Review by Booklist Review
Readers looking for definitions, clarifications, or declarations concerning what constitutes consciousness are not going to find any answers in this slim volume. Instead, Harris poses a series of questions regarding what, when, how, why, and where consciousness might exist. Does consciousness have a function? Does an entity need consciousness to exhibit various behaviors? What effect does consciousness have on intuition? On free-will? The thoughtful and accessible text considers points of view offered by various philosophers, biologists, and neurologists, acting as devil's advocate, challenging assumptions, and arguing why posited definitions are inadequate. Readers are invited to consider consciousness on multiple levels, ranging from mindfulness during meditation to panpsychism, an oft-scorned theory that all living matter, including plants, trees, and even bacteria, experiences consciousness. Harris concedes that answers to the questions she poses are not currently within our grasp, but allows that as our understanding of reality, time, and quantum physics increases, so might our understanding of consciousness. This interesting read should inspire self-reflection and will probably trigger additional questions.--Kathleen McBroom Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Harris (I Wonder), a consultant and editor for books about neuroscience and physics, probes the limits of the current scientific and philosophical understanding of consciousness, exploring the possibility of a more expansive and all-encompassing definition. She investigates biological anomalies, such as the ability of parasites or bacteria to affect the behavior of their hosts, or of psychedelic drugs to "suspend the illusion of self," in order to question preconceived notions about consciousness and free will. Harris goes on to introduce panpsychism, the idea "that all matter is imbued with consciousness in some sense," a concept long present in spiritual and metaphysical schools of thought, and more recently embraced by some physicists. Injecting a note of urgency into her discussion, she argues the time has come for consciousness to be investigated more thoroughly, in part because of the implications of artificial intelligence with increasingly advanced levels of cognition. Though some readers may have difficulty following the neuroscience, Harris provides a thoughtful examination of a complex subject at the very core of existence, human and otherwise, that is well worth the mental effort required. Agent: John Brockman, Brockman, Inc. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
This brief book challenges conventional ways of thinking about thinking and presents provocative alternatives.How are humans conscious of consciousness, something that we have and that a rock does not? By the end of science writer Harris' (I Wonder, 2013) book, readers may be less certain that consciousness distinguishes us from the rest of matteror that there is any such thing as a conscious self, because "the idea of the self, as a concrete entity, is an illusion." As the author notes early on, "this book is devoted to shaking up our everyday assumptions about the world we live in[to] pass along the exhilaration that comes from discovering just how surprising consciousness is." Some readers might even make the leap into "panpsychism," which is "a perspective in which consciousness is a fundamental feature of the universe, as opposed to being confined to some level of information processing." While Harris, whose husband is renowned neuroscientist Sam Harris, admits that "a panpsychic viewstill carries the stink of the New Age," she is on more solid scientific ground with her discussions on meditation and psychedelic drugs, both of which lead to a letting go of the idea of a self. The author delivers fascinating insight into binding, how the senses correlate their various impressions into a single experience, one in which we are always conscious of the experience just slightly after our senses have independently registered it. "Without binding processes," writes Harris, "you might not even feel yourself to be a real self at all. Your consciousness would be like a flow of experiences in a particular location in space"much like a meditation session or an acid trip, each of which tends to loosen those binds.You might not be fully convinced about all of the author's points, but you may be less certain that there's a "you" to convince. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
