Consciousness and the Social Brain
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Narrated by:
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Sean Runnette
About this listen
What is consciousness and how can a brain, a mere collection of neurons, create it? In Consciousness and the Social Brain, Princeton neuroscientist Michael Graziano lays out an audacious new theory to account for the deepest mystery of them all. The human brain has evolved a complex circuitry that allows it to be socially intelligent. This social machinery has only just begun to be studied in detail. One function of this circuitry is to attribute awareness to others: to compute that person Y is aware of thing X.
In Graziano's theory, the machinery that attributes awareness to others also attributes it to oneself. Damage that machinery and you disrupt your own awareness. Graziano discusses the science, the evidence, the philosophy, and the surprising implications of this new theory.
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In Mind in Motion, psychologist Barbara Tversky shows that spatial cognition isn't just a peripheral aspect of thought, but its very foundation, enabling us to draw meaning from our bodies and their actions in the world. Our actions in real space get turned into mental actions on thought, often spouting spontaneously from our bodies as gestures. Spatial thinking underlies creating and using maps, assembling furniture, devising football strategies, designing airports, understanding the flow of people, traffic, water, and ideas.
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Physically difficult to listen to
- By Claire Hay on 11-08-19
By: Barbara Tversky
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The Spiritual Brain
- A Neuroscientist's Case for the Existence of the Soul
- By: Mario Beauregard, Denyse O'Leary
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Does religious experience come from God, or is it just the random firing of neurons in the brain? Drawing on brain research on Carmelite nuns that has attracted major media attention and provocative new research in near-death experiences, The Spiritual Brain proves that genuine, life-changing spiritual events can be documented. The authors make a convincing case for what many in science are loathe to consider: that it is God who creates our spiritual experiences, not the brain.
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interesting topic, but frustrating listen
- By Barry T on 08-27-08
By: Mario Beauregard, and others
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Supernormal
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- By: Dean Radin PhD, Deepak Chopra MD
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Can yoga and meditation unleash our inherent supernormal mental powers, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition? Is it really possible to perceive another person's thoughts and intentions? Influence objects with our minds? Envision future events? And is it possible that some of the superpowers described in ancient legends, science fiction, and comic books are actually real, and patiently waiting for us behind the scenes? Are we now poised for an evolutionary trigger to pull the switch and release our full potentials?
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great balance of science and wisdom traditions
- By Jayne on 03-16-18
By: Dean Radin PhD, and others
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The Master and His Emissary
- The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World
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- Length: 27 hrs and 15 mins
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This pioneering account sets out to understand the structure of the human brain - the place where mind meets matter. Until recently, the left hemisphere of our brain has been seen as the "rational" side, the superior partner to the right. But is this distinction true? Drawing on a vast body of experimental research, Iain McGilchrist argues while our left brain makes for a wonderful servant, it is a very poor master.
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The Master and His Emissary
- By Michael on 11-07-20
By: Iain McGilchrist
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On Intelligence
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Jeff Hawkins, the man who created the PalmPilot, Treo smart phone, and other handheld devices, has reshaped our relationship to computers. Now he stands ready to revolutionize both neuroscience and computing in one stroke, with a new understanding of intelligence itself.
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Epiphany
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By: Jeff Hawkins, and others
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The Perfect You
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- Unabridged
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There are a lot of personality tests out there designed to label you and put you in a particular box. But Dr. Caroline Leaf says there's much more to you than a personality profile can capture. In fact, you cannot be categorized! In this fascinating book, she takes listeners through seven steps to rediscover and unlock their unique "you quotient".
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Hands down, the most helpful book I've listened to
- By Rose O'Connor on 07-31-17
By: Dr. Caroline Leaf, and others
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About Behaviorism
- By: B.F. Skinner
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
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- Unabridged
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About Behaviorism is about the controversial philosophy known as behaviorism, written by its leading exponent.
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Refreshing and concise
- By Autumn and Sam on 07-30-22
By: B.F. Skinner
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Riveted
- The Science of Why Jokes Make Us Laugh, Movies Make Us Cry, and Religion Makes Us Feel One with the Universe
- By: Jim Davies
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Professor Jim Davies's fascinating and highly accessible book, Riveted, reveals the evolutionary underpinnings of why we find things compelling. Drawing on work from philosophy, anthropology, religious studies, psychology, economics, computer science, and biology, Davies offers a comprehensive explanation to show that in spite of the differences between the many things that we find compelling, they have similar effects on our minds and brains.
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Fun and excellent listen!
- By Alejandro Franco on 04-13-18
By: Jim Davies
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How Language Began
- The Story of Humanity's Greatest Invention
- By: Daniel L. Everett
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 13 hrs and 10 mins
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Mankind has a distinct advantage over other terrestrial species: we talk to one another. But how did we acquire the most advanced form of communication on Earth? Daniel L. Everett, a "bombshell" linguist and "instant folk hero" (Tom Wolfe, Harper's), provides in this sweeping history a comprehensive examination of the evolutionary story of language, from the earliest speaking attempts by hominids to the more than 7,000 languages that exist today.
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Hard to endure
- By Michael D. Busch on 09-09-18
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Freedom Evolves
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Can there be freedom and free will in a deterministic world? Renowned philosopher Daniel Dennett emphatically answers "yes!" Using an array of provocative formulations, Dennett sets out to show how we alone among the animals have evolved minds that give us free will and morality. Weaving a richly detailed narrative, Dennett explains in a series of strikingly original arguments - drawing upon evolutionary biology, cognitive neuroscience, economics, and philosophy - that far from being an enemy of traditional explorations of freedom, morality, and meaning, the evolutionary perspective can be an indispensable ally.
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I knew I was going to like this book
- By Gary on 05-30-14
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What listeners say about Consciousness and the Social Brain
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- K. Gould
- 03-01-15
Good book. Terrible narrator
Would you recommend Consciousness and the Social Brain to your friends? Why or why not?
Graziano has an interesting hypothesis to explain what consciousness is and how it works in our brains. However, narration is so bad I couldn't get through the book.
What didn’t you like about Sean Runnette’s performance?
Runnette's delivery is monotonous and pedantic. He somehow sounds like he is talking down his nose at the listener, while delivering the material without inflection.
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- J. C.
- 10-01-15
Exciting new ideas, I couldn't stop listening!!!
Consciousness and the Social Brain is an exciting and groundbreaking work. The author answers important questions about thinking and awareness, and how it works neurologically. Can we be aware without an object of awareness? Out of body experiences are explained as a representation of a mind, assigned an incorrect location. Yes, awareness has a location! Usually, it's right inside your head. The author talks about spirituality and religion as logical human behaviors. The spirit world is the world of perceived consciousness. The narration is excellent. The book is jam packed with interesting stories and explanations that are new and exciting, and it's all very easily understood and relatable. I highly recommend listening to Consciousness and the Social Brain. I'm so glad the author Michael Graziano took the time to present his ideas in this wonderful book!!! Kudos to Sean Runnette for the narration.
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- Ryan
- 12-28-16
A Truly Modern Paradigm
This is a theory I have missed thusfar in what I've read and feels like the most important piece of the puzzle yet for explaining Consciousness. Not without its faults but a great read for any skill level.
However, the narrator reads slowwww, it took about double speed for the book to even read normally.
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- P. Smith
- 09-27-14
Gonna make you think hard
If you could sum up Consciousness and the Social Brain in three words, what would they be?
thought provoking stuff.
What did you like best about this story?
How he weaves personal anecdotes with complex scientific theories and facts to make the book much more readable.
Would you listen to another book narrated by Sean Runnette?
Did not care for his inflection. I think just personal preference.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
the chapter on spirituality.
Any additional comments?
I have listened to this book three times now. This is brilliant stuff, and has made me rethink some of my long held beliefs.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Paula M. Toth
- 05-02-15
Plain English
I liked this book because you don't have to be a scientist to understand it. I could follow it all the way through!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Martin Hilbert
- 04-26-19
Horrible narration
The content and theory are fascinating. Sometimes a bit wordy, redundant and lengthy, but he also has more succinct academic articles.
What makes this audiobook almost impossible to follow is the narrator. Makes it very monotone but in a dramatic way for each sentence. The quick wordflow combined with long pauses also make it impossible to increase the speed, since then the words become impossible to understand and pauses to empty. Just not the right way to narrate an audiobook.
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- Romulo Vallejo
- 04-10-15
Very informative work
Although deep into the neuroscience necessary to explain itself, I found plenty of simple and useful information on the topic.
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- Trurl
- 11-05-14
Good idea but poor narration.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Consciousness and the Social Brain?
The last chapters discussing the nature of spirituality and possibility of machine consciousness were intriguing and refreshingly different from most other accounts.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
The narrator spoke with very little voice inflection and what was there was annoying. Every sentence ended with a lowered pitch making it sound like each one was the last one in the paragraph or chapter. It became more and more distracting until it was only possible to listen in small doses. However, the content was compelling enough to finish.
Any additional comments?
The author has an unusual hypothesis about the relationship of awareness and attention, and even though his exposition was repetitive, the concept is exciting and compelling.
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9 people found this helpful
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- audiojunky
- 01-28-15
Interesting theory, poor narration
It was hard to listen to the narrator as his cadence and intonation was the exact same for every sentence over the entire duration of the book. This made it an extremely hard listen.
Apart from that, the content of the book was well written and contains an interesting theory of consciousness. It is worth noting however that the author frequently uses the word "schema" and never actually describes what the specific schema would be. This isn't an explanation in itself. If he were to explain the structure of the schema then I believe this would be a stronger theory.
To sum up the theory: consciousness is information.
That's a great direction, but without a proposed schema structure there isn't much to agree or disagree with.
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- Douglas
- 08-07-14
Cutting edge...
I have encountered Graziano's "Attention Schema" theory of consciousness before in other books, but this volume explains it thoroughly and decisively. While it comes somewhat short of the Holy Grail of the FINAL EXPLANATION of what makes us conscious--one questions if such a thing is ever at last possible, any more than the fish explaining how its bowl was made, ultimately unable to escape its confines--Attention Theory is about the best psychological and neurological theory that we have at present. It is a definite step forward over all former theories. A book well worth reading.
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22 people found this helpful