THEATER OF THE MIND

Some books we read (if you’re curious about any of this):

These are all non-technical books. This list could be twice as long, but here’s a start if you’re interested. 

The Case Against Reality by Donald Hoffman
I’ve just started this but already very excited- we are optimized to perceive the world in a way that is useful, but doesn’t reflect reality.

The Tell Tale Brain by Vilayanur Ramachandran
He is the originator of the “rubber hand.” Lots of wonderful speculation is in this book.

Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions by Stephen Macknik, Susana Martinez-Conde and Sandra Blakeslee 
Magicians and magic use and expose the quirks of the mind.

Subliminal by Leonard Mlodinow
How much of what we act and do is determined by unconscious forces?

The Invisible Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive Us by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons
We often don’t see what happens right in front of our eyes.

Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain by David Eagleman
The latest book by the acclaimed neuroscientist and author shows how our brains are constantly changing in response to our body and environment.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Our intuitive vs. rational mind–how they work together, or don’t.

Being You: A Science of Consciousness by Anil Seth
Seth has an idea of why we experience consciousness – what possible use does it have?

The Man Who Tasted Words: Inside the Strange and Startling World of Our Senses by Guy Leschziner
Sometimes-gruesome case histories of people with brain abnormalities.

Two Heads: A Graphic Exploration of How Our Brains Work with Other Brains by Uta Frith, Chris Frith and Alex Frith
Probably the only neuroscience graphic novel that I know of

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks
This is Oliver Sacks’s breakthrough book featuring case histories of people with brain abnormalities.

A Sense of Self: Memory, the Brain and Who We Are by Veronica O’Keane
The importance of memories and how they create our sense of self.

The Disordered Mind: What Unusual Brains Tell Us About Ourselves by Eric R. Kandel
Sometimes we don’t know how something works until it stops working the way its’ supposed to.

The Man Who Wasn’t There: Tales from the Edge of the Self by Anil Ananthaswamy
An exploration of the self through individual stories and analysis, in the tradition of Oliver Sacks.