04/24/2017
Voice actor Perkins brings a crisp and smooth delivery to philosopher Dennett’s advanced treatise about the origins of consciousness. Dennett makes a convincing case, based on a rapidly growing body of experimental evidence, that a materialist theory of mind is within reach. Not surprisingly, Dennett’s material incorporates rather intricate concepts from a host of disciplines in both social and physical sciences, and while Perkins moves along at an engaging pace that resists monotone, like Dennett he doesn’t seem inclined to make the experience less weighty for casual listeners. Those not steeped in the ongoing debate about materialism and dualism may find themselves compelled to hit pause to play catch-up. But for listeners who have the prerequisite knowledge, Perkins’s rendering of Dennett’s prose will certainly satisfy. A Norton hardcover. (Feb.)
From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds
Narrated by Tom Perkins
Daniel C. DennettUnabridged — 15 hours, 44 minutes
From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds
Narrated by Tom Perkins
Daniel C. DennettUnabridged — 15 hours, 44 minutes
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Overview
An agenda-setting book for a new generation of philosophers and other researchers, From Bacteria to Bach and Back will delight and entertain anyone who hopes to understand human creativity in all its wondrous applications.
Editorial Reviews
11/14/2016
Dennett (Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking), co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University, combines arguments from philosophy, biology, and informatics to explore questions associated with the origin of consciousness. It is an illuminating and insightful, if occasionally difficult, book; Dennett’s two overarching themes concern the philosophical ideas of René Descartes and the biological concepts of Charles Darwin. As he has done before, Dennett argues that Cartesian mind/body dualism, which is still accepted by many today, is incorrect. He makes a convincing case, based on a rapidly growing body of experimental evidence, that a materialist theory of mind is within reach. Dennett also builds on Darwin’s idea of natural selection, explaining how natural systems can create “competence without comprehension”—that is, situations in which sophisticated actions occur without the individual or machine involved understanding the reasons for the actions taken. This type of “bottom-up” design, according to Dennett, can lead to innovative results, including animal brains. He takes the next step to propose that basic language acquisition ability is coupled with the memes of language to yield both consciousness and culture. Though Dennett is sure to once again raise the hackles of certain peers, his ideas demand serious consideration. (Feb.)
"A subtle and interesting argument."
"This is a book to read and relish and then read again."
"Brave and bracing."
"Readers will find their minds enriched with many powerful thinking tools."
"[The] best scientific-philosophical approach to understanding how consciousness evolved…A wonderful book that will shape and drive thinking for years to come."
"In From Bacteria to Bach and Back, his eighteenth book (thirteenth as sole author), Dennett presents a valuable and typically lucid synthesis of his worldview . . . . Dennett is always good company . . . . he writes with wit and elegance . . . . distinctive."
"Illuminating and insightful. . . . [Dennett] makes a convincing case, based on a rapidly growing body of experimental evidence, that a materialist theory of mind is within reach. . . . His ideas demand serious consideration."
"If you have not encountered [Dennett’s] work, you surely should . . . very few contemporary thinkers have supplied us with so many ‘thinking tools.’ . . . . Dennett’s book is astonishingly rich and will introduce you to most of the key ideas in the terrain he strides energetically across."
"Encyclopedic knowledge of both the history of and the latest thinking in philosophy, evolutionary biology, psychology, and computer science."
"A supremely enjoyable, intoxicating work, tying together 50 years of thinking about where minds come from and how they work. . . . Dennett has earned his reputation as one of today’s most readable, intellectually nimble and scientifically literate philosophers, as this subtle, clever book shows . . . . immensely instructive and pleasurable."
"A supremely enjoyable, intoxicating work, tying together 50 years of thinking about where minds come from and how they work. . . . Dennett has earned his reputation as one of today’s most readable, intellectually nimble and scientifically literate philosophers, as this subtle, clever book shows . . . . immensely instructive and pleasurable."
"Readers will find their minds enriched with many powerful thinking tools."
04/15/2017
Cognitive scientist Dennett (codirector, Ctr. for Cognitive Studies, Tufts Univ.; Consciousness Explained) shares his complex perspective on human consciousness, formed from extensive study in many disciplines. In this work, a magnificent explanation of the interaction of evolution, the human brain, and culture to understand how consciousness and language define sentient humans, Dennett's impressive knowledge is thoroughly mined. Tom Perkins's pleasant voice is crisp and clear while casually paced to help listeners keep up with the complex material that may stimulate requests for the hard copy. VERDICT Will appeal to an erudite audience interested in the human mind and brain. For readers of Julian Jaynes's The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics, and, of course, Dennett's own works. ["[The author] brilliantly uses analogy, metaphor, and counterintuitive reasoning to construct his arguments": LJ 12/16 starred review of the Norton hc.]—Dale Farris, Groves, TX
★ 12/01/2016
For five decades, Dennett (cognitive studies, Tufts Univ.; Darwin's Dangerous Idea; Consciousness Explained) has been writing about the implications of Darwinian evolution, the origin of language, and the evolution of the human mind. His main objective here is to show that humans are different from all other species, primarily because memes—in the form of words—transformed our brains into minds. (The term meme was originally coined by Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene and refers to a unit of culturally transmitted information.) Drawing upon research and concepts from the fields of computer science, neuroscience, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, evolutionary biology, theoretical linguistics, and information science, Dennett brilliantly uses analogy, metaphor, and counterintuitive reasoning to construct his arguments. VERDICT This sweeping examination of biological and cultural evolution as seen through a philosopher's lens is highly recommended for academics as well as nonspecialists who enjoy Dawkins, Steven Pinker, and Douglas Hofstadter.—Cynthia Lee Knight, Hunterdon Cty. Historical Soc., Flemington, NJ
2016-12-08
The dean of consciousness-raising consciousness-explaining returns with another cleareyed exploration of the mind. "How come there are minds?" asks Dennett (Philosophy and Cognitive Science/Tufts Univ.; Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking, 2013, etc.), both beguilingly and with just a hint of a challenge. The human brain is both top-down and bottom-up, the latter reflecting automatic, animal impulses, the former the better angels of our nature. How did that top-down control system grow to dominate, producing what we think of as not just brain, but mind? Therein lies a tangled story with many threads, some of which lead into daunting territory: the thought, for instance, that consciousness is really a species of illusion on the part of the "user." After a few hundred pages' tour of an evolutionary theater populated by mirages, "feral neurons," and words that struggle to reproduce and thrive just as living creatures do, such a possibility comes to seem not so strange after all. Dennett defends the human mind as the chief feature distinguishing our kind from other animals; after all, he notes, we are aware of bacteria, whereas other animals are not, and "even bacteria don't know that there are bacteria." Yet that knowledge comes at a formidable cost, and when the author enters into the territory of inversions of reasoning and of reasoning about reasoning, of "the evolution of the evolution of culture" and other seeming circularities, you know that you're in for a bumpy ride: "There are reasons why trees spread their branches, but they are not in any strong sense the trees' reasons." The ride may be bumpy for casual readers, but it's always interesting, as Dennett calls on the likes of Darwin, Descartes, and Gibson—the last the author of a fruitful theory of "affordances"—to explore how we represent and understand representations. Anyone interested in modern theories of the mind and consciousness has to reckon with Dennett. This book, dense but accessible, is as good a place as any to start.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940170099269 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HighBridge Company |
| Publication date: | 02/07/2017 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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