The Emerging Mind: New Discoveries in Consciousness

Rating:
Summary: Resource for the Mind
Review: When a friend gave me a copy of The Emerging Mind and said if I read any book this year it should be this one, I thought he was crazy. Now I know why he said that, so I want to share my enthusiasm. Get this book. You won't be sorry.

Rating:
Summary: Not for "advanced" seekers
Review: When I say "advanced", I just mean people who are relatively well-read and informed about the various currents of "thinking the mind" in different world traditions, including modern Western research. After I heard those famous words uttered by "The King" (of CNN)- the same words quoted on the dust-jacket - I couldn't wait to get hold of the book. What a disappointment..! It is all TOO obviously written for the "layman" - where's the bibliography, for instance? It's insubstantial, almost a joke. But that's because my expectations were too high, I suppose. I'm sure that people who are interested in information about "new" (or "alternative") mind research in the West, presented in an accessible, very readable (if, from time to time, infuriatingly oversimplified) way, and who have no experience whatsoever in this field, would find it very helpful. It is for them, after all, that the book was written. It's the marketing that was misleading. (It is interesting, though, that Ms. Shanor - witness her recent new appearance on "Larry King" - should feel compelled to promote the book all over again, a mere year and a half after its publishing.)

Rating:
Summary: Not for "advanced" seekers
Review: When I say "advanced", I just mean people who are relatively well-read and informed about the various currents of "thinking the mind" in different world traditions, including modern Western research. After I heard those famous words uttered by "The King" (of CNN)- the same words quoted on the dust-jacket - I couldn't wait to get hold of the book. What a disappointment..! It is all TOO obviously written for the "layman" - where's the bibliography, for instance? It's insubstantial, almost a joke. But that's because my expectations were too high, I suppose. I'm sure that people who are interested in information about "new" (or "alternative") mind research in the West, presented in an accessible, very readable (if, from time to time, infuriatingly oversimplified) way, and who have no experience whatsoever in this field, would find it very helpful. It is for them, after all, that the book was written. It's the marketing that was misleading. (It is interesting, though, that Ms. Shanor - witness her recent new appearance on "Larry King" - should feel compelled to promote the book all over again, a mere year and a half after its publishing.)