Evan Thompson, Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy, Columbia University Press, 2015, pp. 453, $ 32.95, ISBN 9780231137096

This review examines Evan Thompson’s Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy, focusing on its interdisciplinary dialogue between cognitive science, philosophy of mind, and Indian and Tibetan contemplative traditions. It discusses Thompson’s analysis of consciousness and the self across waking, dreaming, lucid dreaming, deep sleep, death, and pure awareness, with particular attention to meditation-trained practitioners as sources of first-person data. The review highlights the book’s contribution to contemplative neuroscience and its enactive account of the self as an ongoing process rather than a fixed entity.