Topics like hypnosis, absorbed states of mind, adaptation to trauma, and the human propensity to project expectations on uncertainty, all fit into the expanded theater metaphor.

If the brain is the theatre, consciousness is the play. But who or what controls what we watch and how we watch it? In Theatre of the Mind Jay Ingram, whose past scientific investigations include the properties of honey on toast and the complexities of the barmaid's brain, tackles one of the most controversial of subjects: consciousness. Scientists have long tried to map our brains and understand how it is that we think and are self-aware, but what do we really know? Any discussion of the brain raises more questions than answers, and Ingram illuminates some of the most perplexing ones: What happens in our minds when we're driving and we suddenly realize that we don't remember the last few miles of highway? How do we remember images, sounds, and aromas from our past so vividly, and why do we often recreate them so differently in our dreams? Ingram's latest book is a mind-bending experience, a cerebral, stylish ride through the history, philosophy, and science of the brain and the search for the discovery of the self.

"Robert Berezin holds that contemporary psychiatry has fallen under the sway of biological reductionism, where our patients do not receive proper care. They are treated primarily or exclusively with psychoactive drugs. Pharmaceutical psychiatry ignores the complexities of the human condition as if the agency of human suffering can be cured by a pill. In Psychotherapy of Character, Dr. Berezin presents an alternative to the prevailing doctrine, one that is grounded in an understanding of human nature. Suffering is not a brain problem, it is a human problem. He illuminates the practice and effectiveness of psychotherapy through the story of his patient, Eddie. Eddie's complicated inner life, varied experiences, and ultimate breakthrough, stand in contrast to the destructive and false promises of a magical cure."--

For generations, fans and critics have characterized classic American radio drama as a “theater of the mind.” This book unpacks that characterization by recasting the radio play as an aesthetic object within its unique historical context. In Theater of the Mind, Neil Verma applies an array of critical methods to more than six thousand recordings to produce a vivid new account of radio drama from the Depression to the Cold War. In this sweeping exploration of dramatic conventions, Verma investigates legendary dramas by the likes of Norman Corwin, Lucille Fletcher, and Wyllis Cooper on key programs ranging from The Columbia Workshop, The Mercury Theater on the Air, and Cavalcade of America to Lights Out!, Suspense, and Dragnet to reveal how these programs promoted and evolved a series of models of the imagination. With close readings of individual sound effects and charts of broad trends among formats, Verma not only gives us a new account of the most flourishing form of genre fiction in the mid-twentieth century but also presents a powerful case for the central place of the aesthetics of sound in the history of modern experience.

Updated and revised, the highly-anticipated second edition of The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness offers a collection of readings that together represent the most thorough and comprehensive survey of the nature of consciousness available today. Features updates to scientific chapters reflecting the latest research in the field Includes 18 new theoretical, empirical, and methodological chapters covering integrated information theory, renewed interest in panpsychism, and more Covers a wide array of topics that include the origins and extent of consciousness, various consciousness experiences such as meditation and drug-induced states, and the neuroscience of consciousness Presents 54 peer-reviewed chapters written by leading experts in the study of consciousness, from across a variety of academic disciplines

Descartes's notion of subjectivity changed the way characters would be written, performed by actors, and received by audiences. His coordinate system reshaped how theatrical space would be conceived and built. His theory of the passions revolutionized our understanding of the emotional exchange between spectacle and spectators. Yet theater scholars have not seen Descartes's transformational impact on theater history. Nor have philosophers looked to this history to understand his reception and impact. After Descartes, playwrights put Cartesian characters on the stage and thematized their rational workings. Actors adapted their performances to account for new models of subjectivity and physiology. Critics theorized the theater's emotional and ethical benefits in Cartesian terms. Architects fostered these benefits by altering their designs. The Mind-Body Stage provides a dazzlingly original picture of one of the most consequential and confusing periods in the histories of modern theater and philosophy. Interdisciplinary and comparatist in scope, it uses methodological techniques from literary study, philosophy, theater history, and performance studies and draws on scores of documents (including letters, libretti, religious jeremiads, aesthetic treatises, and architectural plans) from several countries.

Daniel Dennett's "brilliant" exploration of human consciousness — named one of the ten best books of the year by the New York Times — is a masterpiece beloved by both scientific experts and general readers (New York Times Book Review). Consciousness Explained is a full-scale exploration of human consciousness. In this landmark book, Daniel Dennett refutes the traditional, commonsense theory of consciousness and presents a new model, based on a wealth of information from the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and artificial intelligence. Our current theories about conscious life — of people, animal, even robots — are transformed by the new perspectives found in this book. "Dennett is a witty and gifted scientific raconteur, and the book is full of fascinating information about humans, animals, and machines. The result is highly digestible and a useful tour of the field." —Wall Street Journal

Bernard Baars suggests a way to specify empirical constraints on a theory of consciousness by contrasting well-established conscious phenomena with comparable unconscious ones, such as stimulus representations known to be preperceptual, unattended or habituated. By adducing data to show that consciousness is associated with a kind of workplace in the nervous system, Baars helps clarify the problem.

Against the background of personal, institutional and cultural trajectories, this book considers dance, opera, theatre and practice as research from a consciousness studies perspective. Highlights include a conversation with Barbara Sellers-Young on the nature of dance; an assessment of the work of International Opera Theater; a new perspective on liveness and livecasts; a reassessment, with Anita S. Hammer, of the concept of a universal language of the theatre; a discussion of two productions of new plays; the development of a new concept of theatre of the heart; a comparison of Western and Thai positions on the concept of beauty; and an examination of the role of conflict for theatre. The final chapter of the book is taken up by the author’s first novel, which launches the new genre of spiritual romance.

Acting from the Ultimate Consciousness is Eric Morris's fourth popular book on the art of acting. His previous works have established him among the foremost innovators in the world of drama. His system, based on the Stanislavsky method but going far beyond it, begins with an exploration of consciousness and the instrumental needs of the actor and expands to dozens of practical techniques that enable the actor to utilize the full range of his talent. With complete sections on characterization, rehearsing and ensemble, this is a book that all stage or screen actors--beginning to advanced--should read, absorb and practice.