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Consciousness Explained

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Consciousness Explained

By: Daniel C. Dennett
Narrated by: Paul Mantell
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About this listen

The national bestseller chosen by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 1991 is now available as an audiobook. The author of Brainstorms, Daniel C. Dennett replaces our traditional vision of consciousness with a new model based on a wealth of fact and theory from the latest scientific research.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©1991 Daniel C. Dennett (P)2013 Audible Inc. Consciousness & Thought History & Philosophy Philosophy Science Consciousness Computer Science
All stars
Most relevant
The book was written decades ago, and surprisingly, despite the advancement in neuroscience, the book remains relevant. The power of philosophical analysis is well demonstrated.

I personally wish the book could be written more concisely, although probably not the author’s style. If a hundred words can be used to explain a concept that could also be explained in twenty words, the author would use a hundred words, and have it written witfully.

I picked the book consciously but ended up finishing it unconsciously. My understanding of consciousness has deepened, and I definitely have become more conscious of my consciousness after reading the book, whether achieved consciously or unconsciously.

An unnecessarily lengthy book that remains relevant after decades

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Dennett's theory certainly takes some time to absorb and due to the length of the book, difficult to take into a manageable perspective. I am all but a lay-person coming to this book, my background is in clinical psychology, and I have a concordant understanding of neuro-science and neuro-psychology.
The book opens with a great deal of ground-work to establish the frame of approaching the problems asserting a theory of consciousness inherently involves. This is followed by a long series of thought experiments and analogies to assist the arrival at Dennett's theory. The science that this journey is supported by is certainly fascinating and rewarding to ponder.
I found the book really enjoyable in small chunks, but quite tedious to hold many of the important threads in mind. I find even after a 2nd listen, that I need to give it another listen.
The performance of the audio-book is excellent quality, with perhaps my only criticism being that it is fast-paced (perhaps quite necessarily so).

A mind-bending journey

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If you didn't already know how seriously many philosophers worry about zombies then the chances are this book is not what you might expect. There is a lot to think about in here, and it wasn't until the second time I read it that I felt I understood it. I believe the book really achieves what the title promises and that this is a view that will become less controversial with time and as more becomes known. So much so that the sketch of consciousness presented here will be seen one day as ahead of its time as works such as Wealth Of Nations and Origin of Species is now seen ahead of the time they were written in. That is, a rough brilliant sketch that is mostly right and worth reading again and again and again to fully take in and enjoy.

Worth reading at least twice

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Probably not as good as reading the books but definitely worth the listen. A lot of fantastic concepts covered. Tom

Great

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