The feeling of what happens Body and emotion in the making of consciousness

Review by Choice Review

Damasio's book occupies the intersection of philosophy, cognitive psychology, and clinical neurology. This is an intriguing space in modern thought, as brain imaging techniques and rapid advances in cognitive psychology have allowed for much greater possibilities in the understanding of the human mind than even the most optimistic theorists imagined 25 years ago. Author of the well-received Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain (1994), Damasio has taken on the most formidable problem still vexing both philosophers and psychologists, the question "What is consciousness"? Weaving together ideas culled from his clinical practice of neurology, particularly with patients with quite localized brain damage, from current concepts in cognitive psychology, and from more traditional philosophy, he analyzes what many observers would agree makes humans most distinct in the animal kingdom--i.e., our sense of not only knowing, but knowing that we know. The theory presented is rich and complex, and likely to be widely discussed. Most useful for graduate students and professionals. D. P. Kimble; University of Oregon

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

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Review by Booklist Review

Neurologist Damasio explained why emotions are essential to our survival in Descartes's Error (1994). Now, in another paradigm-shifting performance, he seeks to delineate the nature of consciousness and the biological source of our sense of self. Damasio approaches these elusive and tantalizing subjects with assurance and palpable excitement, aligning theory with life, as Oliver Saks does, by chronicling the poignant yet instructive experiences of people suffering neurological disorders. His goal is to understand how we cross the "threshold that separates being from knowing"; that is, how we not only know things about the world, via our senses, but how we are aware simultaneously of a self that is experiencing this "feeling of what happens." Drawing on his fluent understanding of the workings of the brain and of evolution, Damasio conjectures the existence of two levels of consciousness: a core consciousness and self, and an extended consciousness and an autobiographical self. He then postulates the crucial roles emotion, memory, and "wordless storytelling" play in our existence. At its base, Damasio concludes, consciousness means that we feel both pain and pleasure; in its higher manifestations, it enables us to transcend and articulate these feelings through language, creativity, and conscience. --Donna Seaman

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Tackling a great complex of questions that poets, artists and philosophers have contemplated for generations, Damasio (Descartes' Error) examines current neurological knowledge of human consciousness. Significantly, in key passages he evokes T.S. Eliot, Shakespeare and William James. In Eliot's words, consciousness is "music heard so deeply/ That it is not heard at all." It, like Hamlet, begins with the question "Who's there?" And Damasio holds that there is, as James thought, a "stream of" consciousness that utilizes every part of the brain. Consciousness, argues Damasio, is linked to emotion, to our feelings for the images we perceive. There are in fact several kinds of consciousness, he says: the proto-self, which exists in the mind's constant monitoring of the body's state, of which we are unaware; a core consciousness that perceives the world 500 milliseconds after the fact; and the extended consciousness of memory, reason and language. Different from wakefulness and attention, consciousness can exist without language, reason or memory: for example, an amnesiac has consciousness. But when core consciousness fails, all else fails with it. More important for Damasio's argument, emotion and consciousness tend to be present or absent together. At the height of consciousness, above reason and creativity, Damasio places conscience, a word that preceded conciousness by many centuries. The author's plain language and careful redefinition of key points make this difficult subject accessible for the general reader. In a book that cuts through the old nature vs. nurture argument as well as conventional ideas of identity and possibly even of soul, it's clear, though he may not say so, that Damasio is still on the side of the angels. Agent, Michael Carlisle; 9-city author tour. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

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Review by Library Journal Review

In his widely acclaimed Descartes's Error, Damasio (neurology, Univ. of Iowa Medical Ctr.) argued that emotion and feelings are integral to human rationality. Here he explores the relationship between these two states and consciousness. Consciousness allows feelings to be known and emotion to "permeate the thought process." Indeed, "consciousness begins as the feeling of what happens when we see or hear or touch." Vital to this process is the construction of a sense of self. "How," he asks, "is the sense of self in the act of knowing implanted in the mind?" Damasio proposes that consciousness, like emotion, is a device to promote the stability and survival of an organism. Basing his hypotheses on observations of neurological patients and on normal processes of consciousness, the author speculates on the biological underpinnings of consciousness. This is not a book to be read quickly; the biological mechanisms described are often complicated and complex. But Damasio's spirited writing style and scientific rigor will make a conscientious reading well worthwhile. Highly recommended for academic and large public libraries.ÄLaurie Bartolini, MacMurray Coll. Lib., Springfield, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

The most intriguing unsolved problem in psychology may be the origin of consciousness; here, a noted neurologist proposes that the root of the answer lies in emotion. In Descartes' Error (1994), Damasio argued that the attempt to treat reason and emotion as separate entities was a profound mistake. Now he argues that the body's ability to sense and react to its own processes and its environment holds the key to consciousness. The problem of consciousness can be broken down into two related problems: how the brain engenders images of the outside world and how it engenders a sense of self. In other words, we need to know not only how the brain creates a ``movie'' from its sensory data, but also how it generates the ``audience'' that watches the movie. Damasio distinguishes between core consciousness, the nonverbal awareness of one's state of being, and extended consciousness, which entails a sense of other times and places, and which evolves over the lifetime of the creature possessing it. Damasio argues that most higher organisms possess core consciousness and many possess some form of extended consciousness; but in its highest manifestations, such as art and science, extended consciousness is characteristic of humanity. The author fleshes out his arguments with case histories and our current knowledge of the physiology of the brain. Damasio is particularly concerned to distinguish his views from the classical model of consciousness as a sort of miniature person inside the brain. He insists on the role of emotion'the responses of core consciousness to its experiences'in creating extended consciousness, which in one sense is core consciousness augmented by memory. While his argument demands close attention, it's well worth the effort to follow him. It's clear that he has his finger on many of the key issues of the origins and meaning of consciousness in this fascinating study. (Author tour)

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