Hidden Minds: A History of the Unconscious

The concept of the unconscious has staged a comeback. New research, employing brain scans and other techniques, has shown that the unconscious is not only real but indispensable. Hidden Minds traces our enduring fascination with the unconscious and our attempts to tame it through hypnosis, psychoanalysis, subliminal manipulation, lucid dreams, and even the principles of the quantum mind. From St. Augustine, who wrote, I cannot grasp all that I am,” to the latest contemporary research, philosophers, scientists, and thinkers have been fascinated with the concept. This absorbing history offers colorful, sometimes astonishing examples, while also laying out the functions of the unconscious process in our daily lives. Drawing widely on scientific research, art, literature, and philosophy, Frank Tallis shows that an understanding of this hidden mind is essential to understanding our true selves.