Jaynes introduces the concept of the "bicameral mind", a non-conscious mentality prevalent in early humans that relied on auditory hallucinations.

[4] In addition to numerous reviews and commentaries, there are several summaries of the book's material, for example, in the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and in lectures and discussions published in Canadian Psychology.

Nonetheless, the book remains a thought-provoking exploration of the origins of consciousness, language, and culture, and it has continued to inspire discussions and research in these areas.

In this book, Jaynes reviews what one of his early critics acknowledged as the "spectacular history of failure"[5] to explain consciousness – "the human ability to introspect".

His analysis of the evidence led him not only to place the origin of consciousness during the 2nd millennium BCE but also to hypothesize the existence of an older non-conscious "mentality that he called the bicameral mind, referring to the brain's two hemispheres".

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind was a successful work of popular science, selling out the first print run before a second could replace it.

[8] It received dozens of positive book reviews, including those by well-known critics such as John Updike in The New Yorker, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt in the New York Times,[9] and Marshall McLuhan in the Toronto Globe and Mail.

[17] With further research in the late 1990s using new brain imaging technology, Jaynes's ideas have received renewed attention[18][19] and recognition for contributing to a rethinking of auditory hallucinations and mental illness.