{"product_id":"consciousness-confessions-of-a-romantic-reductionist-paperback","title":"Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eChristof Koch\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEmbark on a wild ride through the neuroscience of consciousness in this compelling study that \"[sheds] light on how scientists really think\"--hailed as \"science writing at its best\" (\u003ci\u003eTimes Higher Education\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eA scientist searches for an empirical explanation for consciousness, spurred by his instinctual belief that life is meaningful . . .\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\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\u003eChristof Koch is President and Chief Scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, following twenty-seven years as a Professor at the California Institute of Technology. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eConsciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist\u003c\/i\u003e (MIT Press), \u003ci\u003eThe Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach\u003c\/i\u003e, and other books.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 194\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.6 x 8.9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 03, 2017\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52842463330528,"sku":"9780262533508","price":22.34,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0811\/5909\/4496\/files\/1DdaxRaKDV9780262533508.webp?v=1781207905","url":"https:\/\/improvedinc.myshopify.com\/products\/consciousness-confessions-of-a-romantic-reductionist-paperback","provider":"Improved Improper Input Inc.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}