Reddit reviews The World of Perception

It's phenomenology in contrast to other things, you could say. I think it'd be a good place to start, if you're new to it.

Do remember Merleau-Ponty as well (sooner or later). There's an overview of sorts of his in The World of Perception.

Hey, thanks! Well, in connection to your question there is this Dreyfus' book Mind Over Machine, but I find Dreyfus' books about Heidegger even more interesting, like Being-in-the-World, and the especially influential critique of AI I already linked. Since it seems that Varela was partly inspired by Merleau-Ponty, perhaps this short book The World of Perception could be interesting to you. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry by Iain Thomson on Heidegger's Aesthetics covers brilliantly most of Heidegger's major themes including the critique of modern subjectivism.