The Myth of Free Will, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Cris Evatt (Author, Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2007

THE MYTH OF FREE WILL brings together a collection of essays and quotes on free will as an illusion. Featured are Steven Pinker, Sam Harris, Daniel C. Dennett, V. S. Ramachandran, Lee M. Silver, Susan Blackmore, Michael Shermer, Daniel M. Wegner, William B. Provine, Ramesh S. Balsekar, Laurence Tancredi, Thomas Clark, Mark Twain, Woody Allen, Albert Einstein, and many more. Do not expect a philosophy book or debate on free will. Expect discussions on cause-and-effect, responsibility, the brain and naturalism. A book for a mainstream audience. To access the 2nd edition, with 50 additional pages, type the title into the search box.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A witty, insightful and superbly fascinating trek through the issues surrounding the belief in free will." --Janet Luhrs, author of Simple Living

"The Myth of Free Will helps break the taboo on questioning the immaterial self and its supernatural free will." --Thomas W. Clark, author of Encountering Naturalism

About the Author

Cris Evatt is the author of THE GIVERS AND THE TAKERS and 30 DAYS TO A SIMPLER LIFE.

Product Details

• Paperback: 84 pages
• Publisher: Cafe Essays; 1st edition (February 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970818173
• ISBN-13: 978-0970818171
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #958,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Modest But Effective, June 5, 2007

By 

Virginia A. Campbell "science podcaster" (Pelham, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Myth of Free Will, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Almost no one wants to consider the possibility that free will is a myth or an illusion, but this short work does a good job of doing just that. First the editor, Chris Evatt, defines free will as something non-physical that can somehow override our physical brain. Then she presents a series of succinct essays that consider the evidence for rejecting this long-standing assumption. The essays are short but effective. They come from several points of view even though they have been clearly chosen to support her primary thesis.

I must admit that I come to this from the point of view of a scientist who has been exploring the growing evidence that our thoughts and decisions are not just rooted in the brain (and body), but that most of the decision-making circuitry is not accessible to our conscious awareness or control.
Besides the conciseness of the pieces, the other thing I appreciated was that several authors reflect on the potential consequences of letting go of the Cartesian concept of free will. I didn't always agree with all of their conclusions, but I found them very thought provoking.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not really enough material to call it a book, March 23, 2008

By 

Gary Hellmann (Tucson, Arizona) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Myth of Free Will, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

I recently received this slim volume and was quite surprised by what I got. I am in complete agreement with the contents of the book, but the book is so slim and so slight that I could not figure out who the book was intended for, unless it's just people like me who will buy an inexpensive book with the phrase free will in the title. Each of the brief essays in the book would not cover one side of an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper if singlespaced, and none of the topics are developed in any way; each essay is simply an assertion of something (true and correct) about free will but without any real supporting information. I'm not even sure that the book would be a proper introduction for a high school philosophy class, and it certainly wouldn't be appropriate for anyone beyond that. Some of the ideas in the book are thought provoking, but there is no development at all; it is nice that there are a couple of informative references for most of the essays, but they are very brief.

There are several other introductions to the idea of free will in the same price range, particularly Thomas Pink's Free Will: AVery Short Introduction in the Oxford Very Short Introduction series, which can be had for five cents less. Tom Clark's Encountering Naturalism covers as much as this book does on free will in a much briefer space, and has many other helpful ideas as well. There is a far more information available on Wikipedia's Free Will entry, as well as at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy free will entry than is found in this book, and the last two are free. I feel badly saying such negative things about a book that I almost completely agree with, but there's really not much here, probably not even enough to call it a book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow, Choosing Things Doesn't Equal Free Will!, November 1, 2007

By 

A Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Myth of Free Will, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Before reading this little book of essays I thought: "I choose, therefore I have free will. What more do I need to know?" But I found out that choosing is done by my brain, totally, nothing else is doing the job, or even helping out with the task, so I don't have or need free will. At first this new fact-of-life upset me because I wanted there to be more, some sort of ghostly "me" in and around my brain. Then I realized that without my complex, evolved human brain I would, as a species, have far fewer options (no cars, iPods, clothes, gourmet food) to choose from. This put me in a state of awe. Finally, being free of the free-will myth has empowered me in ways I could never have imagined. I've dropped a lot of unwarranted pride and blame and guilt. I give people a lot more slack and am able to set boundaries in a clearer way. Mainly, I reflect on my habits more. They intrigue me. Why did I (my brain) choose this and that? The essays in this little book really moved me, educated me, and changed me in a nice way.