A leading neuroscientist offers the latest research and many new ideas on the connections between brain circuitry and conscious experience. How the mysterious three-pound organ in our heads creates the rich array of human mental experience, including the sense of self and consciousness, is one of the great challenges of 21st-century science. Veteran neuroscientist W. R. Klemm presents the latest research findings on this elusive brain-mind connection in a lucidly presented, accessible, and engaging narrative. The author focuses on how mind emerges from nerve-impulse patterns in the densely-packed neural circuits that make up most of the brain, suggesting that conscious mind can be viewed as a sort of neural-activity-based avatar. As an entity in its own right, mind on the conscious level can have significant independent action, shaping the brain that sustains it through its plans, goals, interests, and interactions with the world. Thus, in a very literal sense, we become what we think. Against researchers who argue that conscious mind is merely a passive observer and free will an illusion, the author presents evidence showing that mental creativity, freedom to act, and personal responsibility are very real. He also delves into the role of dream sleep in both animals and humans, and explains the brain-based differences between nonconscious, unconscious, and conscious minds. Written in a jargon-free style understandable to the lay reader, this is a fascinating synthesis of recent neuroscience and intriguing hypotheses.

About the Author
W. R. Klemm, DVM, PhD, is a professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Texas A & M University and the author of over five hundred publications, including sixteen previous books, most recently, Memory Power 101- A Comprehensive Guide to Better Learning for Students, Businesspeople, and Seniors; Atoms of Mind- The "Ghost in the Machine" Materializes; and Core Ideas in Neuroscience. He has also been the president and cofounder of Forum Enterprises, Inc., a retired colonel in the Air Force Reserves, a business consultant, and the project director for five educational outreach grants.


Book Information
ISBN 9781616149444
Author W. R. Klemm
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Prometheus Books
Publisher Prometheus Books
Weight(grams) 358g
Dimensions(mm) 227mm * 154mm * 20mm