Consciousness and the Brain
by Stanislas Dehaene · first published 2014
78% recommend22% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Rigorous, science-based overview of consciousness research, built on reproducible experiments separating conscious from unconscious processing; suits readers who want neuroscience rather than philosophical debate.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"A breathtaking look at the new science that can track consciousness deep in the brain How does our brain generate a conscious thought? And why does so much of our knowledge remain unconscious? Thanks to clever psychological and brain-imaging experiments, scientists are closer to cracking this mystery than ever before. In this lively book, Stanislas Dehaene describes the pioneering work his lab and the labs of other cognitive neuroscientists worldwide have accomplished in defining, testing, and explaining the brain events behind a conscious state. We can now pin down the neurons that fire when
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Most of the times I read about this subject I get the feeling that every person in the discussion is talking about different things. For a prosaic view of consciousness I would recommend the book "Consciousness and the Brain" by cognitive psychologist Stanisas Dehaene. The experiments described in the book do, in my opinion, a good job in delimiting the problem and in facilitating accurate definitions about what conscience…
on “The Challenge of Consciousness” ↗…work? The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life is just what it says on the tin. The Strategy of Conflict is the original book on game theory which stands up pretty well. Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts on the modern science of what we know about what consciousness is.
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time?” ↗I'd recommend the book Consciousness and the Brain for a recent-ish (2014) take on what science currently knows about the easier problems of consciousness at least.
on “The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (1976)” ↗If you're interested in a more rigorous analysis of what is known about consciousness today, I'd recommend the book Consciousness and the Brain: http://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Brain-Deciphering-Codes-...
on “Consciousness Began When the Gods Stopped Speaking” ↗If you want a rigorous account of what neuroscientists call consciousness, which isn't quite the same thing as what philosophers call consciousness, I'd recommend reading Consciousness and the Brain by Stanislas Dehaene. Looking at a brain, the reaction to stimulus that enters consciousness and stimulus that remains subliminal are very distinct. And, for example, only the effects of conscious stimulus…
on “Consciousness Goes Deeper Than We Think” ↗Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts [Stanislas Dehaene], interesting book about up to date neuroscience. Book of Proof [Richard Heath Hammack], great books on maths. gives a head start on proofs. Mastery [Robert Greene], best self help…
on “Ask HN: What is the best book you read on 2017?” ↗If anyone is looking for more information about locked-in syndrome, the book "Consciousness and the Brain" by Stanislas Dehaenehas has some chapters about a few of these patients. Dehaenehas details how they use fMRIs to communicate with some of the patients. Its a very interesting read.
on “Wristband Lets the Brain Control a Computer with a Thought and a Twitch” ↗Limiting us to recommending one book is very cruel. I suppose if I have to recommend one it would be Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts by Stanislas Dehaene. This isn't a complete scientific explanation of consciousness. This is looking at questions like how do stimuli we're consciously aware of differ from subliminal stimuli? How…
on “Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?” ↗I really recommend the book Consciousness and the Brain as a summary of modern neuropsychology. The long story short is that conscious thought is only a small fraction of the brain. There's a tremendous amount of pre-conscious machinery that pre-processes…
on “Moravec's Paradox” ↗If you're interested in learning more about how sensory impressions go on to become conscious awareness, at least so far as we knew 5 years ago, I'd highly recommend the book Consciousness and the Brain.
on “A man who can read letters but not numbers exposes roots of consciousness” ↗> But of course we are far from having the ability to measure or even formally describe this concept. I read—within recent memory—"Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts" by Stanislas Dehaene and was very surprised by just how much consciousness research is being done and how much has been learned. It was really very interesting and I think this research has the potential…
on “'I am mine': Alzheimer's at 41 (2018)” ↗If you want to read a scientifically-based examination of our current understanding of conscious processes, I highly recommend: "Consciousness and the Brain" by Stanislas Dehaene. https://smile.amazon.com/Consciousness-Brain-Deciphering-Cod...
on “Is Consciousness Everywhere?” ↗…philosophy and experimentation and readings on all this stuff. I was deep into it during college and a lot of my 20s. I got back into it a bit during the pandemic year (I'm 50 now), mostly spurred by reading "Consciousness and the Brain" by Stanislas Dehaene (a fantastic, science-based look into what we have figured out about consciousness). Plus turning 50 makes you realize the 20 year old version of yourself really is a whole different…
on “How Long Can We Live?” ↗You might be interested by the book "Consciousness and the Brain" by Stanislas Dehaene. In it, Dehaene tries to define Consciousness, based on a series of reproducible experiments designed to discriminate between conscious and unconscious processes. For example, he…
on “Moon Illusion” ↗There's a really great book called Consciousness and the Brain that goes into all the various research around how our brain works, and there is a huge amount that we think of as "thinking" that is totally unconscious to us. As I've aged, it seems like more and more…
on “Thinking hard makes the brain tired” ↗