The Voices Within by Charles Fernyhough

The Voices Within Reviews

• 
  Carlos

  While this topic is very interesting, I don't think anything in this book was groundbreaking in it's approach. It basically told me everything I already knew about "listening to voices", the only difference was that there was a lot of scientific terms thrown around and a lot of conjectures that the book itself says cannot be tested. I do appreciate the moments of science this book had , but I still feel like i put myself through a grueling book and I have nothing to show for it . It's language is very dry and the chapters are not very well structured, a meh for me .... the topic tough was very interesting in itself and I hope it's more properly studied in the future.
• 
  Penney

  I found this nonfiction book, The Voices Within by Charles Fernyhough, stimulating and refreshing—like cold, fizzy ginger ale for your brain. The author explores some fascinating similarities/differences among public speech, private speech (talking to yourself), inner speech (the silent “talking” that goes on in your head, including both “telegraphic” and “dialogic” forms), silent reading, reading aloud, inner/outer dialogue, and that complicated amalgam of logic, language, imagery, memory, feelings, and sensory impressions that we call “thought.”
  
  I have always been curious about these issues, and even more so since I recently started meditating and observing my own thoughts. As a child, I remember the exact moment when I first learned to read silently as opposed to aloud. I recall reading more and more softly until I unexpectedly made the leap into inner space, reading the words silently in my head. I noticed how much faster and easier it felt. And deliciously private. Very freeing.
  
  Did you know that, according to many researchers, the first documented description of the practice of silent reading is from AD 385? St. Augustine was amazed to see a bishop “doing something very strange” (appearing to read without speaking aloud).
  
  The author periodically invites the reader to explore his/her own thoughts. For instance, “Stop reading now, and close your eyes, and think of something, anything. Then open your eyes and describe that thought” (my paraphrase). I was surprised to discover that my thought, on this occasion, was wordless: just a brief mental video of me walking into town hall to vote.
  
  Yet, today, as I took a forty-minute walk, I spent the entire time thinking in complete sentences and paragraphs, even mentally editing and reworking my silent commentary. For the first twenty minutes or so, I was engaged in an imaginary conversation with someone who had asked what I thought about the election. For the second half of the walk, I was mentally composing this book review.
  
  My favorite part of the book is when the author discusses the voice quality of our inner speech and how it may change when we are silently reading fiction. He shares scientific research showing how our brains react differently when silently reading direct quotes (She said, “I hate broccoli”) vs. indirect quotes (she said that she hates broccoli). For direct quotes, a part of the brain responsible for auditory processing is activated, but not so for indirect quotes.
  
  If you have heard a writer speak, you may “hear” his/her voice narrating when you read. Even more interestingly, when we read fiction, the inner voice changes according to which character (or narrator) is speaking. But how is the “voice” determined, when you’ve never actually heard that character speak aloud? I love Fernyhough’s conclusion: “At some level the voice I hear must be of my own making; I must be creating it and ventriloquizing it in my own inner speech” (p. 8).
  
  My least favorite part of the book was about pathological inner voices, for example auditory hallucinations associated with schizophrenia. I did appreciate the author’s efforts to reduce the stigma of “voice-hearing.” He points out that this experience is not always associated with mental illness. Still, there is the implication that a brain glitch is responsible. When he extended this line of thinking to spiritual experience, I lost interest. Yes, I suppose Joan of Arc’s “voices” might very well have been the result of temporal lobe epilepsy, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that the millions of people who hear God’s voice in one form or another are either self-deceived or mentally defective.
  
  
• 
  Karen Chung

  It was wonderful to find a book all about inner speech, since inner speech is the basis of the language learning model I have developed over years of teaching English in Taiwan: the Echo Method. I've gleaned some good quotes from the book for my research and writing, something that overall has been pretty difficult to come by, since there seems to be relatively little research on the topic so far, especially as relates to language learning. I also enjoyed listening to a talk by the author on YouTube and the Q & A session that followed it.
• 
  Owlseyes

  
  
  
  THE VOICES IN OUR HEADS
  Why do people talk to themselves, and when does it become a problem?
  in:
  
  http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
  
  
  
• 
  Jafar

  There's a bit too much space given to the auditory hallucinations of the schizophrenia-spectrum disorder, but overall a good book about our inner dialog. The section about how some fiction writers literally just listen in to the conversation of their character as if they were real and independent people was quite new and amazing to me.
• 
  Payton

  This book was much more academic than other nonfiction books I have read. It was interesting to learn more about what we don't know about the brain and how we think. As someone who constantly talks to herself, there were certain things that really blew my mind (like am I the speaker in my head or the listener)but overall this book was rather dry. I think the best chapter was the last one bc it really made me think!
• 
  Shona

  I feel bad rating this so low, because for the first couple of chapters I really loved this book. After that it lost my attention and became a fight to get through to the end. Really interesting subject matter, though, and it made me eerily aware of my own inner thoughts throughout.
• 
  Sophia

  I think this book deserves 5 stars, but some things just bugged me to much to let go.
  This book is decidedly about an original topic. No where else have I come across anyone studying inner voices like this, and I think the author is right in thinking it is very important if we want to understand hallucinations, and generally how we think.
  The book induces distraction, because you spend half the time reading trying to pay attention to your own reading voice. This gave me the illusion of boredom, but it really is interesting, both the topic and the way it is presented.
  The book is an overview of what has been observed so far. Most things haven't been rigorously put to the test like other language related topics, but clearly they are still in the exploratory phase, and so rightfully are keeping an open mind. In fact the author quite admirably presents other's opinions gratuitously and generously, even when they contrast his own. He provides many accounts from people who head voices "pathologically" and just accounts of the internal voice most of us have. He details studies of interrupting thoughts and asking about them, neuroimaging studies, psychophysics and other behavioral experiments, questionnaires, and interviews. Almost everything is convincing, although the end interpretation is still open.
  What I didn't like was the structure of the book. Despite covering some clearly distinct topics, the author broke the book down into almost random little chapters that flowed well between each other, but weren't the kind you could selectively read or reference. It was more like a novel in this sense, which is great for novels, but not for non fiction. I also found it annoying when he would present certain ideas that were so clearly wrong, and only later clear this up. This is good for contemporary opinions that haven't been resolved, but is misleading when referring to outdated ideas, such as Freud and Jung's. I would get all worked up about how stupid an idea is, and then realize the author actually agrees with me.
  Still, it's a worthwhile read for anyone, although it will make you go a bit cross-eyed as you try to listen in on your own thoughts.
• 
  Chris May

  Sometimes you read a book that changes how you view or understand the world. This is one of those books.
  
  I actually picked this up assuming it was mostly focused on schizophrenia and the associated voice hearing, and while it does touch on that topic in some depth, The Voices Within is actually about how we all 'hear' voices - our internal dialogue.
  
  Charles Fernyhough details the development of how we understand language - internal and external - and how this effects how we understand the world around us and interact with it.
  
  'Thinking' as 'talking' or 'hearing' isn't something I'd thought about before but it's definitely something I think about a lot now.
• 
  Scott Lupo

  What is going on in YOUR head? Are there voices in there that might not be yours? Is it a voice or is it imagery? Full sentences or just quick phrases and words that get the point across? I could go on and on with questions like these because it is fascinating and thought provoking. This book is about our inner voice and thought processes and how science is attempting to study it. The author takes a few different paths to explain these inner voices including fiction authors relating to their characters, schizophrenia and other mental illness, ecclesiastical pronouncements, and child development. The first part of the book is more about the science with mapping the brain with scans, describing the DES method (descriptive experience sampling), and hypotheses from various scientists. This subject matter is not widely studied and the author does a good job of pointing that out throughout the book while still trying to make some headway into proving and disproving aspects of the subject. The second part of the book is more stories. In this part, I found the studying of deaf people and their inner voices absolutely amazing. All together this was an enlightening read for me.
• 
  Catherine

  This is such an exciting read! I don't think many people have thought intensely about their inner voice because it's a part of everyday life - but this phenomenon is anything but mundane. It's distracting to try to read this because you'll start overanalyzing your own reading voice as you read this, which is in itself a fun experience.
  
  There's a lot to unpack here and the second half of this book is heavy on voice hearing conditions such as schizophrenia which felt like a bit of a long tangent. Specific chapters can read like a scientific literature review, whereas other chapters read like interesting stories being told around a campfire. Despite the inconsistency, I enjoyed the content very much.
• 
  Self-propelled

  A fascinating subject - the inner voices that nearly all of us 'hear' in one form or another - is given serious and capable exploration by the author. When reading about complex subjects however, 'exploration' of research often leads to any central argument getting lost amongst endless summaries of research papers and inconclusive findings. My interest in this book varied as some chapters felt like they were genuinely providing insight and knowledge, while others were infodumps of research which did little to engage me or advance my understanding. Worth reading, but be prepared to skim certain sections in order to find the best parts.
• 
  Al Maki

  There's good evidence that most (but surprisingly, to me, not all) of us hear voices that have no external auditory stimulus. In most cases we attribute them to ourselves thinking. Charles Fernyhough, an English psychologist and novelist, has written this account of what is conjectured and known about the "voices in our heads". I originally it picked up because I thought it might say something about the process of thought and in fact it does. For example, using MRIs psychologists are beginning to map the structures within the brain that are active while we engage in reflective thought. The book also deals with issues I had not considered, such as the issue of the source of the source of the voices. For example, sometimes I will attribute the ideas being expressed by my voice within my head to my conscious thought, me speaking with my voice, but there is also the case where I hear my voice express an opinion that I was not aware I held: me hearing my voice used by my "unconscious". How are these two processes different within the physical brain? His own main area of study appears to be the case where we hear the voices of others: an admonishing parent for example. By what processes might we form an idea, couch it into another's voice and experience it as if it were coming from that other person?
  Although much more seems to be known than I knew; what goes on in our brains and its relation to our minds is grounds for speculation and bafflement. As I expect it will remain for some centuries to come.
  I've been tempted to quote the last page in its entirety because it expresses excellently the puzzle of what is thought and, to use a Buddhist phrasing, the question of "Who is my self?" but the book is good enough that it doesn't deserve my short circuiting the author's presentation. If you're interested in your own thinking, I suggest you read it.
• 
  Tyler

  Like most people, I have often struggled to find peace with my my own thoughts and emotions I found Fernyhough's use of philosophical texts along with psychiatric studies to be the most satisfying analysis of this subject I have seen. Understanding the voices we hear in our minds is such a challenging endeavor because it requires both neurological as well as social explanations and in combining the two areas of inquiry one runs the risk of overgeneralizing to the point of meaninglessness. Fernyhough used of his own experience in the field of psychiatry as well as references to the latest research to enlighten the reader on this topic in a readable and memorable book.
• 
  Portia

  I was pleased to win this on Goodreads because, due to poor hearing, I have tinnitus; I am fortunate because I "hear" beautiful music. The book was not a particularly easy read for me but I found it very informative and well written. Like most people, I also have my own discussions with my internal voice. Nice to know that, in least that respect, I'm normal.
• 
  Anne Goodwin

  Any academic elucidating the extraordinariness of ordinary minds, and building bridges between them and psychotic experiences, is to be applauded.
  Full review
  http://shinynewbooks.co.uk/non-fictio...
• 
  Alison

  I don't have enough interest in the details of the experimental science or advances in the neuroscience to sustain enjoyment in the denser chapters but still found most of the book engaging and educational.
• 
  Sharon Le Guin

  Wanna learn about inner self-talk? That's the book to start with.
• 
  Stephen Palmer

  Written by an author with a lot of experience of psychology and related disciplines, this fascinating book covers pretty much everything currently known about voices in our inner mental worlds – which, it turns out, is not very much. The final section of the book in fact is a survey of the considerable amount of work that still needs doing.
  
  Two main theories characterise the book. The first theory is that inner voice is something children acquire as they internalise their normal speaking voice. This, the author suggests, leads to our inner monologue… or, more accurately, our inner dialogues. But as Fernyhough begins to unpick what we think we know about our inner voices he shifts towards a second theory, which is that the phenomenon is far more complex than we realise, involving more than just words and sound. By the end of the book he leans towards the notion that our inner voices (and there are always more than one) are one aspect of more which is internalised: other types of sensory and cognitive perception for instance. Inner voices come with much more baggage than just words.
  
  You would think that a book with this title would focus on schizophrenia and other illnesses, but actually such conditions are a relatively small part of the deal here. That’s not so say the author doesn’t have much insight into the area – he does, and the insights are well worth reading. But so little is known and agreed about how our inner dialogue works there is clearly much more to come.
  
  Fernyhough also touches on how creative people hear, perceive and use inner voices in their work – particularly authors. These sections are short, but fascinating.
  
  A couple of niggles. Even one mention in one sentence of the fact that all human beings have a model of the world inside their head would have greatly helped. The latter chapters of the book, where “whole people” are mentioned as existing in our inner worlds (as indeed they do), would have benefitted from such a statement. It would have helped to put the whole argument of the book into a better perspective. I also think a few mentions of the considerable difference in how introverts and extroverts perceive their inner worlds would have helped. But these are small points, and likely will be addressed as psychologists begin to work with what this excellent author has put forward.
  
• 
  FrDrStel Muksuris

  Dr. Charles Fernyhough, a British psychologist stationed at Durham University (where I finished my MLitt and PhD degrees), has written a well-researched study on the relationship between the inner speech activity in which all human beings engage and the voices within our minds that seem to plague people with or without psychological anomalies.
  
  He writes: "Our inner voices can be self-assured, funny, profound, hesitant, or mean; ... We all hear them - and we needn't fear them. Indeed, we cannot live without them, whether to make decisions or to bring a book's characters to life as we read." The book is replete with case studies conducted to understand the complexities of the topic, which I sometimes found confusing and hard to follow, especially for someone not engaged deeply in this field. My takeaway from the study is that every thought process is profoundly complex but it simultaneously defines who we are as human beings. This is a noble thesis.
  
  A personal disappointment with the book is a lack (or at best, a very minimal treatment) of considering the inner voices within our minds as possible ontological entities outside of the immediate thinker. In other words, can these words truly belong to God or a saint or a demon? The last few pages of the book just barely grazes the subject and while admitting that he himself is not religious, it seems Fernyhough disengages himself from this topic and dismisses it simply as personal experience conditioned by faith commitment. He also briefly mentions apophatic prayer but remains disinterested in it. It would have behooved his work tremendously, in my opinion, to perhaps have explored Eastern patristic spirituality and seen the "supernatural" dimension of internal noetic communication within the heart. This is an entire universe that requires fair treatment. But as a scientist, he chooses to stay in his safety corner.
  
  Happy is the day that studies can be longer and more multi-disciplinary, to explore the truly psychosomatic and spiritual nature of man.
• 
  MaryJo

  I read a review of this book in the New Yorker soon after I had read Lydia Millet's novel sweet lamb of heaven in which a young mother who hears external voices goes on the run to escape an abusive husband and gets taken in by someone who runs a group for miscellaneous people whose only commonality is that they hear voices. I thought the novelist was making this up; however, it turned out that she wasn't. Apparently there is quite a bit of variation in what kind of talk people have in their heads. Fernyhough is trained as a psychologist, this book is steeped in the vocabulary and methodological of that profession. He quite interested in the dialogic aspects of this kind of thinking, and how it contributes to cognitive development, going back to Vygotsky. Fernyhough is interested in when people attribute their inner voices to an outside source, but he doesn't think it is necessarily a sign that the person is mentally ill. There are now international organizations for "voice hearers" who are not mentally ill and want to remove the stigma. Fernyhough is also interested in how the kinds of inner conversations deaf people have. The book was kind of a catalog of the evidence we have of different kinds of inner voices, who has investigated them, and to what purpose. He has a historical chapter treating the Christian mystics, which I thought was quite nuanced. Fernyhough istrying to sort our various kinds experiences of hearing voices and it moves across several literatures--cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, psychiatry, religion. I thought it worth the read.
• 
  Isla Scott

