Mind Beyond Brain

Neuroscientist David E. Presti, with the assistance of other researchers, explores how evidence for anomalous phenomena—such as near-death experiences, apparent memories of past lives, apparitions, and other so-called psi or paranormal phenomena, including telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition—can influence the Buddhism-science conversation.

Presti David :

David E. Presti (PhD, Molecular Biology, Biophysics, California Institute of Technology; PhD, Clinical Psychology, Oregon) is Professor of Neurobiology, Psychology, and Cognitive Science at the University of California at Berkeley; he also teaches neuroscience in India and Bhutan as part of the Mind & Life initiative Science for Monks, and he developed the Certificate Program in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research at the California Institute of Integral Research. He is the author of Foundational Concepts in Neuroscience (Norton, 2016) as well as a number of scientific papers and contributions to edited volumes.David E. Presti is a teaching professor of neurobiology, psychology, and cognitive science at the University of California, Berkeley. He also teaches neuroscience to Buddhist monks and nuns in India and Bhutan. He is the author of Foundational Concepts in Neuroscience: A Brain-Mind Odyssey (2016).

B. Alan Wallace, President, Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies:
Mind Beyond Brain explores the implications of empirical evidence challenging the prevailing view that the mind is simply a function of the brain. This timely book places the issue within the ongoing dialogue between science and Buddhism and reinstates the spirit of open-minded, radical empiricism that has always characterized science and Buddhism at their best. With their discussions of compelling evidence, examined with rigorous logic, the eminently qualified authors of this book point the way forward to catalyzing the first true revolution in the mind sciences.

Robert Thurman, Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies, Columbia University:
This book could open important doors for any thinking person today. It courageously provides important philosophical critiques of the dominant physical materialist worldview along with a great deal of well-documented, challenging counter-evidence drawn from all-too-neglected fields of psychological research. It is a compelling read for anyone who realizes that the acknowledgement of the active role of 'mind' (whatever it is, we all have one, and we need to get to know it better!) in nature is indispensable for the revolutionary paradigm shift that science requires to break through its current deadlock, presiding over the great extinction facing our planet and our sentient selves.

Jeffrey J. Kripal, J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought, Rice University:
Mind Beyond Brain embraces and celebrates the natural sciences and their materialist frameworks but also suggests that our understanding of the natural almost certainly needs to be expanded, greatly, and that the physicalist frameworks may not be the final answer to our deepest and most difficult questions about subjectivity, mind, or consciousness. Presti is a perfect narrator, host, and guide here. He strikes a wonderful balance between embracing and celebrating the advances of the sciences and wanting them to go further still.

Rich Ivry, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of California, Berkeley:
Beginning with the unsettling title and continuing through chapters that take an empirical approach to exploring near-death experiences, reincarnation, mediums, and apparitions, Mind Beyond Brain asks the reader to set aside preconceptions and deeply-held assumptions in order to understand the depths of human consciousness. An engaging read, sure to give a healthy intellectual prod to even the most committed physical materialist.