I love this cognitive science take on consciousness and the nature of reality; how our perceptions are not accurate indicators of what's in the world, not by a long shot.
This is one of my favorite books because he makes such a good case for his long-researched theories of perception, reality, and consciousness. I SO appreciate that he caught up with modern physics and switched to using quantum theory rather than classical Newtonian materialistic physics. It allowed huge headway in the field of cognitive science.
He is not asserting spiritual interpretations of science. He is showing the results of decades of research at University of California with his particular mixture of fields of study that converge to reveal more than any one field does alone. He then begs others to find holes in his theories. Bravo!
It really helps unclog our filters and pare away our faulty assumptions. It is most definitely consciousness expanding. It will help people let go of the old paradigm of materialism that quantum physics proved to be inaccurate. Hallelujah!
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Popular Highlights in this book
That is what evolution has done. It has endowed us with senses that hide the truth and display the simple icons we need to survive long enough to raise offspring.Highlighted by 1,010 Kindle readers- Space, time, and physical objects are not objective reality. They are simply the virtual world delivered by our senses to help us play the game of life.Highlighted by 836 Kindle readers
- Physics and evolution point to the same conclusion: spacetime and objects are not foundational. Something else is more fundamental, and spacetime emerges from it.Highlighted by 773 Kindle readers
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An interesting book that, most probably, is very, very wrong
The author, going down a rabbit hole that one of his reviewers speaks of in awe (Rudolph Tanzi, back cover praise) tells us in this book that reality as we see it does not exist. Not that is different or needs new explanations, it simply does not exist. In page 86 he tells us that his theory helps us avoid “our false believe that the moon is there when no one looks”. In page 141 he says that when you are reaching for an object, not only is that object nothing more than a cognitive construct of your perception, even your hand is, as he tells us that “Your hand itself is an icon of your interface, not an objective reality”. Hoffman is not telling us that “seeing is believing”; he is telling us that “seeing is creating” as nothing exists the moment we stop having an interaction with it, or before.This is an important book in the sense that it shows what happens when a very smart person loses contact with common sense, when they go, as his reviewer tells us (warns us?) into a rabbit hole, not tethered to reality (how could he, when he claims it does not exist?). It is an excellent text to practice proper skepticism and use Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit when reading a scholarly book. In the end, a previous reviewer said it all: when you have a scientific book praised by Deepak Chopra, you should know what to expect.Buy it, and read with care. The rabbit that dug this hole is big.
Top reviews from other countries
Devdersh.s
One of the best book I have ever read.
Reviewed in India on April 16, 2022