Listen free for 30 days
-
Being You
- A New Science of Consciousness
- Narrated by: Anil Seth
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Health & Wellness, Psychology & Mental Health
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £24.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Hidden Spring
- A Journey to the Source of Consciousness
- By: Mark Solms
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why does it feel like something to be alive? For one of the boldest thinkers in neuroscience, solving this puzzle has been a lifetime's quest. Now at last, Mark Solms, who discovered the brain mechanism for dreaming, has arrived at his answer. More than just a philosophical argument, the Free Energy theory will profoundly change how you understand your own existence.
-
-
Inspiring !
- By Yousaf Ali Khan on 29-03-21
-
Reality+
- Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy
- By: David J. Chalmers
- Narrated by: Grant Cartwright
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the coming decades, the technology that enables virtual and augmented reality will improve beyond recognition. Within a century, world-renowned philosopher David J. Chalmers predicts, we will have virtual worlds that are impossible to distinguish from non-virtual worlds. But is virtual reality just escapism? In a highly original work of 'technophilosophy', Chalmers argues categorically, no: virtual reality is genuine reality. Virtual worlds are not second-class worlds. We can live a meaningful life in virtual reality - and increasingly, we will.
-
A Guide to the Good Life
- The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
- By: William B. Irvine
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the great fears many of us face is that despite all our effort and striving, we will discover at the end that we have wasted our life. In A Guide to the Good Life, William B. Irvine plumbs the wisdom of Stoic philosophy, one of the most popular and successful schools of thought in ancient Rome, and shows how its insight and advice are still remarkably applicable to modern lives. In A Guide to the Good Life, Irvine offers a refreshing presentation of Stoicism, showing how this ancient philosophy can still direct us toward a better life.
-
-
To the non-stoic reviewers...
- By Anonymous User on 20-01-20
-
A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century
- By: Heather Heying
- Narrated by: Bret Weinstein, Heather Heying
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bold, provocative exploration of the tension between our evolutionary history and our modern woes and what we can do about it. We are living through the most prosperous age in all of human history, yet we are listless, divided and miserable. Wealth and comfort are unparalleled, but our political landscape is unmoored, and rates of suicide, loneliness and chronic illness continue to skyrocket.
-
-
More of the same
- By Mark Bannister on 14-10-21
-
Silent Earth
- Averting the Insect Apocalypse
- By: Dave Goulson
- Narrated by: Dave Goulson
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Insects are essential for life as we know it. As they become more scarce, our world will slowly grind to a halt; we simply cannot function without them. Drawing on the latest groundbreaking research and a lifetime's study, Dave Goulson reveals the shocking decline of insect populations that has taken place in recent decades, with potentially catastrophic consequences. He passionately argues that we must all learn to love, respect and care for our six-legged friends.
-
-
We can’t say we haven’t been warned
- By Rob Mellowship on 11-08-21
-
Gut
- By: Giulia Enders
- Narrated by: Katy Sobey
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The key to living a happier, healthier life is inside us. Our gut is almost as important to us as our brain or our heart, yet we know very little about how it works. In Gut, Giulia Enders shows that rather than the utilitarian and - let's be honest - somewhat embarrassing body part we imagine it to be, it is one of the most complex, important, and even miraculous parts of our anatomy.
-
-
I have to redress the balance
- By David J James on 13-03-16
-
The Hidden Spring
- A Journey to the Source of Consciousness
- By: Mark Solms
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why does it feel like something to be alive? For one of the boldest thinkers in neuroscience, solving this puzzle has been a lifetime's quest. Now at last, Mark Solms, who discovered the brain mechanism for dreaming, has arrived at his answer. More than just a philosophical argument, the Free Energy theory will profoundly change how you understand your own existence.
-
-
Inspiring !
- By Yousaf Ali Khan on 29-03-21
-
Reality+
- Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy
- By: David J. Chalmers
- Narrated by: Grant Cartwright
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the coming decades, the technology that enables virtual and augmented reality will improve beyond recognition. Within a century, world-renowned philosopher David J. Chalmers predicts, we will have virtual worlds that are impossible to distinguish from non-virtual worlds. But is virtual reality just escapism? In a highly original work of 'technophilosophy', Chalmers argues categorically, no: virtual reality is genuine reality. Virtual worlds are not second-class worlds. We can live a meaningful life in virtual reality - and increasingly, we will.
