Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain, and Other Lessons From the Biology of Consciousness (Hill & Wang), by Alva Noë

Alva Noë is rethinking the way we think about thought. Specifically: that consciousness doesn't arise from tissue encased inside our skulls, the standard view of science, but from living in the context of the wider world. Consciousness for Noë is an ecology of mind, body and spirit. One of the Berkeley philosopher-cognitive scientist's several surprising observations concerns the much trumpeted brain-scan technology, which he says doesn't actually reveal the interior of the brain in the manner of an X-ray but represents it more like a mediocre artist's rendering. Out of Our Heads accomplishes one of the chief tasks of philosophy: to challenge the unquestioned assumptions that govern our notions of reality.