Free Will & Determinism Books

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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Total reviews: 379 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

If the prescriptions for getting rich that are outlined in books such as The Millionaire Next Door and Rich Dad Poor Dad are successful enough to make the books bestsellers, then one must ask, Why aren't there more millionaires? In Fooled by Randomness, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a professional trader and mathematics professor, examines what randomness means in business and in life and why human beings are so prone to mistake dumb luck for consummate skill. This eccentric and highly personal exploration of the nature of randomness meanders from the court of Croesus and trading rooms in New York and London to Russian roulette, Monte Carlo engines, and the philosophy of Karl Popper. Part of what makes this book so good is Taleb's ability to make seemingly arcane mathematical concepts (at least to this reviewer) entirely relevant in evaluating and understanding everything from the stock market to the success of those millionaires cited in the aforementioned bestsellers. Here's an articulate, wise, and humorous meditation on the nature of success and failure that anyone who wants a little more of the former would do well to consider. Highly recommended. --Harry C. Edwards

When GOD Winks: How the Power of Coincidence Guides Your Life

SQuire Rushnell

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Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Inspiration in a Wink 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a quick read and has a lot of short stories to illustrate how God is making Himself known in our lives. I came away with the hope that the coincedences in my own life really are signs that God is touching my life.

Editorial Review:

It is not by accident that you just picked up When God Winks. Whether you call it synchronicity or coincidence, what brought you to this book today is worth remembering. In fact, you may have suspected all along that there is more to coincidence than meets the eye. These seemingly random events are actually signposts that can help you successfully navigate your career, relationships, and interests. SQuire Rushnell shows us that by recognizing our "God Winks," we can use the untapped power of coincidence to vastly improve our lives.

The author applies his compelling theory as to why coincidences exist to fascinating stories in history, sports, medicine, and relationships involving both everyday and famous people including Barbra Streisand, Charles Schulz, Oprah Winfrey, Kevin Costner, Mark Twain, and Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

Chosen by God

R. C. Sproul

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Total reviews: 82 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great Book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is an essential reading for any interested in deepens its knowledge in Theology. It explains with an easy to understand language the concept of God sovereignty and how his sovereignty can be seen in all creation and human life. The man free will is also discussed in the light of God sovereignty and how they interrelated to each other. This book is a must to any one who wants to understand the predestination theology.

concerned. educated. gracious. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3M2OP7V1GSTQ0 I don't know why he includes the point about limited atonement at the end when it could go between unconditional election and irresistatble grace but it works. It is still a great book. It covers all five points of calvinism. It competes with Tulip. Tulip,: The Five Points of Calvinism in the Light of Scripture It is a great introduction to the reformed faith. Even Arminians agree that it is informative.

Editorial Review:

Here is a clear scriptural case for the classic (and sometimes controversial) Christian doctrine of predestination. Through this view of a truly sovereign God, readers will see how sinfulness prevents man from choosing God on his own; instead, God must change people's hearts.

The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt

Albert Camus

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Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Camus eclipses nihilism and brings news of a new age! 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 14 people found this review helpful.

I first became interested in Albert Camus after reading a quote from The Rebel online. "I rebel, therefore we exist" was the quote, and I must admit that, after reading the book, there has never been anything truer written. When I was in a bookstore a few months ago I found a copy of The Rebel, which is apparently a rare sight these days, since The Rebel is often ignored. Camus is one of the most famous writers of the 20th century, so why would one of his masterpieces be ignored?

It has been ignored, from what I can gather, because it is a philosophical work in which Camus pulls no punches and examines thoroughly why the excessive crime and violence of our era exist. Camus explains how, in both philosophy and politics, the reigning attitude has been one of nihilism for the past two centuries. This nihilism, being necessarily without an aim, leads to dictatorship and gross amounts of suffering for humans, no matter what principles it claims on the surface. Camus systematically destroys those who have used the philosophies of Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx, surrealism, u.s.w., to justify their murderous plots.

