The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind Audiobook By Julian Jaynes cover art

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

By: Julian Jaynes
Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $29.95

Buy for $29.95

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

At the heart of this classic, seminal book is Julian Jaynes' still-controversial thesis that human consciousness did not begin far back in animal evolution but instead is a learned process that came about only 3,000 years ago and is still developing. The implications of this revolutionary scientific paradigm extend into virtually every aspect of our psychology, our history and culture, our religion - and indeed our future.

©1976, 1990 Julian Jaynes (P)2015 Audible, Inc.
Anatomy & Physiology Consciousness & Thought Philosophy Social Sciences Sociology Thought-Provoking
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    490
  • 4 Stars
    90
  • 3 Stars
    35
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    8
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    417
  • 4 Stars
    91
  • 3 Stars
    24
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    6
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    427
  • 4 Stars
    67
  • 3 Stars
    31
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Riveting theories dance with fringe envisionings

A book with such far out and wide standing thoughts needs and apt, sharp and pacing narrator - James Cronin's performance with expressive tones and flowing tempos brings this brilliant piece to life as the listener has space to contemplate alongside, but not get lost in the elaborate use of words and ever moving concepts. A provoking listen, and for me has been the most stimulating and inspiring book I have come across in nearly a decade. There's little doubt that my own work will be enlightened by this text. Exceptionally done by both author and narrator.

Enjoy your experience and be prepared for a paradigm shift. Your understanding of the origin of mind, self identity, societies and how they have formed may be up for a profound change, hopefully along with a projection of your own on how they all continue to develop and evolve today.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Blew (both chambers of) my mind

This book blew (both chambers of) my mind - it was a fascinating view into consciousness

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

very stimulating book

The theory of the bicameral mind is best explored by listening to this excellently narrated audiobook. Jaynes's book literally takes you on a trip to the other side, into what he carefully reconstructs as humanity's past without consciousness, into the realms of the bicameral mind. Once a language basis, use of metaphorical meaning and a mindspace for introspection had arisen, the bicameral mind broke down and consciousness took over. So what was prior to the dawn of consciousness? A bipartite, i.e. bicameral mind consisting of an executive function and a function mediating inspiration and exercising command, thus directing the executive function. Jaynes carefully explains how and why the bicameral mind existed in non-conscious human beings, why and how this mentality met it's end, and what vestiges still remain in some or all of us. The book opens fresh perspectives on language, poetry, literature, cultural history, religion, psychology, psychopathology, neurophysiology and much more. Highly recommended!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very interesting!

Consciousness is so fascinating! I really enjoyed this book! Very insightful! I would highly recommend it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

life changing.

This book is more enlightening everytime I listen to it. I just finished my fourth listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

This is deep

If you can only read one book in your entire life, this is it. You will have to read it few times to get 20% of it. This book will be a best seller in 50-100 years since most of us have not evolved to this level yet, I think Dr Jaynes was way ahead of his time, hard to believe he wrote that book 50 years ago! I wish he was still alive today so I can attend his lectures in person

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Mind-altering

Persuasive argument for a radical hypothesis about the nature of the human mind, tying together neurology, history, and philosophy. Narration is clear and often brings a sense of dramatic tension to the at-times dry subject matter.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Bicameralism is compelling

Compelling ideas. Highly recommended for those with even a cursory glance of the unusual in themselves.
Why bicameralism arose or broke down is not explained in sufficient detail, but only lazily surmised by appealing to randomness and natural selection.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Psyche pronounced as see-key 44 times

Nothing to add to the 5-star reviews about this phenomenal essay. However, for a book with the word 'MIND' in the title it's painful to hear the narrator, James Patrick Cronin, pronounce 'psyche' as 'see-key' forty-four (44) times over 26 of its 469 pages. The word psyche is used twice on page 69, once on page 71, once on page 257 and then forty (40) times beginning on page 270 under the section titled 'Psyche' through page 292. On page 291 the word 'psyche' is used nine (9) times. Here it is, read it out loud for yourself as "see-key" - - - "But the 'see-key' here is somewhat the same, a something of a man which leaves the body at death. And what the Hades view of 'see-key' may be is a composite of the Pythagorean teaching with the older view of the buried dead in Greek antiquity. All this curious development of the sixth century B.C. is extremely important for psychology. For with this wrenching of 'see-key' = life over to 'see-key' = soul, there came other changes to balance it as the enormous inner tensions of a lexicon always do. The word soma had meant corpse or deadness, the opposite of 'see-key' as livingness. So now, as 'see-key' becomes soul, so soma remains as its opposite, becoming body. And dualism, the supposed separation of soul and body, has begun. But the matter does not stop there. In Pindar, Heraclitus, and others around 500 B.C., 'see-key' and nous begin to coalesce. It is now the conscious subjective mind-space and its self that is opposed to the material body. Cults spring up about this new wonder-provoking division between 'see-key' and soma. It both excites and seems to explain the new conscious experience, thus reinforcing its very existence. The conscious 'see-key' is imprisoned in the body as in a tomb." - - - It's just atrocious. He mangles the pronunciation of other words - but this is the most prolific sputter that actually has a ruinous and detracting impact. FYI: In the book, the word 'psyche' is italicized every time. Just stunning.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating exploration of history and the mind

Jargon dense but understandable. Drags in spots. Thorough and fascinating. Worth reading/listening. Not for the deeply religious. Probably over sweeping but credible.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful