A History of the Mind: Evolution and the Birth of Consciousness. This item is unavailable.A History of the Mind: Evolution and the Birth of Consciousness

This book is a tour-de-force on how human consciousness may have evolved. From the "phantom pain" experienced by people who have lost their limbs to the uncanny faculty of "blindsight" Humphrey argues that raw sensations are central to all conscious states and that consciousness must have evolved, just like all other mental faculties, over time from our ancestors' bodily responses to pain and pleasure. "Humphrey is one of that growing band of scientists who beat literary folk at their own game" -RICHARD DAWKINS "A wonderful bookbrilliant, unsettling, and beautifully written. Humphrey cuts bravely through the currents of contemporary thinking, opening up new vistas on old problems offering a feast of provocative ideas" -DANIEL DENNETT

Exceptionally readable, and packed with fascinating psychological information and ingenious speculation. -- The Guardian, 4 June 1992

Humphrey is one of that growing band of scientists who beat lierary folk at their own game. -- Daily Telegraph, 26 July 1992

Humphrey's distinctive prose is the golden bowl in which his ripe and shining theories are held. -- The Sydney Morning Herald

No other theoretical psychologist is so accessibly clear, and at the same time so provocatively philosophical. -- The Observer, 8 August 1993