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This book asks one of the most fascinating questions, “Why would any collection of matter in the universe be conscious?�� Nobody knows. So, like answers to what is time, matter, or light, some of the answers are just as fun to ponder. Freaky realities are offered from neuroscience that put the source and operation of consciousness in question, but in many cases, only for those with injury, disease, or malfunction. Like a broken machine made to operate, of course, it acts odd. But central to the author’s message is that consciousness is a universal illusion. The author makes much use of things like “binding.�� Light reflected off an object—like a tennis ball hitting a racket—and the sound from it hitting impinge on our senses at different times. Waiting for the last stimulus, our brain “binds�� them together in time, providing the illusion of simultaneity.

But the speed of light is about 1-foot per nanosecond. Sound travels at about 1-foot per millisecond, while nerve signals run about three times slower than sound. That optic signal first to reach our eyes will reach our brains about two milliseconds before the sound hits our ears, which arrives at our brain about a millisecond after that—a three-millisecond separation. Does it matter? I’ve toiled with lasers that produce femtosecond pulses. To these circuits, 3-milliseconds feels like an eternity. One femtosecond is to a single second as 1-second is to 32 million years. But to the world humans live in, a few millisecond separation is the same as simultaneous. What illusion?

More doubt is cast on free will, “consciousness being the last to know.�� We flinch at some startling noise before we recognize it. It’s asserted that “we�� are our consciousness. That other thing, the subconscious or autopilot or whatever, is something not “me.�� Says who?

The book ends courageously with ponderings of the hot-potato notion that consciousness (not self) may be a fundamental aspect of the universe like charge and matter, called panpsychism. Kooky as it sounds, the author does a reasonable job of considering it. Though the author’s a little miffed that physicists take seriously ten quantum dimensions, but not panpsychism. The reason being that quantum dimensions fall out of mathematical analysis, not mere speculation alone. Just because both are analogously whacky doesn’t mean both have equal validity.

While there are interesting morsels to ponder, and the author poo-poos complexity theory (which seems to be the most likely answer), for me, the book was more a pleasant muse than a revelation.