100 Best Free Will Books of All Time

A.J. JacobsI don’t believe in free will [...] Some people see that as depressing but I actually find it liberating because it’s so much easier to forgive yourself for doing stupid things. (Source)

Steve Jobsis said by his Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, to have regarded Atlas Shrugged as one of his “guides in life”. (Source)

Elon MuskA counterpoint to communism and useful as such, but should be tempered with kindness. (Source)

Travis Kalanick[Travis Kalanick mentioned this book in a Washington Post interview.] (Source)

Jeff Atwood"The best marriage advice book I’ve read is a paperback called How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk. As you might deduce from the title, it wasn’t meant as a marriage advice book." https://t.co/cy7JeKVsjV (Source)

Miguel De Icaza@codinghorror Yes - that is an awesome book too (Source)

Randall StephensonFavorite book: The Brothers Karamazov. (Source)

Kenan MalikDostoevsky was a devout Christian and The Brothers Karamazov, his last and possibly greatest novel, was a heartfelt plea for the necessity of faith. The phrase If God does not exist, everything is permitted is often attributed to Dostoevsky. He actually never wrote that, but the sentiment certainly runs through much of his work, and most especially through The Brothers Karamazov. (Source)

Rachel KushnerThis book taught me something I knew on a much deeper level but did not have the language or the reasoning to state: that innocence is something very durable and interior, and also evanescent. (Source)

James AltucherAnd throw in “The Black Swan” and “Fooled by Randomness”. “Fragile” means if you hit something might break. “Resilient” means if you hit something, it will stay the same. On my podcast Nassim discusses “Antifragility” – building a system, even on that works for you on a personal level, where you if you harm your self in some way it becomes stronger. That podcast changed my life He discusses... (Source)

Howard MarksReally about how much randomness there is in our world. (Source)

Anant JainThe five-book series, "Incerto", by Nassim Nicholas Taleb has had a profound impact on how I think about the world. There’s some overlap across the books — but you'll likely find the repetition helpful in retaining the content better. (Source)

Charlamagne Tha GodHad to take my time reading this one. AMAZING READ. Not that I didn't have the courage to be disliked it's actually one of my specialities but the reasoning why it's ok to be disliked and the understanding behind people disliking you and why you shouldn't give a sh*t is incredible. I highly recommend this one!!!! (Source)

Marc AndreessenSmash hit in Japan, and easy to see why. Adlerian psychology meets Stoic philosophy in Socratic dialogue. Compelling from front to back. Highly recommend. (Source)

Ryan HooverIt's like this book was written just for me. I came away with so many 'aha!' moments that have helped me better understand myself. (Source)

Seth GodinThe easiest way to get rich is to inherit. This is the second best way—knowledge and some discipline. If you’re bold enough to do the right thing, Ramit will show you how. Highly recommended. (Source)

Bj FoggThe new edition of Ramit Sethi's book is smart, practical & FUNNY. Really. I laughed out loud about every other page. Great work, @ramit. https://t.co/WPUiZdsiM2 (Source)

Patrick Mckenzie@visakanv @Austen "Why not?" Because while there was interesting sociological work the book doesn't have a comparative advantage over Ramit's I Will Teach You To Be Rich for people working in the tech industry, and you *probably* have more interesting goals. (Source)

Tony RobbinsI’ve read this book more than a dozen times and often give it as a gift. (Source)

Shay CarlOne of my favorite books. I think that we so undervalue the power of thought. (Source)

Anoop Anthony"Mere Christianity" is first and foremost a rational book — it is in many ways the opposite of a traditional religious tome. Lewis, who was once an atheist, has been on both sides of the table, and he approaches the notion of God with accessible, clear thinking. The book reveals that experiencing God doesn't have to be a mystical exercise; God can be a concrete and logical conclusion. Lewis was... (Source)

Paul RussellElbow Room was written in 1984 so perhaps it’s getting a bit long in the tooth. However, I selected it because it’s a really good place for readers to start if they want to work their way into the contemporary debate. In terms of style, it’s very accessible and enjoyable. Dennett is a sharp philosopher with an engaging style. The main aim of this book is to debunk or defang the feeling that... (Source)

Paul RussellI suppose I’m cheating here because I’m squeezing four books into one. However, I would particularly recommend this book to readers, as the four authors of this book — Robert Kane, John Fischer, Derk Pereboom and Manuel Vargas — are all significant figures in the contemporary field and have mapped out distinct and influential positions. The reader can quickly get a sense of the general lie of the... (Source)

Andy SternI think it's something that progressives need to think about, because the book talks a lot about two tendencies that people can adopt, to try to find meaning and purpose. One is kind of a sheer technological approach, and the other is more of a spiritual and religious approach. The book talks about the perils and challenges of each way. Sometimes we as progressives defend technology and science... (Source)

Susan JacobyThe Confessions is a book that everybody should read. It is seminal, if you can excuse the expression. (Source)

Carlos EireSt Augustine of Hippo was one of the first thinkers to struggle with the concepts of time, memory and eternity. (Source)

Richard HarriesHe was a wonderful, wonderful writer and a deeply passionate man. He was very sensual. (Source)

Simon BlackburnAn illuminating way to think of the Critique is as a kind of prolonged wrestling match with Hume. (Source)

