In the book Phantoms in the Brain by V.S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee, the ongoing theme appears to be that we cannot be sure of anything, whether it be the colors in the world around us or the people we interact with day to day. Ramachandran presents the cases of multiple patients who many people would consider mentally unstable or insane, yet they are far from that. In addition, Ramachandran also questions the contemporary beliefs in the self and consciousness, and the consistency of the outside world. He does all of this while also “teaching” the reader about the inner workings of the brain and neurons; discussing the purposes and functions of the different lobes, describing the visual and auditory pathways (among others), and providing in-depth descriptions of the anatomy of the brain.

One of the topics I found particularly interesting was the discussion of phantom limbs...