The history of consciousness and its origins fascinate me. It seems that either all life (and perhaps the universe itself) is “conscious” or, if false, then there existed an “Adam” who was the first human born with consciousness. These books propose other theories on this idea; they all deal with the brain and consciousness. I have not yet read them, as I am still in the process of reading Godel, Escher, Bach and the Tree of Knowledge.

 

The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead by Timothy Leary,
Ralph Metzner, and Ram Dass.

Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge – A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution by Terence McKenna 

DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences by Dr. Rick Strassman

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes