The Archaeology of Mind

Neuroevolutionary Origins of Human Emotions

By: Jaak Panksepp, Lucy Biven, Daniel J. Siegel - foreword

Narrated by: Peter Lerman

What makes us happy? What makes us sad? How do we come to feel a sense of enthusiasm? What fills us with lust, anger, fear, or tenderness? Traditional behavioral and cognitive neuroscience have yet to provide satisfactory answers. The Archaeology of Mind presents an affective neuroscience approach - which takes into consideration basic mental processes, brain functions, and emotional behaviors that all mammals share - to locate the neural mechanisms of emotional expression. It reveals - for the first time - the deep neural sources of our values and basic emotional feelings.

This book elaborates on the seven emotional systems that explain how we live and behave. These systems originate in deep areas of the brain that are remarkably similar across all mammalian species. When they are disrupted, we find the origins of emotional disorders.

The book offers an evidence-based evolutionary taxonomy of emotions and affects and, as such, a brand-new clinical paradigm for treating psychiatric disorders in clinical practice.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2012 Jaak Panksepp and Lucy Biven (P)2021 Tantor

A bit too long

The book is insightful but excessively long, which makes it slightly boring, especially considering the barely bearable narration (sorry for the narrator so I don’t want to criticise more. Academically, a great piece though.

Please have another narrator

OMG, the narrator’s voice and way of reading is so unpleasant. He is trying too hard to read well. And in the process, he sounds very awkward and loud. It comes across as if he is shouting. 😩

Alas, I really wanted to listen to it. I’ll give it try. I hope I can get past the voice. 🥺

insightful look into the mind and brain.

A well done look into how thr human brain works, particularly in terms of the emotional components, their structural and neurochemical correlates, and the importance of using animal models. The also author does a good job of integrating psychotherapy, especially psychodynamic theory into his biological framework.

Amazing book and phenomenal work. RIP Panksepp. TY

This man is among the best psychological researchers to grace science. Hopefully as time passes on we heed his words and work moreso than in the past.

bad narration!

amazing book but can not stand the narrator voice
the person who pick this guy to narrate book should be fired !! what a voice

Enriched my understanding of the brain!

This is one of the most important books that I have consumed as a psychologist. This is essential listening for any medical or mental health professional. 

Narrator 👎🏻

I was so excited to find this in Audible's library I didn't bother to sample it. Big mistake. I am 25 minutes in and my deep sub-cortical circuits are unhappy with the narrator's voice, it is affecting my ability to absorb the content. Regretfully returning this book.

Emotions Neuroscience Explained

If you are interested in the neuroscience of emotions, this book is essential. It is a good counter to Lisa Feldman Barrett’s How Emotions Are Made (also a good book but presents a different theory of emotions).

Can’t listen to that voice.

Unfortunate and intolerable audio reading. As important as Jaak’s work is, better to read the text yourself.

Not worth your time or energy

This book is the most poorly read book I have listened to or at least tried to listen to. The content is not up to date and does not take into account the new research. I believe that we have developed our emotions over time and deeply believe that animals have emotions so I am not disagreeing with the premise of the book. It just needs to be updated, written more clearly and succinctly. This book was so poorly read that even if the content is on track it cannot be listened to.