  This became quite a fascinating read, after it started a little dry and a bit repetitive. Certainly by, or before, half way through the book I was quite hooked. I found myself particularly interested in the way that authors interact with their characters via internal(ised) dialogue. It talks of a survey done at the Edinburgh Book Festival a few years ago, in which authors were asked about the forms of which they felt they personally connected/communicated/interacted with the characters they describe in their writing.
  
  There is also mention of a large number of different types of internal vocalisations, including what I regard as earworms (i.e. music being played seemingly in your head), although that particular term wasn't used. It is perhaps a little academic when it comes to the precise terminology but regardless, I managed to follow most of it.
  
  The book was a bit dry and somewhat repetitive early on in the text but as I read on it became more interesting and certainly half way through I was hooked. To me its a fascinating subject area and I found it quite informative. At the end of the book, after the acknowledgements, are quite a lot of notes relating to information contained in each chapter and an index, which is also a plus side. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject area.
• 
  Nicky

  
  Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.
  
  Ever heard voices? A surprising number of people have, and this book delves into the way we think and how that influences the phenomenon of hearing voices. He’s careful not to stigmatise people who do hear voices, while still indicating what happens for most people and what’s different for people who do hear voices. I’d always heard the idea that schizophrenics hear voices because they’re actually misattributing their own thought processes, but Fernyhough really goes into the pros and cons of that interpretation, and some other alternative understandings.
  
  It’s not just about schizophrenics, though. A lot of it is about the way the average person thinks. What percentage of the time do you actually think in words? How long does it take you to complete a thought? What language do you think in, if you’re bilingual? The book goes into all those ideas and discusses some interesting experiments that do their best to capture the objective facts from experiences which are subjective by their very definition.
  
  It’s really fascinating stuff, and it helps that it’s super easy to read. I polished it off in no time.
• 
  Richard Archambault

  DNF. Second DNF of the year, oops. I stopped halfway. I found it too full of "maybe this, maybe that", too much seeing what he wanted to see in various cases. The part about Van Gogh? This part in particular I found ridiculous and reaaaaallly stretching for a link:
  
  "There's another sense in which van Gogh's letters illustrate Vygotskian views about the ise of language in self-regulation. Vygotsky argued that [...] the speech that accompanies action should, over the course of development, shift its position in time relative to the behavior. [...] some trace of it seems to be there in Vincent's letters. "I am painting a woodland scene" becomes "I am going to paint some potato diggers."
  
  The only part that I found really interesting to me was when he talked about the experiences of Jay, and his coping mechanisms that he had learned from his therapist. But then the author goes off into unprovable theories, citing one study after another that were either inconclusive or had methodological problems (according to the author, not me!).
  
  In any case, this is an interesting topic, but the author was wholly unconvincing.
• 
  Sue

  Whew, this was a hard read. Interesting, but as a non-scientist, I found it slow-going. The language is dense, academic. Imagine a book so stuffed with research that 35 percent of it is footnotes. But it certainly has got me thinking about the voices in my own mind. Fernyhough explores the ways we talk to ourselves, at all the noise going on in our minds and how we sometimes express our thoughts out loud when no one else is listening. He spends many pages on people who hear voices—not their own—due to psychological disorders or other causes. It’s all like trying capture soap bubbles He describes experiments where participants periodically hear a “beep” and are asked to describe what they’re hearing in their minds at that moment. But the act of looking at what we’re thinking changes our thoughts. So it’s difficult to say. I know I talk to myself. But as I become aware of it, I stop. Fernyhough gets credit for tackling this tough subject with brilliance. Prepare for a slow read.