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I've Been Thinking

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

'Who would have guessed that a philosopher's life could be so full of adventures?'

Daniel C. Dennett, philosopher and cognitive scientist, has spent his career considering consciousness. I've Been Thinking traces the development of Dennett's own intellect and instructs us how we too can become good thinkers.

Dennett's restless curiosity leads him from his childhood in Beirut to Harvard, and from Parisian jazz clubs to 'tillosophy' on his tractor in Maine. Along the way, he encounters and debates with a host of legendary thinkers, and reveals the breakthroughs and misjudgments that shaped his paradigm-shifting philosophies. Thinking, Dennett argues, is hard, and risky. In fact, all good philosophical thinking is inevitably accompanied by bafflement, frustration and self-doubt. It is only in getting it wrong that we, very occasionally, find a way to get it right.

This memoir by one of the greatest philosophers of our time will speak to anyone who seeks a life of the mind with adventure and creativity.

©2023 Daniel C. Dennett (P)2023 Penguin Audio Consciousness & Thought History & Philosophy Philosophy Science

Critic reviews

'How unfair for one man to be blessed with such a torrent of stimulating thoughts. Stimulating is an understatement.' (Richard Dawkins)

'Unlike traditional philosophers, Daniel Dennett is a student of neuroscience, linguistics, artificial intelligence, computer science, and psychology. He's redefining and reforming the role of the philosopher.' (Marvin Minsky)
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It's a really wonderful story of the life of a deeply curious and playful man who loved life, and just so happened to be a philosopher. He probably spends more time talking about his adventures and experiments on his farm and boat than on his big ideas themselves, which is as it should be, in my opinion. When he does discuss his work, it's more about the relationships and interesting events.
Wonderful book about a wonderful life.

He loved life thoroughly

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Other than a few logistical flaws, a great book that I really enjoyed listening to.

Brilliant book with very few flaws

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