Consciousness Explained

We tend to picture an observer inside our heads experiencing consciousness as if watching a movie. But that just pushes explanation back a level: What’s inside that observer? The prolific philosopher Daniel Dennett dismantles many common intuitions about awareness, showing them to be illusions hiding the intricate and deceptive mechanics of the mind and brain. This was one of the first books on consciousness I read. I don’t agree with everything Dennett has to say on the matter, but he’s a great guide to think with.

Daniel Dennett is another of the handful of philosophers who combine a deep understanding of science with a prose style that draws you in and does’t let you go. His topic here is consciousness --- what it is, how it works, and how it’s possible. Dennett flits from psychology to neurology to computer science to philosophy, with punch lines coming every few pages. If you read the pages in random order, you’ll keep learning new facts you can't wait to tell your friends about. But that’s the wrong way to read this book, because Dennett is slowly building to a… show more.