Charles Fernyhough's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Charles Fernyhough recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Charles Fernyhough's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1

Night

The BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Edna O'Brien's The Country Girls trilogy begins in August 2019.

Edna O'Brien's haunting spectre of a novel, Night, is narrated by one of her most memorable characters, Mary Hooligan. Lying on a four-poster bed, unable to sleep, she recounts her (mis)adventures, courtships, and sexual encounters of the most transgressive kind in a narrative voice of blistering, radical originality.

Edna O'Brien's stunning new novel Girl will be published by Faber in September 2019, available to pre-order now.
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Recommended by Charles Fernyhough, and 1 others.

Charles FernyhoughO’Brien is one of the greatest living writers, and this extraordinary short novel from 1972 was out of print for a long time. (Source)

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2
This is the first inexpensive edition of the complete Long Course in Principles of Psychology, one of the great classics of modern Western literature and science and the source of the ripest thoughts of America’s most important philosopher. As such, it should not be confused with the many abridgements that omit key sections.
The book presents lucid descriptions of human mental activity, with detailed considerations of the stream of thought, consciousness, time perception, memory, imagination, emotions, reason, abnormal phenomena, and similar topics. In its course it takes into...
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Lisa Feldman BarrettA wonderful summary of what was known and what questions were being asked at the dawn of psychology as a science in the 19th century. (Source)

Susan BlackmoreOut of all the books I own, this is my absolute treasure. (Source)

Charles FernyhoughAn extraordinary work and compulsory reading for psychology students, even though the book is over a hundred years old. (Source)

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3

Mrs. Dalloway

In this vivid portrait of one day in a woman's life, Clarissa Dalloway is preoccupied with the last-minute details of party preparation while in her mind she is much more than a perfect society hostess. As she readies her house, she is flooded with far-away remembrances. And, met with the realities of the present, Clarissa reexamines the choices she has made, hesitantly looking ahead to growing old. Undeniably triumphant, this is the inspired novelistic outline of human consciousness. less
Recommended by Charles Fernyhough, Maria Sveland, and 2 others.

Charles FernyhoughWoolf is interested in the intersections between minds. She’s trying to show how minds bleed into each other. (Source)

Maria SvelandIt’s one of the saddest books I’ve ever read. I could really identify with Clarissa, this empty, poor person who is going out to find some flowers for a party. At the same moment, we are following her out into the beautiful morning as the story starts. It’s clear very soon that Clarissa is a woman who has lost her soul among all the duties and conventions of a boring marriage. That loss is so... (Source)

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4

Describing Inner Experience?

Proponent Meets Skeptic

Can conscious experience be described accurately? Can we give reliable accounts of our sensory experiences and pains, our inner speech and imagery, our felt emotions? The question is central not only to our humanistic understanding of who we are but also to the burgeoning scientific field of consciousness studies. The two authors of Describing Inner Experience disagree on the answer: Russell Hurlburt, a psychologist, argues that improved methods of introspective reporting make accurate accounts of inner experience possible; Eric Schwitzgebel, a philosopher, believes that any... more
Recommended by Charles Fernyhough, and 1 others.

Charles FernyhoughThis is one of the most interesting books you can read on the nature of consciousness. (Source)

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5

Ulysses

Loosely based on the Odyssey, this landmark of modern literature follows ordinary Dubliners in 1904. Capturing a single day in the life of Dubliner Leopold Bloom, his friends Buck Mulligan and Stephen Dedalus, his wife Molly, and a scintillating cast of supporting characters, Joyce pushes Celtic lyricism and vulgarity to splendid extremes. Captivating experimental techniques range from interior monologues to exuberant wordplay and earthy humor. A major achievement in 20th century literature. less

Debbie MillmanI also really love a line from [this book], which is 'The longest way around is the shortest way home.' (Source)

Robin RobertsonThere is more going on in one sentence in Ulysses than there is in most contemporary novels. (Source)

Robin RobertsonThere is more going on in one sentence in Ulysses than there is in most contemporary novels. (Source)

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