-
A Guide to the Good Life
- The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
- By: William B. Irvine
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the great fears many of us face is that despite all our effort and striving, we will discover at the end that we have wasted our life. In A Guide to the Good Life, William B. Irvine plumbs the wisdom of Stoic philosophy, one of the most popular and successful schools of thought in ancient Rome, and shows how its insight and advice are still remarkably applicable to modern lives. In A Guide to the Good Life, Irvine offers a refreshing presentation of Stoicism, showing how this ancient philosophy can still direct us toward a better life.
-
-
To the non-stoic reviewers...
- By Anonymous User on 20-01-20
-
A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century
- By: Heather Heying
- Narrated by: Bret Weinstein, Heather Heying
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bold, provocative exploration of the tension between our evolutionary history and our modern woes and what we can do about it. We are living through the most prosperous age in all of human history, yet we are listless, divided and miserable. Wealth and comfort are unparalleled, but our political landscape is unmoored, and rates of suicide, loneliness and chronic illness continue to skyrocket.
-
-
More of the same
- By Mark Bannister on 14-10-21
-
Silent Earth
- Averting the Insect Apocalypse
- By: Dave Goulson
- Narrated by: Dave Goulson
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Insects are essential for life as we know it. As they become more scarce, our world will slowly grind to a halt; we simply cannot function without them. Drawing on the latest groundbreaking research and a lifetime's study, Dave Goulson reveals the shocking decline of insect populations that has taken place in recent decades, with potentially catastrophic consequences. He passionately argues that we must all learn to love, respect and care for our six-legged friends.
-
-
We can’t say we haven’t been warned
- By Rob Mellowship on 11-08-21
-
Gut
- By: Giulia Enders
- Narrated by: Katy Sobey
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The key to living a happier, healthier life is inside us. Our gut is almost as important to us as our brain or our heart, yet we know very little about how it works. In Gut, Giulia Enders shows that rather than the utilitarian and - let's be honest - somewhat embarrassing body part we imagine it to be, it is one of the most complex, important, and even miraculous parts of our anatomy.
-
-
I have to redress the balance
- By David J James on 13-03-16
-
Night School
- Wake Up to the Power of Sleep
- By: Richard Wiseman
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Almost a third of your whole life is spent asleep. Night School uncovers the scientific truth about the sleeping brain - and gives powerful tips on how those hours of apparently ‘dead’ time in the dark can transform your waking life.
-
-
Informative with a quirky sense of humour
- By Laura on 19-05-14
-
Artificial You
- AI and the Future of Your Mind
- By: Susan Schneider
- Narrated by: Katherine Fenton
- Length: 5 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Artificial You, Susan Schneider says that it is inevitable that AI will take intelligence in new directions but urges that it is up to us to carve out a sensible path forward. As AI technology turns inward, reshaping the brain, as well as outward, potentially creating machine minds, it is crucial to beware. Homo sapiens, as mind designers, will be playing with "tools" they do not understand how to use: the self, the mind, and consciousness.
-
The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
- By: Carl Jung
- Narrated by: Martyn Swain
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this volume, taken from the Collective Works, Jung describes and elaborates upon the two central concepts of his psychology. Included are essays on specific archetypes, a study of the process of individuation, and an account of mandala symbolism. The Journal of Analytical Psychology in its review of the text commented: ‘An eloquent witness to Jung’s greatness of mind and heart. His idea of the archetype involves profound attitudes towards man’s existence and intimates values through which very many people have found a new significance in their lives.’
-
-
Utter Nonesense
- By placidhead on 08-07-21
-
The Master and His Emissary
- The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World
- By: Iain McGilchrist
- Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman
- Length: 27 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a book of unprecedented scope Iain McGilchrist presents a fascinating exploration of the differences between the brain’s left and right hemispheres and how those differences have affected society, history and culture. McGilchrist draws on a vast body of recent research in neuroscience and psychology to reveal that the difference is profound: the left hemisphere is detail oriented, while the right has greater breadth, flexibility and generosity.
-
-
Revolutionary Re-enchantment
- By Jim Vaughan on 19-09-20
-
The Etymologicon
- A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language
- By: Mark Forsyth
- Narrated by: Simon Shepherd
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A quirky, entertaining and thought-provoking tour of the unexpected connections between words, read by Simon Shepherd. What is the actual connection between disgruntled and gruntled? What links church organs to organised crime, California to the Caliphate, or brackets to codpieces? The Etymologicon springs from Mark Forsyth's Inky Fool blog on the strange connections between words.
-
-
Brilliant and hilarious book
- By Sally Hawes on 06-01-13
-
Superintelligence
- Paths, Dangers, Strategies
- By: Nick Bostrom
- Narrated by: Napoleon Ryan
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Superintelligence asks the questions: What happens when machines surpass humans in general intelligence? Will artificial agents save or destroy us? Nick Bostrom lays the foundation for understanding the future of humanity and intelligent life. The human brain has some capabilities that the brains of other animals lack. It is to these distinctive capabilities that our species owes its dominant position. If machine brains surpassed human brains in general intelligence, then this new superintelligence could become extremely powerful - possibly beyond our control.
-
-
Timely topic, ponderous style and robot narrator
- By Neil Stoker on 16-08-17
-
Self Compassion
- By: Kristin Neff
- Narrated by: Katherine Fenton
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kristin Neff, PhD is a professor in human development whose 10 years of research forms the basis of her timely book. Self Compassion offers a powerful solution for combating the current malaise of depression, anxiety and self criticism that comes with living in a pressured and competitive culture. Through tried and tested exercises, listeners learn the three core components that will help replace negative and destructive measures of self worth and success with a kinder and nonjudgmental approach in order to bring about profound life change and deeper happiness.
-
-
What I really needed to hear and learn
- By Thomas Brown on 22-06-20
-
The Stoic Challenge
- A Philosopher's Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient
- By: William B. Irvine
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 4 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Some people bounce back in response to setbacks; others break. We often think that these responses are hardwired, but fortunately this is not the case. Stoicism offers us an alternative approach. Plumbing the wisdom of one of the most popular and successful schools of thought from ancient Rome, philosopher William B. Irvine teaches us to turn any challenge on its head. The Stoic Challenge, then, is the ultimate guide to improving your quality of life through tactics developed by ancient Stoics, from Marcus Aurelius and Seneca to Epictetus.
-
-
Not quite what I was hoping for
- By Liz on 17-05-20
-
Immune
- By: Philipp Dettmer
- Narrated by: Steve Taylor
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Challenging what you know and think about your own body and how it defends you against all sorts of maladies and how it might also eventually be your own downfall, Immune is a vital and remarkably fun crash course in what is arguably, and increasingly, the most important system in the body.
-
-
a must read for everyone
- By Arun Mohan on 23-11-21
-
Beyond Zero and One
- Machines, Psychedelics, and Consciousness
- By: Andrew Smart
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an exposition reminiscent of crossover works such as Gödel, Escher, Bach and Fermat's Last Theorem, Andrew Smart weaves together Mangarevan binary numbers, the discovery of LSD, Leibniz, computer programming, and much more to connect the vast but largely forgotten world of psychedelic research with the resurgent field of AI and the attempt to build conscious robots.
-
NeuroScience Fiction
- From "2001: A Space Odyssey" to "Inception," How Neuroscience Is Transforming Sci-Fi into Reality - While Challenging Our Beliefs About the Mind, Machines, and What Makes us Human
- By: Rodrigo Quian Quiroga
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Science fiction often takes its inspiration from the latest science . . . and our oldest questions. After all, the two are inextricably linked. At a time when advances in artificial intelligence are genuinely leading us closer to a computer that thinks like a human, we can’t help but wonder: What makes a person a person? Countless writers and filmmakers have created futuristic scenarios to explore this issue and others like it. But these scenarios may not be so futuristic after all.
-
The Conscious Mind
- By: Zoltan Torey
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did the human mind emerge from the collection of neurons that makes up the brain? How did the brain acquire self-awareness, functional autonomy, language, and the ability to think, to understand itself and the world? In this volume in the Essential Knowledge series, Zoltan Torey offers an accessible and concise description of the evolutionary breakthrough that created the human mind.
Summary
Anil Seth's radical new theory of consciousness challenges our understanding of perception and reality, doing for brain science what Dawkins did for evolutionary biology.
Being you is not as simple as it sounds. Somehow, within each of our brains, billions of neurons create our everyday conscious experience. But how does this happen? Anil Seth's unique and groundbreaking theory of what it means to 'be you' challenges our understanding of perception and reality, doing for brain science what Dawkins did for evolutionary biology.
Being You is an accessible, inspiring and eye-opening exploration of consciousness by one of the most remarkable pioneers working in science today.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Critic reviews
"Anil Seth thinks clearly and sharply on one of the hardest problems of science and philosophy, cutting through weeds with a scientist's mind and a storyteller's skill." (Adam Rutherford)
"Seth provokes us to think about thinking...readable, relatable and gripping." (Alex Garland, director of Ex Machina)
"Offers a new cause for astonishment and wonder...a must-read for anyone seeking a better understanding of the brain and how nature sculpts the human experience." (Annaka Harris, author of Conscious)
More from the same
Narrator
What listeners say about Being You
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MR
- 13-09-21
A mind bending tour - science of consciousness
Seth explains the complex ideas clearly and lucidly, with layer upon layer building an overarching view of a model of consciousness. Seth takes a look at the monolith of the 'hard problem' of how and why the wet living and thinking brain gives rise to the experience of consciousness and proposes a different question, the 'real problem'. How mechanisms in the brain predict and control consciousness. Probing into the stuff of consciousness all is not what it seems and our perceptions are our brains best guess of what is out there beyond it's bony skull.
Some of these ideas are not new to me and resonate with Buddhist teachings that what we believe to be the self is an illusion. Here we have a scientific theory as to why and how the sense of self is created by systems in the brain.
The fascinating ideas in the book are presented in a way that I'm sure the author has simplified for the layperson but it is still sufficiently complex and detailed to be an intellectual challenge for those amongst us that are not philosophers or scientists and there are ample references for further reading on on the matter.
23 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- kate
- 02-09-21
Excellent
I'm not a neuroscientist, psychologist, AI researcher etc but I am hugely interested in all of these fields and read (and listen) to as many books on these topics as possible.
This has immediately shot up to the top of my list of favourite books and will certainly be one I will be recommending loads.
A wonderful, clear and informative book on the current thinking on thinking. And how (and why) we do it, who else does and who potentially could.
15 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- S. Hall
- 03-12-21
Just an astounding book.
This is just an astounding book. The first chapter or two were a bit slow but once I realised that this really wasn't a book you could only half listen to and dedicated my attention to it, I was enormously rewarded. Almost every chapter contained moments where you feel your world view is shaken and rearranged. The author takes incredibly hard concepts and allows you to understand them and picture their consequences. I've tried to explain some of this book to friends and family and I can't. It is an incredible skill to make it all make sense.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Helena
- 02-10-21
Impressive
What an excellent book! Engaging, clear, sensible, sensitive, insightful. A book covering consciousness and perception in great breadth and depth. All beautiful read by the author Prof. Anil Seth himself.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nigel A.
- 16-10-21
A groundbreaking exposition on consciousness.
A groundbreaking exposition on the consciousness and intelligence of humans and other creatures. Are you a beast machine? Read and find out!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- lske
- 12-10-21
Very insightful
Wery insightful and changes the way I think of consciousness - I absolutely recomend it👍
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Arturo Fermin
- 12-02-22
Cutting edge scientific knowledge for lay people
Every chapter will leave you with practical information to help you understand why we are so profoundly mistaken about what "we" really are. It's as educational as it is liberating.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sinisa Birovljev
- 23-10-21
Superb in every way !
Comprehensive, exeptionaly founded, focused jet deelpy human and with excellent narration! Loved it !
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- nabil chouba
- 21-07-22
Amazing
Woking on machine learning software
Really liked the book
- the fact that we predict and compare with sensory, this elegant way to implement model our environment
- brain work with best guess and all is prediction where the brain builds whatever we think is good for survival. It’s all hallucination …
- emotion is control way to stabilise the body’s vital system and future survival
- there is no freewill it’s all nonsense
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Carlos
- 10-06-22
Very interesting
This book explore being in a constant control hallucinations. Its a very interesting concept. A bit surreal. It has given me a new meaning of what reality means at the neurological level.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 02-05-22
Extraordinary!!
Extensive framework and theory/models of consciousness that I cannot recommend enough. Well f**king done Anil!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kokilan A
- 13-03-22
Great book on a very imp topic!
This is the best book I've yet read in the topic of consciousness. Wealth of information. The foundations and the main theories are excellently explained. I'm having a fascinating intellectual journey with the concepts. After finishing the audiobook, I often try to observe my consciousness, perceived reality, thoughts and emotions, as well as others' through these paradigms! The theater of conscious self and agency is very strong, complex, mysterious and wonderful! Great work Anil Seth!
-
Overall

- Kindle Customer
- 31-01-22
Enlighting
The model of beast machine really opened new horizons for me. It is both an eye opener and gives a deeper meaning of being human and consciousness
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- HADAR LEVI
- 01-01-22
Very interesting book and theory
Seth is one of the leading researchers in consciousness studies and outlines here his theory of consciousness. As a researcher in a related field it was very interesting for me to hear about his ideas and theory, however not sure how easy to follow it would be (at least at some points), and to understand the depths of it, if it's the first book anyone reads on the topic. His personal stories are described skillfully and nicely demonstrate some of the ideas presented. Overall it was a very interesting read that made me want to learn more about his theory.
Also, Seth does an excellent job in narrating his book.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Anonymous User
- 21-09-21
The power of the predictive processing explained
A seminal work of how the brain interacts with body and world to create us.