'An extraordinary book . . . It will shake up your most fundamental beliefs about everyday experience, and it just might change your life.' Paul Bloom
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For the millions of people who want spirituality without religion, Sam Harris's new book is a guide to meditation as a rational spiritual practice informed by neuroscience and psychology.

Throughout the book, Harris argues that there are important truths to be found in the experience of contemplatives such as Jesus, Buddha and other saints and sages of history-and, therefore, that there is more to understanding reality than science and secular culture generally allow.

Waking Up is part seeker's memoir and part exploration of the scientific underpinnings of spirituality. No other book marries contemplative wisdom and modern science in this way, and no author other than Sam Harris-a scientist, philosopher, and famous sceptic-could write it.
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'A demanding, illusion-shattering book.' Kirkus Reviews
'A pleasure to read.' Huffington Post

Sam Harris's first book, The End of Faith, ignited a worldwide debate about the validity of religion. In the aftermath, Harris discovered that most people - from religious fundamentalists to nonbelieving scientists - agree on one point: science has nothing to say on the subject of human values. Indeed, our failure to address questions of meaning and morality through science has now become the primary justification for religious faith.

In this highly controversial book, Sam Harris seeks to link morality to the rest of human knowledge. Defining morality in terms of human and animal well-being, Harris argues that science can do more than tell how we are; it can, in principle, tell us how we ought to be. In his view, moral relativism is simply false - and comes at an increasing cost to humanity. And the intrusions of religion into the sphere of human values can be finally repelled: for just as there is no such thing as Christian physics or Muslim algebra, there can be no Christian or Muslim morality. Using his expertise in philosophy and neuroscience, along with his experience on the front lines of our 'culture wars', Harris delivers a game-changing book about the future of science and about the real basis of human cooperation.

Featuring the controversial bestselling author of The God Delusion with a foreword by Stephen Fry
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"Do you believe in God?"

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What readers are saying:

***** ‘Awe inspiring . . . I read it in almost one sitting.’

***** ‘Thought provoking . . . fascinating.’

***** ‘An excellent read. Short, insightful and to the point.’

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Known as the ‘four horsemen’ of New Atheism, these four thinkers of the twenty-first century met only once. Their electrifying examination of ideas on this remarkable occasion was intense and wide-ranging. Questions they asked of each other included:

Is it ever possible to win a war of ideas?

Is spirituality the preserve of the religious?

Is it acceptable to criticize someone's belief?

Can you argue someone out of their faith?

Can you reform a religion to make it acceptable?

The dialogue was recorded, and is now transcribed and presented here with new introductions from the surviving three horsemen.

Essential reading for anyone interested in exploring the tensions between faith and reason.

"A hard-hitting polemic against religious fundamentalism" - Foreword by Richard Dawkins

' Thousands of people have written to tell me that I am wrong not to believe in God. The most hostile of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally imagine that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own. The truth is that many who claim to be transformed by Christ's love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While we may want to ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that such hatred draws considerable support from the Bible. How do I know this? The most disturbed of my correspondents always cite chapter and verse.'
So begins Letter to a Christian Nation, Sam Harris's hard-hitting rebuttal of religious fundamentalism and blind belief . With deceptively simple arguments, he demolishes the myths on which Christianity was built, challenges believers to open their eyes to the contradictions of their faith and warns us of the dangers of America's ever increasing unification of Church and State.

Sam Harris is the author of the New York Times bestseller The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason and winner of the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Non-fiction. He is a graduate in philosophy from Stanford University and is now completing a doctorate in neuroscience. He lives in New York.

“A civil but honest dialogue…As illuminating as it is fascinating.”
—Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Is Islam a religion of peace or war? Is it amenable to reform? Why do so many Muslims seem to be drawn to extremism? And what do words like jihadism and fundamentalism really mean? In a world riven by misunderstanding and violence, Sam Harris—a famous atheist—and Maajid Nawaz—a former radical—demonstrate how two people with very different religious views can find common ground and invite you to join in an urgently needed conversation.

