I've featured wicked book reviews over the years, in part because they're amusing and in part because cowardice and puffery are the norms in book reviews. Awhile back, philosopher Colleen Murphy (Illinois/Urbana-Champaign) suggested I should also features some really positive reviews, and I'm sorry it took me so long to get around to this. I'll feature some book reviews from fields that have high standards for book reviews, or reviewers who are particularly severe (yes, I'm guilty, but my fields need help). In any case, Alyssa Ney (UC Davis) really did like the recent book by Jessica Wilson (Toronto):
In case it is not already clear from what has been said so far, this book is a staggeringly impressive work of a philosopher at the very top of her game. Its main significance will be in providing an authoritative and comprehensive conceptual framework for metaphysical emergence that should be used to formulate claims of emergence across science and philosophy going forward. This remains the case even if the taxonomy turns out not to be exhaustive. This book should also be essential reading for those engaged with specific debates about the metaphysical emergence of complex systems, ordinary objects, consciousness, and free will. Wilson’s book lays new conceptual foundations that provide hope for progress in all of these debates.
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