In it he explains that our "body image... is an entirely transitory internal construct that can be profoundly, modified with just a few simple tricks." and that "Your concept of a single 'I' or 'self' inhabiting your brain may be simply an illusion."
These insights and many more are so intriguing that I feel as if Ramachandran has opened up a new doorway for me into the realm of neuroscience and has made it so that I wish to look up and read further into the way science looks upon aspects such as the 'self'. And the way in which he beautifully dissects this concept in the last chapter truly shows his immense skill in both his field and in conveying it onto the layman.
As well as this overarching theme of the book, Ramachandran introduces many neurological disorders, such as asonognosia, which is where a patient will deny the entire left half of their body is damaged/ paralysed due to a lesion in the right hemisphere. The way in which Ramachandran describes this disorder and uses analogies helps one grasp the situation, and shows that neuroscience research into the self, self-awareness and other similar fields are necessary for us to further our understanding of the brain.