“How refreshing to read an honest yet affectionate exchange between the Islamist-turned-liberal-Muslim Maajid Nawaz and the neuroscientist who advocates mindful atheism, Sam Harris…Their back-and-forth clarifies multiple confusions that plague the public conversation about Islam.”
—Irshad Manji, New York Times Book Review

“It is sadly uncommon, in any era, to find dialogue based on facts and reason—but even more rarely are Muslim and non-Muslim intellectuals able to maintain critical distance on broad questions about Islam. Which makes Islam and the Future of Tolerance something of a unicorn…Most conversations about religion are marked by the inability of either side to listen, but here, at last, is a proper debate.”
—New Statesman

"Civilization rests on a series of successful conversations." Sam Harris

Neuroscientist, philosopher, podcaster and bestselling author Sam Harris, has been exploring some of the greatest questions concerning the human mind, society, and the events that shape our world.

Harris's search for deeper understanding of how we think has led him to engage and exchange with some of our most brilliant and controversial contemporary minds - Daniel Kahneman, Robert Sapolsky, Anil Seth and Max Tegmark - in order to unpack and clarify ideas of consciousness, free will, extremism, and ethical living.

For Harris, honest conversation, no matter how difficult or contentious, represents the only path to moral and intellectual progress.

Featuring eleven conversations from the hit podcast, these electric exchanges fuse wisdom with rigorous interrogation to shine a light on what it means to make sense of our world today.

'I don't have many can't miss podcasts, but Making Sense is right at the top of that short list.' - Stephen Fry

'Sam Harris is the most intellectually courageous man I know.' - Richard Dawkins

En la vida sucede lo que sucedía en Ana Karenina, Madame Bovary u Otelo. La mayoría de las formas de malicia privada o maldad pública se desencadenan por mentiras o se sustentan en ellas. Los actos de adulterio y otras formas de deslealtad personal, los fraudes económicos, la corrupción en la administración y hasta el asesinato o el genocidio requieren un defecto moral adicional: la voluntad de mentir.

En Mentir, el reputado autor y neurocientífico Sam Harris sostiene que podemos simplificar radicalmente nuestra vida y mejorar la sociedad simplemente diciendo la verdad en las situaciones donde otros suelen mentir. Dedica especial atención a las mentiras "piadosas", aquellas que contamos con el fin de no hacer sufrir a otros, porque son las mentiras que con mayor frecuencia nos hacen caer en la tentación de mentir. Y suelen ser las únicas que la gente de bien cuenta creyendo que hace bien contándolas.

Un ensayo brillante. (Esperaba que lo fuera, para no tener que mentir.) Sinceramente, me encantó de principio a fin. Mentir es la lectura más estimulante del año. --Ricky Gervais.

Los seres humanos han evolucionado bien para mentir, y seguro que todos hemos visto cómo opera este lubricante social. En muchos casos, tal vez no pensáramos que se trata de una auténtica "mentira": quizá fuera una "mentira piadosa" de vez en cuando, o la omisión de un detalle relevante aquí o allá, o la expresión de un apoyo falso a alguien cuando no encontrábamos ninguna ventaja en truncar las esperanzas de un tercero... y la lista podría ser más larga. En Mentir, Sam Harris expone cómo aprovecharse de ser descarnada, pero pragmáticamente, honesto. Se trata de un librito absorbente y de gran impacto.

En esta obra breve e iluminadora, Sam Harris aplica sus estrategias argumentales típicamente sosegadas y juiciosas a un tema que nos afecta a todos: la capacidad humana para mentir. Y, al final del libro, Harris nos obliga a llevar una vida mejor porque las ventajas de decir la verdad superan con creces los costes de las mentiras que contamos: a nosotros mismos, a los demás y a la sociedad. --Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrofísico del Museo de Historia Natural de Estados Unidos.

Wie es war in Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, und Othello, so ist es im Leben.

Die meisten Formen der privaten Laster und des öffentlichen Bösen werden ausgelöst und aufrechterhalten durch Lügen. Ehebruch und anderer persönlicher Verrat, Finanzbetrug, Korruption der Regierung, sogar Mord und Völkermord erfordern in der Regel einen moralischen Defekt: die Bereitschaft zu lügen.

In Lying – Gibt es gute Lügen?, argumentiert Bestsellerautor und Neurowissenschaftler Sam Harris, dass wir unser Leben radikal vereinfachen und die Gesellschaft verbessern können, indem wir lediglich die Wahrheit in Situationen sagen, wo andere oft lügen. Er konzentriert sich auf »weiße« Lügen - die Lügen, die wir zum Zwecke der Schonung anderer Menschen nutzen - der Grund der uns am meisten zum Lügen verführt. Sie scheinen die einzigen Lügen guter Menschen zu sein, wobei diese sich dabei einbilden, etwas Gutes zu tun.