Sergio Moravia's The Enigma of the Mind (originally published in Italian as L'enigma della mente) offers a broad and lucid critical and historical survey of one of the fundamental debates in the philosophy of mind - the relationship of mind and body. This problem continues to raise deep questions concerning the nature of man. The book has two central aims. First, Professor Moravia sketches the major recent contributions to the mind/body problem from philosophers of mind. Having established this framework Professor Moravia pursues his second aim - the articulation of a particular interpretation of the mental and the mind-body problem. The book's detailed and systematic treatment of this fundamental philosophical issue make it ideal for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in epistemology and the philosophy of mind. It should also prove provocative reading for psychologists and cognitive scientists.
“Brilliant...Timely and necessary.” —Financial Times “Especially timely as we struggle to make sense of how it is that individuals and communities persist in holding beliefs that have been thoroughly discredited.” —Darren Frey, Science If reason is what makes us human, why do we behave so irrationally? And if it is so useful, why didn’t it evolve in other animals? This groundbreaking account of the evolution of reason by two renowned cognitive scientists seeks to solve this double enigma. Reason, they argue, helps us justify our beliefs, convince others, and evaluate arguments. It makes it easier to cooperate and communicate and to live together in groups. Provocative, entertaining, and undeniably relevant, The Enigma of Reason will make many reasonable people rethink their beliefs. “Reasonable-seeming people are often totally irrational. Rarely has this insight seemed more relevant...Still, an essential puzzle remains: How did we come to be this way?...Cognitive scientists Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber [argue that] reason developed not to enable us to solve abstract, logical problems...[but] to resolve the problems posed by living in collaborative groups.” —Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker “Turns reason’s weaknesses into strengths, arguing that its supposed flaws are actually design features that work remarkably well.” —Financial Times “The best thing I have read about human reasoning. It is extremely well written, interesting, and very enjoyable to read.” —Gilbert Harman, Princeton University
The Enigma of Clarence Thomas is a groundbreaking revisionist take on the Supreme Court justice everyone knows about but no one knows. “One of the marvels of Robin’s razor-sharp book is how carefully he marshals his evidence.... It isn’t every day that reading about ideas can be both so gratifying and unsettling.” – The New York Times Most people can tell you two things about Clarence Thomas: Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment, and he almost never speaks from the bench. Here are some things they don’t know: Thomas is a black nationalist. In college he memorized the speeches of Malcolm X. He believes white people are incurably racist. In the first examination of its kind, Corey Robin– one of the foremost analysts of the right (The Reactionary Mind) – delves deeply into both Thomas’s biography and his jurisprudence, masterfully reading his Supreme Court opinions against the backdrop of his autobiographical and political writings and speeches. The hidden source of Thomas’s conservative views, Robin shows, is a profound skepticism that racism can be overcome. Thomas is convinced that any government action on behalf of African-Americans will be tainted by racism; the most African-Americans can hope for is that white people will get out of their way. There’s a reason, Robin concludes, why liberals often complain that Thomas doesn’t speak but seldom pay attention when he does. Were they to listen, they’d hear a racial pessimism that often sounds similar to their own. Cutting across the ideological spectrum, this unacknowledged consensus about the impossibility of progress is key to understanding today’s political stalemate.
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The official book behind the Academy Award-winning film The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley It is only a slight exaggeration to say that the British mathematician Alan Turing (1912–1954) saved the Allies from the Nazis, invented the computer and artificial intelligence, and anticipated gay liberation by decades—all before his suicide at age forty-one. This New York Times bestselling biography of the founder of computer science, with a new preface by the author that addresses Turing’s royal pardon in 2013, is the definitive account of an extraordinary mind and life. Capturing both the inner and outer drama of Turing’s life, Andrew Hodges tells how Turing’s revolutionary idea of 1936—the concept of a universal machine—laid the foundation for the modern computer and how Turing brought the idea to practical realization in 1945 with his electronic design. The book also tells how this work was directly related to Turing’s leading role in breaking the German Enigma ciphers during World War II, a scientific triumph that was critical to Allied victory in the Atlantic. At the same time, this is the tragic account of a man who, despite his wartime service, was eventually arrested, stripped of his security clearance, and forced to undergo a humiliating treatment program—all for trying to live honestly in a society that defined homosexuality as a crime. The inspiration for a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, Alan Turing: The Enigma is a gripping story of mathematics, computers, cryptography, and homosexual persecution.
The average human brain weighs three pounds—80 percent of which is water—and yet it's capable of outstripping the computational and storage capacities of the most complex computer. But how the mind works remains one of humankind's greatest mysteries. With boundless curiosity and enthusiasm, Shannon Moffett, a Stanford medical student, takes us down the halls of neuroscience to the front lines of cutting-edge research and medicine to meet some of today's most extraordinary scientists and thinkers, all grappling with provocative questions: Why do we dream? How does memory work? How do we see? What happens when we think? Each chapter delves into a different aspect of the brain, following the experts as they chart new ground. Moffett takes us to a lab where fMRI scans reveal the multitude of stimuli that our brains unconsciously take in; inside an operating room where a neurosurgeon removes a bullet from a patient's skull; to the lab of Christof Koch, a neuroscientist tracking individual neurons in order to crack the code of consciousness; and to a research lab where scientists are investigating the relationship between dreams and waking life. She also takes us beyond the scientific world—to a Zen monk's zendo, where she explores the effects of meditation on the brain; inside the home of a woman suffering from dissociative identity disorder; to a conference with the philosopher Daniel Dennett, who uses illusions, magic, tricks, and logic to challenge our assumptions about the mind; and to the home of the late Nobel Laureate Francis Crick, co-discoverer with James Watson of DNA's double-helix structure. Filled with fascinating case studies and featuring a timeline that tracks the development of the brain from conception to death, The Three Pound Enigma is a remarkable exploration of what it means to be human.