Adrian MooreThis is the greatest philosophical book of all time. This is Kant’s masterpiece. (Source)

Luciano FloridiI find reading Kant a bit like understanding cricket as a foreigner: hard to get at first, but once you get it, it’s very enjoyable. (Source)

Susan CainSuch a fantastic book. And it was really, for me, completely lifechanging. (Source)

Chris GowardI also highly recommend Sam Harris' Waking Up, which is a more well-rounded unpacking of non-religious mindfulness practice. (Source)

Fabrice GrindaVery well thought through analysis of spirituality without religion. (Source)

David Heinemeier HanssonAs a newcomer to existentialism, it can be hard to wrap your brain around the core concepts when reading novels like The Stranger or Nausea, or writers like Kierkegaard. You get a great feel for the existentialist ambience, but what are the core tenets? This (short) book delivers it about as directly as you can get it, as it’s basically just two parts: 1) An account of a lecture/defense that... (Source)

Julian BagginiSerious Sartreans get quite annoyed with this book because it’s a very accessible, easy-to-read, non-technical, public lecture. (Source)

Ryan HolidaySeneca’s letters are the best place to start, but the essays in On the Shortness of Life are excellent as well. (Source)

Chip ConleySays something about the fact that it’s not so much the shortness of life, it’s how we waste it. (Source)

Maria PopovaTo remind ourselves of this profound failure, Maria, I, and at least six other guests in this book read and recommend On the Shortness of Life by Seneca. (Source)

Paul RussellThis is a highly regarded book, though in terms of the standard free will literature, it’s very different in its approach. Unlike some of the other books I’ve mentioned it’s not an easy book to read. There’s no simple position or model that Williams is interested in articulating. It’s a book that’s focused on ancient Greek conceptions of agency and responsibility. Not only is he interested in the... (Source)

Bryan Callen[Bryan Callen recommended this book on the podcast "The Tim Ferriss Show".] (Source)

Edward SkidelskyPlato is the founding figure in the Western philosophical tradition and the Symposium is one of his most charming books – you can read it like a novel. (Source)

Stephane GrandI have been running my own businesses for the last 15 years. Just before that, before diving head-on into entrepreneurship and independence, I used to be the country monitor of a large accounting and consulting network for China. Having had some ethical differences with members of my former network, I decided to break away from it. However, since I was equipped with a very expensive education,... (Source)

Emrys WestacottIt’s just a translation of the German, Die fröhliche Wissenschaft, which means the joyful wisdom. It’s my favourite of all Nietzsche’s books. It’s interesting that 50 years ago Nietzsche was not taught much in academic philosophy departments. Gradually, in the 1970s and ever since, there’s been a tremendous burgeoning of academic interest in him. If you go to the philosophy section in any... (Source)

Andrew HuiI chose Gay Science because that’s where he really becomes a master of the form: it’s incredibly vivid and incandescent in parts where you get a dazzled by his sheer visionary, aesthetic philosophy of life. (Source)

Susan BlackmorePeople go in two directions: they either love the way he writes, or they hate it. I love it, with all his mad examples and neologisms. (Source)

Keith FrankishThe book is packed with thought experiments, all designed to undermine the intuitive but misleading picture of the Cartesian Theatre. (Source)

Nigel WarburtonStoicism in its modern form, as described by Massimo Pigliucci, is a philosophy for living. (Source)

Sarah-Jayne BlakemoreIt’s about consciousness, and how we are conscious, and how our brains enable us to be conscious, and to have awareness of the world around us. (Source)

Dorothy RoweThis first book is by Chris Frith, Making up the Mind, How the Brain Creates our Mental World. Everything that I have written has been based on the proposition that what determines our behaviour isn’t what happens to us but how we interpret what happens to us. The basis of that is what neuroscientists have been showing over the last 20-odd years, which is that the way our brain operates means... (Source)

Ryan HolidayFrankl is one of the most profound modern thinkers on meaning and purpose. His contribution was to change the question from the vague philosophy of “What is the meaning of life?” to man being asked and forced to answer with his actions. He looks at how we find purpose by dedicating ourselves to a cause, learning to love and finding a meaning to our suffering. His other two books on the topic,... (Source)

Malcolm GladwellOne of the loveliest, most insightful books about social psychology that I ever read. (Source)

The CEO Library Community (through anonymous form)One of the best 3 books I've read in 2019 (Source)

Bruce SchneierThis book is about the neuroscience of morality. It was published in 2011. This is a brand new field of science, and new discoveries are happening all the time. Morality is the most basic of societal pressures, and Churchland explains how it works. (Source)

Paul RussellThis is an important point. While I think it would be too much to say that the free will problem is just the problem of moral responsibility, they are intimately connected. Free will stretches beyond the problem of responsibility, since it touches on our conception of ourselves as creators, individuals and so on but the issue that really matters to us is the problem of our agency in relation to... (Source)

Paul RussellIn the fifth book I’ve selected, Waller’s Against Moral Responsibility, one of the sources he appeals to in support of his scepticism about moral responsibility is data coming from neuroscience. This reflects a wider trend in philosophy, which is to be better informed and more deeply integrated with advances in empirical science and to use these resources to help us understand philosophical... (Source)

Ryan HolidayI really enjoyed the new series of translations that Princeton University Press has done of Cicero and Epictetus and Seneca. They are worth reading for sure. (Source)