Quick Book Review: “Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind” by Annaka Harris
Though it’s a daunting topic, the author tackles questions about the mind – what is consciousness, how does it arise, why does it even exist – in a very clear, concise (a mere 144 pages) manner, providing quite a lot of food for thought. Questions about free will, whether plants have consciousness, and artificial intelligence (AI) are addressed in a thought-provoking, engaging style. I admit that one of two sections of the book devolved into a scholarly philosophical discussion that almost lost me, but most of it had me pretty hooked, and caused me to reassess some of the assumptions about the brain and the mind that I’ve carried for life. A great introduction to some pretty complicated subject matter.