SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS

A nonfiction work that offers an in-depth look at the mechanics of the human mind.

Shoji follows the thread of his book Self-Consciousness: The Hidden Internal State of Digital Circuits (2013) with an examination of how the mind knows itself and engages with the outside world. This extensive work dissects complex topics regarding brain function, such as language processing, memory, and writing systems. The author provides diagrams to illustrate his concepts (such as a “Block-Subblock Support Circuit”), and he often breaks his explanations down into the language of mathematics: “distortion of the Cartesian ↔ polar coordinate conversion.” His conclusions include the notion that fear is ultimately “the driving force creating the human mind” and that excessive competition in modern society may lead to humanity’s downfall. One can easily infer that Shoji’s logical, unadorned prose style stems from his decades working as a semiconductor-chip designer for Bell Laboratories.Amid such technical material, the author also reveals much about himself, such as early memories of his childhood in World War II–era Japan. He notes that he believes firmly in the theory of evolution and states that he doesn’t look for answers about human advancement in a God figure. He’s also immensely fond of myths and holds particular reverence for advanced ancient cultures, such as that of the Inca people. As a result, the book creates a unique perspective by not only examining ideas about the brain, but also the man behind those ideas. Some portions, however, are undeniably dense (“the arc specification that is vector c’s reversal and rotation, is specified by the excitation of a character bus line”), and close reading, if not rereading, will be required to get a clear picture. Still, this well-organized work does manage to shed light on the endlessly complex phenomenon of the self.

Not a light read but a fine starting point for exploring the mysteries of the brain.