{"product_id":"9781770564268","title":"Men of Action","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe problem of consciousness may just be a semantic one. The brain absorbs a sea of sensory input, the tiniest fraction of which reaches the shore of our awareness. We pay attention to what is most novel, most necessary at the time. At its most reductive, the word 'consciousness' refers to the synchronized firing of neurons across multiple areas of the brain, the mental experience of attending.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBut should consciousness be summed up simply by its subsconscious mechanism? I would prefer a more imaginative answer.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAfter his father, Saul, undergoes brain surgery and slips into a coma, Howard Akler begins to reflect on Saul's life, the complicated texture of consciousness, and Akler's struggles with writing and his own unpredictable mind. With echoes of Paul Auster's \u003cem\u003eThe Invention of Solitude\u003c\/em\u003e and Philip Roth's \u003cem\u003ePatrimony\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eMen of Action\u003c\/em\u003e treads the line between memoir and meditation, and is at once elegiac, spare, and profoundly intimate.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Coach House Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47135315067120,"sku":"9781770564268","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781770564268_p0.jpg?v=1763706541","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781770564268","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}