The author poses some really interesting questions about cognition by taking us from the development of single-celled creatures all the way to mammals. The author has an engaging style, and makes his material really interesting. He points to fossils and experiments performed with present day invertebrates to postulate behaviours and experiences of long-dead creatures, and from there to gradually build a picture of thinking and feeling based on actions, reactions and experiences.
The author refuses to simply take the traditional route that only humans can think and feel, as researchers have determined some really interesting things from arthropods, cephalopods (Adrian Tchaikovsky’s octopodes in Children of Ruin get a mention here), and other sea creatures.
He also asks what our responsibilities are with respect to certain kinds of research on our fellow beings on this planet.
There was a lot to think about, and honestly, I think I need to revisit this to get a better grasp on the various interesting ideas the author raised in this terrific book.

This book explores what is a mind and how this phenomenon appeared in the animal world. There is A LOT in this book, and sometimes it is not an easy read (sometimes is simply dry and confusing to be honest). However I have to say in general is well written, although there is too much opinion from philosophers (they are important, but not that important to be honest, other professionals have more relevant things to say about these topics).


In general the writing flows well and it is well ordered (except chapter 5 which is dense), although I'm afraid in the areas where the author talks about AI it is clearly the author is out of his area of expertise.

Pff, finally finished this. While I appreciate the work behind this book, some passages were very off-putting and caused me to zone out any time I was reading it.

I think my main dislike is that it didn't live up to my expectations. There wasn't really an answer as to what consciousness is, because we simply don't know. So, understandably, there was a lot of musing on the subject of philosophy and biology in this book (the author is also a philosopher himself). Somehow, this made it read like a textbook.