Being You cover art

Being You

A New Science of Consciousness

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Being You

By: Anil Seth
Narrated by: Anil Seth
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $32.99

Buy Now for $32.99

About this listen

A BOOK OF THE YEAR GUARDIAN, THE ECONOMIST, NEW STATESMAN, FINANCIAL TIMES, BLOOMBERG

Anil Seth's radical new theory of consciousness challenges our understanding of perception and reality, doing for brain science what Dawkins did for evolutionary biology.

Being You is not as simple as it sounds. Somehow, within each of our brains, billions of neurons work to create our conscious experience. How does this happen? Why do we experience life in the first person? After over twenty years researching the brain, world-renowned neuroscientist Anil Seth puts forward a radical new theory of consciousness and self. His unique theory of what it means to 'be you' challenges our understanding of perception and reality and it turns what you thought you knew about yourself on its head.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Professor Anil Seth (P)2021 Faber & Faber Biological Sciences Neuroscience & Neuropsychology Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Science Human Brain Consciousness Physiology Computer Science

Critic Reviews

"Anil Seth thinks clearly and sharply on one of the hardest problems of science and philosophy, cutting through weeds with a scientist's mind and a storyteller's skill." (Adam Rutherford)

"Seth provokes us to think about thinking...readable, relatable and gripping." (Alex Garland, director of Ex Machina)

"Offers a new cause for astonishment and wonder...a must-read for anyone seeking a better understanding of the brain and how nature sculpts the human experience." (Annaka Harris, author of Conscious)

All stars
Most relevant  
Amazing how a scientific focus on our experience as humans has such deep spiritual implications.

Will blow your mind

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The most illuminating book on consciousness in our modern age, this combines information from multiple different disciplines in an ever engaging and thrilling way. Highly recommend if you’re interested at all in how our brain works, physics, biology, psychology, philosophy, AI or even just what being you is like.

Deeply thought provoking

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Scope of the book was fantastic. I wish personally it had lingered more on certain chapters like Octopuses or Kierkegaard, but there are always more books.

Touches on a number of related topics

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
interesting and very well structured, explanation are clear and interesting , relevant to every day life and with great examples.

interesting and very well structured

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It’s so interesting, and not too hard to understand for regular people. It changed my way of thinking about many things.
Love it!
Recommend it to everyone.

Amazing book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is an amazing book. The depth and width of the material is beautifully presented with that extra personal touch provisioned by narration from the author. At times it was to much to comprehend, but then could be repeated. This may become a primary text for the next generation of medial, neural, psychological and philosophical students, I hope so….

Clarity in the mist

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It’s clearly too soon to write a book on this topic as all it really achieves is to prove how little is known.
As it stands, it looks as though consciousness may even ultimately show us the limits of the scientific method itself.
No wonder agreement can’t be reached on how to test for AI consciousness, given no one can define what it actually is, in humans.

Spoiler: they don’t know yet

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.