my mind on books

Mirror, Mirror: The Uses and Abuses of Self-Love by Simon Blackburn (Princeton University Press, 2014)

(kindle ed.), (amazon.co.uk), (UK kindle ed.)

Book description from the publisher:

Everyone deplores narcissism, especially in others. The vain are by turns annoying or absurd, offending us whether they are blissfully oblivious or proudly aware of their behavior. But are narcissism and vanity really as bad as they seem? Can we avoid them even if we try? In Mirror, Mirror, Simon Blackburn, the author of such best-selling philosophy books as Think, Being Good, and Lust, says that narcissism, vanity, pride, and self-esteem are more complex than they first appear and have innumerable good and bad forms. Drawing on philosophy, psychology, literature, history, and popular culture, Blackburn offers an enlightening and entertaining exploration of self-love, from the myth of Narcissus and the Christian story of the Fall to today’s self-esteem industry.

A sparkling mixture of learning, humor, and style, Mirror, Mirror examines what great thinkers have said about self-love–from Aristotle, Cicero, and Erasmus to Rousseau, Adam Smith, Kant, and Iris Murdoch. It considers today’s “me”-related obsessions, such as the “selfie,” plastic surgery, and cosmetic enhancements, and reflects on connected phenomena such as the fatal commodification of social life and the tragic overconfidence of George W. Bush and Tony Blair. Ultimately, Mirror, Mirror shows why self-regard is a necessary and healthy part of life. But it also suggests that we have lost the ability to distinguish–let alone strike a balance–between good and bad forms of self-concern.

The Mirror of the World: Subjects, Consciousness, and Self-Consciousness by Christopher Peacocke (Oxford University Press, 2014)

(Hardcover at Amazon – 4/27/14), (amazon.co.uk), (UK kindle ed.)

Book description from the publisher:

Christopher Peacocke presents a philosophical theory of subjects of consciousness, together with a theory of the nature of first person representation of such a subject of consciousness. He develops a new treatment of subjects, distinct from previous theories, under which subjects were regarded either as constructs from mental events, or fundamentally embodied, or Cartesian egos. In contrast, his theory of the first person integrates with the positive treatment of subjects–and it contributes to the explanation of various distinctive first person phenomena in the theory of thought and knowledge. These are issues on which contributions have been made by some of the greatest philosophers, and Peacocke brings his points to bear on the contributions to these issues made by Hume, Kant, Frege, Wittgenstein, and Strawson. He also relates his position to the recent literature in the philosophy of mind, and then goes on to distinguish and characterize three varieties of self-consciousness. Perspectival self-consciousness involves the subject’s capacity to appreciate that she is of the same kind as things given in a third personal way, and attributes the subject to a certain kind of objective thought about herself. Reflective self-consciousness involves awareness of the subject’s own mental states, reached in a distinctive way. Interpersonal self-consciousness is awareness that one features, as a subject, in some other person’s mental states. These varieties, and the relations and the forms of co-operation between them, are important in explaining features of our knowledge, our social relations, and our emotional lives. The theses of The Mirror of the World are of importance not only for philosophy, but also for psychology, the arts, and anywhere else that the self and self-representation loom large.

Google Books preview:

See also: Author’s Facebook page

Human Memory: A Constructivist View by Mary B. Howes and Geoffrey O’Shea (Academic Press, 2014)

(kindle ed.), (amazon.co.uk), (UK kindle ed.)

Book description from the publisher:

While memory research has recently focused on brain images and neurological underpinnings of transmitters, Human Memory: A Constructivist View assesses how our individual identity affects what we remember, why and how. This book brings memory back to the constructivist questions of how all the experiences of an individual, up to the point of new memory input, help to determine what that person pays attention to, how that information is interpreted, and how all that ultimately affects what goes into memory and how it is stored. This also affects what can be recalled later and what kind of memory distortions are likely to occur.

The authors describe constructionist theories of memory, what they predict, how this is borne out in research findings, presenting everyday life examples for better understanding of the material and interest. Intended for memory researchers and graduate level courses, this book is an excellent summary of human memory research from the constructivist perspective.

• Defines constructivist theory in memory research
• Assesses research findings relative to constructivist predictions
• Identifies how personal experience dictates attention, interpretation, and storage
• Integrates constructivist based findings with cognitive neuroscience

Google Books preview:

Me, Myself, and Why: Searching for the Science of Self by Jennifer Ouellette (Penguin, 2014)

(kindle ed.), (amazon.co.uk)

Book description from the publisher:

A fascinating tour through the science behind who we are and how we got this way—from the author of The Calculus Diaries

As diverse as people appear to be, all of our genes and brains are nearly identical. In Me, Myself, and Why, Jennifer Ouellette dives into the miniscule ranges of variation to understand just what sets us apart. She draws on cutting-edge research in genetics, neuroscience, and psychology—enlivened as always with her signature sense of humor—to explore the mysteries of human identity and behavior. Readers follow her own surprising journey of self-discovery as she has her genome sequenced, her brain mapped, her personality typed, and even samples a popular hallucinogen. Bringing together everything from Mendel’s famous pea plant experiments and mutations in The X-Men to our taste for cilantro and our relationships with virtual avatars, Ouellette takes us on an endlessly thrilling and illuminating trip into the science of ourselves.

Google Books preview:

See also: Author’s website

$2.99 kindle ebook – 'Making the American Self' by Daniel Walker Howe http://t.co/fKGlGUSTK7 via @amazon

— Debbie A Foster (@mymindonbooks) January 20, 2014

(Part of the “Big Deal” through Feb 2)