“Soul Dust”, Nicholas
Humphrey’s new book about consciousness, is seductive - early 1960's,
“Mad Men” seductive. His writing is as elegant and hypnotic
as that cool jazz stacked on the record player. His argument feels as
crystalline and bracing as that double martini going down, though
you might find yourself a little woozy afterward. And his tone is as
warm and inviting as that big crackling fire, even if the dim
flicker does leave things a a bit obscure in the corners. . . Very
different from the usual awkward geeks of academic philosophy
and psychology. But what about the morning after? Will all that
transcendental experience he describes so eleoquently turn out to
be just plain old biology after all? No, actually – his book is not
only thoroughly enjoyable but genuinely instructive too. -- Alison
Gopnik. New York Times, 20 May 2011
Nicholas Humphrey's Soul-Dust: The Magic of Consciousness tells
its story from the
beginning. Humphrey, an eminent English psychologist, aims to explain
what a soul is, and to show, from an evolutionary perspective,
why it's useful to have one... Its relaxed prose disguises the book's
boldness: Soul-Dust is as ambitious, and just about as
zany, as Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents. . . Soul-Dust is
not going to be the last book about consciousness; how could
it be? But, in its combination of wide-ranging open-mindedness and
polemical force, it is an extraordinarily successful one. --
Josh Rothman. Boston Globe, 12 April 2011
Nicholas Humphrey begins where Crick and others have left off. He
audaciously
aims to provide a theoretical basis for understanding the level of
consciousness that corresponds with one's personal qualitative
experience. .. By grounding the hard problem of private, phenomenal
consciousness in the easy problem of sensory awareness, Humphrey
has laid out a new agenda for consciousness research. -- Michael
Proulx. Science, May 2011
[W]hat, on the face of it, looks like
an attempt to validate spirituality using the language of science
turns out to be a way to expand the domain of science by accounting
for spirituality. . . Soul Dust is nothing less than Humphrey’s
attempt to sketch out a materialist theory of consciousness, and write
a “natural history” of the soul.. . I find the argument rather
beautiful, and plausible. . It has the added merit of foregrounding
the wonderfulness of the world, and allowing the notion of a soul to
anyone who’d like one. -- Caspar Melville. New Humanist,
March/April 2011
Humphrey wears his learning lightly, but Soul Dust gently introduces
the reader to many of the dominant scientific
and philosophical ideas about consciousness. . . [H]e is absolutely
right to reintroduce the concept of the soul to contemporary discussion
of consciousness. This elusive entity still haunts the science – and
scientists – of the mind.... If he fails to dispel
the mystery of the mind entirely, it is partly because he succeeds so
well in evoking it. Soul Dust is an Ode to Being. This may be
the least we should expect, but few consciousness enthusiasts have
succeeded so well. -- Adam Zeman. Standpoint,
May 2011
The genius of "Soul Dust" is to attempt an explanation of both how
[the “theatrical show” of consciousness]
is done and why it evolved... [I]t's exhilarating to see this crucial
question about our existence answered with such intellectual
breadth. Scientists are often accused these days of overlooking the
awe and wonder of the world, so it's exciting when a philosopher
puts that magic at the very heart of a scientific hypothesis. -- Matt
Ridley. Wall Street Journal, 27 March 2011
An extraordinary
book . . … attempts to explain all the most distinctive things about
humans in a few hundred pages .. According
to Humphrey the emergence of human consciousness has forced human
beings to reflect philosophically and artistically on the meaning
of their lives and of the soul.. …excitingly thought
provoking..Prepare to be infuriated but read the book all the same.
- - Maurice
Bloch. Anthropology of this Century. January 2012
Humphrey has read widely not just in philosophy and the sciences,
but
in the arts and humanities as well. In presenting the fullness of
human life made possible by human consciousness, he quotes incisively
from artists and poets ranging from Elizabeth Barrett Browning and A.
A. Milne to Wassily Kandinsky and Woody Allen. By drawing on
sources outside the usual purview of scientific or even philosophical
discussions of consciousness, Humphrey presents a richer understanding
of what it means to be human than do most writers in the field, and we
owe him a debt of gratitude for that. -Paul Johnston. Commonweal. June
2012
This is a bold, important, and exciting book. Too often,
researchers on consciousness don't see the wood for the trees. Much
research
has a narrow focus, and evolutionary perspectives are often neglected
(indeed, some views of consciousness preclude them). Humphrey
offers a welcome corrective, sketching an account of the nature,
function, and evolutionary history of consciousness that draws on
psychology, neurology, ethology, anthropology, art, literature, and
mysticism. And the account is both surprising and enormously persuasive.
The book is full of original ideas and insights, and, as one reads,
illuminating implications and applications continually spring
to mind. . .I urge you to read this book. It may change your mind
about consciousness; it has changed mine.
Keith Frankish. Philosophical
Quarterly January 2014
Advance endorsements:
“Just as fairy dust sprinkled on the mundane world turns it to
gold,
soul dust converts animal flesh into the enchanted world of sensation
and consciousness of self. As with fairy dust, the result is
illusion, but the illusion in which we live. The great strength of
this challenging and original foray into the 'hard question' of
human consciousness is its combination of scientific rigour with
exquisite sensitivity to the thoughts of philosophers, poets, religious
thinkers, and humanists. Humphrey never forgets his scientific base,
but unlike so many scientific triumphalists, he also never forgets
the delicacy of the problem and the need to do justice to the rich
phenomena. A delightful and thought-provoking tour de force..”
– Simon Blackburn, Professor of Philosophy, University of Cambridge,
author of Think: a Compelling Introduction to Philosophy.
“Scientists
sometimes stand accused of missing the magic as they reduce nature to
explanations. In this surprising and poetic book, Nicholas Humphrey
does the opposite: he delves into the brain and discovers that the
magic is the whole point of consciousness.”—Matt Ridley, author
of The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature.
"Humphrey, a theoretical psychologist at the top of his game,
combines the romantic spirit of a Shelley or Keats with the razor
sharp intellect of a Sherlock Holmes. Here he brings his incisive
mind to bear on one of the great riddles of science - the evolutionary
origin of consciousness - and presents the best-yet solution
to the supposedly insuperable problem." – V.S.Ramachandran, Director
Center for Brain and Cognition, UC San Diego, author ofThe Tell-Tale Brain.
“Nicholas Humphrey is a gifted scientific humanist who is able to
integrate an extraordinary range
of work from cognitive neuroscience, literature, and philosophy in
offering his answer to the questions of what consciousness is,
why it was selected, and how it both causes and solves the problems of
the meaning of life. This is a provocative book from a sparkling
writer.”
—Owen Flanagan, Professor of Philosophy, Duke University, author of The Question of the Soul.
“A dazzling insight into
understanding how and why consciousness evolved" – Bruce Hood,
Professor of Psychology and Director of the Cognitive Development
Centre, University of Bristol, author of Supersense: from Superstition to Religion.
"Nicholas Humphrey tackles
the problem of consciousness with gusto. As protean as consciousness
itself, Humphrey culls from neuroscience, evolutionary biology,
psychology, anthropology, philosophy, and poetry to create a spirited
and impassioned intellectual adventure." – Rebecca Newberger
Goldstein, author of 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction.
"Soul Dust is a must-read for everyone who wonders
about the mystery of consciousness. Humphrey has come as close as any
scientist ever has to solving the 'hard problem'." – Arien Mack,
Professor of Psychology, New School for Social Research, Editor:
Social Research, Director: Center for Public Scholarship, author
of Inattentional Blindness