Camus proposes that instead of nihilism and murder, we take to heart the ancient concepts of moderation and responsibility. Camus' destruction of modern governents and his proposals of these ancient ideas seem to have made this book unpopular. In this era of oppression, it is easy to ignore what offends us or makes us think. Camus gives the reader no choice. He must either raise a defiant fist to the giants of power, or he must give way to these minds that are utterly without scruples. I admire Camus deeply because of this--he has summed up the ideas I have been carrying around for years--but some will be deeply hurt by his comments. I leave you with a final thought: everyone is partly to blame for the state of the present and the future. You have the choice to make it either good or bad.

Editorial Review:

By one of the most profoundly influential thinkers of our century, The Rebel is a classic essay on revolution. For Albert Camus, the urge to revolt is one of the "essential dimensions" of human nature, manifested in man's timeless Promethean struggle against the conditions of his existence, as well as the popular uprisings against established orders throughout history. And yet, with an eye toward the French Revolution and its regicides and deicides, he shows how inevitably the course of revolution leads to tyranny. As old regimes throughout the world collapse, The Rebel resonates as an ardent, eloquent, and supremely rational voice of conscience for our tumultuous times.

Translated from the French by Anthony Bower.

Fear and Trembling (Penguin Classics)

Soren Kierkegaard

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Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Goes Good With Free On-line Course 3 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard originally published in the mid-1800s is widely considered a classic of existentialist literature. These comments pertain to the Penguin version of Fear and Trembling translated by Hannay.

Though Kierkegaard talent is readily apparent, his work can be a difficult slog without the appropriate context or guidance. Personally, I have always found Kierkegaard difficult and as a result have tended to refer to secondary rather than primary sources in dealing with him. My experience with Fear and Trembling was different and markedly more fulfilling. I stumbled across a wonderful free, on-line University of California Berkley existentialist literature course available through i-tunes. The first half dozen or so lectures of this course deal with Fear and Trembling - I highly recommend it.

Overall, it is an excellent version of an important work. I recommend the text as well as a look at the Berkley site.

Editorial Review:

Søren Kierkegaard not only ­trans­formed Protestant theology but also anticipated twentieth-century existentialism and provided it with many of its motifs. Fear and Trembling and The Book on Adler–addressed to a general audience–have the imaginative excitement and intense personal appeal of the greatest literature. Only Plato and Nietzsche have matched Kierkegaard’s ability to give ideas so compellingly vivid and dramatic a shape.

Translated by Walter Lowrie

The Power of Coincidence: How Life Shows Us What We Need to Know

David Richo

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

the power of coincidence 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Excellent! If you have had things happen in your life that seemed like a 'coincidence' read this and decide for yourself if you think it was a conincidence or sent to you and meant to happen.

outstanding!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

if there were more stars, i'd give this more. and, if you look over my reviews, you know that i save the very highest ratings for the very best books that i've read. and, this is one of those great books that i come upon maybe once a year... the author writes a well grounded book, based upon principles of psychology and metaphysics. he is not one of those flaky writers. in fact, if you're anything like me, you find that it takes some real time to read this through. it is also likely to be a book, like ernest becker's of victor frankel's, that i read from time to time.

Editorial Review:

Meaningful coincidences and surprising connections occur all the time in our daily lives, yet we often fail to appreciate how they can guide us, warn us, and confirm us on our life's path. This book explores how meaningful coincidence operates in our daily lives, in our intimate relationships, and in our creative endeavors.

The Power of Coincidence will help you to: interpret a series of similar happenings, open yourself to assisting forces around you, understand how your dreams can guide you through life events, use your creative imagination in life choices—and live in accord with your deepest needs and wishes, as revealed to you by meaningful coincidences. Originally published under the title Unexpected Miracles, the author has fully revised and updated the book for this edition.

On Liberty and The Subjection of Women (Penguin Classics)

John Stuart Mill

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The great defender of individual liberty 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found this review helpful.

