Here are some of the best books I have been exposed to this year. Obviously, I cannot read everything, so this is a partial list at best. They are listed in alphabetical order. Descriptive text is from the publisher’s blurb on Amazon. A few of these books warrant the RECOMMENDED READ classification. Adult Attachment Patterns … Read more
Posted below are two articles from the Mind and Life Institute blog, both of which are slightly related. The first one features Evan Thompson’s work with neurophenomenology and the second one looks at Richard Davidson’s work with meditation and compassion as it relates to theory of mind. Grey Matters Mind and Life’s resident neuroscientist on … Read more
Steve Fleming, whose blog is The Elusive Self, offers a review/overview of a new theory of consciousness, as outlined by Michael Graziano in his 2013 book, Consciousness and the Social Brain. I happen to have this book, but I have not gotten around to reading it. In the front matter of the book there is … Read more
Tony Nader is an MD and has a PhD in cognitive science from MIT, and despite this solid education, he has become a leader of the Transcendental Meditation movement surrounding the figure of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. I have nothing against TM as a meditation technique (aside from its tendency to promote spiritual bypass of hard … Read more
Here is part one of the Buddhist Geeks interview with Buddhist neuropsychologist Dr. Rick Hanson. Ever since the publication of Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom (2009), Hanson has been one of the prolific and popular authors and teachers in the Buddhist world. BG 335: Practicing with the Brain in Mind … Read more
Neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux interviews one of the founders of modern neuroscience, Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel, still going strong at nearly 85 years of age. Mapping the Mind: An Interview with Eric Kandel from Imaginal Disc August 19, 2014 Host: Joseph LeDouxDirector: Alexis GambisProducer: Rose MeachamCamera: Alejandro MeijaEditor: Léo GhyselsAdministrative Support: Will ChangProduction Assistants: Danabelle … Read more
Frederick Travis, PhD, is the director of the Center for Brain, Consciousness, and Cognition at the Maharishi University of Management, an institution dedicated to promoting transcendental meditation (TM [image a copyright symbol here]) in all possible venues. This talk was given at Stanford University. We Create Our Reality Published on Aug 1, 2014 Frederick Travis, … Read more
John Hagelin is a particle physicist and director of the Transcendental Meditation movement for the United States. When he was still a serious physicist, he was a researcher at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) (1981–1982) and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) (1982–1983). Hagelin is now Professor of Physics and Director of … Read more
Important breaking news from America’s finest news source, The Onion. Psychology Comes To Halt As Weary Researchers Say The Mind Cannot Possibly Study Itself ISSUE 50•30 • Jul 31, 2014 Psychologists caution that it is a grave folly to believe anything objective can be learned about the human mind given that the object of observation … Read more
Vince Horn speaks with neuroscientist David Vago in part one of this two-part Buddhist Geeks Podcast. Good stuff. BG 329: A Neuroscience of Enlightenment by David Vago Podcast: Download Episode Description: David Vago is a contemplative neuroscientist and Jake Davis is a philosopher and Buddhist practitioner. Together they have authored an article proposing the question … Read more