This is a treasure in so many ways

I am filled with gratitude after finding this book. How essential the topic of experience and consciousness is will leave most of us in awe, the irony of it being practically unknown and unexplored is great.

Finding a book or any other type of work that embraces the current state of knowledge and open-mindedly and unapologetically espouses questions as a valuable tool on the way to evolving understanding is quite an undertaking. I was so relieved to discover that the author did not put on the hat of those who seek "precise explanations of facts" after getting engaged to a given paradigm. If many journeys took this approach, many destinations would be behind us by now.

There are many things to ponder in this book and a good job is done to bring some pattern to reasoning about experience and the nature of being as it applies to our interaction with what's known as reality. These concepts are close to ineffable and I suspect the author recognized that fact when deciding to break the analysis down into bite-sized perspectives and areas of experience.

You won't agree on each conclusion. I didn't. The highest value, though, will be a map that can be followed to explore facets of experience in order to analyze their relation to the "I". "Map" is a word that equally applies to the numerous resources that the book points at for anyone who needs to explore more.

I find this to be one of those rare books that are not limited as those written by the neuroscientist next door, while at the same time being practical enough to try to demystify much of the hazy, up in the air experiences from all sorts of metaphysical sources. Truly a gem.

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