RE: Shadows of the Mind (Roger Penrose): returning to dead tree books.
I read Shadows of the Mind a while ago, seems like about 15 years or so, at roughly the same time as The Emperor's New Mind, Infinite in All Directions (by Freeman Dyson), and The Language of God (Francis Collins). Unfortunately, after so many years I don't remember the details very well, but I'm sure that all of them have shaped my thinking about the intersection of physics and philosophy.
As I understand, the idea of consciousness as emergent from quantum physics had been dismissed until recently because the brain is allegedly too wet for quantum phenomenon to take hold. A couple years ago, I read about a guy who's challenging that notion, though... Let's see if I can find it...
I think this is it: Can Quantum Physics Explain Consciousness? One Scientist Thinks It Might. It seems that even Penrose's thinking has evolved on the topic.
The man in article you shared (can't remember his name at the moment) was Penrose's partner in developing the Orch-OR idea. It is definitely an interesting take, but decided far from the current understanding. What I find most curious is that has been nothing about it for last 7 or so years, which makes me wonder if he had given up on that particular idea, if not the computation/awareness idea.
I should try the other books you suggest, I only know the Empoeror's New Mind as it was the predecessor to this book.
Even if the awareness/computation idea is is not eventually convincing (in not sure still), ik still enjoying the tour through philosophy and mathematics!