1 minute read
Consciousness
How our Brains Turn Matter into Meaning
JOHN PARRINGTON
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What is the material basis of the thoughts that occur inside our heads?
Where do imaginative, creative, or spiritual thoughts come from? And is the human mind radically different from that of other species?
In this book, Oxford biologist John Parrington proposes a radical new theory of human consciousness, arguing that a qualitative leap in consciousness occurred during human evolution as language and tool use transformed our brains. He draws on the latest insights from neuroscience to show that meaning is created within our heads through a dynamic interaction of oscillating brain waves.
This new model of consciousness not only provides a material basis of our innermost thoughts but also explains why the mind can sometimes go wrong, causing deep mental distress.
New for Icon’s Hot Science series which seeks – as with Bill McGuire’s recent bestselling Hothouse Earth –to explain the cutting edge of science and technology for a curious lay audience
JOHN PARRINGTON is an Associate Professor in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology and a Tutorial Fellow in Medicine at the University of Oxford. He is the author of three previous books and over 110 peer-reviewed articles. His research focuses on how chemical signals regulate important processes in the body.
