Mind Without Brain, a short (159 pp) nonfiction essay, is a finalist for the best nonfiction of 2021 at Next Generation Indie Book Awards (https://indiebookawards.com)! Any time an essay in philosophical psychology wins a prize, you know it has to be special. that’s especially true for one without a brain. What’s it about? Here’s a description:

Is the mind the same thing as the brain? Not at all. The brain is an organ, three pounds of protein, fat, and water. It is no different in principle than a kidney or a liver. The mind, though, is made of ideas, hopes, images, memories, words. Those weigh nothing, take up no space. They’re not even physical.

Does the brain produce the mind? It can’t. There is no scientific theory of how a physical organ could produce a non-physical idea. The brain and the mind are related, but we don’t know how.

This nonfiction book describes the mind without pretending it is a puppet of the brain. It proposes a structure and operating principles for how the mind works without using biological explanation. That lets us understand mental experience on its own terms, without biological reductionism.

I do not deny, of course, that the mind is embodied. Mine certainly is. And we have never found an example of a disembodied mind. Minds and bodies are clearly related. The problem is that mind stuff is nothing like body stuff so it is impossible to connect them. So I don’t, in this book.

Instead, I analyze the architecture of the mind, as experienced, without resorting to biological explanation. If neuroscientists someday discover how the brain is connected to actual human experience, then this book will become obsolete. Until then, we need a way to understand how the mind works, and I propose a set of structures and functions consistent with lived experience.

Does that sound like a barrel of monkeys to you? Then you will want to read this book.

Mind Without Brain: A Proposal, is the second in a trilogy of monographs exploring the nature of the mind and its relationship to the body. Get it in ebook or paper:

Kindle: ISBN: 978-1-7355412-2-8 (mobi)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RZBGD1K

KDP:  ISBN: 978-1-7355412-3-5 (paper 6×9)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735541230

Smashwords: ISBN: 978-1-7355412-1-1 (Epub) https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1053954

Ebook: $2.99

Paper: $6.99