The Self-Aware Universe

The author writes for New Scientist magazine and is a good presenter of scientific information to a non-specialist audience. In this book, he shows this same skill of explaining some surprising (and under-reported) experimental results from the sciences of physics, neurobiology, and experimental psychology. He does a little less good a job explaining philosophical arguments which start with the ancient Greeks up through modern times. For someone who has not previously studied these things, this might be a bit overwhelming. Much of this book is a review of science and philosophy so the author can build his groundwork in order to present his case. To add to his encyclopedic knowledge of western science and philosophy, the author is also show more knowledgeable about Buddhist and Hindu beliefs which I enjoyed learning about. The author's own scientific background is a quantum physics and his penchant for precision results in a rather dense text which many readers, particularly those who are unaccustomed to technical or philosophical texts, will find difficult to follow. As for the author's principle theory, that consciousness precedes reality (is the true ground of being). This conclusion is interesting, provocative, and has some agreement with other modern writers, but I find the evidence that he presents in this book, is less than convincing. The author suggests, as did Nikola Tesla, that at some point, for science to progress, it needs to unify its objective study of the external world with what now is considered by most as the subjective spiritual, internal world. The author points out that his theory accounts for all of the phenomena that current Western science ignores (e.g. Out-of-Body Experiences, Telepathy, Remote Viewing) because it does not fit their current paradigm. He points out, and I agree, that a truly "Objective" scientist cannot ignore data that does not fit his theory. When this has happened before in history, it necessitated a paradigm shift. For example, to understand atomic spectra required the development of quantum theory. The reader who will most enjoy this book is one who is interested in the nature of consciousness and especially in the concept promoted by Carl Jung of the universal unconsciousness. Put in another way, it has been said that the total number of consciousnesses in the universe is One! That every person's soul is a Spark of the Creator / Source / God. That we are eternal souls occupying a temporary body experiencing life so God can better know himself and enjoy his creation. If this does not sound crazy to you, I suggest you read the "Law of One" books, a channeled work from highly evolved E.T.'s who explain try to explain the nature of reality, as best they can, given the limits of human language and experience. Spoiler Alert, the Law of One is largely consistent with Amit Goswami's view as expressed in this book. show less

There is so much good information in this book but it is not always easy to digest and I had to take time to reflect after each chapter. There is a lot of information about quantum physics and how this can relate to many religious ideas and ultimately how it can help us transcend past traditional religion into a more enlightened mind. It is difficult to follow at times though

I don't recommend this book unless you are prone to looking at the universe in a spiritual light. The author has attempted to use the inherent mysteries of the quantum world to suggest that everything is connected in a wonderful conscious mashup with purpose and spirit - I suspect that this is a uniquely human emotional interpretation of the universe rather than a window into some heretofore unperceived aspect of reality. Don't let the fact that Goswami is a trained physicist fool you into thinking that he has some answers.

fascinating presenting of the mind division into the seen "classical system" that is influenced by our world and the quantum system that is unseen but allows the possiblilty of both AND and OR at once and collapses when we interact with it.

This book takes us back to the old idea that Consciousness it the primary stuff of the universe. For me it really does agree with the mysticsim of Quantum Physics.
And I should say the philosophy of the Gnostics.

Mystical science. Crap