Conflicted by Ian Leslie
Discourse, both public and private, is getting worse not better. Where a difference of opinion should be a creative force, now polarisation is the norm. Ian Leslie, as readers of this magazine will know, has a way of bringing fresh perspectives and telling anecdotes to obdurate subjects. Here he talks to everyone from hostage negotiators to divorce lawyers to show how conflict has driven successful companies and technological advances, and to offer ways to harness it in daily life.
Faber & Faber, 285pp, £14.99
The Hidden Spring by Mark Solms
Drawing on decades of research, the neuropsychologist Mark Solms argues that feelings, not cognition or perception, are the defining feature of consciousness, the source of which he locates not in the grey folds of the cerebral cortex but in the brain stem. Consciousness can be explained solely with reference to natural law – there is no mind independent of the body – which means, Solms contends, scientists could conceivably create artificial consciousness. Solms also includes fascinating and deeply affecting case studies, including research into children born with hydranencephaly, who are missing most of their brains yet who are more sentient than many doctors realise.