{"product_id":"consciousness-confessions-of-a-romantic-reductionist-paperback","title":"Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eChristof Koch\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA fascinating exploration of the human brain that combines \"the leading edge of consciousness science with surprisingly personal and philosophical reflection . . . shedding light on how scientists really think\"--this is \"science writing at its best\" (\u003ci\u003eTimes Higher Education\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn which a scientist searches for an empirical explanation for phenomenal experience, spurred by his instinctual belief that life is meaningful.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhat links conscious experience of pain, joy, color, and smell to bioelectrical activity in the brain? How can anything physical give rise to nonphysical, subjective, conscious states? Christof Koch has devoted much of his career to bridging the seemingly unbridgeable gap between the physics of the brain and phenomenal experience. This engaging book--part scientific overview, part memoir, part futurist speculation--describes Koch's search for an empirical explanation for consciousness. Koch recounts not only the birth of the modern science of consciousness but also the subterranean motivation for his quest--his instinctual (if \"romantic\") belief that life is meaningful. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eKoch describes his own groundbreaking work with Francis Crick in the 1990s and 2000s and the gradual emergence of consciousness (once considered a \"fringy\" subject) as a legitimate topic for scientific investigation. Present at this paradigm shift were Koch and a handful of colleagues, including Ned Block, David Chalmers, Stanislas Dehaene, Giulio Tononi, Wolf Singer, and others. Aiding and abetting it were new techniques to listen in on the activity of individual nerve cells, clinical studies, and brain-imaging technologies that allowed safe and noninvasive study of the human brain in action. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eKoch gives us stories from the front lines of modern research into the neurobiology of consciousness as well as his own reflections on a variety of topics, including the distinction between attention and awareness, the unconscious, how neurons respond to Homer Simpson, the physics and biology of free will, dogs, \u003ci\u003eDer Ring des Nibelungen\u003c\/i\u003e, sentient machines, the loss of his belief in a personal God, and sadness. All of them are signposts in the pursuit of his life's work--to uncover the roots of consciousness.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChristof Koch is Professor of Biology and of Engineering at the California Institute of Technology and Chief Scientific Officer of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Quest for Consciousness\u003c\/i\u003e and other books.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 194\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.6 x 8.9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 03, 2017\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51754094985504,"sku":"9780262533508","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/17a89940d99d3e8f5b3fe148ab8a2f0d.webp?v=1780033310","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/consciousness-confessions-of-a-romantic-reductionist-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}