If you're interested in consciousness, I recommend reading some of Antonio Damasio's books. I really enjoyed "The Feeling of What Happens". He has some fascina

If you're interested in consciousness, I recommend reading some of Antonio Damasio's books. I really enjoyed "The Feeling of What Happens". He has some fascinating theories on the machinery of (brain-originated) consciousness, embodiment and the primacy of emotion, and he tends to explain them in the context of his various clinical cases (eg lesions to certain brain areas such as the central gray will irrevocably destroy consciousness, while others can have much more subtle effects). I think his concept of "core consciousness" seems close to what meditation practitioners are trying to explore.