my mind on books

Mental Actions, edited by Lucy O’Brien and Matthew Soteriou (Oxford University Press, 2009)

(link for UK)

Product description from the publisher:

This volume investigates the neglected topic of mental action, and shows its importance for the metaphysics, epistemology, and phenomenology of mind. Twelve specially written essays address such questions as the following: Which phenomena should we count as mental actions–imagining, remembering, judging, for instance? How should we explain our knowledge of our mental actions, and what light does that throw on self-knowledge in general? What contributions do mental actions make to our consciousness? What is the relationship between the voluntary and the active, in the mental sphere? What are the similarities and differences between mental and physical action, and what can we learn about each from the other?

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction, Matthew Soteriou (Warwick University)
Chapter 2 Mental Action: A Case Study, Al Mele (Florida State University)
Chapter 3 Judging and the Scope of Mental Agency, Fabian Dorsch (University of Fribourg, Switzerland)
Chapter 4 Reason in Action, John Gibbons (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Chapter 5 Reason, Voluntariness and Moral Responsibility, Thomas Pink (King’s College London)
Chapter 6 Freedom and Practical Judgement, David Owens (University of Sheffield)
Chapter 7 Two Kinds of Agency, Pamela Hieronymi (University of California, Los Angeles)
Chapter 8 Trying and Acting, Brian O’Shaughnessy (King’s College London)
Chapter 9 Perceptual Activity and the Will, Thomas Crowther (Heythrop College, University of London)
Chapter 10 Mental Action and Self-Awareness (II): Epistemology, Christopher Peacocke (Columbia University)
Chapter 11 Mental Actions and the No-Content Problem, Lucy O’Brien (University College London)
Chapter 12 Mental Agency, Conscious Thinking and Phenomenal Character, Matthew Soteriou (Warwick University)
Chapter 13 Is There a Sense of Agency for Thought? Joelle Proust (Institut Nicod)

See also: Mental Action section of MindPapers – includes a link to the article by Christopher Peacocke

Get High Now (without drugs) by James Nestor (Chronicle Books, 2009)
(link for UK)

Product description:

Get High Now is an illustrated, mind-blowing magic carpet ride of more than 200 ways to alter human perception and consciousness-without drugs or alcohol. Culled from science, physiology, spiritual practices, and the audio visual arts, these “all natural” highs playfully and safely explore the mind-body connection to entertaining and illuminating effect. Accessible and well-researched, each entry introduces concepts such as lucid dreaming, optical and auditory illusions, controlled breathing, meditation, time compression, and physical and mental exercises, explaining the ways in which they affect our minds and bodies and how to do them. Readers follow the author and his “HighLab” testing team through mind-bending and sometimes hilarious investigations, such as how to lull the mind into hallucinatory states with audio loops; why multiple bee stings lead to euphoric states; what cheeses to eat to induce psychedelic lucid dreams; how to control your breathing to create an out-of-body experience; and many more. Including solo, tandem, and group highs, Get High Now features hundreds of ways to calm or stimulate the senses and open new windows to experiencing the world.

Time Magazine selected the website for this book as one of its 50 Best Websites 2009, calling it “a science site disguised as mind-expansion.”

The Psychophysiology of Self-Awareness: Rediscovering the Lost Art of Body Sense (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) by Alan Fogel (W.W. Norton, 2009)

(link for UK).

Product description from the publisher:

The practice and science of feeling our movements, sensations, and emotions. Embodied self-awareness is the practice and science of our ability to feel our movements, sensations, and emotions. As infants, before we can speak or conceptualize, we learn to move toward what makes us feel good and away from what makes us feel bad. Our ability to continue to develop and cultivate awareness of such body-based feelings and understanding is essential for learning how to successfully navigate in the physical and social world, as well as for avoiding injury and stress. The book explains the neurological basis of embodied self-awareness, how to enhance self-awareness, and how to regain it after injury or trauma.

See also: Author’s blog, Body Sense, at Psychology Today

New from Oxford University Press:
Seeing Through Illusions by Richard L. Gregory (“Eye and Brain“)
(link for UK)

Product description from the publisher:

In Seeing Through Illusions, renowned scientist Richard Gregory explores what visual illusions can tell us about how our brains perceive the world. Looking at optical tricks and many other extraordinary phenomena, Gregory explains how scientists use these anomalies to peel back the normal processes of perception, and to reveal how the brain performs the remarkable feat of representing the real world with the kind of richness and accuracy which we experience–and take for granted–every day. And these visual illusions not only tell us about how our brain works, but they also reveal the brain’s evolutionary past. Traces of earlier stages remain buried within our brains like stratified layers, laid down through evolutionary time, and Gregory shows how the study of different kinds of illusions reveals glimpses of these layers. Interweaving science with reflections on art and philosophy, fascinating psychological case-studies, and some amazing visual phenomena, this book addresses questions about our brains that have puzzled scientists and philosophers for centuries.

See also: Author’s website

Evolution, Culture, and the Human Mind is forthcoming from Psychology Press, with a prospective release date of Aug. 25. Editors are Mark Schaller, Ara Norenzayan, Steven J. Heine, Toshio Yamagishi, and Tatsuya Kameda.

(link for UK)

Product description from the publisher:

An enormous amount of scientific research compels two fundamental conclusions about the human mind: The mind is the product of evolution; and the mind is shaped by culture. These two perspectives on the human mind are not incompatible, but, until recently, their compatibility has resisted rigorous scholarly inquiry. Evolutionary psychology documents many ways in which genetic adaptations govern the operations of the human mind. But evolutionary inquiries only occasionally grapple seriously with questions about human culture and cross-cultural differences. By contrast, cultural psychology documents many ways in which thought and behavior are shaped by different cultural experiences. But cultural inquires rarely consider evolutionary processes. Even after decades of intensive research, these two perspectives on human psychology have remained largely divorced from each other. But that is now changing — and that is what this book is about.

Evolution, Culture, and the Human Mind is the first scholarly book to integrate evolutionary and cultural perspectives on human psychology. The contributors include world-renowned evolutionary, cultural, social, and cognitive psychologists. These chapters reveal many novel insights linking human evolution to both human cognition and human culture – including the evolutionary origins of cross-cultural differences. The result is a stimulating introduction to an emerging integrative perspective on human nature.