From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Change Your Mind, a panoptic exploration of consciousness—what it is, who has it, and why—and a meditation on the essence of our humanity
When it comes to the phenomenon that is consciousness, there is one point on which scientists, philosophers, and artists all it feels like something to be us. Yet the fact that we have subjective experience of the world remains one of nature’s greatest mysteries. How is it that our mental operations are accompanied by feelings, thoughts, and a sense of self? What would a scientific investigation of our inner life look like, when we have as little distance and perspective on it as fish do of the sea? In A World Appears, Michael Pollan traces the unmapped continent that is consciousness, bringing radically different perspectives—scientific, philosophical, literary, spiritual and psychedelic—to see what each can teach us about this central fact of life.
When neuroscientists began studying consciousness in the early 1990s, they sought to explain how and why three pounds of spongy gray matter could generate a subjective point of view—assuming that the brain is the source of our perceived reality. Pollan takes us to the cutting edge of the field, where scientists are entertaining more radical (and less materialist) theories of consciousness. He introduces us to “plant neurobiologists” searching for the first flicker of consciousness in plants, scientists striving to engineer feelings into AI, and psychologists and novelists seeking to capture the felt experience of our slippery stream of consciousness.
In Pollan’s dazzling exploration of consciousness, he discovers a world far deeper and stranger than our everyday reality. Eye-opening and mind-expanding, A World Appears takes us into the laboratories of our own minds, ultimately showing us how we might make better use of the gift of awareness to more meaningfully connect with the world and our deepest selves.
0 有用 魏知超 2026-03-04 13:44:09 浙江
波伦真会写书。
0 有用 A 2026-04-30 21:04:16 美国
越看越是怒火中烧,我真是何苦来哉来受这个罪,听一群民科、神棍与致幻者的集体幻觉。
1 有用 ZZ 2026-03-15 22:45:43 美国
又是一本作者的力作!從20年前他的《雜食者的兩難》,陸陸續續了跟著作者瞭解了很多不同的領域,當然都是蜻蜓點水。作者在這本書裏非常清晰地把對意識的研究分成了四大塊:感知,感情,思考和自我,詳細地敘述了他在面見在不同板塊下的科學家,包括生物(動物,植物)學家,腦科學家,物理學家,心理學家,哲學家和身心靈倡導者等等。這些和科學家的交談促成了這本他對意識的探索的書。雖然作者並沒有給出一個明確的答案,(實際... 又是一本作者的力作!從20年前他的《雜食者的兩難》,陸陸續續了跟著作者瞭解了很多不同的領域,當然都是蜻蜓點水。作者在這本書裏非常清晰地把對意識的研究分成了四大塊:感知,感情,思考和自我,詳細地敘述了他在面見在不同板塊下的科學家,包括生物(動物,植物)學家,腦科學家,物理學家,心理學家,哲學家和身心靈倡導者等等。這些和科學家的交談促成了這本他對意識的探索的書。雖然作者並沒有給出一個明確的答案,(實際上也是很難給出一個明確的答案)但是正在對一個問題的好奇和探索研究中,他為我們讀者指出了一定的方向,我想這也許也就是如今我們還堅持讀書的原因之一吧。 (展开)
0 有用 czh19 2026-03-16 02:46:42 英国
意识这一目前很难证伪的课题,背后有很多种相互矛盾千奇百怪的理论。每种理论更像是各自背景或前提的展开。(个人觉得最挫的是大脑当硬件意识当软件的模型,大概是太厌恶想意识上传的tech bro。) 可能我蛮喜欢这本也是因为对佛学比较接受。
0 有用 hurlyburly 2026-03-19 14:32:07 江苏
听作者本人读的audiobook,三天听完,属于轻松科普博客的难度,没有太多值得研究的观点。兜兜绕绕,最后结论是神经科学不能解释意识现象,Materialism不可靠,好吧