Consciousness

All my books and articles are listed in Publications.

People often ask me what to read on a particular subject. Here are some suggestions.


Watch

10 things to know about Consciousness
10 things to know about Consciousness

 

 

 

 

 

 

Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal – Susan Blackmore and Bernardo Kastrup discuss consciousness (June 2023)

Indiangenes Podcast –  on Consciousness and Neuroscience June 2023

Sue talks to Freddy Drabble about Free Will, on his Chasing Consciousness Podcast. Oct 2022

Watch Tucson 2022 Concurrent Session “Studying and measuring consciousness” (with Emily Troscianko and Susan Blackmore)

Nick Day of Consciousness Central, interviews me about my experience at Tucson 2022, and includes flashbacks to the previous events with Deepak in 2012

TSC 2022 – Susan Blackmore and Deepak Chopra, Tucson, Arizona 2022. The Mystery of Existence. Why is there sentience? A dialogue between Sue Blackmore and Deepak Chopra. Watch the full dialogue on You tube 19-04-2022. Read a report of the debate between Sue and Deepak published in Skeptical Inquirer Vol 47-2 pp 52-55.

Chasing Consciousness Podcast. Episode 1 – Subjective or Objective?  Introducing one of the oldest and most talked about problems in philosophy, the problem of consciousness. 01.04.2021

The Science of Consciousness Conference, Tucson 2020. Read about Tucson 2020, including a link to a 5 minute video I made to launch the discussion about Psychedelics at the conference. 16-9-2020

‘HowTheLightGetsIn’, part of the Hay Festival. The consciousness debate, ‘Miracle of Mind’ April 2020

10 Things you most need to know about consciousness. A short video of me explaining the 10 things, to accompany my VSI Consciousness Book by OUP. (And I hope the ten problems make your head hurt). 29 May 2019.

Watch video – Consciousness on the grill or in the spit? Interview for Cosmoetica with Susan Blackmore and Jonathan Schooler for Dan Schneider – Interview #245: Stream(s) Of Consciousness(?) 10 August 2018

In summer 2015 I grilled some of the world’s experts about the mysteries of consciousness (David Chalmers, Pat Churchland, Andy Clark, Michael Gazzaniga and Thomas Metzinger) for Swedish TV (Axess). These interviews are now available to watch online. Click on one of these links to watch interviews with:

David Chalmers
Patricia Churchland
Andy Clark
Michael Gazzaniga
Thomas Metzinger

Interview with me on Consciousness Central, at Towards a Science of Consciousness, Helsinki, June 2015. I am interviewed about the talk I gave on “Out-of-body experiences and what they tell us about ourselves”.

Michael Persinger and the God Helmet  – interview with Susan Blackmore (published 2014 for Web of Stories). Watch on YouTube

The mystery of consciousness, lecture in Sofia, Bulgaria, April 2013

Debate with Deepak Chopra at Towards a Science of Consciousness, TSC Tucson April 2012. Watch My lecture – panel discussion with Deepak.

Lecture on the Illusion of Consciousness at the Skeptics conference 2005

Closer to Truth Podcasts

Where I am interviewed by Robert Lawrence Kuhn

How brain makes mind?

Why is Consciousness so Mysterious?

‘How is personal identity maintained’ 

Toward a Science of Consciousness

Does consciousness lead to God?

Is Consciousness an illusion?

 

Listen

Indiangenes Podcast –  on Consciousness and Neuroscience June 2023

What is Consciousness? The TerreScience Podcast #22 – Susan Blackmore talking to host Rajnish Khanna Ph.D. 31 December 2022 (unfortunately the video is out of sync with the sound due to it being recorded on a transatlantic link, but if you just listen rather than watch it is fine).

Chasing Consciousness Podcast. Episode 1 – Subjective or Objective?  Introducing one of the oldest and most talked about problems in philosophy, the problem of consciousness. 01.04.2021

Listen to Consciousness – The Very Short Introductions (VSI) Podcast – OUP May 2021

By Candlelight podcast, Episode 3 – Consciousness & Reincarnation – my views on the subject and why my beliefs surrounding paranormal phenomena have changed drastically over the last 40 years.14 January 2020

The Consciousness Podcast https://theconsciousnesspodcast.com/episode-24-consciousne…/  Sue answers tricky questions about dualism and awareness, illusionism and the mind, and a lot more about out-of-body and near-death experiences. 19 March 2019

Dan Dennett and me in ‘Conversation’ about his new book at the Bristol Festival of Ideas. 22.02.17.