John Stuart Mill, 1806-73, worked for the East India Co. helped run Colonial India from England. Minister of Parliament 1865-68 he served one term. Maiden speech was a disaster his second was great success. He was first MP to propose that women should be given the vote on equal footing with the men who could vote. He got 1/3 support, England gives franchise to women after U.S. He was a great Feminist, his essay "Subjection of Women" is written with great passion and prose. It was a brave position for him to take he was ridiculed for it. He favored democracy, and letting more men from lower classes the right to vote, but believed that people that are more educated should have more votes then less educated because they would make better decisions about what government should do. He would have wanted to extend education to the masses, so that all may have gotten 2-3 votes and so on. He didn't think it should be extended to where a small elite could carry the day on votes. The idea was that if the working class, and middle class, where divided on an issue, the people with more intelligence would have the power to tip the balance. Mill thought that people with more education would probably not only be better able to make political decisions, especially in terms of intellectually being able to see what would be best for the government to do, but that they would also be more concerned about the common good publicly then people in general. He was intensely educated by his father James. John could read Greek, and Latin at 6 yrs.; his Dad tutored him at home. Dad thought environment was everything. He was treated like an adult, never played games with kids; he had a very cerebral upbringing. He had a period of depression in his twenties, it changed his philosophy, and he recognized the importance of developing feelings along with the intellect, this is something that he stressed in his work. He read poetry to get out of depression; he became devoted to poetry and became a romantic. He fell in love with a married woman Harriet Taylor, was a platonic relationship, after her husband's death they married 3 years later and probably never consummated the marriage maybe due to his having syphilis. His dedication to "On Liberty" is to her, very devoted to each other. Both buried together in Avignon France where they used to vacation.

Mill as a moral theorist subscribed to a theory we call Utilitarianism. It means---In some way morality is about the maximization of happiness. Whether actions are right or wrong depends on how happiness can be most effectively maximized. I say in some way, because there are allot of different kinds of Utilitarians. Allot of different ways of saying exactly how it is the maximization of happiness comes into morality. Therefore, happiness is clearly an important idea for Utilitarians. Mill has a hedonistic view of happiness, he thinks that happiness can be defined in terms of "pleasure in the absence of pain." What is distinctive about Mill in this area is that he believes that some kinds of pleasure are better than others are, and add more to a person's happiness than other kinds of pleasures. He believes in what he calls, "higher quality pleasures." These are pleasures, he says, that we get from the exercise of faculties that only human beings happen to have. So the intellect, imagination, the moral feelings, these are the sources of higher quality pleasures people use. His view seems to be that a certain quantity of intellectual pleasure just adds more to your happiness, and a given quantity of some lower pleasure like a kind we would share with the animals such as sensation, taste, sexual pleasure, etc. His "higher quality pleasures" in a way echo Aristotle's ethics. The idea of those things that make us distinctly human that are the real key to our happiness, that is in Mill also. It is not as limited to reason and intellect as Aristotle thinks. Mill recognizes the importance of the appreciation of beauty, aesthetic pleasure, and moral pleasure. He frankly owes a debt to Aristotle that he never properly acknowledges, never gives him proper credit.

