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"Reflexive rejection of novel concepts is the antithesis to discovery." - from the Foreword by Dr. Michael Persinger

Why are gods and idols ubiquitous throughout the ancient world? What is the relationship of consciousness and language? How is it that oracles came to influence entire nations such as Greece? If consciousness arose far back in human evolution, how can it so easily be altered in hypnosis and "possession"? Is modern schizophrenia a vestige of an earlier mentality? These are just some of the difficult questions addressed by Julian Jaynes's influential and controversial theory of the origin of subjective consciousness or the "modern mind." Reflections on the Dawn of Consciousness includes an in-depth biography of Julian Jaynes, essays by Jaynes, and the discussion and analysis of Jaynes's theory from a variety of perspectives such as clinical psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, anthropology, linguistics, and ancient history.

"In this book Marcel Kuijsten and his colleagues have integrated a quintessential collection of original thoughts concerning Jaynes's concepts as well as some of Jaynes’s original essays. I have rarely read a manuscript that so eloquently and elegantly examines a complex and pervasive phenomenon. The contributors of this volume have integrated the concepts of psychology, anthropology, archaeology, theology, philosophy, the history of science, and modern neuroscience with such clarity it should be considered an essential text for any student of human experience."

"Blending biography with analytical and critical discussions and evaluations, this volume presents a rounded picture of Jaynes as an individual and scholar, while not shrinking from controversial and difficult issues. ... It is hoped that this volume will help clarify misunderstandings and stimulate the continuing pursuit of consciousness in the Jaynesian spirit."

"Reflections on the Dawn of Consciousness . . . is an accessible re-introduction to Julian Jaynes, whose wondrous and wonderful The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind first brought to public awareness the 'invisible mansion of all moods, musings, and mysteries ... the introcosm' that is consciousness."

"...New ideas that shake up the status of human beings relative to their world have never gone down easily, from Galileo to Darwin to Jaynes. Yet, over the past three decades, a dozen or so scholars have gambled their reputations on the possibility that Jaynes may be right. Gathered in this volume, their research provides hard data in support of Jaynes's claims. ... such information holds the power to restore mystery and wonder to the world we thought we knew."

"An indispensible resource for ideas on consciousness, religion, and theory of ancient civilizations. Includes various authors including some important but lesser known articles by Julian Jaynes himself. Interdiscliplinary, insightful, provocative, in the original spirit of Jaynes' seminal work, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, but goes well beyond mere support and evidence of that work. Contains profuse notes and bibliographies for each article."

"This book and this man's ideas may be the most influential, not to say controversial, of the second half of the twentieth century. It renders whole shelves of books obsolete." - William Harrington, in Columbus Dispatch

"Having just finished The Origin of Consciousness, I myself feel something like Keats' Cortez staring at the Pacific, or at least like the early reviewers of Darwin or Freud. I'm not quite sure what to make of this new territory; but its expanse lies before me and I am startled by its power." - Edward Profitt, in Commonweal

"When Julian Jaynes...speculates that until late in the second millennium B.C. men had no consciousness but were automatically obeying the voices of gods, we are astounded but compelled to follow this remarkable thesis through all the corroborative evidence..." - John Updike, in The New Yorker

"He is as startling as Freud was in The Interpretation of Dreams, and Jaynes is equally adept at forcing a new view of known human behavior." - Raymond Headlee, in American Journal of Psychiatry

"The bold hypothesis of the bicameral mind is an intellectual shock to the reader, but whether or not he ultimately accepts it he is forced to entertain it as a possibility. Even if he marshals arguments against it he has to think about matters he has never thought of before, or, if he has thought of them, he must think about them in contexts and relationships that are strikingly new." - Ernest R. Hilgard (1904-2001), Professor of Psychology, Stanford University

"The weight of original thought in it is so great that it makes me uneasy for the author's well-being: the human mind is not built to support such a burden." - David C. Stove (1927-1994), Professor of Philosophy, in Encounter

"It is one of those books that is either complete rubbish or a work of consummate genius, nothing in between ..." - Richard Dawkins, Oxford University, in The God Delusion

"[Jaynes] has one of the clearest and most perspicuous defenses of the top-down approach [to consciousness] that I have ever come across." – Daniel Dennett, Tufts University, in Brainchildren

"If Jaynes's theories are right, he could become the Darwin of the mind." – Science Digest