Making Sense: Conversations on Consciousness, Morality, and the Future of Humanity

A New York Times New and Noteworthy Book

From the bestselling author of Waking Up and The End of Faith, an adaptation of his wildly popular, often controversial podcast

“Civilization rests on a series of successful conversations.” —Sam Harris

Sam Harris—neuroscientist, philosopher, and bestselling author—has been exploring some of the most important questions about the human mind, society, and current events on his podcast, Making Sense. With over one million downloads per episode, these discussions have clearly hit a nerve, frequently walking a tightrope where either host or guest—and sometimes both—lose their footing, but always in search of a greater understanding of the world in which we live. For Harris, honest and rational conversation, no matter how difficult or controversial, represents the only path to moral and intellectual progress.

This book includes a dozen of the best conversations from Making Sense, including talks with Daniel Kahneman, Timothy Snyder, Nick Bostrom, and Glenn Loury, on topics that range from the nature of consciousness, free will, and artificial intelligence, to politics and extremism, to living ethically. Together they shine a light on what it means to “make sense” in the modern world.

How do we navigate the most complex and divisive issues of our time?

• Philosophy of Mind: Explore the ‘hard problem’ of consciousness and the nature of the self with thinkers like David Chalmers and Anil Seth.
• The Illusion of Free Will: Challenge your deepest intuitions about choice and responsibility in a conversation that unpacks the scientific case against free will.
• Existential Risk: Confront the future of humanity with Nick Bostrom, discussing the perils of superintelligence and other threats to our long-term survival.
• Reason and Public Discourse: Join conversations with figures like Timothy Snyder and Glenn Loury that test the limits of civil dialogue on politics, tribalism, and extremism.

Sam Harris is the author of the bestselling books The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, and Lying.  The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction and his work has been published in more than 20 languages. He has written for the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Economist, the Times (London), the Boston Globe, the Atlantic, the Annals of Neurology, and elsewhere. He received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA.