The Feeling Of What Happens

A groundbreaking exploration of what it means to feel alive. In this landmark work, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio reveals how consciousness arises from the body’s constant conversation with the mind. Drawing on decades of clinical research and vivid case studies, he argues that emotion is not the enemy of reason but its foundation - the mechanism through which we become aware of ourselves. The Feeling of What Happens unites neuroscience, philosophy and psychology to explain how the brain turns sensation into self. Written with clarity and lyricism, it remains one of the most influential books ever published on the science of mind, emotion and identity. ‘Life-changing… crammed with tiny gems of information’ Guardian ‘A tour de force… a monumental book’ Sunday Times

A groundbreaking exploration of what it means to feel alive. In this landmark work, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio reveals how consciousness arises from the body’s constant conversation with the mind. Drawing on decades of clinical research and vivid case studies, he argues that emotion is not the enemy of reason but its foundation - the mechanism through which we become aware of ourselves. The Feeling of What Happens unites neuroscience, philosophy and psychology to explain how the brain turns sensation into self. Written with clarity and lyricism, it remains one of the most influential books ever published on the science of mind, emotion and identity. ‘Life-changing… crammed with tiny gems of information’ Guardian ‘A tour de force… a monumental book’ Sunday Times

In The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, director of UCLA's Brain and Creativity Institute, presents the first truly compelling neurobiological account of the self...a remarkable work of intellectual daring (Nature). A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Widley praised for his innovative scientific thinking and elegant writing, Antonio Damasio, the international bestselling author of Descartes' Error achieves an understanding of consciousness by asking and answering profound questions: How is it we know what we know? How is it that our conscious and private minds have a sense of self? In this groundbreaking book, Damasio ​-- ​ a renowned and revered scientist and clinician who spent decades following amnesiacs down hospital corridors, waiting for comatose patients to awaken, and devising ingenious research using PET scans to piece together the great puzzle of consciousness ​-- ​ explores the biological roots of sentient awareness and its role in survival. Consciousness is the feeling of what happens-our mind noticing the body's reaction to the world and responding to that experience. Without our bodies there can be no consciousness, which is at heart a mechanism for survival that engages body, emotion, and mind in the glorious spiral of human life. Linking body and emotion in an arresting and original study of what it is to be human, The Feeling of What Happens will change your experience of yourself (The New York Times). Both Descartes Error and The Feeling of What Happens are essential reading. They are ground-breaking classics of psychology and neuroscience. ​-- ​Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine

In The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, director of UCLA's Brain and Creativity Institute, presents the first truly compelling neurobiological account of the self...a remarkable work of intellectual daring (Nature). A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Widley praised for his innovative scientific thinking and elegant writing, Antonio Damasio, the international bestselling author of Descartes' Error achieves an understanding of consciousness by asking and answering profound questions: How is it we know what we know? How is it that our conscious and private minds have a sense of self? In this groundbreaking book, Damasio ​-- ​ a renowned and revered scientist and clinician who spent decades following amnesiacs down hospital corridors, waiting for comatose patients to awaken, and devising ingenious research using PET scans to piece together the great puzzle of consciousness ​-- ​ explores the biological roots of sentient awareness and its role in survival. Consciousness is the feeling of what happens-our mind noticing the body's reaction to the world and responding to that experience. Without our bodies there can be no consciousness, which is at heart a mechanism for survival that engages body, emotion, and mind in the glorious spiral of human life. Linking body and emotion in an arresting and original study of what it is to be human, The Feeling of What Happens will change your experience of yourself (The New York Times). Both Descartes Error and The Feeling of What Happens are essential reading. They are ground-breaking classics of psychology and neuroscience. ​-- ​Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine