The Wayward Mind: An Intimate History of the Unconscious [Paperback]

Guy Claxton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2006

This book brilliantly charts history’s many different ways of explaining the unconscious mind, from ancient descriptions of the “underworld” to theories of contemporary neuroscience. Guy Claxton’s beautifully written book takes in intellectual and cultural history, literature, and spirituality. In The Wayward Mind, the common image of the mind is skillfully redrawn to acknowledge the constant influence of its invisible foundations on everyday human behavior.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this lively history of thinking about what lies behind thinking, Oxford-trained cognitive scientist Claxton (Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind) ranges across societies from ancient Egypt to 20th-century Vienna and individual thinkers from Aristotle to Eugene Gendliln to trace the long development of three broad narratives that have been used to explain the mind: the supernatural, the psychological and the biological. The author's purpose in this erudite intellectual history is not to settle the question of what lies behind our conscious selves, but to explore the richness of the untidy notions of the unconscious we have inherited. His summaries of the ideas of poets, priests, philosophers and psychiatrists are colorful and brisk but fair, and his criticisms, notably of Descartes as hyper-rational and Freud as unoriginal, are balanced by assessments of their contributions. As Claxton's survey approaches the late 20th century, he begins to speak for himself, painting an extended and especially vivid portrait of a human brain that might be capable of generating poetry and madness without angels or the id. He concludes that no single account can fulfill the complex social purpose of the stories we tell ourselves about the underlying quirkiness of our minds, but he argues persuasively that we can live fuller, happier lives by embracing that waywardness. 24 b&w illustrations.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

* 'Claxton's quest for the origins of the unconscious mind combines page-turning narrative with cutting-edge neuroscience. His ideas about how and why the brain creates our oddest experiences are both imaginative and credible. The book makes an important contribution to our understanding of what it is to be human' Rita Carter, author of MAPPING THE MIND and CONSCIOUSNESS *'Claxton's book stands out from the crowd. It is a work of terrific breadth ... And Claxton is a versatile and erudite exegete, as fluent at explaining Egyptian mythopaeia as neuroscientific theories of the ego' Robert Macfarlane, SPECTATOR *'Claxton provides a birds-eye view of the human unconscious, drawing from an impressive array of sources ... A captivating account of the ways in which the unconscious has entranced and intrigued thinkers throughout the centuries'SUNDAY BUSINESS POST *'With wit, weird tales and wonderful metaphors, Claxton illuminates the long dark history of the undermind' Susan Blackmore, author of CONSCIOUSNESS: AN INTRODUCTION and THE MEME MACHINE *'It is hard not to feel enticed by a book with such engaging opening words' Steven Rose, GUARDIAN

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group (February 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0349116547
• ISBN-13: 978-0349116549
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #792,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.