, not for the lack of ideas or content. Edition 2007. the book is very well organized although the technical terms used kept me from grasping more even as they added gravitas to the book's point of view. Damasio makes his case with phrases that wink at the reader, as if shamefully, with assertions of how the brain works that are unfounded. and this book, although beyond me, gave me a list of thoughts and terms that i am glad for. In Self Comes to Mind, USC neuroscientist Antonio Damasio creates a model of consciousness and a hypothesis about how consciousness came to evolve. This book is basically the updated edition of. It is very well written, and is based in what we now know about the human brain, and how it works. You can read the first chapters and then skip to part 3, maybe 4 and you wont miss a lot. His view entails a radical change in the way the history of the conscious mind is viewed and told, suggesting that the brain's development of a human self is a challenge to nature's indifference. i especially appreciated damasio's perspective that consciousness and self begin in the body and not in the mind. Damasio theorizes that the precursor to consciousness would have been a proto-self with primordial feelings resulting from neur. Do we have something called a "soul" that is immaterial, and different from our physical beings? As a neurologist familiar with what is known today about the anatomy and myriad connections of the brain, the author adds a theoretical framework, based on evolution and biology, that ties it all together. I have been thinking about how complex systems work, and anything which helps me to think in that direction is great fun. (1) It's unclear who the target audience is supposed to be. There were quite a few Aha! This book is a super accessible explanation of body map simulations and the construction of the sense of self as Damasio understands it. The epicenter of Self Comes to Mind concerns the neurological basis for cognition and the issue of the superposition of a "self' onto the construct which we address as reality. (2) It's not at all well organized. The trailblazing investigation of a question that has confounded us for centuries: how is consciousness created? There were quite a few. but i remain a lay person. This title is winner of the CORINE International Book Award 2011. And color is always nice. “We all woke up this morning and we had with it the amazing return of our conscious mind. Here's The Deal. His approach consisted of establishing an evolutionary path to our current level of consciousness, which he calls our "autobiographical self", and exploring in some detail which parts of the brain are correlated with the fundamental aspects of consciousness. Awareness may be mostly mystery, but Damasio shapes its hints and glimmerings into an imaginative, informed narrative, The marvel of reading Damasio's book is to be convinced one can follow the brain at work as it makes the private reality that is the deepest self, Damasio's most ambitious work yet. That the consciousness exists is not in question, or the macro-organs of the brain responsible for its action. See 1 question about Self Comes to Mind…, The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness, Readers' Most Anticipated Books of January. But what Damasio is talking about is finding a telescope that can view the living brain at work akin to Hubble peering at the distant universe. I have read books which tackle self philosophically, however, to think of it this way was a lot of fun. However, the summary below is not meant for that topic alone, but for the general issue of consciousness. New year! In Damasio's terminology, even single-celled organisms such as bacteria or amoebae have a minimal sense of self, working to preserve their internal integrity against foreign incursion. It is from one of the most important neuroscientists at work today, a path-breaking investigation of a question that has confounded neurologists, philosophers, cognitive scientists and psychologists for centuries: how is consciousness … It is done by the brain, but the thing mapped is the body and it's through this mapping that "the self comes to mind". That self, however, lon. Damasio addresses the age-old philosophical question of where the self resides, and where it comes from. This is an exciting book by a wonderful thinker. Groundbreaking ideas and beautifully written, this is essential reading for anyone curious about the foundations of mind and self. We do this by "mapping" our respective body states. I think he's correct, neurologically speaking (i.e. Feelings therefore are analogous to vision as a perception of light and hearing as a perception of vibration. While I am sure that further refinement is to be made, this book and its theory of brain, mind and self is destined to. I appreciated how he worked from the ground up, beginning with the development of a single cell organism and relating its basic properties to its more complex manifestations in the modern human. To help us recommend your next book, tell us what you enjoy reading. Some good attempts to be faithful to the approach John Searle recommends in the philosophy of mind of seeing the mind and sense of self as coming primarily from the evolved brain. Damásio studied medicine at the University of Lisbon Medical School in Portugal, where he also did his medical residency rotation and completed his doctorate. The epicenter of Self Comes to Mind concerns the neurological basis for cognition and the issue of the superposition of a "self' onto the construct which we address as reality. I thought that was such a profound and creative idea—that a stepping stone to human consciousness was the neuron’s imitation of a body cell’s inherent will to survive. It was fun to think of self the way Damasio theorizes. Some of what he writes can be considered wishful thinking, because those stretches do not flesh out the bones with reference to peer-reviewed work. If not, where does the sense of self come from, and how does it differ from that of a sea slug, or a squirrel? His view entails a radical change in the way the history of the conscious mind is viewed and … Stopped reading at chapter 4. It's way too detailed for a non-cog-neuroscientist, and in parts, way too obvious for a professional in the field. Damasio's basic claims from his first two books as I understood them (there is no rationality without emotions and there is no consciousness without a body to be conscious of) are repeated without any real additions. We do this by "mapping" our respective body states. Damasio's overall theme is that the conscious self is the product of biological value (survival - technically, homeostatic balance - and well-being) that is defined by the body in terms of pleasure or pain. Please, an emotional caress. The Archaeology of Mind: Neuroevolutionary Origins of Human Emotions, by Jaak Panksepp and Lucy Biven. Three stars only, not for the lack of ideas or content. Damasio makes his case with phrases that wink at the reader, as if shamefully, with assertions of how the brain works that are unfounded. That self, however, long-precedes consciousness and rests, ultimately, on the primordial feelings of the "protoself" ("a valence, somewhere along the pleasure-to-pain range"), and predisposes our conscious decision-making in fundamental ways. They are more factual, more explanatory and less philosophically, and thus I think better suited to the author's strengths. Damasio has championed the role of emotion in cognition and consciousness. ; Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain, 2003, etc.) by Pantheon, Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain. In its current form, it's a mash up of a whole bunch of ideas/findings/reports that Damasio ha. Sure, it has some good ideas, but the writing is killing it. And so, we set out deriving God from what we do not see. His work there on behavioral neurology was done under the supervision of Norman Geschwind. I think he's correct, neurologically speaking (i.e. Self Comes To Mind: Constructing The Conscious Brain by Antonio Damasio (Pantheon) The perennially fascinating question of who and what we human creatures are is the subject of these two books by eminent neuroscientists in their search for the self. In Self Comes to Mind Antonio Damasio puts forth a hypothesis of how the physical brain produces the self-aware, subjective, experience of consciousness and mind. Damasio spends a good deal of time very carefully building his "brief," like a lawyer, that if you put enough mental functions together, the vast majority of which we share with the rest. He has feelings as a perception of neuronal monitoring of body states and developed its vital role as an evolutionary advance. Later, he moved to the United States as a research fellow at the Aphasia Research Center in Boston.