A highly philosophical book about the unity of all things- how physics at the most basic sense gives rise to chemistry which results in life and at the most general level, art and emotion. Wilson can be a bit boring at times, philosophizing for pages and pages, but overall it is a very good book.

EO Wilson argues that social sciences and humanities should work towards consilience with natural sciences. I agree totally with this point of view, but I do not find his version very new or informed. From a philosophical viewpoint it is a bit 'pedestrian', reductionist, rather than materialistic. Reading the last chapter, you get the suspicion that the whole book is really a ecologically minded biologist, who wants to debunk economical theory. ( )

I have just recently re-read this book and this time around I appreciate Mr. Wilson's thoroughly logical attempts to make sense of our increasingly illogical world. I was especially interested in his ideas about Postmodernism--and it's belief that we each have a separate unique reality--destroying the ability of art to connect people to larger, inately human, archetypes. To me, this would explain the world gone mad on religion: we are searching for archetypes. ( )

The enlightenment reborn! Literately written and persuasively argued, the author informs you why science is the best way to explain everything, from the natural sciences (where it's doing just fine), to the social sciences, arts and humanities, and finally to morality and religion. Reduction and synthesis both abound in this epistemologically monistic vision of the world. ( )

Consilience was a great read I thought. Wilson gives a brief account of the history of consiliatory thought and then begins taking each area of the humanities head on. In dicussing recent movements and ideas and biology, Wilson sketches out what we know about the mind and how he sees biology linking together with higher social phenomena in the long-run. In doing so all topics are approached, from economics and art to religion and literature. Wilson closes the book with a plea to end petty squabbling between sciences and humanities and to put the culture wars away in order to solve the more important problems of the day. His last chapter outlines the global warming crisis (as of 1998) and makes a call for all sides to come together in order to save "The Creation" as he refers to it. Wilson's prose is elegant and moving at times and his explanations and metaphors are apt. ( )

Not an easy read, but an interesting concept. I'm not sure if I buy it, but the area of thought: where science meets the broader humanities is fascinating. ( )

I love books like this that draw many fields together. Wilson is an excellent science writer with a great style. ( )

One of my very favorite books. Wilson argues that scholars ought to work harder to bridge the gaps between the humanities and scientific disciplines. ( )

A elegantly written book that challenges the artificial barriers we've erected to separate categories of knowledge. Among the many entertaining segments in the book, Wilson takes on the post-modernists with gusto and clarity. ( )