Author Guide · Neuroscience
Books Written by
Antonio Damasio, born in Lisbon in 1944, trained as a doctor at the University of Lisbon and spent nearly thirty years at the University of Iowa, where he ran the department of neurology from 1986 to 2005. Since 2005 he has directed the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California. His first book for general readers, Descartes’ Error (1994), used case studies of patients to argue that emotions are essential to rational thinking. Every book since has pushed the same argument further: from emotion to consciousness, to culture, and, in 2026, to artificial intelligence. His books have been translated into more than thirty languages. This guide covers his seven key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 7 key books · 1994–2026 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Antonio Damasio has written seven books for general readers. The best known are Descartes’ Error (1994), Looking for Spinoza (2003) and Self Comes to Mind (2010); his most recent are Feeling & Knowing (2021) and Natural Intelligence and the Logic of Consciousness (2026). Start with Descartes’ Error: the later books all build on its case that feeling and reason belong together.
Where to Start with Antonio Damasio
If you want the book that made his name
→ Descartes’ Error (1994) — emotion, reason and the brain.
If you want the short version of his theory
→ Feeling & Knowing (2021) — his most compact book on consciousness.
If you came here from Spinoza
→ Looking for Spinoza (2003) — a neuroscientist reads the philosopher.
If you want his take on AI
→ Natural Intelligence and the Logic of Consciousness (2026) — his newest book.
7 Antonio Damasio Books, in Order
Descartes’ Error
Damasio’s first book for general readers. Through a series of case studies of patients with brain damage, he argues that emotions are essential to rational thinking and to normal social behaviour, against the long habit of treating reason and feeling as opposites. It is the book in which he set out what became known as the somatic marker hypothesis. A tenth-anniversary edition followed in 2005.
The Feeling of What Happens
His first book on consciousness itself. As the subtitle says, it argues that the body and emotion are part of how consciousness is made, rather than something consciousness merely observes.
Looking for Spinoza
A book about feelings such as joy and sorrow, read alongside the seventeenth-century Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Where his first book took Descartes as its foil, this one takes Spinoza as its guide.
Self Comes to Mind
His fullest account of how the brain builds a mind and then a self that experiences it. It returns to the questions of The Feeling of What Happens with a decade of further research.
The Strange Order of Things
Damasio widens the frame from the individual brain to the origins of human culture, arguing that feeling played a part in the making of cultures and civilisation. A Portuguese edition appeared before the English one.
Feeling & Knowing
A short book written against the claim, made by some philosophers and cognitive scientists, that consciousness cannot be explained. Damasio sets out why consciousness differs from simply sensing, why nervous systems matter for feeling, and how feeling leads to consciousness.
Natural Intelligence and the Logic of Consciousness
His newest book argues that consciousness emerges from basic functions of the nervous system rather than from higher thought alone, and considers what that means for creativity, morality, culture and artificial intelligence. A Spanish edition appeared in November 2025; the British edition followed on 17 September 2026.
In What Order to Read Antonio Damasio
Each book stands alone, but they form one long argument, and reading in publication order lets you watch it grow: from emotion and reason (1994), to consciousness (1999 and 2010), to feelings and Spinoza (2003), to culture (2018), and back to a compact theory of consciousness (2021) and the question of machines (2026).
If you want one book only, read Descartes’ Error. If you want his current view in the fewest pages, read Feeling & Knowing, then go back to Self Comes to Mind for the longer version.
A reading path
1. Descartes’ Error (1994)
2. Looking for Spinoza (2003)
3. Feeling & Knowing (2021)
4. Self Comes to Mind (2010)
5. Natural Intelligence and the Logic of Consciousness (2026)
Everything Else Antonio Damasio Published
Beyond the 7 key books: 1 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Academic books
1
1 book · 1989
- 1989Lesion Analysis in Neuropsychologya clinical text, co-written with H. Damasio
The years · 1944–2026
Quick facts about Antonio Damasio
- Known for
- Arguing, as a neurologist, that emotion and feeling are not the enemies of reason but part of how the brain thinks and how consciousness arises.
- 1944
- Born in Lisbon
- 1986
- Head of neurology at the University of Iowa
- 1994
- Descartes’ Error
- 2005
- Prince of Asturias Award; moves to USC
- Born
- 1944, Lisbon, Portugal
- Education
- Medicine at the University of Lisbon (1969), followed by a doctorate there
- Worked
- University of Iowa, 1976–2005; head of neurology 1986–2005
- Now
- Director of the Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, since 2005
- Honours
- Pessoa Prize (1992), Prince of Asturias Award (2005), Honda Prize (2010), Grawemeyer Award (2014)
- Married
- Hanna Damasio, with whom he shares several honorary doctorates
The red mark is 1994: Descartes’ Error, his first book for general readers.
How Antonio Damasio Writes: A Neurologist Arguing with Philosophers
Damasio writes as a clinician first. Descartes’ Error builds its argument from case studies of patients, and his books keep returning to what damage to particular parts of the brain reveals about the rest of us. He was head of a neurology department for nearly twenty years, and the books read like the work of someone used to explaining a diagnosis.
His titles name philosophers: Descartes as the opponent, Spinoza as the ally. Read in order, the subtitles trace one project — emotion and reason (1994), the making of consciousness (1999), the feeling brain (2003), the conscious brain (2010), the making of cultures (2018), making minds conscious (2021). Because each book continues the last, you can enter at any point and work backwards.
His link to non-duality is limited but real. Damasio is a scientist, not a spiritual teacher, and makes no claims about pure awareness. What he rejects is a split: between reason and emotion, and between mind and body, which is why he set himself against Descartes and turned to Spinoza. Readers who come to him from non-dual writing will find an argument for unity built from neurology rather than meditation.
Watch
Antonio Damasio on the Mind and the Brain
Christian Bailey interviews Antonio Damasio at the BrainMind Summit at Stanford about emotions, feelings and consciousness; the video was posted in 2022. From the official BrainMind Summit channel.
Frequently asked questions about Antonio Damasio’s books
How many books has Antonio Damasio written?
Seven books for general readers, from Descartes’ Error (1994) to Natural Intelligence and the Logic of Consciousness (2026), all on this page. He also co-wrote an academic book, Lesion Analysis in Neuropsychology (1989), and many scientific papers.
What are Antonio Damasio’s books in order?
Descartes’ Error (1994), The Feeling of What Happens (1999), Looking for Spinoza (2003), Self Comes to Mind (2010), The Strange Order of Things (2018), Feeling & Knowing (2021) and Natural Intelligence and the Logic of Consciousness (2026). These are the years of the first English editions; some appeared first in Portuguese or Spanish.
Where should I start with Antonio Damasio?
Descartes’ Error. It is his best-known book and every later one builds on it. If you want his current thinking on consciousness in a short book, read Feeling & Knowing.
What is Antonio Damasio’s most famous book?
Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain (1994), which argues from case studies of patients that emotions are essential to rational thinking and normal social behaviour.
What is Descartes’ Error about?
It argues against separating reason from emotion. Using case studies of patients with brain damage, Damasio shows that people who lose access to emotion do not become more rational; their thinking and social behaviour suffer. The book is where he set out the somatic marker hypothesis.
Why did Damasio write about Spinoza?
In Looking for Spinoza (2003) he reads the seventeenth-century Dutch philosopher as an early ally of his own work on feelings such as joy and sorrow. Spinoza, unlike Descartes, did not treat mind and body as separate. See our guide to Baruch Spinoza.
Is Antonio Damasio still alive?
Yes. He was born in Lisbon in 1944, still directs the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California, and published a new book in 2026.
What prizes has Antonio Damasio won?
Among others, the Pessoa Prize (1992), the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research (2005), the Honda Prize (2010), the Grawemeyer Award in Psychology (2014) and the International Freud Medal (2017).
What is Damasio’s newest book?
Natural Intelligence and the Logic of Consciousness (2026). It argues that consciousness grows out of basic functions of the nervous system and asks what that means for artificial intelligence. It appeared in Spanish in November 2025 and in English in September 2026.
Footnotes
- Antonio Damasio — USC Dornsife
- António Damásio — Academia das Ciências de Lisboa
- Descartes’ Error — Penguin Random House
- Natural Intelligence and the Logic of Consciousness — Hachette UK
- Inteligencia natural y la lógica de la consciencia — Planeta
- Harvard Science Book Talk: Feeling & Knowing — Harvard, 2021
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“We are not thinking machines that feel; we are feeling machines that think.”
— Antonio Damasio, widely quoted remark
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