Book Review – “Emperor’s New Mind” by Roger Penrose

(For the kuttis)

Some titles betray their content.
Kutti Papa, when you buy books, just look at the title and you will know if you want to read the book or not. Also, you need to know something about the author, but that is all.
As the title “Emperor’s New Mind” suggests a close resemblance to a very famous Chinese story, called “Emperor’s New Clothes”, I will tell you that story so that you can understand this book without reading it.

Once upon a time, there was an emperor who was fond of wearing new clothes each day. He wanted new design, new material, and new styles, every day. Now, he also had a very powerful memory and could remember every dress he wore. He was very cruel too, like the Lion, in the story of the Lion and the Hare. If ever any tailor repeated anything in the dress, like the material, or the style, or even a small design, he would remember and the moment he remembered –

“Off with the tailor’s head”, He would roar,
And the poor tailor would be no more.

Now, the tailors in the country,
Got together with all and sundry,
Pleaded with the wise, to give some help,
But none of the elders, could do a bit, but whelp.

Then came a kutti,
Who in the art of design, was indeed a beauty.
“Don’t worry”, she said, “Be happy,
For this is as easy as changing a nappy”.

She whispered something in the ears of the wise men,
They meditated for a time, and then said, “Amen”.

Off went the tailors, with new material,
And what it was doesn’t matter, and how they stitched, never mind,
For all we know, is out came the king, all in cash, but none in kind.

“Isn’t this dress beautiful
The fit is fine, and the cut full,
I do not remember, wearing even a stitch,
Be methinks, there surely must be, some other snitch”

The wise nodded in silence, not wanting to be prude,
For if nothing they were, they surely were shrewd.
For all could see, but none had the gall,
To tell the One, who represented the All,
And then it positively, would be rude,
To tell the Emperor – “You are very, very nude!”

The King went to town, flaunting his new gown,
And still in the bone, he returned to his own.
His daughter cried, no matter how much he tried,
For what he described, could never be,
She was blind, how could she see?

For all his might, and he knew he got it right,
But in his core, he knew no more,
And this is the problem,
The emperors is, but only an emblem.

He called the wise, who were otherwise,
And told them he would, go many a mile,
Just to make his little one smile.

The wise conferred, well, some demurred,
For they all forgot, how the new clothes were got!

Then one elder screeched,
how they were beseeched,
And off they went to meet Kutti,
who was busy doing her duty.

Kutti came and whispered something,
The princess laughed, said, “Well, its Nothing!”

And lo, all were, for ever and ever, very happy,
And as kutti had said, “It was as easy as changing a nappy”.


The “Emperor’s New Mind” is a book by a famous philosopher mathematician Roger Penrose , who incidentally is the co-author along with Stephen Hawking of some important papers in physics dealing with “singularities”, more commonly known as “black holes”.

Much like Kutti, in the above story, Penrose recounts the developments of physics and mathematics, which proves that though there may be a brain, there is nothing (No thing) called mind. Penrose agrees that there is an intelligence in all human beings, and so recounts the mathematical theory behind “artificial intelligence” in the book. His own signature contribution is based on the hypothesis which says that since every human being, whether rich or poor, young or old, healthy or disabled, displays something called “consciousness”, therefore the only thing real in this world is Consciousness, and large part of this book is an attempt to provide a mathematical proof to the existence of such a consciousness.
Kutti Papa, don’t worry about reading a book completely, after all its title betrays its content.