One of the most important and original neuroscientists at work today tackles a question that has confounded neurologists, philosophers, cognitive scientists, and psychologists for centuries: how consciousness is created.

Reviews

"Exquisite...Readers fascinated from both a philosophical and scientific perspective with the question of the relationship among brain, mind, and self will be rewarded."
--"Publishers Weekly
"
"The marvel of reading Damasio's book is to be convinced one can follow the brain at work as it makes the private reality that is the deepest self."
--V.S. Naipaul, Nobel Laureate and author of "A Bend in the River "and" the Enigma of Arrival"
"Damasio makes a grand transition from higher-brain views of emotions to deeply evolutionary, lower-brain contributions to emotional, sensory and homeostatic experiences. He affirms that the roots of consciousness are affective and shared by our fellow animals. Damasio's creative vision leads relentlessly toward a natural understanding of the very font of being."
--Jaak Panksepp, author of "Affective Neuroscience" and Baily Endowed Professor of Animal Well-Being Science, Washington State University
"I was totally captiva