"On Liberty" is Mill's is his most widely read and enduring work. It is an indispensable essay on political thought, which strenuously argues for individual liberty. He is defending what he calls the "liberty principle." It is a principle that guarantees individuals quite a bit of personal freedom. "That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant." These quoted sentences in John Stuart Mill's book, "On Liberty," embody the crux of his argument; that the power of the state must intrude as little as possible on the liberty of its citizenry. In essence, Mill was against using the power of the state through its lawmaking apparatus to compel citizens to conduct themselves in ways that society deems moral or appropriate. Mill thought that people had not only a right, but also a duty to develop their intellectual faculties, which is indispensable to maximize their happiness. He believed that society improved for all its citizens when they where left unfettered to the maximum extent possible, allowing them to use their imagination and intellect to improve themselves. Mill postulates a theory that societies usually institute laws based primarily on "personal preference" of its citizenry instead of established principles. This lack of clarity of opinion often leads to the government frequently interfering in the lives of its citizens unnecessarily. For Mill, there are very few times when the state can infringe on the personal liberty of others. Firstly, the state has the right to promulgate laws that prevent a person's actions from harming others. Secondly, the state must protect those citizens who are not mature enough to protect themselves, such as children. Thirdly, he exempts, "... backward states of society in which the race itself may be considered as in its nonage." In Mill's view, immature societies need a benevolent leader to rule them until they have developed to a point where they, "... have attained the capacity of being guided to their own improvement by conviction or persuasion ..." Mill said this third exemption did not apply to any of the countries in Europe. Mill believed that forced morality by the state on its citizen's liberties was destructive to their inward development, and could even lead to a violent reaction by them against the government.


There are different parts of his defense of this, different arguments that he gives. He has a long chapter on freedom of speech and press. He has some very specific reasons why he thinks those freedoms are important. Always in the background for Mill is the idea of development, and making it possible for more people to enjoy these higher quality pleasures. How do we help people develop their distinctly human faculties, in ways that will help them enjoy their higher quality pleasures? Because for him that is the way, we maximize the total amount of happiness that is enjoyed in the world, and that is the object of morality as far as he is concerned. Utilitarianists believe that maximizing happiness is ultimately, what morality is all about. That does not mean maximizing your own happiness that means maximizing the total amount of happiness that is enjoyed, not only by yourself but also by everybody else as well.

Roger Kimball, in his book "Experiments Against Reality" wrote, "On Liberty" was published in 1859, coincidentally the same year as "On the Origin of Species." Darwin's book has been credited--and blamed--for all manner of moral and religious mischief. But in the long run "On Liberty" may have effected an even greater revolution in sentiment.

I read this book for a graduate class in Philosophy. Recommended reading for anyone interested in philosophy, political science, and history.

Editorial Review:

Two cornerstones of liberalism from the great social radical of English philosophy

John Stuart Mill was a prodigious thinker who sharply challenged the beliefs of his age. In On Liberty—one of the sacred texts of liberalism—he argues that any democracy risks becoming a “tyranny of opinion” in which minority views are suppressed if they do not conform to those of the majority. The Subjection of Women, written shortly after the death of Mill’s wife, Harriet, stresses the importance of sexual equality. Together they provide eloquent testimony to the hopes and anxieties of Victorian England, and offer a trenchant consideration of what it really means to be free.

The Illusion of Conscious Will (Bradford Books)

Daniel M. Wegner

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Selected as a Finalist in the category of Psychology/Mental Health in the 2002 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPYs) presented by Independent Publisher Magazine., Silver Award Winner for Philosophy in the 2002 ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards. and Selected as an Outstanding Academic Book for 2002 by Choice Magazine

Do we consciously cause our actions, or do they happen to us? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and lawyers have long debated the existence of free will versus determinism. In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the issue. Like actions, he argues, the feeling of conscious will is created by the mind and brain. Yet if psychological and neural mechanisms are responsible for all human behavior, how could we have conscious will? The feeling of conscious will, Wegner shows, helps us to appreciate and remember our authorship of the things our minds and bodies do. Yes, we feel that we consciously will our actions, Wegner says, but at the same time, our actions happen to us. Although conscious will is an illusion, it serves as a guide to understanding ourselves and to developing a sense of responsibility and morality.

Approaching conscious will as a topic of psychological study, Wegner examines the issue from a variety of angles. He looks at illusions of the will?-those cases where people feel that they are willing an act that they are not doing or, conversely, are not willing an act that they in fact are doing. He explores conscious will in hypnosis, Ouija board spelling, automatic writing, and facilitated communication, as well as in such phenomena as spirit possession, dissociative identity disorder, and trance channeling. The result is a book that sidesteps endless debates to focus, more fruitfully, on the impact on our lives of the illusion of conscious will.

Freedom Evolves

Daniel C. Dennett

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Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Free will has price tag 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 11 people found this review helpful.

If reality is deterministic, then can anyone seriously believe in free will.

In giving an emphatic "yes" Dan Dennett posits a philosophy which attempts to show that -- properly understood -- determinism does indeed reconcile itself with the notion of free will (ostensibly something non deterministic).

In laying out his thesis, Dennett draws from a variety of sources however, amazingly enough, not choas theory.

This isn't surprising because in his earlier Darwin's Dangerous Idea, Dennett confessed that he didn't understand physics.

Regrettably, this lack of knowledge has denied him an important additional method by which to reconcile the two phenomenon he purports to discuss. Though certainly not a panacea, choas theory does posit that in sufficiently choatic systems, periodic patches of order emerge.

The significance of this view is obvious when one is discussing a field so broad a free will.

When properly viewed it emerges that free will isn't free.

Where Dennett took the example of baseball player responding to a pitch, let us take the example of you saying hello to a friend. While it's true that your friend may respond by singing a song or doing a dance, the smart money is on the idea that you will get some type of greeting in response to your greeting. In other words, free will isn't free but rather yields responses that lie within a fairly predictable horizon of responses.

Another good case in point is an individual choosing a mate. Research by Dr. Helen Fisher (see her Why we love) says that our romantic choices will ultimately combine two features: 1) a common economic, religious, social background with 2) those physical traits we deem desireable (themselves predictable as pointed out in the Nancy Etcoff book Survival of the Prettiest by means symmetry, youth, apparent reproductive fecundity and the like).

Still another good case in point is the individual in choosing a religion. Typically, children follow the faith of their parents.

True, in each of these situations, it is predictable that a certain percentage of random choices will occur outside the predicted outcomes but a fair analysis seems to suggest that free will generally expresses itself in the form of an individual doing what -- by dint of genetic proclivity or experiential background -- they were in essence programmed to do.

That said, Dennett's point that more learning and ability to learn widens the options is well taken. However, the Tao Te Ching's advice to "not let your wheels stray from old ruts" becomes not so much advice as a fair predicter of human behavior.

Editorial Review:

Can there be freedom and free will in a deterministic world? Renowned philosopher Daniel Dennett emphatically answers “yes!” Using an array of provocative formulations, Dennett sets out to show how we alone among the animals have evolved minds that give us free will and morality. Weaving a richly detailed narrative, Dennett explains in a series of strikingly original arguments—drawing upon evolutionary biology, cognitive neuroscience, economics, and philosophy—that far from being an enemy of traditional explorations of freedom, morality, and meaning, the evolutionary perspective can be an indispensable ally. In Freedom Evolves, Dennett seeks to place ethics on the foundation it deserves: a realistic, naturalistic, potentially unified vision of our place in nature.

Conversations on Consciousness: What the Best Minds Think about the Brain, Free Will, and What It Means to Be Human

Susan Blackmore

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Editorial Review:

In Conversations on Consciousness, Susan Blackmore interviews some of the great minds of our time, a who's who of eminent thinkers, all of whom have devoted much of their lives to understanding the concept of consciousness. The interviewees, ranging from major philosophers to renowned scientists, talk candidly with Blackmore about some of the key philosophical issues confronting us in a series of conversations that are revealing, insightful, and stimulating. They ruminate on the nature of consciousness (is it something apart from the brain?) and discuss if it is even possible to understand the human mind. Some of these thinkers say no, but most believe that we will pierce the mystery surrounding consciousness, and that neuroscience will provide the key. Blackmore goes beyond the issue of consciousness to ask other intriguing questions: Is there free will? (A question which yields many conflicted replies, with most saying yes and no.) If not, how does this effect the way you live your life; and more broadly, how has your work changed the way you live?
Paired with an introduction and extensive glossary that provide helpful background information, these provocative conversations illuminate how some of the greatest minds tackle some of the most difficult questions about human nature.