Thank you for mentioning Stephenson. I haven't read him other than Snow Crash, and I don't think I finished it. Googling Anathem brought me to this blog revie

Thank you for mentioning Stephenson. I haven't read him other than Snow Crash, and I don't think I finished it. Googling Anathem brought me to this blog review of it: http://neopythonic.blogspot.com/2008/10/thoughts-after-reading-neal-stephensons.html http://neopythonic.blogspot.com/2008/10/thoughts-after-readi... which reminded me of this NIH neuro anatomist who studied her own stroke, including during her multi-year recovery. Her TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke... YouTube of same: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyyjU8fzEYU She sees the right brain hemisphere as being our "consciousness" wetware connecting us to others. Parts of the video are esoteric, but it's fascinating to hear this first-person account from a brain researcher, especially of the morning of her stroke when her left hemishphere was damaged by a spontaneous brain hemorrhage. Edit: couple of typos