Dimensions
198 x 231 x 33mm
Is consciousness merely an illusion, a by-product of our brain's workings, or is it, as the latest physics may suggest, the basis for all reality?
Your perception of the world around you, your consciousness, should be the one thing you would talk about with absolute confidence. But nothing about consciousness is clear-cut and we are, at best, unreliable witnesses as to its nature.
How conscious are you of the world around you? You may be surprised to learn that you are conscious of no more than four or five objects at any one time. You may be further surprised to hear that your consciousness is nether seamless nor immediate. From stimulus to conscious awareness there is a gap of half a second, a gap consciousness fills by back-dating itself in time. Indeed, is time itself an illusion created by consciousness?
Understanding consciousness is perhaps the hardest problem facing modern science and philosophy. But some extraordinary insights gathered by the latest research suggest that the answers are within our grasp.
Building on the foundations of her bestselling book 'Mapping The Mind', Rita Carter gathers these insights together to throw a new light on consciousness, its nature, its origins and its purpose.
