my mind on books

Ten Years of Viewing from Within (Journal of Consciousness Studies) ed. by Claire Petitmengin (Imprint Academic, 2009).
(link for UK)

Product description from the publisher:

The View from Within, edited by the late Francisco Varela in collaboration with Jonathan Shear, was published in 1999 and has proved a major stimulus to the scientific investigation of first-person methodologies in psychology and philosophy of mind.

Ten years on, Claire Petitmengin has organized a collection of essays that examine and refine the research program on first-person methods defined in The View from Within, with contributions based on empirical research. She has kept close to the spirit of the earlier book, in which Varela encouraged a precise description of the very process of becoming aware of one’s experience and describing it.

The View from Within by Francisco Varela (Imprint Academic, 1999)
(link for UK)

Product description from the publisher:

Drawing on a wide range of approaches — from psychiatry and phenomenology to contemplative studies — the View From Within examines the possibility of a disciplined approach to the study of subjective states. The focus is on the practical issues involved.

See also:
Journal of Consciousness Studies website
More on Francisco J. Varela

Journal of Consciousness Studies search at Amazon.com

Journal of Consciousness Studies search at Amazon.co.uk

Mysterious Minds: The Neurobiology of Psychics, Mediums, and Other Extraordinary People ed. by Stanley Krippner and Harris L. Friedman (Praeger, 2009)

(link for UK)

Welcome to the world of Mysterious Minds: The Neurobiology of Psychics, Mediums, and Other Extraordinary People. Here, experts in the emerging field of neurobiological study make the case that while many claims of psychic ability are easily proven false, there may well be claimants who can obtain information in ways not easily explained by mainstream science—and there might be scientific tools and approaches available to confirm those experiences.

Written by an expert team of distinguished investigators from a half dozen countries around the world, Mysterious Minds introduces readers to the current state of research into parapsychological experiences, emphasizing the neurobiological data obtained by those who claim to be psychics or mediums. It offers specific examples of paranormal claims of extraordinary people—claims scrutinized through the use of high-tech brain imaging, clinical neurological examinations, and psychotropic drugs. The book concludes by proposing a series of models based on fundamental neurobiology, psychology, and quantum physics that could help us unravel these mental mysteries.

This week’s NOVA asks ‘What Are Dreams?’ The full program will be available online starting Nov 25 through the above website.

Also check out the recommended “Links & Books,” which has links to websites and articles, plus these book titles (which they didn’t link, so I’m providing the Amazon links):
Nightmares: The Science and Solution of Those Frightening Visions during Sleep (Brain, Behavior, and Evolution) by Patrick McNamara (Praeger, 2008)
Take a Nap! Change Your Life by Sara Mednick (Workman Publishing Co, 2006)
The Mind at Night: The New Science of How and Why We Dream by Andrea Rock (Basic Books, 2005)
Brain and the Inner World: An Introduction to the Neuroscience of the Subjective Experience by Mark Solm (Other Press, 2003)

I wasn’t familiar with Robert Stickgold who is the resident expert in their “Ask the Expert” section, but he has co-edited a recent volume on The Neuroscience of Sleep.

Seed Magazine has a video conversation between Stickgold and Michel Gondry, director of The Science of Sleep.

A recent library find—Migraine Art: The Migraine Experience from Within by Klaus Podoll and Derek Robinson (North Atlantic Books, 2009) [link for UK], a fascinating & beautiful book I probably would not have discovered if it hadn’t been in the new books section of my local library.

Product description from the publisher:

Migraine Art includes more than 300 powerful illustrations and paintings created by migraine sufferers from around the world. It provides a thoroughly unique window into the subjective world of the migraine sufferer. The idea of collecting migraine art started with a number of public competitions in the 1980s, which encouraged artists, both amateur and professional, to illustrate the pain, the visual disturbances, and the effect migraines had on their lives. The book includes hundreds of these submissions as well as detailed descriptions of different types of migraine visual phenomena.

Covering such topics as migraine signs, triggers, and treatments, as well as types of visual hallucinations and somatic sensations and experiences, the book offers a comprehensive view of the migraine experience. Each category of visual disturbance is accompanied by related artwork. A description of migraine visual experiences of famous historical figures, such as Blaise Pascal and Lewis Carroll, provide historical background on the topic. The book also includes a history of four Migraine Art competitions and information about the Migraine Art collection.

See also:

Preview at Google Books

Migraine Art section by Klaus Podoll at the Migraine Aura Foundation

Migraine art collection at Discovery Health

Migraine art slideshow at The New Times

“Alluring Abstract Art of Agonizing Migraines” at Life in the Fast Lane

The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures by Nicholas Wade is a preorder as I’m writing but due out from Penguin tomorrow (Nov 12) so it may be available by the time you’re reading this.

(link for UK)

Product description from the author’s website:

The Faith Instinct presents a novel approach to religion. It explores the evolutionary origins of religious behavior in early humans, and traces the cultural development of religion from its origins up until to the present day.

The book does not challenge the central belief of either atheists or people of faith, since it offers no opinion as to whether or not God exists. It’s about religious behavior and its value to the first human societies and their successors.

Based on evidence from anthropologists’ studies of religion, and new findings from genetics and archaeology, The Faith Instinct concludes that religious behavior was favored by natural selection because of the survival advantage it conferred on early human groups.

The religion of early peoples, who lived as hunters and gatherers, underwent a profound cultural transformation as the hunter gatherers formed the first settled societies. The form of religious observance shifted from all-night communal dances, to the spring and harvest festivals of early agricultural societies, to the forms of religion more familiar today. The Faith Instinct retraces the historical context in which Judaism, Christianity and Islam arose, and analyzes how religion has retained many of its ancient roles even in modern secular societies.

An excerpt, reviews and more are available at the author’s website.