This book had a lot of interesting ideas, but also a lot of claims that don't make any sense to me - both claims that I don't see how anyone could believe, and claims where I literally don't know what Dennett is trying to say. Actually, I usually don't know which case a claim falls under; it sounds like Dennett is saying something ridiculous, but there are also signs that perhaps he means something else? The book was still well worth reading, but it was an extremely frustrating experience.

This book doesn't explain what consciousness is or where it comes from, but rather explains how it operates and the illusions it generates. At times enlightening and disturbing, this book can change the way people view their minds. In fact, the very early attacks on the notion of a "Cartesian Theater" are staggering are hard to wrap one's mind around.

The book is good, well explained but too many detours. The point can be explained simpler but it took several pages to get to it. The main theory argued by the writer is interesting, challenging the status quo about the consciousness. It is designed to be read by public so don't expect a well thorough scientific explanation. The methapors are easy to understand but in some cases may misleadingly reduced the scientific content/point of the explanation.

More of a philosophical approach to handling the question of consciousness. Dennett uses this book to suggest an alternative way to see the mind, a way to join the subjective experience of consciousness with the meat and neurons in the brain. His argument is really to show that old ways of thinking are not necessarily the only ways to think about the mind. He proposes his own model of consciousness, but admits it is not necessarily correct, only that the approach is more justified, and that old approaches need to be reevaluated (and in many cases abandoned). Some really great metaphysical discussion comes out of this, but is handled in some of his other texts (Freedom Evolves and Darwin's Dangerous Idea)