Book Recommendations by Luiz Pessoa

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘄𝗮𝘆? Fascinating and profound book on what brains are *not* and what they might be. Including criticism of the computational and predictive brain frameworks. You might not agree with some of it but quite thought provoking. https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/2054244565066940438/photo/1

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗺𝘀 (not the gene) Excellent book, heavy emphasis on development. https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/2033577815719760119/photo/1

𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 Beyond Kuhn and Feyerbend. Still in chapter 2 but this looks great. More info below. https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/2023082254789140658/photo/1

This book by Wimsatt is exceptional if you're interested in understanding the world, knowledge, science, etc. It can be challenging especially in some parts. But now Johannes Jaeger has written a stand alone accessible paper. I highly recommend it! https://zenodo.org/records/18293424 https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/2015107024325873898/photo/1

𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 Great book about what understanding means in science. Highly recommend it. Amazing historical account of cases studies in physics. Slow/repetitive at times but lots of gems if you stick with it. https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/2003142612484751570/photo/1

*The Animal and the Thinker* by the amazing neuroscientist John Duncan, U of Cambridge. Haven't read it but looks really interesting. https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/1979976899565662352/photo/1

𝗔𝗻 𝗘𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 This short book by Moreno and Pereto' looks very interesting. One more on the understanding of biological agency. And it's open access! https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-05644-3 https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/1975244666904977835/photo/1

𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲? This is massive, a lot of great material. Huge amount of work to put this together, many thanks to Jorge and Patrik for getting the second edition out. https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/1973771919947333889/photo/1

𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗡𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 Title of section 1 summarizes it: "The problem: Reductionism and control vs natural behavior: from Descartes and Bacon to Natural Neuroscience" The brain as a complex network. Looks like a fantastic book. https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/1937191330830262409/photo/1

Principles of Biological Autonomy by Francisco Varela, new ed Now that biology is catching up with Varela (eg agency is commonplace and teleology not scary) the book is more timely than ever. Here's my physical version! Commentary by Di Paolo and E. Thompson is very helpful. https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/1919816014125990346/photo/1

𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 Looks like a must read if only for the history but I'm sure a lot more. By Bechtel and Bich, among the best philosophers of life out there. https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-cor... https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/1897350415580271047/photo/1

𝗕𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 By none other than one of my favorite theoretical biologists. Jumps all the way to the top of the reading list! And free access for 2 weeks (??), so get it right away. https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/biological-organi... https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/1864353658390856075/photo/1

Lots of colleagues would greatly appreciate this book. But don't get it yet. A new version is coming out with annotations by Evan Thompson and Ezequiel Di Paolo. I've known for a long time that Varela was amazing, but wow! https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262551403/principles-of-biol...

𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗮 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗯𝗲 𝟰𝟱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲?? Listening to Varela's Principles of Biological Autonomy (1979) and it's absolutely remarkable. So many of the current issues on principles of biological systems are outlined with such clarity and depth. https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/1837907369776329209/photo/1

@KordingLab Where do I begin? There's this book The Entangled Brain, which is open access that discusses this quite a bit. The type of coordinated processing described there doesn't really fit with your options that well. https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262544603/the-entangled-brain/

Time to read this book by Evan Thompson @evantthompson https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/1822697874062479693/photo/1

@rlmcelreath @ISBA_events Congratulations, it's a wonderful/beautiful book!!

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻? Please update your textbooks... Not really very useful to carve perception out of the rest of the mind-brain. By Kevin Mitchell: https://www.thetransmitter.org/defining-representations/w... https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/1795464879081492511/photo/1

Howard Pattee's work on theoretical biology: from complex systems to symbolic information processing in biological systems Open access book: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-007-5161-3 https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/1786789067218178302/photo/1

Learn dynamical systems in a graphic book! Abraham, R., & Shaw, C. D. (1992). Dynamics--the geometry of behavior. 2nd edition https://x.com/PessoaBrain/status/1777742559248306246/photo/1