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  • Free Will

  • Written by: Sam Harris
  • Narrated by: Sam Harris
  • Length: 1 hr and 14 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (252 ratings)

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Free Will

Written by: Sam Harris
Narrated by: Sam Harris
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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

What the critics say

"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)

What listeners say about Free Will

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

expected more

I knew, based on the duration of the book, that it would be focused. I expected more from Sam Harris.

He makes his point, however delving a little deeper into the concepts he presented would have been nice.

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AI Intelligence

If we don’t have free will how will this impact the making of AI robots and .. will AI robots have free will or not? And if they don’t, would this be reason enough not to create such a technology? However, I guess the decisions to continue AI projects is already determined?

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Re: shake up

Determinism may possibly shake up everything as Darwin did. But likely the majority will not accept it. People’s illusions do not fade easily.
Great book. Yes, short, but awesome. It’s such a simple idea, it does not need to be long.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Good but short.

The books is good but is super short leaving much to be desired in breadth.

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Free will

I have read (listened) to this book several times. I re-listen when I feel frustrated when I do something stupid...lol. Sam makes a compelling argument for our complete lack of free will. It’s short and very thought provoking. I enjoy reading things that challenge my preconceived perceptions on what we are all about. #audilbe1

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Absolutely compelling

Harris takes his arguments about the freedom of will in Moral Landscape and discharges them with added discussion, once again with great erudition and crisp logical consistency. I have been totally convinced by this book, and therefore – and if Harris’ thesis is correct – I had no freedom to choose otherwise.

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To damn short! I want more!

Excellent and concise book! I want more... why isn’t there more?! However, Harris wasn’t free to wrote more than the amount he did.

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