This book is packed full of insights into conscious experience. Langsam sets out to describe the role of consciousness in perception, knowledge, inductive inference, practical reasoning, and pleasure and pain. He addresses a wealth of topics in compact prose that has a pleasing momentum as it brings us from one elegant piece of philosophy to the next.
Susanna Siegel, Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University
The Wonder of Consciousness is a wonderful book. Langsam approaches consciousness from the first-person point of view, and argues that a variety of substantial facts about consciousness can be known a priori. Full of original and provocative ideas, the book has an air of excitement that is rare in philosophical writing.
Alex Byrne, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT
What makes this an important book is precisely that it is a case for something that is—for no good reason—out of fashion.... I think [Langsam] does succeed in his aims of showing that there is more to philosophy of mind than the mind-body problem.... For that reason, and because of his welcome defiance of fashion, I commend this book.
Peter Forrest
Mind
Engaging.... Langsam inspires wonder in the midst of philosophical rigor.... In a world increasingly ruled by reductive physicalism, where mystery and wonder have been replaced by process and data, The Wonder of Consciousness is a welcomed addition to the current literature.... refreshingly readable and inspiring.
Ethics and Medicine: An International Journal of Bioethics
A refreshing and commendable addition to recent work on consciousness. It contains many novel and interesting ideas, which Langsam presents in a crisp and engaging way.
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
