Know thyself : the science of self-awareness

Summary: Fleming shows that those frustrating moments of knowledge just beyond our grasp aren't some kind of design flaw in our minds. Surprisingly, they are actually examples of our brain's greatest power. Scientists and philosophers call it metacognition, but you might just call it the ability to think about our own minds. Metacognition enables us to answer questions as straightforward as what skills we need to practice or what facts we need to study to do better on a test. And it is the reason we can wonder about issues as big as what we should do with our lives. At least as far back as Socrates, philosophers have encouraged us to know ourselves. Fleming reveals both the science of how we do it and why it matters--and how we can do it better.

Record details

ISBN: 9781541672840
ISBN: 1541672844
ISBN: 9781541672857
Physical Description: print
vii, 290 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York, NY : Basic Books, Hachette Book Group, 2021.
Copyright: ©2021

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Preface -- Building minds that know themselves. How to be uncertain ; Algorithms for self-monitoring ; Knowing me, knowing you ; Billions of self-aware brains ; Avoiding self-awareness failure -- The power of reflection. Learning to learn ; Decisions about decisions ; Collaborating and sharing ; Explaining ourselves ; Self-awareness in the age of machines ; Emulating Socrates.