Being You cover art

Being You

A New Science of Consciousness

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Being You

By: Anil Seth
Narrated by: Anil Seth
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About this listen

A GUARDIAN, ECONOMIST, NEW STATESMAN, FINANCIAL TIMES AND BLOOMBERG BOOK OF THE YEAR

'I loved it.' MICHAEL POLLAN
'Fascinating.' FINANCIAL TIMES
'Awe-inspring.' NEW STATESMAN
'Brilliant.' CLAIRE TOMALIN, NEW YORK TIMES
'A brilliant beast of a book.' DAVID BYRNE
'Hugely important.' JIM AL-KHALILI
'Gripping.' ALEX GARLAND
'Masterly . . . Vast-ranging, phenomenal.' GAIA VINCE, GUARDIAN

Anil Seth's radical new theory of consciousness challenges our understanding of perception and reality, doing for brain science what Dawkins did for evolutionary biology.


Being You is not as simple as it sounds. Somehow, within each of our brains, billions of neurons work to create our conscious experience. How does this happen? Why do we experience life in the first person? After over twenty years researching the brain, world-renowned neuroscientist Anil Seth puts forward a radical new theory of consciousness and self. His unique theory of what it means to 'be you' challenges our understanding of perception and reality and it turns what you thought you knew about yourself on its head.

'Seth thinks clearly and sharply on one of the hardest problems of science and philosophy, cutting through weeds with a scientist's mind and a storyteller's skill.'
ADAM RUTHERFORD

'A page-turner and a mind-blower . . . Beautifully written, crystal clear, deeply insightful.'
DAVID EAGLEMAN

'If you read one book about conciousness, it must be Seth's.
JULIAN BAGGINI, WALL STREET JOURNAL

©2021 Faber & Faber (P)2021 Faber & Faber
Biological Sciences Neuroscience & Neuropsychology Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Science Human Brain Consciousness Inspiring Physiology Computer Science

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Critic reviews

"Anil Seth thinks clearly and sharply on one of the hardest problems of science and philosophy, cutting through weeds with a scientist's mind and a storyteller's skill." (Adam Rutherford)

"Seth provokes us to think about thinking...readable, relatable and gripping." (Alex Garland, director of Ex Machina)

"Offers a new cause for astonishment and wonder...a must-read for anyone seeking a better understanding of the brain and how nature sculpts the human experience." (Annaka Harris, author of Conscious)

All stars
Most relevant
Seth explains the complex ideas clearly and lucidly, with layer upon layer building an overarching view of a model of consciousness. Seth takes a look at the monolith of the 'hard problem' of how and why the wet living and thinking brain gives rise to the experience of consciousness and proposes a different question, the 'real problem'. How mechanisms in the brain predict and control consciousness. Probing into the stuff of consciousness all is not what it seems and our perceptions are our brains best guess of what is out there beyond it's bony skull.

Some of these ideas are not new to me and resonate with Buddhist teachings that what we believe to be the self is an illusion. Here we have a scientific theory as to why and how the sense of self is created by systems in the brain.

The fascinating ideas in the book are presented in a way that I'm sure the author has simplified for the layperson but it is still sufficiently complex and detailed to be an intellectual challenge for those amongst us that are not philosophers or scientists and there are ample references for further reading on on the matter.

A mind bending tour - science of consciousness

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Comprehensive, exeptionaly founded, focused jet deelpy human and with excellent narration! Loved it !

Superb in every way !

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Excellent! I enjoyed every minute of this book. I will definitely listen to it again in the future.
It is a nice blend of neuroscience, psychology and philosophy. It's compact and concise. Every word counts - very little cannon fodder.

The author has a way of explaining extremely complex ideas in a way that anyone can understand, but he is never patronizing.
At times the ideas completely melted my head though, but in a good way!🫠

I do think that perhaps a physical copy would be better as a few times I couldn't completely remember what a term meant and had to Google whereas with a physical book you just skim back or mark the pages etc...

Being You

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The author reads this with passion and authority on the subject. It was really interesting.

Fascinating and brilliantly read by the author

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luckily we made it in history of academia, to not ridicule consciousness research . Excellent work and brilliant ideas from Anil.
thank you

excellent

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