Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness

A concise, elegant, and thought-provoking exploration of the mystery of consciousness and the functioning of the brain.

Despite decades of research, remarkable imagery, and insights from a range of scientific and medical disciplines, the human brain remains largely unexplored. Consciousness has eluded explanation.

Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness offers a brilliant overview of the state of modern consciousness research in twenty brief, revealing chapters. Neuroscientist and author Patrick House describes complex concepts in accessible terms, weaving brain science, technology, gaming, analogy, and philosophy into a tapestry that illuminates how the brain works and what enables consciousness. This remarkable book fosters a sense of mystery and wonder about the strangeness of the relationship between our inner selves and our environment.

1. Relative to the Observer Who Is Also a Liar
2. Like the Rise and Fall of Pinball
3. The Anxiety Felt While Prevented from Migrating
4. The Music While the Music Lasts
5. A Secondhand Markov Blanket
6. A Simulation Starring You
7. The Median Price of a Thrift-Store Bin of Evolutionary Hacks Russian-Dolled into a Watery, Salty Piñata We Call a Head
8. Sunlight Raining Down on Gridworld
9. An Ante Meridiem Radio Drama
10. A Small Town with Too Much Food
11. The Arbiter of Elegance
12. Swinging Through Ancient Trees While Standing Still and Hearing Voices
13. Endeavoring to Grow Wings
14. The North African Rhino of Charismatic Megaquale
15. An Itsy-Bitsy Teeny-Weeny Quantum-Dot-Like Non-Machiney
16. A Make-Believe Parasite with No Legs and Places to Go
17. A Sex-Starved Cricket Sculpting in Time
18. A Small (or Large) Learning Machine Made Out of Words
19. Not That Hard
20. Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness