Book description
In Then I Am Myself the World, Christof Koch explores the only thing we directly experience: consciousness. At the book's heart is integrated-information theory, the idea that the essence of consciousness is the ability to exert causal power over itself, to be an agent of change. Koch investigates the physical…
Why read it?
2 authors picked Then I Am Myself the World as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Consciousness is said to be the greatest mystery facing science today and Christof Koch is the famous proponent of one of the top theories – Integrated Information Theory. But the book is not just tough science – he begins with describing the dramatic psychedelic experience he had in which ‘he’ completely disappeared. I wish he had said a lot more about the experience itself, but what I loved was that he has taken this personal experience and integrated it into his great work as a neuroscientist of consciousness.
This is a cognitive scientist and neurologist who stopped me in my tracks. The title felt like a whisper of a profound truth I’ve always sensed: each of us is not merely in the world, but a world unto ourselves. The book lives up to its promise.
Koch offers luminous reflections that bridge neuroscience with some of life’s most ungraspable questions. He explores consciousness not just through science, but also through psychedelic experiences, mystical states, near-death experiences, and even artificial intelligence.
What excites me most is the book’s courageous breadth, refusing to limit consciousness to mere circuitry or dogma. Koch…
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