If you can witness your thoughts, then are you not the subject consciousness seeing the thought objects in front of itself? You see a coffee cop as an external object much in the same way you see your thoughts. I am typing this and I can observe the thoughts in my mind, and I try to form them into somewhat coherent sentences. Does this mean there is a separation between the "I" observing the thoughts and the thoughts themselves? How do you differentiate between the two?

Are there any good scientific books that can provide some grounding on the nature of consciousness and can solidify my drunken and nebulous ramblings?