Customer Reviews

Elemental Mind: Human Consciousness and the New Physics

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Nick Herbert's Elemental Mind makes an interesting supposition -- that the mind, or consciousness, is a force that interacts with the world, like gravity or electromagnetism. He makes a pretty good argument that ESP and Telekinesis would prove that this is so; unfortunately, his examples (the typewriter open to the quantum void and the branching photon experiment) don't seem to show any evidence that the greater supposition is correct. The book is very interesting, though, and leads one into all manner of speculation about how peculiar the quantum universe and though actually are. A well written, entertaining, and informative book.

When read along with Herbert's previous book, Quantum Reality, this text makes a good case for invoking quantum physics to explain the relation of mind and matter and also in explaining some of the more convincing experiments in parapsychology (effects of consciousness on random number generators) which suggest a non-locality of mind. If more people took such ideas seriously and devoted time and research to them, understanding of the mind and a true theory of consciousness might be forthcoming.

Nick Herbert certainly knows his stuff. He does a very good job of explaining the current models of quantum physics and the problem of conciousness and observation that occur in these models. It is a fascinating and difficult topic, which people need to understand as best as it can be understood.

Where I quarrel with Nick Herbert is that he is too even-handed. He presents all of the alternatives, and then frustratingly enough -- doesn't pick one. Yes, it's wonderful to know all the thoughts on the subject, but as the author I rather wanted him to give his best guess on what was really going on.

Well, worth reading, but you just don't get a strong conclusion at the end.

Nick Herbert is a physicist who has written other books such as Quantum Reality: Beyond the New Physics.

He states in the Introduction to this 1993 book, "I believe that modern mind scientists are making this same medieval mistake by vastly underestimating the quantity of consciousness in the universe. If mind is a fundamental force in nature, we might someday realize that the quality and quantity of sentient life inhabitating just this room may exceed the physical splendor of the entire universe of matter... I confess that I do think that consciousness will turn out to be something grand---grander than our most extravagant dreams. I propose here a kind of 'quantum animism' in which mind permeates the world at every level. I propose that consciousness is a fundamental force that enters into necessary cooperation with matter to bring about the fine details of our everyday world. I propose, in fact, that mind is elemental, my dear Watson."

Here are some representative quotations from the book:

"There is a sense in which we are always awake, and always have been. Nobody remembers, or can remember, not being conscious." (Pg. 43)
"In the midst of such a pandemonium of awareness, why do our own minds feel so unified? Why, at each moment, do I seem to be one mind rather than a community of minds?" (Pg. 138)
"Although the main concern of 'Elemental Mind' is ordinary awareness, the everyday inner life of humans and other conscious beings, much can be learned about awareness from rare and unusual states of consciousness." (Pg. 193)
"Quantum theory is breathtaking---and it's just a theory of matter. I cannot imagine that the nature of mind will turn out to be any less wonderful." (Pg. 284)

I read this over a few hours one weekend.I must say that this book promises more than it can deliver.In attempting to cover a huge concept,much of the text is rather superficial and diffuse,somewhat like the electron cloud readers of such books are familiar with.However,unlike the electron cloud, the diffuseness does not contribute to the mystique and there are a number of better treatises available.I did read of a couple of experiments I had not heard about elsewhere but otherwise was quite unimpressed.