Interesting, but ultimately disappointing and unconvincing. (2 out of 5 stars)

Noe avoids mystical explanations and the supernatural. He doesn’t put forth souls or the vague appeals to quantum mechanics that are the hallmarks of new age quackery. And while he skates close, he doesn’t present consciousness as just merely a postmodern social construction. “Out of Our Heads” is grounded in this sense.

Consciousness, Noe states, is not a something that takes place in the brain like digestion takes place in the stomach. And it is more than just the sum of its parts, just as a performing dancer is more than just muscles. But as poetic as Noe gets, his arguments are full of discrepancies and far from compelling. His biggest mistake is that you can easily replace his use of the words “environment” or “body” with “the brain’s sensory input” and all his anecdotes and scientific appeals are just as valid and consistent. (more…)