He discusses the views of the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the philosophers Colin McGinn and Daniel Dennett, and the phenomenon known as blindsight, in which people who are blind in a large part of the visual field nevertheless retain "certain perceptual faculties" and apparently have "perception without sensation".

"[7] Miller described the book as "readable and entertaining" and "stimulating", but wrote that it might leave readers wondering why the problem of consciousness had been considered so difficult.

[8] Marshall criticised Humphrey's style of writing and wrote that his "account of the evolutionary development of consciousness" was "highly speculative" and so lacking in precision and detail that it was questionable whether it could be considered a theory.

[9] McGinn described the book as "bold and speculative", and credited Humphrey with making interesting observations about topics such as the "affective dimensions of colour" and blindsight.

"[10] A History of the Mind received a positive review from The Lancet, which described the book as an "entertaining and well-thought out work" and Humphrey's attempt to "solve the riddle of perception, sensation, and consciousness" as brave.