?This book focuses on psychic evolution and examines the roots and presuppositions of evolutionary theories. It explores the possible goals of human psychic development, the origins of human consciousness, and various conceptions of psychic development in the Occidental and Oriental world. In the final chapter, Coan presents a comprehensive multidemensional view of human psychic development. Coan maintains that the goal of human consciousness must be understood as the maximization of all our potentials for perceiving, understanding, and judging, that maximazation requires that we have ready access to all these potentials. It also means that we are able to choose the states of consiousness and modes of awareness that best meet our needs. Readers who follow the running debate on this fascinating issue will find this book a gold mine. Suitable for the professional and general reader alike.?-Choice