In the latter part of the twentieth century, leading scientists and philosophers embarked on a remarkable venture into one of the last dark places on the intellectual map: the problem of consciousness. The quest proved more difficult than the venturers had hoped: in different ways and in different places they ran into unexpected obstacles. The dragon of consciousness seemed unslayable. Now Peter Hankins, author of the popular Conscious Entities blpg, has written this intriguing account of what went wrong, to shed light on the problems and suggest new ways forward.