About half the book is a capsule review of the state of consciousness research presented in more detail in other books (like 'The Consciousness Instinct') which serves as the background for the main thrust of the book which is the judicial and ethical fallout of the conclusion that humans aren't actually 'steering the ship', in the way it is normally assumed. The most extreme form of this argument, that essentially argues that all retributive justice is meaningless and punishment in general serves no purpose, most notably propagated by Sam Harris, is thankfully not the natural conclusion of the book, but rather just presented as a possible option among many.
He did not explore in depth what seemed like an obvious followup to the "people who are told free will does not exist will cheat more" experiments; even if the premise of moral inculpability is true, trying to spread this knowledge or build a justice system based on the proposed conclusions, could have far worse effects. Which kicks the dilemma back to philosophy and asking if we're primarily utilitarians caring about outcomes or if the Truth should be the foremost goal. ( )

Wonderful book by a brilliant yet humble scientist. A great conjunction of brain science and philosophy. ( )

interesting subject . Sounds like textbook ( )

An interesting study of the interplay between mind and brain. Predominantly through studying of patents who have had their corpus callosum severed, thus separating the hemispheres of the brain, the book exposes how our brains are organized and how the mind processes reality.

While not an introductory book for the subject, it's not overly complicated. Neither is it overly simplified. It does a good job of explaining, and giving scientific evidence for, how we build a coherent personal narrative.

All and all, it's a good book that takes a reasoned stance for free will. ( )

Rating 3.5

This book is like an introduction and an overview of many ideas. From a study of split brain to why we come up with the off the wall justification of our ideas. Gazzaniga does a great job of bringing down many ideas to a level where most people can understand it. He also cracks many jokes that lightens the ideas he is laying out. ( )