Stephen

a classic must read

Revisado: 03-20-23

this book changed my life decades ago. the audio version is a pleasant reminder of timeless places seen years past.

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classic story wonderful narrator

Revisado: 02-13-23

this is a wonderful story and the narrator/reader has a pleasant voice and speaks different roles with enthusiasm. the audio was a touch garbled in some sections and that was a detraction. 4 stars because of the technical issue but else 5

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distracted self-boasting biographic narrative

Revisado: 10-06-22

I got this book to serve as a more recent update on the principles described in Self Comes to Mind. I didn’t find that. The author describes the field of neuropsychology and attempts to describe the concept of self realization in our minds. I did not find a definitive answer in this book.

What I found was a collection of anecdotal information and several distracting topic that did not lead to any logical conclusions regarding the major question.

The statistical thermodynamics approach was interesting but lacking. The author talked about the effects found in non equilibrium thermodynamics and mentioned terms familiar in and understanding of chaotic systems, e.g., attractors, but explains these in terms of anecdotal albeit visual effects but fails to light on fractal dimensions.

Being a physical scientists I have observed over extension of physical laws when applied to social sciences. It is a tempting to do so because of the finiteness of the physical laws. But one often has to stretch or redefine the parameter meanings in their application. There is virtue in trying but the one needs to accept the result of hypothesis testing and not continue to pound square pegs into round holes.

I grew weary of the anecdotal information generalizations to be accepted as truth by the reader and then glossing over review studies. The book is not a well-organized systematic approach.

I was also fatigued by the authors crusade to validate Freudian psychology. There are several places where the author applies an argument that goes something like this. ‘See Freud was right. Except he wasn’t. But he wasn’t because he didn’t have the information he needed.’ Well… I guess science marches on.

The summary chapters were a mess. A collection of anecdotal and philosophical concepts that do not address the main point. The author goes on to break his arm (patting himself on the back) and selling his latest project in creating artificial self awareness.

In sum, the book comes off as self-boasting designed to instill the thought of how brilliant the author is. What it lacks is a logical, evidence-based explanation of how the mind works.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Hard to get one’s head around

Revisado: 09-30-22

This is a complex book. I had to listen to it many times and got more out of it on each pass. The author addresses the topic of consciousness. The topic is addresses starting with basic physico-chemical and biological principles such as homeostasis. At times the explanations drift into philosophy and broaden out to social organization. There are is adequate use of analogy and the material should be accessible to non scientists.

I highly recommend this book to persons with college degrees in physical, natural or social sciences.

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