Reddit mentions of A Dialogue on Consciousness

Academic philosopher here. This is a good guide for those interested in the history of philosophy, but a great deal of contemporary philosophy (including my own subfield, philosophy of mind) is not, for the most part, directly concerned with the great philosophers of history. I think someone who was interested in understanding certain problems - consciousness, linguistic meaning, the basis of ethical truth - could bypass much of the history of philosophy to begin with. That might be especially useful for those more familiar with reading scientific papers and disinclined to engage in interpreting older texts. They would certainly miss out on some historical context, but as I said, a lot of contemporary work only loosely touches on that in any case. Someone who wanted to try this approach could start by picking up a text like James Rachels' Problems From Philosophy for a topic-based overview of major debates, or start with an introductory text directly focusing on a particular issue, such as Alter and Howell's A Dialogue on Consciousness.

Hm, I enjoyed The Education of Little Tree as a book that is somewhat like Sophie's World, but it's not meant to be a deeply philosophical work.

Check out A Dialog on Consciousness. Disclaimer, I have no idea if it's good, but it's been on my to-read list for a while.