Rating: 
Summary: Wilber's Best
Review: Out of the cottage industry of new and recycled Wilber works, this book comes as the best representation of his thinking. In it, he is schematic and has tried to develop a theoretical framework on which to hang his ideas about what makes the universe run, in general, and human culture progress, in particular. It is a better exposition than his somewhat egotistical "Brief Explanation of Everything" and provides more of the sources from which he derived his concept.This is the type of book that will intrigue students, fuel New Age adherents, alert science followers, and probably anger traditionalists in the religious and scientism fields. It is an interesting project. I am always skeptical of works that purport to explain in relatively simple ways the complexity of the universe or of the human mind (let alone both), but welcome any systematic attempts at exploring these. I bet there is a rising cult of Wilber followers, people who bring to the book various hopes or vaguenesses of discrimination that incline them to raise up a new prophet. But taken for the methodical thinking and consideration of philosophical ideas that it represents, the book deserves to be honestly read and considered. It would be interesting to see where Wilber would go with rigorous application of philosophical consideration or what serious commentators might add to the discussion.
Rating: 
Summary: Great
Review: This is one of the most incredible books you will ever read.
It is the book that Wilber first presents his four quadrants and continues with his hierarchal model. It will take time to read it but so what.
Rating:
Summary: SES Will be Written About 100 Years from Now
Review: This is quite possibly the most profound and important book I've read in my life. Wilber has written 17 books (I've read 14 of them), and this is without a doubt, his magnum opus.
SES starts with a unique systems theory with swift, elegant explanation, superior examples and demonstrations of knowledge. The kicker comes about 100 pages into the book where Wilber applies the systems theory to consciousness development and anthropological evolution. He then shows how this same pattern of existence develops and envelopes universally through all three modes of awareness, demonstrated through Plato's "Big Three" (the Good, the True, the Beautiful). From there, the 2nd half the book takes you on a philosophical tour de force from Plato all the way to Hegel and Feuerbach, leaving no ideology or pundit unscathed, or perhaps unexhalted; Wilber highlights important contributions of almost every philosophical mind, prejudice and partisan towards no one. Ken fills every page with magnificent commentary, critique and insight from cover to cover.
Wilber literally leaves out nothing (theoretically, not factually). There is nothing--save some quantum mechanical theories--that escape his scope and integration. Wilber is the most profound and important thinker in the world today. And it's not only because his ideas are so revolutionary--to the contrary, most of his ideas have been developed before--but it's how plainly he weaves EVERYTHING together into a comprehensable and bite-sized (if you can call 830 pages bite-sized) book. He does this primarily through fantastic writing. He repeats important points in new ways, uses appropriate metaphors, and fleshes everything out rationally for accessibility; not to mention he's quite humorous at times.
I can't overstate the importance of this book. I read the critical reviews below and I see nothing but misunderstandings and flawed logic. For instance, Ken never implies religion is the answer to the "flatland" of modernity. He simply states that he BELIEVES transpersonal awareness is the next evolutionary step in consciousness, he never by any means claims it is necessary (in either mythic or mystic forms).
An important side note: this is not a good starting point for Wilber readers. If you've never read a Wilber book, start at "A Brief History of Everything" as a sufficient primer.
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