In this lively and engaging book, the distinguished psychologist Nicholas Humphrey takes the reader on an exhilarating journey spanning millions of years—in the search for clues to how human consciousness evolved. In A History of the Mind Humphrey proposes a radical new solution to the so-called "hard problem" that has baffled generations of philosophers and scientists—how does the water of the brain yield the wine of conscious experience? Raw sensations are central to all conscious states, he argues, and he shows ingenuously how our physical and emotional self-awareness may have developed out of our primitive ancestors' bodily responses of pain and pleasure. From the "phantom pain" experienced by people who have lost their limbs to the uncanny faculty of "blindsight," Humphrey explores the inner workings of our minds and makes the most difficult questions understandable. A History of the Mind covers diverse territory along the way, from how our likes and dislikes of colors reflect our evolutionary history to what Siamese twins tell us about our relationship to our own body. The relationship between mind and body is one of the great challenges remaining to science and philosophy. In The History of the Mind, Nicholas Humphrey takes up the challenge—and we may never see ourselves in the same way again.

Nicholas Humphrey, Professor of Psychology at The New School for Social Research and Research Fellow in Philosophy at the London School of Economics, is a distinguished theoretical psychologist widely known for his work on the evolution of the mind. He is the author of Consciousness Regained and The Inner Eye.