Episode · EconTalk · 2022-12-05
Russ Roberts & Patrick House: books mentioned on EconTalk
Patrick House on Consciousness
How does the mind work? What makes us sad?
Patrick House discussed Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei by Eliot Weinberger, After Babel by George Steiner, and What Is It Like to Be a Bat? by Thomas Nagel. Russ Roberts recommended Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness by Patrick House.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei
Discussed“Mostly it's it's the uh homage to this book that I read a long long time ago called uh 19 Ways of Looking at Wang Wei, which was who who was a poet in I think 800s 800s China, an ancient Chinese poet.”
Where to get it
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After Babel
After Babel by George Steiner is a profound critical study of language, meaning, and translation that argues all human communication and acts of interpretation fundamentally function as acts of translation.
Discussed“It's uh George Steiner, the essayist author from the last half of the 19th of the 20th century. Best thing writer has a book called After Babel, which talks about translation and basically says that when you read a poem from the 1500s, you can't understand it.”
Where to get it
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What Is It Like to Be a Bat?
Thomas Nagel's philosophical essay What Is It Like to Be a Bat? explores the fundamental nature of consciousness and the limitations of physicalist explanations.
Discussed“Yeah, um, Tom Nagel's What Is It Like to Be a Bat? They're the kind of what I take to be the, uh, argument kind of”
Where to get it
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Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness
Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness by Patrick House is a book that examines the complex nature of human consciousness through various scientific and philosophical perspectives.
Recommended“And we've gone way far afield here. So, I just want to say, which I've enjoyed immensely, but I want to say that if you have any interest in these kind of topics, this book is is a beautiful book... So, I I would encourage anyone who is interested in these kind of questions to read Patrick's book because it”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“Today is October 31st, 2022 and my guest is neuroscientist and author Patrick House. He is the author of 19 ways of looking at consciousness, which is our topic for today.”
“probably right now people are listening um or watching and thinking, 'Okay, 19 ways of looking at consciousness, say.'”