{"product_id":"out-of-my-head-isbn-9781681373973","title":"Out of My Head","description":"\u003cb\u003eAdventures in cutting-edge ideas about consciousness, from bestselling non-fiction writer Tim Parks.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHardly a day goes by without some discussion about whether computers can be conscious, whether our universe is some kind of simulation, whether mind is a unique quality of human beings or spread out across the universe like butter on bread. Most philosophers believe that our experience is locked inside our skulls, an unreliable representation of a quite different reality outside. Colour, smell and sound, they tell us, occur only in our heads. Yet when neuroscientists look inside our brains to see what's going on, they find only billions of neurons exchanging electrical impulses and releasing chemical substances.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFive years ago, in a chance conversation, Tim Parks came across a radical new theory of consciousness that undercut this interpretation. This set him off on a quest to discover more about this fascinating topic and also led him to observe his own experience with immense attention.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eOut of My Head\u003c\/i\u003e tells the gripping, highly personal, often surprisingly funny, story of Tim Parks' quest to discover more about this fascinating topic. It frames complex metaphysical considerations and technical laboratory experiments in terms we can all understand. Above all, it invites us to see space, time, colour and smell, sounds and sensations in an entirely new way. The world will feel more real after reading it.“[A] wide-ranging, thought-provoking book. . . . Parks . . . brings his novelistic skills to setting scenes.” —John Williams\u003ci\u003e, The New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Parks recounts with generous and eager openness his conversations with leading philosophers and neuroscientists . . . A lucid exploration of thinking, perceiving, and being human.” —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"The microdetail Parks delivers as he observes his surroundings and the  restless workings of his own mind echoes that in his Man Booker  Prize-nominated novel, \u003ci\u003eEuropa\u003c\/i\u003e. It also has an affinity with  Virginia Woolf’s stream-of-consciousness experiments . . . and a small  army of Western and Eastern philosophers. Parks is determined to trace  every wrinkle of mind-digression, morphing perception and fluctuating  theory that he can. . . . His observations of the human mind in action  are enjoyably on the mark.\"—Michael Upchurch, \u003ci\u003eThe Boston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"This Oliver Sacks–like book . . . succeeds admirably in bringing difficult ideas down a level. . . . Parks writes well enough to appeal to the layman and the mind boffin alike. \u003ci\u003eOut of My Head \u003c\/i\u003eis pleasurably nutty, self-regarding and at times quite hilarious.\" —Ian Thomson, \u003ci\u003eEvening Standard\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Tim Parks considers midlife crisis, a Pixar cartoon and “spread mind” theory in his thoughtful quest to understand consciousness. . . . Consciousness is weighty philosophical and scientific ground, yet Parks plots a chatty, accessible path through impenetrable academic papers and conferences on his quest to understand more about being human.\" —Ben East, \u003ci\u003eThe Observer\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[Parks] is a terrific ambassador for curiosity, and greets each step in his intellectual journey with dogged insistence.\" —Joe Humphreys, \u003ci\u003eThe Irish Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"By describing his efforts to understand the phenomenon of consciousness in the form of a candid and entertaining journal-cum-memoir, Tim Parks has made a difficult subject interesting and accessible. He is an amateur in this crowded field but he presents professional neuroscientists with some challenging questions.\" —David Lodge\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[A] fantastic journey into the human brain.\" —Will Self, \u003ci\u003eNew Statesman\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An exceptionally witty and compelling look at the nature of consciousness . . . In tackling consciousness, the full frontal assault, as often practised by philosophers and, in a different way, by neuroscientists, can only get us so far. Tim Parks’ new book is a refreshing attempt to creep up on the hard question obliquely; and to take the argument deeper into the very realm of our embodied experience than it usually goes. The result is lucid, witty and engaging: a deft philosophical juggling act providing, in an honourable tradition, more questions than answers . . . A confessed outsider to both academic philosophy and neuroscience, Parks demonstrates the truth that sometimes the outsider sees most of the game. And he has done his homework . . . Parks is not only excellent company, but a worthy debating partner. He is a delight to read.\" —Ian McGilchrist, \u003ci\u003eThe Tablet\u003c\/i\u003e (UK)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A lucid investigation into the nature of experience and its grounding in the brain. Many readers will delight in Parks’s vivid rendering of complex ideas. He has a masterful capacity to entertain theories of the nature of consciousness not as abstract objects of academic scrutiny but as living concerns. These concerns illuminate from within his personal reflections on meditation, love, age, and dreaming.\" —Nick Haslam, University of Melbourne  \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eTim Parks\u003c\/b\u003e has written seventeen novels, including \u003ci\u003eEuropa\u003c\/i\u003e, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and most recently, \u003ci\u003ePainting Death\u003c\/i\u003e. He is the author of several works of non-fiction, including \u003ci\u003eItalian Neighbors\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eItalian Ways\u003c\/i\u003e. Parks has also translated the works of Alberto Moravia, Giacomo Leopardi, and Niccolò Machiavelli, among others, and he is a frequent contributor to \u003ci\u003eThe New York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eLondon Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e. He lives in Italy.","brand":"New York Review Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300708798693,"sku":"NP9781681373973","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781681373973.jpg?v=1767734357","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/out-of-my-head-isbn-9781681373973","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}