Yeah, I'm not sure how it really works, just that I couldn't see the book (or, I guess, couldn't experience seeing the book), but that didn't stop me from readi

Yeah, I'm not sure how it really works, just that I couldn't see the book (or, I guess, couldn't experience seeing the book), but that didn't stop me from reading it. I figure our brains sort of cobble together an illusion of selfhood out of a whole bunch of partially-independent processes. Most of the time the illusion is reasonably well supported by decent coordination among the processes, but the coordination isn't instant or perfect, and the gaps become more noticeable if something messes with one or more of the underlying processes. There are a few other odd effects that seem to me like maybe they're examples of similar kinds of mess-ups. There's the simultaneous waking/sleeping I've experienced--that was a combination of extreme fatigue due to chronic fatigue syndrome, plus a strong alertness-enhancing drug. And there's the absolute conviction someone close to me occasionally had that an invisible person was in the room with us (even though she was simultaneously aware that no such thing could be true). I think maybe that one was the effect of a brain injury she'd suffered in a car accident.