What if your mind isn’t showing you reality - only what it believes you can survive?
In Margins of Perception, the first volume of The Fractured Mind series, Ahmad I. Alkhalel invites you into a quiet storm of thought - where certainty crumbles, and truth slips through the cracks.
This is not a book of answers.
It is a collection of fragments: essays, philosophical meditations, and raw reflections exploring chaos, perception, memory, identity, and the quiet revolutions of the mind.
Written in a poetic yet accessible voice, this book speaks to those who question what they see - and feel haunted by what they cannot name.
Enter the margins.
Discover what happens when thought no longer serves the mind -
but begins to fracture it.
What if your mind isn’t showing you reality - only what it believes you can survive?
In Margins of Perception, the first volume of The Fractured Mind series, Ahmad I. Alkhalel invites you into a quiet storm of thought - where certainty crumbles, and truth slips through the cracks.
This is not a book of answers.
It is a collection of fragments: essays, philosophical meditations, and raw reflections exploring chaos, perception, memory, identity, and the quiet revolutions of the mind.
Written in a poetic yet accessible voice, this book speaks to those who question what they see - and feel haunted by what they cannot name.
Enter the margins.
Discover what happens when thought no longer serves the mind -
but begins to fracture it.
He saw it fly. But he knew it was only a leaf.
Then came the agony.
And somewhere between the cracks of pain, his mind came to a silent conclusion: The only way out... was to see the leaf as a bird.
So, he saw a bird.
Not just wings - he heard it sing, felt the air shift as it soared.
He was not mad.
He was simply human - longing for liberation.
A human whose understanding of the world is filtered entirely through five fragile senses, each subject to a mind that often chooses to interpret reality not as it is, but as it must be for survival...
And after a while, it could no longer tell: Had it seen a leaf and convinced itself that it was a bird? Or was it a bird all along, and only now did his mind allow him to see it?
When the senses begin to betray you, when the mind itself becomes the scene of the crime, truth ceases to be absolute.
It becomes a matter of interpretation. And you... become its victim.
But is this collapse of truth reserved only for physical torture?
Or is there another kind - quieter, deeper, born of loss, loneliness, fear, or the simple erosion of meaning - that just as easily leads us into altered realities where the bird and the leaf are indistinguishable?
Or maybe... there is another force at play.
Not within you, but around you - a subtle manipulation of your environment, carefully designed to send the wrong signals to your senses.
So that your eyes see a leaf, but your mind thinks it's a bird.
A reality tailored just enough to convince you.
Not by force, but by design.
“Marina once told me that we only remember what never really happened.” (Carlos Ruiz Zafon)
Ahmad I. Alkhalel’s book, marketed as a psychological thriller, leans more toward the boundary between non-fiction and essay. The author touches on distinctly scientific topics such as chaos theory, perceptual illusions, the architecture of time, the nature of dreams, emotions, and memories—including memories of things that could have happened but never did. However, each of the short, sketch-like chapters merely outlines the direction of a theme, while its full exploration unfolds in a completely freeform manner through the author’s personal interpretation and vision.
Structurally, the book also closely resembles an essay. The work consists of fragments, as the author himself calls them, filled with rhetorical questions. This undoubtedly helps create the illusion of a dialogue with the readers, drawing them into reflections on the discussed themes of perceiving the world in all its manifestations. The author invites the reader to ponder what is truth and what is falsehood, how to distinguish between them, and whether it’s even possible, or what our mind truly is—ourselves or something within us capable of constructing a matrix that shields us from the world for the sake of survival. Most fragments conclude with a fitting excerpt from the author’s other works, intended to emphasize the idea and provide an overall impression of Ahmad I. Alkhalel’s creativity and style. This is an interesting approach, as it allows the author to connect with his ideal reader.
It’s clear that Ahmad I. Alkhalel has a solid scientific foundation, having consulted various articles and works aligned with his interests—references to these are included in the text, undoubtedly adding weight to his arguments. What Margins of Perception slightly lacks is depth, originality, and perhaps coherence. The author sought to cover many fascinating and complex topics, exploring them through the lens of his own experience and from his perspective as a thinker. Yet, the result is a somewhat scattered and occasionally repetitive text. Certain theses reappear multiple times across different fragments, presented from slightly different angles but ultimately remaining the same. Additionally, the brevity of each chapter-fragment prevents the author from delving deeply into a topic, leaving it only outlined. The thoughts—and not so much conclusions as the very process of reasoning leading to a certain level—are rather simple. I’m sure many who are interested in philosophy, psycholinguistics, or possess deep and diverse life experience with a tendency toward self-analysis (and analysis in general) would easily arrive at similar conclusions. Thus, I’d say this book could serve as an excellent starting point for exploring the author’s other works, as he knows how to pique interest. Alternatively, it might inspire readers to seek out literature on the subject or even prompt them to pause, close their eyes, and allow themselves to get lost for a moment in the endless labyrinth of illusions, boundaries, the illusion of boundaries, perception, and thought—ultimately leading them back to themselves.
So if you’re looking for a gripping psychological thriller, Margins of Perception is not it—the book isn’t fully a work of fiction. But it is a fascinating essay with an emphasis on the author’s personality, his vision, and his thought process, which doesn’t provide definitive answers but may serve as a springboard for any reader willing to ponder what lies beyond the familiar boundaries of perception.