Fun for the whole family, the book contains more than 100 superb puzzles. Merlin the Magician, Avalon, King Arthur, and other mythical people and places feature prominently.
The Enigma of Desire: Sex, Longing and Belonging in Psychoanalysis, introduces new perspectives on desire and longing, in and outside of the analytic relationship. This exciting volume explores the known and unknown, ghosts and demons, sexuality and lust. Galit Atlas discusses the subjects of sex and desire and explores what she terms the Enigmatic and the Pragmatic aspects of sexuality, longing, female desire, sexual inhibition, pregnancy, parenthood and creativity. The author focuses on the levels of communication that take place in the most intimate settings: between mothers and their babies; between lovers; in the unconscious bond of two people— in the consulting room, where two individuals sit alone in one room, looking and listening, breathing and dreaming. Atlas examines the ways in which different languages, translations and integrations focus on birth, death, sexuality, and human bonds. In The Enigma of Desire each chapter opens with a narrative, a therapeutic story which illustrates both the analyst’s and patient’s desires and the ways these interact and emerge in the consulting room. This book will be of interest to anyone who is interested in the intricacies of sex and desire and of great appeal to psychoanalysts, therapists and mental health professionals.
In the heart of 19th-century Calcutta, a city where the ancient and the modern collide, Sounak Bhattacharya, a respected scholar of the arts, finds himself on the edge of madness. What begins as unsettling dreams and fleeting visions soon unravel into a haunting mystery that transcends time and reality. Sounak’s once peaceful life is shattered by strange occurrences—a shimmering world glimpsed only in the periphery of his mind. The more he tries to dismiss them, the stronger they become. Soon, his visions begin bleeding into his waking life, and Sounak can no longer distinguish between his reality and the shadowy world that lurks beneath the surface of his mind. Determined to uncover the truth, Sounak embarks on a journey through the bustling streets and forgotten alleys of Calcutta. His search for answers leads him to forgotten archives, cryptic clues, and unsettling encounters with mystics, scholars, and strangers who seem to know more about his visions than they let on. As he delves deeper into the mystery, Sounak begins to unravel secrets buried in the city’s past—secrets that point to a hidden enigma and a long-forgotten truth that could alter the course of his life forever. But with every step closer to the truth, Sounak’s sanity is further tested. In ‘The Enigma of the Lost Mind’, history, reality, and the human psyche collide in a gripping psychological mystery that will leave you questioning the nature of reality itself.”
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE ENIGMA unearths the mysteries surrounding the 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger - arguably the most controversial book of all time. Nicknamed the 'Bible of teenage angst', the classic novel, which is frequently labeled immoral by different groups, has been banned in various parts of America over the decades. However, the main controversy, and indeed the most common reason for it being banned, was that it either inspired or was associated with some of the most infamous crimes of the 20th Century. These crimes include the murder of John Lennon and the attempted assassination of President Reagan. The allegation directed at Salinger is that he (and/or his publisher) craftily implanted into the book neurolinguistic passages, or coded messages, that act as post-hypnotic suggestions or mind control "triggers." In turn, these triggers enabled CIA handlers to activate Manchurian Candidates for assassinations. Some conspiracy theorists also believe the novel was part of the CIA's now mostly-declassified mind control program MK-Ultra, and that while assassins were being brainwashed they were forced to read the book over and over until it was embedded in their minds. But given that Salinger's critically acclaimed masterpiece was one of the biggest selling books of the 20th Century, are the crimes it was associated with merely happenstance? Today, if a handful of different murderers had a copy of The Da Vinci Code or a Harry Potter book, or were all fixated on a similarly popular book, would it even make the news headlines? Novelists, filmmakers and independent researchers James Morcan & Lance Morcan investigate these theories and counter arguments in THE CATCHER IN THE RYE ENIGMA - the fourth book of The Underground Knowledge Series. This balanced expose ultimately leaves it up to you, the reader, to decide whether J.D. Salinger's novel is a "Mind Control Triggering Device" or simply a "Coincidental Literary Obsession of Criminals" just as this book's subtitle suggests. Besides the criminals who targeted Lennon and Reagan, THE CATCHER IN THE RYE ENIGMA also details other deranged individuals who were obsessed with Salinger's book including stalkers and murderers of leading political figures, film stars and other celebrities. The idea that assassination codes are buried deep in Salinger's book is one of the oldest conspiracy theories around and has been explored repeatedly over the decades with no smoking gun ever found. In fact, many familiar with Catcher conspiracies may think all the theories have already been proven to be false and there's no need to drag them up yet again. However, given what the authors have uncovered in their research for THE CATCHER IN THE RYE ENIGMA - especially the unique revelations on the history of mind control, the effectiveness of subliminal messages, the latest scientific studies on the brain, Salinger's underreported dealings with the Americanized Nazis of Project Paperclip and the recently declassified documents on real-life Manchurian Candidates - they believe some of the theories swirling about the classic novel deserve another look. Note that this title is an extended version of several chapters in The Orphan Conspiracies: 29 Conspiracy Theories from The Orphan Trilogy (Sterling Gate Books, 2014) also by James & Lance Morcan. The Catcher in the Rye Enigma therefore contains a combination of new material as well as some recycled material from The Orphan Conspiracies."
Explains what the mind is, how it evolved, and how it allows us to see, think, feel, laugh, interact, enjoy the arts, and ponder the mysteries of life.
