I finished Evolving the Mind by A. G. Cairns-Smith a few days ago. For me it was rather ponderous. I may need to re-read it.

I picked this book because I came across a quote of Cairns-Smith's in Darwin Among the Machines by George B. Dyson. [A history of computing.]

As I understand it Cairns-Smith proposes that the conscious mind, the parts of mind that have feelings and effect behavior, are like a macro-quantum mechanical effect. (i.e. superfluidity or coherent light lasers) He argues that the mind is an evolved 'physical' phenomenon but its clear to him that our models of physicality are insufficient to know the mind. Indeed our misunderstanding of our world is the most substantial impression I took from the book.

For me this book was a challenging science primer, structured to hold up a proposal for consciousness. I would recommend it to interested readers who feel they have a strong grasp of the physical sciences.