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The Kingdom of Infinite Space: A Portrait of Your Head
In this pathbreaking book, one of Britain’s most eloquent and original thinkers writes about the head, what happens in it, and how it is and is not connected to our sense of identity and consciousness. Blending science, philosophy, and humor, Raymond Tallis examines the extraordinarily complex relationship we have with our heads. His aim, as he says, �is to turn readers in...more
Hardcover, 344 pages
Published
September 23rd 2008
by Yale University Press
(first published January 1st 2008)
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I love the fact that a book like this exists, one written by a renaissance man of sorts. I've often read reports of eclectic journeys from journalists and highly specialized treatises from academics: this book is both and neither and more.
The very erudite Raymond Tallis might have well written this book by merely staring at the mirror (and having cultivated himself throughout the preceding 50 or 60 years before this occurred). By academic standards, this book is not a scientific reference, nor d...more
The very erudite Raymond Tallis might have well written this book by merely staring at the mirror (and having cultivated himself throughout the preceding 50 or 60 years before this occurred). By academic standards, this book is not a scientific reference, nor d...more
Mar 27, 2012
Special K
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Special K by:
Bob Doede
Shelves:
philosophy,
science
For anyone who has ever felt concern about the creeping influence of "neuromythology" (the religious-like belief that all aspects of our consciousness and behavior can be reduced to our neural states), I suggest taking a look at some of Raymond Tallis' work.
I was hooked the moment he said in the foreword: "There is...no shortage of books on the brain. Indeed, I would venture that there is a serious lack of such a shortage...To put it bluntly, the brain is absurdly overrated."
What follows is a ph...more
I was hooked the moment he said in the foreword: "There is...no shortage of books on the brain. Indeed, I would venture that there is a serious lack of such a shortage...To put it bluntly, the brain is absurdly overrated."
What follows is a ph...more
Sep 17, 2012
Heather Browning
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction,
philosophy
I found this quite hard to get through. I liked the concept, a tour around the various parts and functions of the head, and I found much of what it covered interesting - love, laughter, vomit, thinking, excursions into many areas of biology, sociology, psychology and philosophy. I just felt most of the time like his point could have been made in half the space, for the most part was overly verbose. I was also I comfortable with the constant feel of an underlying agenda - an anthropocentric and d...more
Apr 10, 2013
Thom Foolery
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to Thom by:
2010 Christmas present from Joanne
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I just realized that the subtitle on my copy is different; it's "A Portrait of Your Head." Regardless, this is a pretty engaging book, more about what it is to be human than it is about the head. Tallis just uses the workings of the head, the ins and outs of the head, as a jumping-off place to go on philosophical musings about personhood.
Overall I guess I enjoyed the book, but there were two recurring elements that bothered me:
1) Tallis makes a very big point right up front about how this book i...more
Overall I guess I enjoyed the book, but there were two recurring elements that bothered me:
1) Tallis makes a very big point right up front about how this book i...more
This was quite an interesting read, but I’m not sure what to make out of the book. The book is about our heads. Yes, a book entirely dedicated to our heads. It’s a mixture of biology, philosophy, psychology, cognitive sciences, cultural studies, and a few other things. The book touches on the things that are located in our heads and the things that they do: thinking, vision, speech, breathing, smelling, tasting, blushing, crying, eating, drinking, vomiting, smoking, kissing, etc. Each subject is...more
I guess this would be called physio-philosophy, bio-philosophy? I have no clue. But it is a supremely entertaining, thought-provoking book. I highly recommend it.
Fascinating stuff. An entertaining and lightly philosophical look at all the things our heads do and contain. From fluids to thoughts to sounds and expressions it is concise and is a great reminder of how odd it is to be human and have such a multi-purpose head. It's poetic in some places, scientific in some and silly in lots of places. Highly recommended. Reads like a long magazine article.
It's not just that we use our heads all the time, but we analogize from them, draw on them for metaphors, all the while paying little notice to how they work and what they mean to us. Enter the doctor who's also a philosopher, and a vivid (and funny) writer.
I've just started this.
Some interesting, and indeed fascinating stuff, but seriously this could do with being 1/3rd the size. Too many lists, too many digressions, not enough substance.
Apr 18, 2013
Lorna
added it
Feb 28, 2013
Valentin
marked it as to-read
Feb 27, 2013
Jill
marked it as to-read
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