The Conscious Reader is an exceptionally rich, thematic anthology of nonfiction prose and literary works, with a multidisciplinary and culturally diverse selection of readings.

Renowned for the quality of its selections, The Conscious Reader represents a broad range of academic disciplines and interests, including art, cultural studies, education, psychology, philosophy, politics, science, technology, and environmental studies. The 168 selections also represent a wide range of genres: 25 personal reminiscences, 81 essays, 22 short stories, 36 poems, 2 plays, and 4 full-color paintings. They range from the classical (Plato's Crito) to the contemporary (Maya Angelou, Roger Rosenblatt, and Kenzaburo Oe).