I've read a few popular science books on neuroscience and this is at the more challenging end. Oddly, as a non-scientist, it was the philosophy that I found most difficult to follow. Still, I found it interesting and thought-provoking, in particular on the hard problem of consciousness.

The topic of consciousness is a fascinating one and Anil Seth has done a comprehensive job in telling us about it. He covers the latest theories in this book and draws on philosophy, psychology, neuroscience and medicine to illuminate it. It is far from an easy read (and I say this with a solid background in psychology) so don't expect a 'light' book in the vein of say Oliver Sachs The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat. This is serious stuff- the references and index take up almost a third of the book- but it is well worth reading if you are interested in this subject. I particularly liked the chapter on animal consciousness and the difference between consciousness and intelligence.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Insights and complexities of consciousness. This is my first read of this genre or anything on this topic before so found the book difficult to follow sometimes and understand but perseverance has given me a different line of thought.
In a world where AI is becoming dependable and exciting seeing the technology progress, sci-fi movies and great imaginations get you thinking are we on a world to destruction of humans giving way to robots this book and explanations give you more to think about but settle your mind bringing back reality. We really can’t just be replicated with computer robots.

Shining a light on consciousness

Anil Seth's book makes for interesting reading. Consciousness is a tricky subject and measuring it even more so. The theories he outlines start to throw a glimmer of light on a difficult frontier. I was fascinated and would like to know more but think I'll need to wait for more to filter down as some of the theories are highly mathematical when you dig into them.

The book made me think long and hard whole ethical debate around consciousness and what it means for us and even more so for our fellow species. It bought up a whole load of thoughts and questions for me that I’ll be pondering over for a long time to come.

Overall a challenging, thought provoking and worth while read.
I was given this book from the author via netgalley only for the pleasure of reading and leaving an honest review should I choose to.

A fascinating read about consciousness, well explained but I did struggle to follow some of the concepts and it felt too much like a university lecture for me.

I came to this book seemingly prepared by other books on consciousness and neuroscience. I regret to say that Being You has beaten my brain. It's well written and enthusiastic and I couldn't follow it. I am giving it five stars for it's aspirations.

For those interested in debates of consciousness, intelligence, free-will, and the ethical implications of being a conscious versus an intelligent being, this is certainly a recommended read.

Having now taken a different approach to this book, I have appended my original review to this one to give you an idea of why I made the change.

With my new approach, I decided to skip Chapter 1 and see if my ability to understand what was being said improved; it did 100%. My suggestion is to skip Chapter 1 and start reading from Chapter 2, renumbering Chapter 1 as Chapter last.

I am still making my way through this inciteful and complex book. It is not a volume than can be rushed as it has a lot of insights into how we can try to decipher what makes us who we are and that mostly requires a shift in mindset.

My 4 star rating is now a valid rating rather than a 3 star, neutral one.

My original review >> As I understood it, this book was supposed to be accessible to mere mortals? Well, by most standards, I fit into that category but found it impossible to get into this book. I could read the words but they made less than no sense to me. Some of the sentences I read several times but that made them no more comprehensible than the first time I read them.

The only conclusion I came to was that "Being You" is certainly not "Being Me" and that is why I gave up halfway through the very long Chapter 1, very aptly titled The Real Problem.

My 3 star rating should be viewed as a neutral score rather than a critical one as it is difficult to be truly objective about something that gives you a headache.

Being You is a fascinating, accessible and highly readable exploration of consciousness, and Seth's quest to understand the biological basis of conscious experience is one of the most exciting contributions to twenty-first-century science I feel I have encountered. Consciousness is the great unsolved mystery in our scientific understanding of the brain. Somewhere, somehow, inscribed in the brain is everything that makes you you. But how do we grasp what happens in the brain to turn mere electrical impulses into the vast range of perceptions, thoughts and emotions we feel from moment to moment? Anil Seth, one of Britain's leading neuroscientists, charts the developments in our understanding of consciousness, revealing radical interdisciplinary breakthroughs that must transform the way we think about the self. Drawing on his original research and collaborations with cognitive scientists, neuroscientists, psychiatrists, brain imagers, virtual reality wizards, mathematicians and philosophers, he puts forward an exhilarating new theory about how we experience the world that should encourage us to view ourselves as less apart from and more a part of the rest of nature.

Seth's revolutionary framework for consciousness will turn what you thought you knew about yourself on its head. An unprecedented tour of consciousness thanks to new experimental evidence, much of which comes from Anil Seth's own lab. His radical argument is that we do not perceive the world as it objectively is, but rather that we are prediction machines, constantly inventing our world and correcting our mistakes by the microsecond, and that we can now observe the biological mechanisms in the brain that accomplish this process of consciousness. Seth's work has yielded new ways to communicate with patients previously deemed unconscious, as well as promising methods of coping with brain damage and disease. Being You sheds light on the future of AI and virtual/augmented reality, adds empirical evidence to cutting-edge ideas of how the brain works, and ushers in a new age in the study of the mystery of human consciousness. This book is a life-changing existential insight into being you. Rich in anecdotal evidence and full of intriguing information from cover to cover, Seth has written a riveting book on an invariably intriguing philosophical subtopic and brings it bang up to date. Highly recommended.

