The Nature of Consciousness: A Hypothesis [Paperback]

Susan Pockett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2000

Book Description:Few books about consciousness get to the nitty gritty as quickly as this one. By the end of the preface, the essence of the novel hypothesis that is at the heart of the book is clear. The reader is then taken on a stimulating intellectual journey that ranges from ancient Hindu religious texts to the most up-to-the minute papers in the neuroscience literature as the author supports and defends the hypothesis. If you have any interest at all in the academic field of consciousness studies, don't miss this book!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Susan Pockett is a neurophysiologist who lives in New Zealand.

Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595122159
• ISBN-13: 978-0595122158
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,371,973 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New, bold, quick, possible., November 24, 2001

By 

Carlos Camara "marrorris2" (Monterrey, Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Nature of Consciousness: A Hypothesis (Paperback)

This book goes to the point quickly. No other book on consciousness states its proposal so quickly, efficiently, and elegantly. In the short 150 pages, Pockett exposes and defends her theory adequately. The theory, that spatiotemporal patterns of the electromagnetic field are consciousness, charges against the psychoneural (consciousness as the firing of neurons, or groups of neurons) story boldly. Psychoneuralists need not fear, however. Although the theory presented in the book is interesting, and has neurological evidence in it's side (in a sense), it is by no means the last word on the subject. It is a good theory because it is teastable, clearly stated, and a new way of looking at evidence, but this does not prove it. I myself remain unconvinced, but the book is a worthy read anyway, if consciousness interests you in any way.

Pockett in a way underestimates the psychoneural theory, and could have been more thurough in how her theory would explain binding, how it would fit into an evolutuionary sense, and why we should accept the "electromagnetic pattern = consciousness identity" over "neuron firing procesing information=consciousness" identity. But the book is still good, informative, and original.

Maybe the final sections, heavily speculative (even relative to the hypothesis), about cosmic consciousness and The Electromagnetic Field,could have been omitted. Maybe these speculations should wait for direct experimental testing of the theory (and Pockett proposes a somewhat direct way of doing this).

But at the end, if nothing else, the theory should be considered, discussed and thought about.