The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness

Written by Mark Solms

Narrated by Roger Davis

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Release date: Mar 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781696603102

Mark Solms

Mark Solms has spent his entire career exploring the riddle of consciousness. Best known for identifying the brain mechanisms of dreaming and for bringing psychoanalytic insights into modern neuroscience, he is director of neuropsychology in the Neuroscience Institute of the University of Cape Town, honorary lecturer in neurosurgery at the Royal London Hospital School of Medicine, and an honorary fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists.

Reviews for The Hidden Spring

[neurodrew · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I had a difficult time with this book, despite being a clinical neurologist, and therefore familiar with the neuroanatomy and physiology. The neurological cases were all interesting and helped to loosen the dense and compacted soil of the physiology and philosophy in the book. I was especially struck by the observations of hydranencephalic children. I think the idea of looking at consciousness from the perspective of the being who is conscious produced excellent results for understanding the concept. That feelings must be the source of consciousness and cannot exist unless there is a conscious perception is very obvious once it is pointed out. I also completely understood his case against the cortical localization of consciousness. I know from clinical work that a lesion in the midbrain is the usual cause for coma. After several readings of the chapters on self-organizing systems, Markov blankets, Friston free energy and informational entropy, I still do not understand the concepts and do not know why this is so central to the account of consciousness.
I had never heard of familial calcification of the amygdala (Urbach-Wiethe disease) and the troubles a loss of fear could produce.
Fascinating in places, in other parts intractable.

[steve02476 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really interesting book about consciousness, by a senior neuroscientist who was also (of all things) trained as a Freudian psychoanalyst. On top of those, he also seems to know a lot about physics and information theory. Needless to say, large chunks of the book were too complex for me, but the remainder was very absorbing and educational.

One of his main points is that the origin and basis of consciousness has more to do with emotions (feelings) and less to do with cognition or perception.

[mullerd_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

brilliant!