The Quantum Self

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The authors of this heady discourse seek nothing less than a physics of human consciousness grounded in quantum mechanics. British philosopher Zohar and her husband, Marshall, a psychiatrist, argue that consciouness arises through the interaction of the fundamental building-blocks of mind (photons, virtual photons) and of matter (electrons, protons, neutrons). Out of the ``correlated jiggling of molecules in neuron cell walls'' (i.e., Bose-Einstein condensates), a human self emerges that is integrally linked to other selves, much as two particles, though light-years apart, may interact. Quantum physics, more than a metaphor, is used here as an explanatory tool, a means to help us go beyond the isolation and narcissism of modern culture. The authors take a perilous speculative leap from a recognition of the creativity built into all living systems to ``our selves as co-authors of the world.'' Illustrated. (Feb.)

Booknews

The author studied physics and philosophy at MIT and philosophy and religion at Harvard. This book began primarily as an exercise in metaphor but gave way to science-grounded speculation about the physics of human psychology and its moral and spiritual implications. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)