The Quest for Consciousness: A Nurobiological Approach

Consciousness is one of science's last great unsolved mysteries. How can the salty taste and crunchy texture of potato chips, the unmistakable smell of dogs after they have been in the rain, or the exhilarating feeling of hanging on tiny fingerholds many feet above the last secure foothold on a cliff, emerge from networks of neurons and their associated synaptic and molecular processes? In The Quest for Consciousness, Caltech neuroscientist Christof Koch explores the biological basis of the subjective mind in animals and people.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Francis Crick 1. Introduction to the Study of Consciousness 2. Neurons, the Atoms of Perception 3. The First Steps in Seeing 4. The Primary Visual Cortex as a Prototypical Neocortical Area 5. What Are the Neuronal Correlates of Consciousness? 6. The Neuronal Correlates of Consciousness Are Not in the Primary Visual Cortex 7. The Architecture of the Cerebral Cortex 8. Going Beyond the Primary Visual Cortex 9. Attention and Consciousness 10. The Neuronal Underpinnings of Attention 11. Memories and Consciousness 12. What You Can Do Without Being Conscious: The Zombie Within 13. Agnosia, Blindsight, Epilepsy, and Sleep-Walking: Clinical Evidence for Zombie Agents 14. Some Speculations on the Functions of Consciousness 15. On Time and Consciousness 16. When the Mind Flips: Following the Footprints of Consciousness 17. Splitting the Brain Splits Consciousness 18. Further Speculations on Thoughts and the Unconscious Homunculus 19. A Framework for Consciousness 20. An Interview Glossary Bibliography

Review :
Christof Koch has written a superb introduction to the modern exploration of the biology of consciousness, based on his collaborative work with Francis Crick. The Quest for Consciousness is an extraordinarily well-written book that outlines in clear terms the key issues that the biology of the mind will be confronting in the next several decades. The book is a must for both the general reader as well as for scientists in the field. -- Eric Kandel, Author of Principles of Neural Science and winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine The quest for consciousness has been the great intellectual adventure of recent years, as neurobiology has started to close in on its ultimate goal, to define the neural basis of human consciousness. Christof Koch, in intimate collaboration with Francis Crick, has been one of the major pioneers in this quest, and in this new book he offers a vivid, brilliant and very personal account of how our understanding has developed in the last twenty years, moving from the basic processes of visual perception to the highest reaches of consciousness. He unfolds a new, dynamic vision of the brain, based on experimental findings, clinical observations, and neural modelling, in which coalitions of nerve cells form, dissolve and reform continually, weaving our ever-changing but integral sense of consciousness. The Quest for Consciousness is not only a mine of information, and full of provocative thoughts and insights, but a delight to read and ponder. -- Oliver Sacks, Author of Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and Uncle Tungsten.