Philosophy : Consciousness & Thought : The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness
Wider Than the Sky: The Phenomenal Gift of Consciousness | 
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 You are the music while the music lasts...
While this book starts basically from the same premises as Mr. Dennett's Consciousness Explained, it arrives at slightly different conclusions, which are less counterintuitive and that in my opinion reflect much better the way we perceive consciousness in our daily lives. After studying the nuts and bolts of our internal circuitry, something grand and beautiful emerges...
Mr. Damasio explains his theory of self and consciousness as a continuum that starts with very ancient and basic self regulating processes that keep the body's parameters within certain limits required to maintain life (homeostasis). The regulation is performed via the central nervous system and by chemical signals that travel in the blood. These mechanisms give a continuous account of the "state" of the organism by generating a mental or neural "map" of its state, called "proto-self", and which is "refreshed" constantly (I understood it like the control and measurement devises that provide information to the automatic pilot of an airplane). The author suggests the brainstem (an ancient structure located just above the spinal cord) as the seat for the proto-self; the structures that enable homeostatic control (various reticular formations) are also located here, suggesting an interrelation between both. The proto-self enables wakefulness and limited attention.
Emotions are defined as physical changes to the organism's state triggered by an object (external or recalled), e.g. increased heart rhythm, blood being pumped to the extremities, etc. These changes which are observable ("external") precede conscious awareness of them and can even remain unconscious. Feelings are our "perceiving" of the before mentioned emotions and are in this sense "internal". "Core consciousness" emerges when an object (real or recalled) interacts with and thereby changes the organism's state (by way of inducing an emotional reaction) while a second order map of this relationship is formed. The feeling of what happens when we have a feeling is core consciousness. This is the sense of self-awareness that we know as consciousness (as opposed to an unconscious state). Since while awake we are constantly engaged in "perceiving" or "manipulating" objects (real or recalled/anticipated), there is a constant flow of core consciousness being generated, giving rise to the perceived unity and continuity of the self. "You are the music while the music lasts...", meaning you "as a unified entity" are being created at the same moment you are aware that you are perceiving...
Unlike "core consciousness", "extended consciousness" is probably a uniquely human feature, since it requires that maps of core consciousness are "stored" throughout our lives as dispositions in neocortical regions, forming our "autobiographical self". With the help of our greatly enhanced "working memory" (I understood this as RAM) these dispositions are always being held available in the background for further manipulation & storage.
For more examples of persons with neurological disorders that could shed some light into the consciousness problem read Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind.
mixed feelings about this book
Tony Damasio is a leader in cognitive neuroscience but is annoying in some ways. His followers are the New York Times reading pseudointellectuals I usually stay away from. Tony actually left neurology years ago when he resigned as head of the department at Iowa, and even when there, exercised chairman's privilege and did not see patients for decades before that. So he has actually transcended neurology by entering the supposedly rarified air of "cognitive neuroscience." Don't go to him if you have a migraine headache or back ache, or do so at your own risk.
The main criticism of the book is that Tony tends towards explaining things with anatomy instead of formulating testable hypotheses. As such, he violates a precept of psychology and attempts to compensate with high falutin' language that when analyzed, does not really make sense.
Since Tony tends to float away, towards the clouds, don't think, when you read him, that clinical neurology is about to merge with philosophy or that neurologists typically read Churchland or Dennett. This book is a good airplane or bathroom read, and if you leave it, the next guy may thank you. If you want to learn about behavioral neurology, don't watch Tony on the Discovery channel but go to the library and check out some books. See if Tony has any unsourced citations.
Oh yeah, if you must read it, used copies are available on amazon for 2.98
An excellent introduction to the nature and importance of consciousness
Damasio's book provides a compelling and unorthodox account of the nature of consciousness, with a thorough background of current and past research into consciousness. Damasio frames his arguments with both the words of a philosopher and a clinician and thus provides his readers with a well-rounded view into the current state of consciousness research.
He introduces his style of writing early in the book, namely one in which he will try to be as concise as possible but will have to resort to "asides and digressions" (page 12) to elaborate on his points. Damasio stays true to his word and has many of these asides and digressions in his attempt to explain this material to his readers. However, these asides and digressions do not detract from the book but rather add much needed context for the layperson to understand what is written. For example, Damasio has various case studies interspersed throughout his book to better explain what he writes. He will often describe patients who have certain interesting impairments and will describe how it affects their behavior. For instance, in part one, he talked about a man who had an "absence seizure followed by an absence automatism" to provide an example of someone who lost consciousness yet was still awake - to prove to readers that consciousness is not dependent on wakefulness. Not all his case studies are about neurological impairments though, but rather about abnormalities. In part two, he talked about Maria Pires, a pianist who was able to control her emotional states and literally change brain function just by thinking about it!
