From Bacteria to Bach and Back

The Evolution of Minds

By: Daniel C. Dennett

Narrated by: Tom Perkins

What is human consciousness, and how is it possible? This question fascinates thinking people from poets and painters to physicists, psychologists, and philosophers. From Bacteria to Bach and Back is Daniel C. Dennett's brilliant answer, extending perspectives from his earlier work in surprising directions, exploring the deep interactions of evolution, brains, and human culture.

Part philosophical whodunit, part bold scientific conjecture, this landmark work enlarges themes that have sustained Dennett's legendary career at the forefront of philosophical thought. In his inimitable style - laced with wit and arresting thought experiments - Dennett shows how culture enables reflection by installing a bounty of thinking tools, or memes, in our brains. Language, itself composed of memes, turbocharged this interplay. The result, a mind that can comprehend the questions it poses, emerges from a process of cultural evolution.

An agenda-setting book for a new generation of philosophers and other researchers, From Bacteria to Bach and Back will delight and entertain anyone who hopes to understand human creativity in all its wondrous applications.

©2017 Daniel C. Dennett (P)2017 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Showboats writing style, then muses on the mind

This book was a struggle to finish, since Dennet seemed to me to talk himself in circles gratuitously, if only to wind up (too late) at a pretty way of summarizing an argument that could be presented far more concisely.

A Brilliant, Entré to Philosophy of Mind

Would you listen to From Bacteria to Bach and Back again? Why?

No, as brilliant and intriguing as this book is, I could not get past the 2nd chapter listening to the exaggerated, overly modulated voice of Tom Perkins.

What did you like best about this story?

It is erudite without artifice and convincing in its conclusions. In spite of the poor narration, the ideas are both engaging and important, perhaps the most important book I've read in decades (and as a philosopher, I read a lot of supposedly important books).

Did Tom Perkins do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

N/A.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"Blow Your Mind" [over the picture of a soap-bubble being blown]

Any additional comments?

I thought enough of Dennett's book that even though I came to find the narrator's imitation of an unhappy primary school teacher intensely unpleasant, I bought a copy of the book rather than just put it in the electronic wastebin.

Bellissimo.

Libro vasto e profondo, sottile e solido. E' una pietra tombale sull'dea predarwiniana che la mente umana sia un fenomeno eccezionale del mondo, è un inno al gradualismo e al naturalismo.

good science, bad philosophy.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

personally, i did not see this as time well spent. Even though there were plenty of reasonable theories, and interesting possibilities, that is exactly what they are...possibilities. i thought it would be more philosophically based from rhe audio sample. I don't like to read more ways in which natural selection can be explained, and don't need an explanation to understand the process, i think it could be possible already so all the speculation bores me in a way. it is already answered by saying we can never know, whether believing in a "God" or a natural explanation, nobody was there, so origins is not a realm for science. it cannot be observed regardless of how much you learn from reverse engineering, likewise there is no way to discover concrete proof that God exist, so this book doesn't do anything for me. even with all the possibilities lining up, the possibility of ID or not doesn't change. This book has nothing to convince me of except something someone thinks is very possibly possible.

Would you ever listen to anything by Daniel C. Dennett again?

sure, i guess so.

What about Tom Perkins’s performance did you like?

yes he did fine narrating.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

nope.

Any additional comments?

This is good evidence to show how scientist do not think well philosophically. The author started off sounding very open minded, and although he did lead into it very softly, it became clear pretty quickly what side he was one. He tries showing his good reasoning leading to the final path he's following, but you can find good reasons for any side of anything that make perfect sense, thats why it has no place in philosophy, but scientist never have quite been able to grasp that for some reason. In short, he may think he is being open and reasonable, but it is mind blowing that someone cannot become neutral for long enough to look book at what they are stating and see the pages and pages of things that are pure speculation on the way things came to be. using widely accepted science of unknowns to build your new found explanation of another unknown.

D.Dennett Builds Conscious Competence!

D.Dennett delivers more beautiful Dennettisms to aid in conceptualizing the evolution of consciousness. Thought provoking in his insight and grasp of diverse fields.

Consciousness explained and expanded

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Daniel Dennett has an amazing brain and is a wordsmith of the 1st rank. It is astounding how much of Consciousness Explained's foresight is brought to fruition. Anyone thinking of artificial intelligence and what it might mean for society would do well to read this book. And anybody not thinking of it should.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

1001 words is worth more than a picture. Great line, though his best remains, I think, "he's fighting a strawman and the strawman is winning."

Dennett takes us on a hike

I saw a review of this book that noted many digressions. I think that there were none. Ground that needed to be covered to explain his ideas was covered carefully and quickly. He explained in the beginning of the book why he has found this the best path after decades in this mental landscape. He summarized why each turn was necessary in the end. Great narrator in addition to an intellectually rewarding trip. I will read it again.

Thought provoking book

The author has strong opinions on a variety of topics, that is thought provoking but it needs an intense scrutiny to check the validity of the facts he claims to be true

Overuse of memes to define memes

Stories from scholars for
Way to ponderous to enjoy
AI discussion unsurprisingly out of date

Good Noise

Your attention will only catch 10% - maybe it is the rambling speculative nature of the content (though he has a broad grasp of science, so they are at least informed), or the drifting-away tone of the narration, so the question is, is it worth listening to again (and again and again) to try and decipher what he is saying, and the answer is partly (there are some good notions), but mainly no, because the core problem of the book is that it is philosophically clueless (which the reader can vaguely sense), so it is off target in the relevance department, which will cause the reader to tune it out, since most of it is fundamentally garbage. (to clear the garbage up, and to read something that has relevance, read the Philosophy of Broader Survival instead).