Free Will

By: Sam Harris

Narrated by: Sam Harris

Length: 1 hr and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

A belief in free will touches nearly everything that human beings value. It is difficult to think about law, politics, religion, public policy, intimate relationships, morality—as well as feelings of remorse or personal achievement—without first imagining that every person is the true source of his or her thoughts and actions. And yet the facts tell us that free will is an illusion.

In this enlightening book, Sam Harris argues that this truth about the human mind does not undermine morality or diminish the importance of social and political freedom, but it can and should change the way we think about some of the most important questions in life.

©2012 Sam Harris (P)2012 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"Free will is an illusion so convincing that people simply refuse to believe that we don’t have it. In Free Will, Sam Harris combines neuroscience and psychology to lay this illusion to rest at last. Like all of Harris’s books, this one will not only unsettle you but make you think deeply. Read it: you have no choice." (Jerry A. Coyne, Professor of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, and author of Why Evolution Is True)

"In this elegant and provocative book, Sam Harris demonstrates—with great intellectual ferocity and panache—that free will is an inherently flawed and incoherent concept, even in subjective terms. If he is right, the book will radically change the way we view ourselves as human beings." (V. S. Ramachandran, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, UCSD, and author of The Tell-Tale Brain)

"Brilliant and witty—and never less than incisive— Free Will shows that Sam Harris can say more in 13,000 words than most people do in 100,000." (Oliver Sacks)

Enjoyable to listen to, but don't pay full price

Love Sam Harris, I strangely have reached this point where listening to him speak actually puts my mind at ease. It's a strange comfort and it is largely the reason why I bought this book. And if that were the only reason I purchased it this would be mission accomplished. But I also thought this book would offer much deeper insite into his "No Free Will" hypothesis. I didnt really feel that I learned much more from this book than you might by just doing a simple search for Sam Harris and free will on YouTube. It's so short there is very little more than he's stated in most of his interviews with other intellectuals. Mainly giving it the 4 stars because I agree with his point and I love him and listening to the sound of his voice though.

I'd buy it if you were unfamiliar with the concept, or you can get it for 6.00 dollars or less.

Very good but very short!

So great! Love the book. Would have spent my credit on a longer book tho!

Very interesting concept

Sam Harris had some excerpts of this in his Waking Up app and I had to come see the whole thing. I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a very compelling argument.

Sam Rocks

I grew up religious and Free Will was discussed often. it confused me when the church said that God knew everything we were going to do but let us choose anyway even if we made bad choices. Sam opened my eyes to a whole other way of viewing free will. also he has a very sexy voice :-)

He tried

I appreciate Sam's thoughts on this subject matter as I have thought about this very thing before. It's an interesting topic, no doubt.
His arguments aren't the strongest and I'm left still arguing my side of what 'free will' actually means. just because he chose rabbit and not elephant at the end isn't a strong enough case to discredit one to having free will since he had the time and the ultimate choice to change his mind. as he said, no one told him to do it, but he just couldn't say as to why his brain chose rabbit. Was it random? probably not, I can see why this may not be free will at this juncture, but was he allowed to think of other animals to write down instead? Yes. Because he has the free will to do so.

A lot to think about – which is unfair.

I thoroughly enjoy Sam Harris‘s work, this book being no exception. He always asks me look deeper into myself, this time l’m “inspired” to look further into the source of thought itself. This book is intricate, and will take several more reads – lucky for me!

A lot of food for thought

Your perspective of right and wrong and good and evil will definitely change. I doubt the legal system will ever accept these findings.

i know why you do what you do, and me too.

incredible book. definitely worth multiple listens/reads. a nice coupling with dawkins' the selfish gene. all my thumbs up.

Perspective

Perspective separates the given truth of any idea, Open your mind and compare points of view. For this book I have purchased 2 more by Sam Harris, as well as a How to win friends and influence people. ( have read before) also the KJV bible. And I will get a letter to the Christian Nation. Knowing is Perspective

Dark, Humorous, Challenging and Inspiring

"A puppet is free as long as he loves his strings". A meticulous deconstruction of the assumption of free will that inspires gratitude, forgiveness, compassion and the clarity to solve our most difficult personal and societal problems.