One of the book's strong points is that it clearly indicates whether the information it is presenting is the author's opinion based on scientific evidence, or if it is the scientific evidence itself that is gained from peer-reviewed studies. This allows the reader to learn many fundamentals of neuroscience and realize how the problem of consciousness is currently being studied. This also allows readers to appreciate the author's commentary (as they understand where its coming from) that further elaborate upon studies, while also giving them an opportunity to form their own opinions.
In part one, he introduces his approach to consciousness by defining certain terms he has coined, such as core consciousness and extended consciousness. He provides an evolutionary perspective on why consciousness exists. He introduces certain facts that he has gleaned from research studies that he holds as the background for the analysis of consciousness that will follow. Overall, this part provides a thorough explanation of terms he uses throughout the book and an excellent background that will aid the reader in understanding why Damasio proposes the ideas that he does in this book. I would encourage anyone who reads this book to read this part twice or to refer back to it (along with the appendix) to prevent any confusion when Damasio uses these new terms in later chapters of the book.
In part II, Damasio goes into more detail on the terms he had introduced earlier in the book, such as core consciousness. He also introduces some basic neuroanatomy and definitions in this chapter, but in a way that the reader can learn rather than be frustrated and confused. Damasio introduces part II (as he does with the other parts) in a clear manner - by outlining his points before elaborating on it, a technique which is essential to allow the reader to know what Damasio expects them to learn from his writing. For instance, on page 37, Damasio writes, "In this book, I propose that, just like emotion, consciousness is aimed at the organism's survival, and that, just like emotion, consciousness is rooted in the representation of the body... For all these reasons, it is important to discuss the varied features of emotion before we begin addressing consciousness directly." This introduction, though seemingly lengthy, gives the reader a concise and accurate summary of the sections that follow, as well as letting the reader know why Damasio is discussing these concepts. Part II is the first time in the book that Damasio introduces a specific case for a lengthy section of the book. This is important to point out as in many non-fiction books, personal cases and studies can be discussed for many paragraphs and can subsequently cause the reader to lose interest as he/she will no longer be able to discern what the specific case has to do with the point the author is trying to make. Damasio, though, is able to provide a detailed explanation of a memory-impaired patient but remembers to devote the next few paragraphs to teaching the readers why the case is so important.
In part three, Damasio goes in much more depth on his terms such as proto-self, core consciousness, extended consciousness and even terms that he has given new meaning to, such as "object." He writes more on how different brain regions may lend themselves to forming consciousness and devotes considerable attention to certain brain regions such as the reticular formation which play an immense role in consciousness.
Part four provides more information and analysis on emotion itself and gives a general overview of consciousness and its role in life. As always, he ties in evolutionary theories and other arguments and facts he exposed in previous parts to make sure that the reader is getting a holistic view and does not remain tied down with the details. Oddly enough, the ending of this book provides a sort of non-fiction cliffhanger. The reader is left wondering where research into consciousness will lead next and just how many of Damasio's theories will be truly validated.
Ultimately, this book is a groundbreaking piece of work that will enable its readers to understand where research into consciousness lies today and more importantly, why it matters. It will appeal to the philosopher, the clinician, the scientist and everyone in between!
Damasio's magical but realistic truth
For general readers, Damasio articulates complicated information with interest and charm. For therapists, it is a must in order to understand critical concepts in therapy and sort out differences in feeling and thinking.
 Neither a clear writer nor a clear thinker
I have just finished reading this book with a great sense of relief. I wish I could agree with all the complimentary things that other reviewers have written about it, but I find I can't. I am convinced that Damasio is an insightful neurologist, and his personal observations and extensive knowledge of patients with neurological conditions is valuable. However, he is neither a clear thinker nor a clear writer. He goes in for the poetic and artistic, and while his language may sound great, more than half the time I didn't know what the Hell he was actually trying to say. Here's an example: I literally opened the book at random and chose the first sentence I came on: "Knowing springs to life in the story, it inheres in the newly constructed neural pattern that constitutes the nonverbal account." If you think the meaning of that sentence would be clearer after you had read all the book that preceded it, you're wrong. I have read the entire book, and I still have only a vague idea what Damasio is trying to say here. When he is not being poetic, Damasio is technical. A card-carrying neuroscientist myself, I nevertheless struggled to understand some of Damasio's jargon.
More disturbing than the lack of clear expression was the lack of clear thinking. Damasio is often illogical and often contradicts himself. For instance, late in the book, he states, "The idea that the nature of subjective experience can be grasped effectively by the study of their behavioral correlates is wrong." In most of the chapters that precede this statement, however, he does exactly that. He describes what he supposes to be the subjective experience of neurological patients based on his observations of their behavior. He confidently states over and over again that this patient is conscious and that one is not, without ever clearly saying how he knows -- without defining the criteria on which he bases that judgment.
Perhaps I was spoiled, because just before reading this book I read Daniel Dennett's _Consciousness Explained_. The ideas in that book were intrinsically much more difficult to grasp, but they were stimulating, insightful, and expressed in a way that was both engaging and clear. I was sorry to reach the end of it. Reading Damasio, in contrast, was a punishment I forced myself to endure, and whose cessation is a relief.
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