“How conscious are you right now? What ages the difference between being conscious at all and being a chunk of living meat, or lifeless silicon without any inner universe?”

Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive Science at University of Sussex asks some truly fascinating questions in his new book ‘Being You: A New Science of Consciousness”.

To what degree can AI be conscious? What’s the difference between being truly unconscious (passed out or under anaesthetic) and totally unaware of time passed and sleeping when we awaken and know sometimehas gone by. How do our conscious ‘selves’ experience living in our perceived worlds or “controlled hallucinations”? It is mind bending and a mental feast, discovering what exactly is meant by being YOU.

This is one of those ‘stop and ponder’ kind of books as you look away from the page to the corner of the room to absorb and fathom out new knowledge and wonder anew at the intricacy of that electron-firing organ in our heads.

Being You is a fascinating book that aims to explain not why consciousness exits in the first place, but how our subjective experiences of being conscious and having consciousness relate to our physical and psychological reality, and our need (and goal as living beings) to stay alive.

The book can be a slightly challenging read, with philosophical, mathematical and scientific concepts, and it might even require a second reading in order to be better understood. Moreover, Seth’s ‘beast machine’ theory turns common sense on its head, stating that the function perception, including the experience of being a conscious, unified self, is not to represent or perceive the world as it is, but to guide action and ensure our survival.

Of course I couldn’t possibly summarise his whole theory here, and nor will I attempt to—reading the book will suffice as Seth is an eloquent writer, able to provide plenty of examples, analogies and anecdotes to illustrate his theory, constantly recapping his proposals, and always contextualising new concepts.

For those interested in debates of consciousness, intelligence, free-will, and the ethical implications of being a conscious versus an intelligent being, this is certainly a recommended read.

A fabulous read about consciousness. Well explained and really makes you think. I love this subject and was excited to be able to read and review this book. Highly recommended

Really enjoyed this detailed and informative look on the science and philosophy of consciousness. Seth has definitely walked all the main tracks – biological, medical, philosophical, mathematical. There’s even a scary aside about AI and a fascinating look at animal consciousness. Excellent book.

I read “Being You” by Anil Seth and wow, what a read! It was detailed, comprehensive, and informative. I particularly enjoyed Chapter 12, which spoke of animal consciousness. Interestingly, pigs were tried in court for committing, aiding and abetting crimes!

“Being You” explores what makes humans conscious. Seth provides interesting stories about historical and scientific attempts to understand what really makes us human. This book touches on a variety of topics, including visual perception, Descartes and Cartesian Dualism, the Turing test, artificial intelligence, and neuroscience.

I would recommend this book for anyone who has some education in neuroscience, visual perception, philosophy and psychology. Although Seth explained the concepts quite well and in detail, I found the book quite meaty and I needed to take some breaks between chapters to really grasp the concepts. Definitely not a light read!

Thanks to Faber & Faber and NetGalley for providing me with a review copy of this book!

I have been reading books on conscience for a long time because it has always been a subject that has particularly interested me since, long ago, I found myself almost by chance at a lecture by Giulio Tononi. Since then I think I have read quite a lot and I particularly appreciated the clear way in which this book illustrates both medical and philosophical theories and above all the excursus into the future and the "risk" of artificial intelligence.

Leggo da tempo libri sulla coscienza perché é sempre stato un argomento che mi ha particolarmente interessato, da quando, in tempi non sospetti, mi ritrovai quasi per caso ad una conferenza di GIulio Tononi. Da quel momento credo di aver letto parecchio e di questo libro ho apprezzato particolarmente il modo chiaro di illustrare teorie sia mediche che filosofiche e soprattutto l'excursus nel futuro ed il "rischio" delle intelligenze artificiali.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

When it comes to the science of consciousness, I think there’s an intrigue in it for everyone, as what it means to be us, we have our own vested personal interest in.

It’s such an enigma in science, with a big blaring question mark when ‘what is consciousness?’ is asked. What makes us conscious, thinking, self aware things? I think most would have a different individual answer to this and it was so interesting to read this book on the new science of consciousness. It’s a field that is constantly morphing, shaping and moving towards new research which might shed some light on this age old question. Which makes this book so great!

Oh and I also found a new favourite word within this book. I mean, who wouldn’t want to bring up ‘phenomenology’ into general conversation?

I loved how ‘Being you’ was written. It was really insightful and interesting to read. It was very informative yet not too over facing or drowning for any non neuroscientist. And I have to commend Anil for managing to write about such a complex topic coherently! He does a great job at laying down the foundations too for concepts and base knowledge you might not be familiar with to extend further understanding.

The science and research was communicated expertly. There’s so many fascinating and interesting points and it can be quite mind blowing when you really think about it. It’s definitely an overwhelming subject and one recommend for anyone who has a curious mind!