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Waiting for Godot has been acclaimed as the greatest play of the 20th century. It is also the most elusive: two lifelong friends sing, dance, laugh, weep, and question their fate on a road that descends from and goes nowhere. Throughout, they repeat their intention Let's go, but this is inevitably followed by the direction (They do not move.). This is Beckett's poetic construct of the human condition. Lois Gordon, author of The World of Samuel Beckett, has written this introduction to Beckett's great work for general readers, students and specialists. Critically and historically informed, it approaches the play scene by scene, exploring the text linguistically, philosophically, critically and biographically. Gordon argues that the play portrays more than the rational mind's search for self and worldly definition. It also dramatises Beckett's insights into human nature, into the emotional life that frequently invades rationality and liberates, victimises, or paralyzes the individual. Gordon shows that Beckett portrays humanity in conflict with mysterious forces both within and outside the self, and that he is an artist of the psychic distress born of relativism.
Bizarre, perplexing, and moving cases of brain disorder, told by a neurologist with an extraordinary gift for storytelling
Epilepsy is one of the most common potentially serious disorders of the brain, and patients often suffer from memory problems. This book comprehensively reviews all aspects of the relationship between this common and potentially serious neurological disorder and memory, one of the core functions of the human mind.
In this volume on disorders of consciousness, emphasis is given to distinguishing reversible disorders from the irreversible and disorders requiring medical treatment from those requiring neurosurgical management.
In recent years consciousness has become a significant area of study in the cognitive sciences. The 'Frontiers of Consciousness' is a major interdisciplinary exploration of consciousness. The book stems from the Chichele lectures held at All Souls College in Oxford, and features contributions from a 'who's who' of authorities from both philosophy and psychology. The result is a truly interdisciplinary volume, which tackles some of the biggest and most impenetrable problems in consciousness. The book includes chapters considering the apparent explanatory gap between science and consciousness, our conscious experience of emotions such as fear, and of willed actions by ourselves and others. It ...
Consciousness is one of the most significant scientific problems today. Renewed interest in the nature of consciousness - a phenomenon long considered not to be scientifically explorable, as well as increasingly widespread availability of multimodal functional brain imaging techniques (EEG, ERP, MEG, fMRI and PET), now offer the possibility of detailed, integrated exploration of the neural, behavioral, and computational correlates of consciousness. The present volume aims to confront the latest theoretical insights in the scientific study of human consciousness with the most recent behavioral, neuroimaging, electrophysiological, pharmacological and neuropathological data on brain function in...
In this accessible overview of current knowledge, an expert team of editors and authors describe experimental approaches to consciousness. These approaches are shedding light on some of the hitherto unknown aspects of the distinct states of human consciousness, including the waking state, different states of sleep and dreaming, meditation and more. The book presents the latest research studies by the contributing authors, whose specialities span neuroscience, neurology, biomedical engineering, clinical psychology and psychophysiology, psychosocial medicine and anthropology. Overall this anthology provides the reader with a clear picture of how different states of consciousness can be defined, experimentally measured and analysed. A future byproduct of this knowledge may be anticipated in the development of systematic corrective treatments for many disorders and pathological problems of consciousness.
Despite the many well-documented similarities -- genetic, cognitive, behavioral, social -- between our human selves and our evolutionary forebears, a significant gulf remains between us and them. Why is that? How did it come about? And how did we come to be the way we are? In this book fourteen distinguished scholars -- including humanist, atheist, and theist voices -- address such questions as they explore how and when human personhood emerged. Representing various disciplines, the contributors all offer significant insights into new scientific research about the origins of human nature -- research that challenges some traditional views. CONTRIBUTORS Francisco J. Ayala Justin L. Barrett Roy F. Baumeister Warren S. Brown Richard W. Byrne Matthew J. Jarvinen Malcolm Jeeves Timothy O'Connor Lynn K. Paul Colin Renfrew Ian Tattersall Anthony C. Thiselton Alan J. Torrance Adam Zeman
Albert Einstein. Steve Jobs. Elon Musk. Katharine Johnson. These geniuses are all visual thinkers. Are you? Do you like puzzles, coding, and taking things apart? Do you write stories, act in plays, slay at Wordle? The things you are good at are clues to how your brain works. Are you good at math? Working with your hands? Are you a neat freak or a big mess? With her knack for making science easy to understand, Temple Grandin explains different types of thinkers: verbal thinkers who are good with language, and visual thinkers who think in pictures and patterns. You will discover all kinds of minds and how we need to work together to create solutions to help solve real-world problems.