Being You: A New Science of Consciousness (The Sunday Times Bestseller)

Description

Consciousness is the great unsolved mystery in our scientific understanding of the brain. Somewhere, somehow, inscribed in the brain is everything that makes you you. But how do we grasp what happens in the brain to turn mere electrical impulses into the vast range of perceptions, thoughts and emotions we feel from moment to moment? Anil Seth, one of Britain's leading neuroscientists, charts the developments in our understanding of consciousness, revealing radical interdisciplinary breakthroughs that must transform the way we think about the self. Drawing on his original research and collaborations with cognitive scientists, neuroscientists, psychiatrists, brain imagers, virtual reality wizards, mathematicians and philosophers, he puts forward an exhilarating new theory about how we experience the world that should encourage us to view ourselves as less apart from and more a part of the rest of nature. Seth's revolutionary framework for consciousness will turn what you thought you knew about yourself on its head. 'A brilliant beast of a book. A wide ranging synthesis- pulling together disparate stands- from philosophy, science, literature and personal experience.. Seth proposes to explain not just what and how we are, but probably provocative for some folks, why we are the way we are. Why do we have the feeling of continually being the same person? (when obviously I, at least, am not) Why do we have this feeling of being self aware? What is it for? Hugely inspirational.' - DAVID BYRNE 'Few people are as well positioned as Anil Seth to tackle the question of consciousness. Beautifully written, crystal clear, deeply insightful.' - DAVID EAGLEMAN

Anil Seth is a leading British researcher in the field of consciousness science. He is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience and Co-Director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex. He writes regularly for New Scientist, Guardian and the BBC, and has been interviewed on Radio 4's The Life Scientific. His TED talk on consciousness has been viewed nearly 8 million times; he is currently a Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellow and he tweets at @anilkseth.

'Few people are as well positioned as Anil Seth to tackle the question of consciousness. Beautifully written, crystal clear, deeply insightful.' - DAVID EAGLEMAN 'If Anil Seth's book doesn't change the way you think, you need to read it again. It's a tour de force exploration of what mind is, what it can be, and how it creates all we can ever know.' - PHILIP BALL 'Being You offers us a new cause for astonishment and wonder. Through expert science writing and engaging personal narrative, Anil gives us a new perspective on everything we perceive, down to space and time itself. Being You is a must read for anyone seeking a better understanding of the brain and how nature sculpts the human experience.' - ANNAKA HARRIS, author of Conscious 'Seth provokes us to think about thinking. And he offers what the interested reader always needs - a book which makes complex ideas readable, relatable, and gripping. If you want to understand his subject better - he'll help you. And who wouldn't want to better understand consciousness? In our lives, there is nothing weirder or more fundamental.' - ALEX GARLAND, director of EX MACHINA 'Anil Seth thinks clearly and sharply on one of the hardest problems of science and philosophy, cutting through weeds with a scientist's mind and a storyteller's skill.' - ADAM RUTHERFORD 'Seth is uniquely placed to truly advance our understanding of one of humanity's deepest riddles.' - CHRIS ANDERSON, Curator of TED 'Insightful and profound. The nature of consciousness is still one of the hardest problems in science, but Anil Seth brings us closer than ever before to the answer. This a hugely important book.' - JIM Al-KHALILI 'A fascinating book. A joy to read. Anil Seth explores fundamental questions about consciousness and the self from the perspective of a philosophically-informed neuroscientist. Highly recommended.' NIGEL WARBURTON 'In this lucid and though-provoking exploration of the nature of consciousness, Seth takes us closer than ever to making sense of our experience of being conscious selves. A must-read.' - ANIL ANANTHASWAMY, author of The Man that Wasn't There 'What makes you, you? What explains your consciousness and sense of self? In this remarkable and ground-breaking work, Anil Seth offers a surprising answer, rooted in the new science of the predictive brain. Compulsory reading.' - ANDY CLARK, author of Surfing Uncertainty: Prediction, Action, and the Embodied Mind