Secrets of the Mind, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1999 A Tale of Discovery and Mistaken Identity

Written in a provocative, witty, and highly accessible style, this is not only a splendid general introduction to the central questions of consciousness and brain science, but also an answer to some of them. The author -- noted Glaswegian chemist A.G. Cairns-Smith -- believes our feelings and sensations are not simply alternative descriptions of neural events but have themselves evolved and have physical effects in the brain as well as physical causes. Secrets of the Mind portrays a vision of the world as it may come to be seen by a future science. Sand, sea water, air, and the atoms from which such materials are made are now well understood by science, but the same can not be said of our personal feelings, our sensations and emotions. Science tells us that these too must be forms of quantum energy if they evolved, yet is only now beginning to explain how.

1 Open Secrets.- 1 Doing as we like.- 2 The two of me.- 3 Qualia en croûte.- 2 An Ominous Secret.- 4 It’s a funny old world.- 5 The light of evolution.- 6 Straight talk, double talk, fast talk.- 3 Secrets Unfolding.- 7 How might brains have feelings?.- 8 Switches.- 9 Arrows and desires.- 10 Humpty Dumpty.- 11 Together again.- 4 The Secret Agent.- 12 Why a phenomenal world?.- 13 A working image.- 14 A strange device.- 15 The fabrics of the world.- Recapitulation.- Coda.- Notes & References.