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lazydoc98's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
miklosha's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
mcatsambas's review against another edition
4.5
Too much science for me, I'd take the author's word for it without the explanations. He gave me arrogant atheist Bernie bro male vibes but overall seemed like a nice guy. Perhaps relatedly he focused too much on how knowing there is no free will would make people depressed and nihilistic. But at the end he touched on the opposite -- that lack of control is relaxing, which is what I was thinking the whole time. I liked his ideas of quarantining people who commit crimes. Another indicator of the type of maleness I describe above is that he said he finds it hard to emotionally accept determinism and not feel hatred for some bad people. (I also saw him express a lot of admiration for some good people?) I think empathy comes a lot more easily to me naturally. And I don't think we should be putting people on pedestals given that they just are the way they are.
joshloftin's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
2.0
The central argument of this book is that science makes free will impossible. Over 400+ pages, Sapolsky builds the case against free will with sometimes compelling but often exhausting research, examples, and scenarios.
While the premise is very interesting, this book is extremely difficult. While Sapolsky writes in an approachable style, the details he includes makes the book move slow. Additionally, the endless footnote (asides) are distracting.
Overall, I wanted to like this book, especially after listening to an engaging podcast about it. But the book was simply not worth the effort.
While the premise is very interesting, this book is extremely difficult. While Sapolsky writes in an approachable style, the details he includes makes the book move slow. Additionally, the endless footnote (asides) are distracting.
Overall, I wanted to like this book, especially after listening to an engaging podcast about it. But the book was simply not worth the effort.
tenar's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Mental illness, Ableism, Antisemitism, Death, and Fatphobia
Minor: Rape, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pandemic/Epidemic, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Alcoholism, Mass/school shootings, and Addiction
- This book is divided into two sections and most of the content that could be disturbing is within section 2, especially toward the end with discussion of famous serial killers, hate crimes, and executions. The theme of this book is how we can be more compassionate humans, and the descriptions/mentions of violence and bigotry are in the context of condemning them. The author does promote forced institutionalization.ramtinaat1377's review against another edition
4.0
حسم متناقضه. اطلاعات خیلی جالبی داشت ولی پیام نهاییش خیلی کسشر بود. دیگه انتخاب با خودتون
jdavisdev's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
sabrinahughes's review against another edition
Basically he had me convinced with the arguments in the first four chapters. I read the next four chapters but the dense scientific arguments aren’t any more convincing than the earlier human-scaled ones.
Anyway, I liked it fine! I just felt ok with moving on without completing it.
Anyway, I liked it fine! I just felt ok with moving on without completing it.