Reviews

The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness by Antonio Damasio

simpulacra's review

5.0

Genuinely one of the most interesting deep dives into the formation of consciousness. This, Dennett's Consciousness Explained and Margolis's Thinking, Patterns and Cognition are my top three on the subject

greatgodbird's review

4.0

This book felt very specialised (and I will be stealing many impressive-sounding words), but this probably was just because I have no great knowledge of neurological matters. Damasio very excellently laid out points in a concoction of philosophy of being, feeling, and knowing, and neurocentric scientific terms that had my eyes glazing over. I appreciated this especially as it provided a starting point off which I can have baseline discussions on experienced phenomena through understandings of biological feeling, emotion, and consciousness. The book didn’t shy away from juicy claims that will sit nicely as quotes regarding what self contains and reaches, definitions of consciousness, and distinctions between feeling and emotion.

emiann2023's review

5.0

Reading Mr. Damasio's work is like taking a trainride through your own brain. It is cerebral and fascinating, and yet, also strangely relaxing and comforting.

I will honestly admit that some of the details in this book are above my level of understanding. My knowledge of the human brain is still woefully inadequate. But I still finished it with a much clearer understanding of what makes me conscious, of where we came from and where we could go. And that made this a wonderful and engaging read.

philosopherz's review

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

sebki's review

2.0

The case studies were good, but I couldn't really recommend this book to an ordinary reader. I didn't feel I learned that much from it and the writer's prose style lacked the clarity and logical exposition you expect from a good popular science book.