A profound exploration of the external influences that shape human consciousness, from healing rituals to digital devicesIn this voyage through thousands of years of psychosomatic healing, distinguished anthropologist and sociologist Roger Bartra examines the placebo effect as a key to our understanding of human consciousness. Shamans and Robots demonstrates how biology and technology become intertwined within human culture by using the various histories o...

This book is a collection of essays on the Mexican transition to democracy that offers reflections on different aspects of civic culture, the political process, electoral struggles, and critical junctures. They were written at different points in time and even though they have been corrected and adapted, they have kept the tension and fervour with which they were originally created. They provide the reader with a vision of what goes on behind those horrifying images that depict Mexico as a...

Pens and swords, words and blows: for Roger Bartra, the culture of ink and the culture of blood offer two contrasting approaches to the political transformations of our time. In this compilation of essays, Bartra thinks through these transformations by tracing the complex interplay between popular culture, nationalist ideology, civil society, and the state in contemporary Mexico.Written with verve over a period of twenty years, these essays—most translated into English here for the...

This book is a profound exploration of the external influences that shape human consciousness, from healing rituals to digital devices. In this voyage through thousands of years of psychosomatic healing, distinguished anthropologist and sociologist Roger Bartra examines the placebo effect as a key to our understanding of human consciousness. Shamans and Robots demonstrates how biology and technology become intertwined within human culture by using the various histories of ritual a...

This is a historical and anthropological study of the myth of the werewolf aimed at reflecting on the metamorphoses of evil and understanding the long evolution of a mythical structure. Legends and folklore allow us to explore the brutal bestiality of a figure loaded with sexuality, eroticism, and desire. From ancient times to the present day, the tragic narrative universe of a strange and dangerous wild world is unfolded, with elements of tenderness, that has contributed to defining the p...

Sublime madness and ennui: melancholy is a condition of imbalance, chaotic and desolate, and a keystone of modern Western thought. In Angels in Mourning, Roger Bartra explores how three lucid European thinkers – Immanuel Kant, Max Weber and Walter Benjamin – addressed the irrational and the dolorous, drawing attention to some apparently marginal aspects of their work in order to illuminate the way in which they gazed into the darkness.It is not obvious why melancholy should...

In this unique exploration of the mysteries of the human brain, Roger Bartra shows that consciousness is a phenomenon that occurs not only in the mind but also in an external network, a symbolic system. He argues that the symbolic systems created by humans in art, language, in cooking or in dress, are the key to understanding human consciousness. Placing culture at the centre of his analysis, Bartra brings together findings from anthropology and cognitive science and offers an original vis...

“The Delusions of Certainty is a unique book by an extraordinary author. Siri Hustvedt is a notable novelist, art scholar, and a philosopher of science. In this memorable and immensely enjoyable volume, Hustvedt rises above the exhausted debate over the two cultures, to demonstrate not just the possibility but also the advantages of combining the approaches of the arts, humanities, and sciences to illuminate a key aspect of the human condition: the mind-body problem.”

**The Instant New York Times Bestseller • One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of the Summer • Finalist for the Kirkus Prize"Pollan’s real genius—the word is not too strong—remains intact. That is his uncanny ability to scent the direction in which the culture is headed. He did it with food and psychedelics, and now, though A World Appears focuses on AI only intermittently, he has done it again." —Charles Finch, The AtlanticFrom the #1 New Yor...

A guide to the history behind the world of Harry Potter--just in time for the last Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part II)Harry Potter lives in a world that is both magical and historical. Hogwarts pupils ride an old-fashioned steam train to school, notes are taken on parchment with quill pens, and Muggle legends come to life in the form of werewolves, witches, and magical spells. This book is the first to explore the real histor...

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERA Best Book of 2021—***Bloomberg Businessweek;***A Best Science Book of 2021—***The Guardian;***A Best Science Book of 2021—***Financial Times;***A Best Philosophy Book of 2021—Five Books; A Best Book of 2021—The EconomistAnil Seth's quest to understand the biological basis of conscious experience is one of the most exciting contributions to twenty-first-century science.What does it m...

A famed neuroscientist explores the emotions that make life worth living in "clear, accessible, and at times eloquent prose" ( San Francisco Chronicle).In the seventeenth century, the philosopher Spinoza examined the role emotion played in human survival and culture. Yet, the neurobiological roots of joy and sorrow remained a mystery. Today, we spend countless resources doctoring our feelings with alcohol, prescription drugs, health clubs, therapy, vacatio...