Quantum Mind

I have been reading a lot of books on quantum mechanics recently. I don't have the proper mathmatical background, so it is a lot of work, plus I am not terribly interested in early cosmological history (the big bang) or subatomic structures (string theory), and while I find extra dimensions conceptually interesting, I can't follow the math at all, and I don't want to misunderstand it as sci-fi or get discouraged, so I tend to avoid it.
Much of the quantum theory I'm most interested in has to do with the nature of consciousness - the so called "quantum mind" or "consciousness causes collapse" theories. I am interested in how the collapse of quantum superposition requires a conscious observer, and what the role of the mind is in decoherence. I have read about the role quantum tunnelling plays within synapses, but I am not sure if this mechanism has been proven. I do think that quantum physicists need to explain consciousness if it plays a role in the equasions that they use, and I am not convinced by any arguements to explain it away. It seems that because this is such a vague area, the research is not too focussed and some unscrupulous popular scientists are grasping at straws. I think that thought experiments like "Wigner's friend" are a useful way to highlight areas that need to be thought through, so perhaps the important first steps to uniting physics and consciousness studies can be taken by using a philosophical approach rather than a more traditional experimental approach, although any answer should be testable and falsifiable. I am not satisfied with Pan-Consciousness ideas, will-centered ideas, or traditional spiritual ideas either. I think the best idea around is that each quantum reaction is collapsed by a sort of loop with its equal yet opposite reaction, a loop which is closed in the mind, and which creates a unit of time perceived as moving fwd. This also addresses the question of how the illusion of time is created by the mind. But I don't understand it yet.
I just finished reading the book "The Physics of Consciousness" by Evan Harris Walker. A lot of these ideas come from there, but I am pretty skeptical of his approach. The book contains some amazing ideas, but sometimes they are not communicated clearly - either they are too math-based or they are incompletely explained. Plus there are often frustrating assumptions and
"gut feeling" kinds of statements. Despite all these things, I think this is the best effort I've seen at asking and answering some questions that religious, philosophical, and scientific thought sometimes avoids.
Anyway here is an online reading list that I have been going through. I'll keep you posted, but I don't plan on figuring it all out anytime soon. But it has been on my mind and is influencing the art projects I am considering. I have nothing smart to say with words.