my mind on books

Consciousness, Self-Consciousness, and the Science of Being Human by Simeon Locke (Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, 2007)

[scheduled for Dec 30, 2007]

Locke is a Neurologist and Professor Emeritus of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.

Gesture and Thought by David McNeill (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007)

[pdf essay by the author -“both a synopsis and extension of Gesture and Thought“]

Mental Mechanisms: Philosophical Perspectives on Cognitive Neuroscience by William Bechtel (New York: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2007)

According to the publisher, this book is scheduled to be published 10/15/07.

author’s homepage

Things and Places: How the Mind Connects with the World (Jean Nicod Lectures) by Zenon W. Pylyshyn (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2007)

author website

book info from MIT Press

videos from the Jean Nicod Lectures

I’m about a third of the way through ‘Stuff of Thought’ and have been seeing a lot of related articles and reviews, so I’m experimenting here with a reading list created at grazr.com…. (Click on the blue icon to expand.) I’ll be able to add to the list as new items turn up, so feel free to add your suggestions in the comments.

With WikiMindMap you can browse Wikipedia topics in mind map format.

Here is the WikiMindMap for “mind”

(Clicking on a term brings up the Wikipedia article; clicking on the green arrows brings that topic to the center of the map; topics with a plus sign in front are expandable.)

It is possible to verify the hypothesis that we are dreaming: we can verify it by waking up. The corollary of this assertion, or rather another way of putting the same fact, is the statement that it is possible to falsify the hypothesis that we are awake: we can falsify it by waking up. But the opposite is not true. It is not possible to falsify the hypothesis that we are dreaming or to verify the hypothesis that we are awake.

Dreams, Illusion, and Other Realities by Wendy Doniger (O’Flaherty), p. 52

Decision-making turns out to be a popular topic, spanning self-help, business management, cognitive psychology, and various applied fields.

Below I have selected some titles published within the last few years (2005-2007), starred a couple that looked most interesting for the general reader (or to me at least), followed by links to some other book lists. [10/8/07 – added a section for reader recommendations ]

The Book of Hard Choices: How to Make the Right Decisions at Work and Keep Your Self-Respect by James A Autry; Peter Roy (New York : Morgan Road Books, 2006). [business-oriented]

Decision Making: 5 Steps to Better Results (Harvard Business Essentials) (Boston, Mass. : Harvard Business School ; London : McGraw-Hill [distributor], 2006). [business-oriented]

Decision Making & Problem Solving Strategies (Creating Success) by John Eric Adair (London ; Philadelphia : Kogan Page, 2007). [business-oriented]

Decision-making in Complex Environments ed. by Malcolm Cook; Janet M Noyes; Yvonne Masakowski (Aldershot, England ; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007). [technical/specialized]

Emotion and Reason: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Decision Making by Alain Berthoz; tr. Giselle Weiss (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2006).

*The Era of Choice: The Ability to Choose and Its Transformation of Contemporary Life (Bradford Books) by Edward C Rosenthal (Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 2005).

More on D is for Decision-making