The Space Between our Ears

In "The Space Between our Ears", Michael Morgan explains how our brain interprets what we see. Using a wealth of sources from over the centuries including philosophical writings, scientific thinking, experiments, passages from poems and novels, and scenes from films, Morgan reveals the difficulty in working out exactly how we make and receive our visual perceptions. To illustrate various points the book includes optical drawings as well as simple experiments that the reader can perform to test the different components of sight and our reactions to it. The book describes and criticises recent attempts to locate the 'neural correlates of consciousness' in specific parts of the brain. Against what he calls the 'secretion theory of consciousness', Morgan controversially argues that visual perception is most likely to be a function of the whole visual pathway, not just a small part of it. This intelligent, engaging book provides a revelatory overview of what we know about how the brain works regarding visual space, giving a unique insight into one of our most vital yet least understood senses.