Who You Are: The Science of Connectedness
Michael J. Spivey
Jul 2020 · Highbridge Audio · Narrated by Matthew Josdal
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15 hr 31 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
Who are you? Are you just a brain? A brain and a body? All the things you have done and the friends you have made? Many of us assume that who we really are is something deep inside us, an inner sanctuary that contains our true selves. In Who You Are, Michael Spivey argues that the opposite is true: that you are more than a brain, more than a brain-and-body, and more than all your assumptions about who you are. Rather than peeling layers away to reveal the inner you, Spivey traces who you are outward. You may already feel in your heart that something outside your body is actually part of you—a child, a place, a favorite book. Spivey confirms this intuition with scientific findings.
With each chapter, Spivey incrementally expands a common definition of the self. After (gently) helping you to discard your assumptions about who you are, he draws on research in cognitive science and neuroscience to explain the back-and-forth among all the regions of the brain and the interaction between the brain and body. He then makes the case for understanding objects and locations in your environment as additional parts of who we are. Going even further, he shows that, just as interaction links brain, body, and environment, ever-expanding systems of interaction link humans to other humans, to nonhuman animals, and to nonliving matter.
With each chapter, Spivey incrementally expands a common definition of the self. After (gently) helping you to discard your assumptions about who you are, he draws on research in cognitive science and neuroscience to explain the back-and-forth among all the regions of the brain and the interaction between the brain and body. He then makes the case for understanding objects and locations in your environment as additional parts of who we are. Going even further, he shows that, just as interaction links brain, body, and environment, ever-expanding systems of interaction link humans to other humans, to nonhuman animals, and to nonliving matter.
About the author
Michael J. Spivey is professor of cognitive science at the University of California, Merced. He earned his BA in psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his PhD in brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester. His books include The Continuity of Mind and Who You Are.
Originally from a small town in southwest Saskatchewan, Matthew Josdal is a voice-over and theater artist who has narrated titles in a wide range of genres, including historical nonfiction and contemporary fantasy. He obtained his BFA in drama from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, where he currently resides.
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