I discussed the first edition of this book in episode 12 of Books and Ideas. I was invited to write a short chapter for the second edition, so I hope you will check it out.

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Product Description

Illuminating, uplifting and lighthearted, the second edition of THE MYTH OF FREE WILL expands on the powerful ideas in the first edition by offering 50 more pages of quotes and short essays on free will. The contents are divided into six chapters: 1) But It Seems So Real! 2) The Myth & Causality 3) The Myth & Morality 4) The Myth & the Brain 5) The Myth & Naturalism 6) The Myth & Me. There is a quiz, eight lessons, illustrations and a glossary. Contributors include Thomas W. Clark, Daniel Wegner, Steven Pinker, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Michael Shermer, William B. Provine, Paul Bloom, Antonio Damasio, Francis Crick, Eric Kandel, Susan Blackmore, Arnell Dowret, Read Montague, Lee M. Silver, Matt Ridley, Ginger Campbell, V.S. Ramachandran, Douglas Hofstadter, Kurt Vonnegut, Woody Allen, Mark Twain and Albert Einstein. In all, 50 leading thinkers are represented. The book strives to answer the question, Who is saying we don't have free will and what are their credentials? It's mostly an anthology, definitely not a philosophy text. It was written for a mainstream audience, for people who wonder: Do I have free will? If not, why does it feel like I do? And it was written for people who understand that free will is a myth (the choir) and want to share this understanding with friends who might feel disturbed or intimidated by the subject. Finally, THE MYTH OF FREE WILL presents a fresh, quirky, yet profound treatment of an esoteric topic that's destined to become edgy.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #231867 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-08
• Binding: Paperback
• 150 pages

About the Author
CRIS EVATT is also the author of THE GIVERS AND THE TAKERS and 30 DAYS TO A SIMPLER LIFE.

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Customer Reviews

Self-published "determinism's greatest hits"
I wasn't quite prepared for what this book would be like, but I can't say I was disappointed, either. It's breezy, unpretentious, and contains a number of solid quotes and essays that achieve exactly what the author set out to do: create serious doubt about the possibility of human free will. If that sounds depressing or nihilistic, she also makes a brave case that it is not. The fact that the "author" herself has no real qualifications to write such a book (she actually lists her sole qualification as "truth seeker" in the introduction), hardly matters because 90 percent of the book consists of the words of people who ARE experts--philosophers, scientists, cultural icons like Mark Twain and the Buddha. The whole thing can be read in an hour, and among its better features is the way it points the reader to fuller treatments on the key assertions in longer, more scholarly media. It's hard to recommend this quirky book without reservations, because it does suffer from a self-published lack of professionalism and polish, but I actually found that part of its charm. It's like looking at an intelligent, inquisitive person's scrap book on the subject of free will, introduced with wise and accessible language (including a very nice opening essay by Susan Blackmore written specifically for this book).