Kelley expertly weaves scientific and philosophical insight in his very clear and illuminating discussion of his own realist perspective and competing perspectives (such as the notion that we never perceive objects but only our representations of objects, or something).
Kelley's debt to philosopher Ayn Rand is acknowledged in the book, but contra the suggestion of another "reviewer" on this page, the book is not a "thinly disguised pitch" for Rand's views. Rand took the validity of the evidence of the senses for granted and in a certain respect, so does Kelley; they're on the same page there; but he explores the question and related issues and contentions much more thoroughly.
Some years ago, another reviewer, publishing in Reason Papers, made an opposite kind of complaint, that the book didn't spend more time on Randian ideas. Why so much about perception and epistemology? the reviewer wanted to know. Where's the theory of ethics, and so on? A very peculiar objection to a book written specifically to deal with matters pertaining to the evidence of the senses. It was as if a reviewer had slammed a book on plumbing for not also treating architecture and urban planning.
