The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach

Consciousness is one of science’s last great unsolved mysteries. How can
the salty taste and crunchy texture of potato chips, the unmistakable
smell of dogs after they have been in the rain, or the exhilarating
feeling of hanging on tiny fingerholds many feet above the last secure
foothold on a cliff, emerge from networks of neurons and their
associated synaptic and molecular processes? In The Quest for
Consciousness, Caltech neuroscientist Christof Koch explores the
biological basis of the subjective mind in animals and people. He
outlines a framework that he and Francis Crick (of the "double helix")
have constructed to come to grips with the ancient mind-body problem. At
the heart of their framework is a sustained, empirical approach to
discovering and characterizing the neuronal correlates of consciousness –
the NCC – the subtle, flickering patterns of brain activity that
underlie each and every conscious experience.