The Hidden Spring, Mark Solms
The Hidden Spring, Mark Solms
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The Hidden Spring
A Journey to the Source of Consciousness

Author: Mark Solms

Narrator: Roger Davis

Unabridged: 12 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/30/2021

Synopsis

For Mark Solms, one of the boldest thinkers in contemporary neuroscience, discovering how consciousness comes about has been a lifetime's quest. Scientists consider it the "hard problem" because it seems an impossible task to understand why we feel a subjective sense of self and how it arises in the brain.

Venturing into the elementary physics of life, Solms has now arrived at an astonishing answer. In The Hidden Spring, he brings forward his discovery in accessible language and graspable analogies.

Solms is a fearless guide on an extraordinary voyage from the dawn of neuropsychology and psychoanalysis to the cutting edge of contemporary neuroscience, adhering to the medically provable. But he goes beyond other neuroscientists by paying close attention to the subjective experiences of hundreds of neurological patients, many of whom he treated, whose uncanny conversations expose much about the brain's obscure reaches.

Most importantly, you will be able to recognize the workings of your own mind for what they really are, including every stray thought, pulse of emotion, and shift of attention. The Hidden Spring will profoundly alter your understanding of your own subjective experience.

About Mark Solms

Mark Solms discovered the brain mechanisms of dreaming. He is director of neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town's Neuroscience Institute. He is also honorary lecturer in neurosurgery at St Bartholomew's and Royal London Hospital School of Medicine and an honorary fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists. He lives in Cape Town, South Africa.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Morgan

Oh boy. Summarizing this one on GR feels like rendering the sistine chapel on a postage stamp. The book is a swinging from the fences summary of a massive, sprawling, audacious theory. Summarizing it further is going to be a challenge. Plus…. Theres a WHOLE lot of it I just don’t actually completely fu......more

Goodreads review by Leanne

South African neuroscientist Mark Solms thinks scientists owe Sigmund Freud an apology. Solms, who himself took the unique step of training as a Freudian psychoanalyst in mid-career, says that some of the latest experimental research in brain science suggests that Freud was closer to the truth than......more

Goodreads review by Paul

Being both neuroscientist and psychoanalyst, Mark Solms has so much to offer to those interested in the nature of consciousness. Here he argues that consciousness lies not in the cerebral cortex, but in the core of the brain stem. 'The Hidden Spring' is not easy going. There is so much neurological......more

Goodreads review by Fatman

A lot to unpack in this one. I won't pretend I have the educational background to understand all of Mark Solms's proposed answer to the perpetual mystery of the what and how of consciousness. But his theory makes sense, it is laid out quite clearly (even to a complete layperson like myself) and his......more

Goodreads review by Philbro

I will begin this book review with a micro-review of another recent book. In "A Thousand Brains", Jeff Hawkins lays out a convincing understanding of how the cerebral cortex - the mammalian seat of intelligence - works. He absolutely nails it. What an important step in understanding our brains. Now t......more

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