Consciousness and Out of Body Experiences, with Dr. Susan Blackmore – Spiritual Naturalist Society Today #23. 1 August 2017

Interview on Radio West (KUER) from Salt Lake City. A whole hour discussing the meaning of consciousness. Are you conscious now? The answer is probably yes, but what does that really mean? 10 December 2015

The biggest questions – an audio discussion on consciousness with Tony Sobrado. October 2013. In this episode I address the possibility that Cartesian dualism may have been replaced by Cartesian materialism.

The curious illusion of consciousness“: audio “teleseminar” for the Institute of Noetic Sciences. I talk to Marilyn Schlitz about mind, meditation and consciousness.13.4.11

Conversations on Consciousness – an interview about the book with The Guardian’s James Randerson
and full length interviews (more than in the book) with Dan Dennett, VS Ramachandran andFrancis Crick April 2007

Read

(I have written extensively on consciousness – this is just a small selection)

My Books on Consciousness

Blackmore, S. and Troscianko, E. 2018 Consciousness: An Introduction, Third Edition, London, Routledge. (27 April 2018), ISBN-10: 1138801313. See the companion website and a review. Winner of Routledge award for “Revised Textbook 2018”

Blackmore, S 2017 Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction, (Second Edition) Oxford, Oxford University Press ISBN-10: 0198794738 Translations. Listen to VSI Consciousness Podcast. Also available as E-book ISBN: 9780192513717

Blackmore, S. 2010 Consciousness: An Introduction, Second Edition, London, Hodder Education, pb  ISBN-10: 144410487X . New York, Oxford University Press, Feb 2011, pb ISBN-10: 0199739099

Blackmore, S. 2009 Ten Zen Questions, Oxford, OneWorld,  2009. ISBN 978-1-85168-642-1  Translations.

Blackmore, S. 2005 Conversations on Consciousness, Oxford, Oxford University Press, hb ISBN 0 19 280622-X and New York 2006 hardback ISBN 0-19-517958-7 Translations.

Blackmore, S. 2005 A Very Short Introduction to Consciousness, Oxford, Oxford University Press, paperback ISBN: 0-19-2805851  Translations OUP blog

 

Other Books On Consciousness

I was recently asked by fivebooks.com to suggest what I think are the Five Best Books on Consciousness – these were my choices. February 2018

Book chapters

Blackmore, S. (2012) Turning on the light to see how the darkness looks. In Consciousness: Its Nature and Functions, Ed Shulamith Kreitler and Oded Maimon, NY, Nova pp 1-22

Blackmore,S.J. (2002) What is consciousness? In H. Swain (Ed) Big Questions in Science, London, Jonathan Cape, 39-43

Articles

Blackmore, S. and Troscianko, E.T. 2019 Out with Folk Psychology, In with What? Review of The Mind Is Flat: The Remarkable Shallowness of the Improvising Brain by Nick Chater, The American Journal of Psychology Vol. 132:3, 369-374

Blackmore, S. 2016 Delusions of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 23, 52-64

Blackmore, S. 2012 She won’t be me. Journal of Consciousness Studies, Singularity Special Edition, 19, No 1-2, 16-19

Blackmore,S.J. (2002) There is no stream of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 9, 17-28

Blackmore, S. 2002 The grand illusion: Why consciousness only exists when you look for it.  New Scientist, 22.6.02, 26-29 (cover story)

Blackmore,S.J., Brelstaff,G., Nelson, K. and Troscianko,T. 1995 Is the richness of our visual world an illusion? Transsaccadic memory for complex scenes. Perception, 24, 1075-1081c  (NB – this was the first ever published experiment on ‘change blindness’)

Blogs and web

OUP blog on consciousness, 4 April 2014

The Edge Question 2014. What scientific idea is ready for retirement? My answer: The neural correlates of consciousness.