Consciousness Explained

By: Daniel C. Dennett

Narrated by: Paul Mantell

Length: 21 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

The national bestseller chosen by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 1991 is now available as an audiobook. The author of Brainstorms, Daniel C. Dennett replaces our traditional vision of consciousness with a new model based on a wealth of fact and theory from the latest scientific research.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©1991 Daniel C. Dennett (P)2013 Audible Inc.

If you like Dennett, you will love this book.

First, the narrator is fantastic. This is a pretty dense subject and Dennett can certainly meander at times, but he brings life to Dennett's words.
As to the content, It was a great attempt at wrapping our minds around a true mystery. I do think he did a better job at the setup, why this is so hard, and all of the dead bodies (theories) that have come before. And I do think he teed up the way to approach the problem really well. I do think he falls short in the details, and he could have made this book a game-changer if he had infused a bit more science into the discussion.
He is first and foremost a philosopher, and this is definitely much more a philosophical treaty, rather than a scientific one.

Fascinating ideas, too laboriously written

Not sure audiobook is the best format.
Dennet is brilliant yet cumbersome at times, which makes some passages very hard to understand.

All science.

Full of very amazing stuff. I managed to get through it, however I'm no scientist and probably actually understood 10% of it. That being said it did give me some things to think about. I only gave a low score because of the complexity of the material. Someone who better understands it might give higher marks.

Dennett makes you THINK!

No philosopher, I nevertheless enjoy Dennett's work.

He makes me THINK. That's healthy, horizon expanding, illuminating.

You needn't agree with everything Dennett says; you might have the gut sense that, at times, Dennett is purposefully leading the reader around by the nose; you might wonder if the succession of "I'll address that in a chapter 2 chapters from now" might end in "I'll address that in the next book I've not yet writing.

But you will think. And think again. And be grateful for it.

All that said, Paul Mantell's narration doesn't seem to fit the material. At the beginning, he's snarky. I had the sense he, not Dennett, thought that anyone who didn't agree with what he was reading was an idiot.

The narration gets less snarky as the chapters flow under the bridge, but it never seems to give true voice to the voice to the words read and--more importantly--the ideas contained within the words.

Now... to listen to another Dennett book... got several good ones to choose from!

interesting but long winded

long and thorough explanation expressed sometimes in long-winded metaphors and asides. thought-provoking ideas meticulously explained

Not for the faint of heart

While a fascinating read, this book is deep. It goes into your brain layer after layer after layer. While I can safely say I really understood only 20% of the real meaning of this book, the other 80% was clearly well researched and added validity to the 20%. A tough read for sure.

Heavy book

Brain stretching but very fulfilling. I feel the book did a good job explaining the authors expertise in consciousness. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to reach into their own mind a bit more.

Excellent

This is an excellent and difficult book- lots of information to take away to refine your understanding of your own mind. I wouldn't say it's sufficient to BASE your understanding of consciousness on it, since there's so much nuance to appreciating the nature of consciousness. But, it's great at saying "nope, you can't think about it this way because XYZ. Here is a better way to think about this phenomenon." Really formative and helpful for how I see myself.

Fascinating and insightful, but also challenging.

Presents a comprehensive explanation of human consciousness. I'll need to listen to some parts again, as some parts of the book is quite technical in nature.

A classic surely worth reading; Perfect NARRATION!

The book does not need an introduction, it is one of the most influential titles in modern philosophy of mind. In my personal top ten books in this field, there are not many equally basic and important volumes, perhaps one: "The Conscious Mind..." by David Chalmers.

However, what really must be a focus in a review of this particular audio version of the book is Paul Mantell's narration which is incredible - an unsurpassed art of vocal performance, in itself a classic which will never be outdone. Although I have listened to well over 100 audiobooks from Audible thus far, I have never listened to such narration before. Not only has it perfect timing, diction, and other purely technical characteristics at the top, but it unfailingly keeps a sense of humor and otherwise mimics Daniel Dennett himself. In short, it creates a show probably manyfold better than the author could!

In sum, not only the book but also the narrator is a gem - he deserves recognition no doubt and should be given personal "thank you" from the author.