100 Best Consciousness Books of All Time

We've ranked the best consciousness books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.

How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence book cover1

How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence

Michael Pollan

5.0
Could psychedelic drugs change our worldview? One of America's most admired writers takes us on a mind-altering journey to the frontiers of human consciousness

When LSD was first discovered in the 1940s, it seemed to researchers, scientists and doctors as if the world might be on the cusp of psychological revolution. It promised to shed light on the deep mysteries of consciousness, as well as offer
Man's Search for Meaning book cover2

Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl

5.0
Man's Search for Meaning has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 psychiatrist Viktor Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the stories of his many patients, Frankl argues that we can
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom book cover3

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

4.9
In The Four Agreements, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, the Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love. The Four Agreements are: Be Impeccable With Your Word, Don't Take Anything Personally,
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind book cover4

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

Julian Jaynes

4.8
At the heart of this seminal book is Julian Jaynes's still-controversial thesis that consciousness didn't begin far back in animal evolution but instead is a learned process that came about only 3000 years ago & is still developing. The implications of this revolutionary scientific paradigm extend into virtually all aspects of psychology, history & religion.
Preface
Introduction
The mind of man
The c
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment book cover5

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Eckhart Tolle

4.8
Eckhart Tolle is emerging as one of today's most inspiring teachers. In The
Power of Now, a #1 national bestseller, the author describes his transition
from despair to self-realization soon after his 29th birthday. Tolle took
another ten years to understand this transformation, during which time he
evolved a philosophy that has parallels in Buddhism, relaxation techniques,
and meditation theory but is
Thinking, Fast and Slow book cover6

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Kahneman

4.8
Major New York Times bestseller
Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award in 2012
Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of 2011
A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 Title
One of The Economist's 2011 Books of the Year
One of The Wall Street Journal's Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 2011
2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient

In the internatio
Consciousness Explained book cover7

Consciousness Explained

Daniel C. Dennett

4.8
In Consciousness Explained, Daniel C. Dennett reveals the secrets of one of the last remaining mysteries of the universe: the human brain.

Daniel C. Dennett's now-classic book blends philosophy, psychology and neuroscience - with the aid of numerous examples and thought-experiments - to explore how consciousness has evolved, and how a modern understanding of the human mind is radically different fr
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness book cover8

Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness

Peter Godfrey-Smith

4.7

Although mammals and birds are widely regarded as the smartest creatures on earth, it has lately become clear that a very distant branch of the tree of life has also sprouted higher intelligence: the cephalopods, consisting of the squid, the cuttlefish, and above all the octopus. In captivity, octopuses have been known to identify individual human keepers, raid neighboring tanks for food, turn off

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose book cover9

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose

Eckhart Tolle

4.7

Building on the astonishing success of The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle presents readers with an honest look at the current state of humanity: He implores us to see and accept that this state, which is based on an erroneous identification with the egoic mind, is one of dangerous insanity.

Tolle tells us there is good news, however. There is an alternative to this potentially dire situation. Humani
The Biology Of Belief: Unleashing The Power Of Consciousness, Matter And Miracles book cover10

The Biology Of Belief: Unleashing The Power Of Consciousness, Matter And Miracles

Bruce H. Lipton

4.7
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid book cover11

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Douglas R. Hofstadter

4.7
Douglas Hofstadter's book is concerned directly with the nature of “maps” or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers at
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind book cover12

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Yuval Noah Harari

4.6
100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens.

How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables and consumerism?
Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion book cover13

Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

Sam Harris

4.6
For the millions of Americans 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.

From multiple New York Times bestselling author, neuroscientist, and “new atheist” Sam Harris, Waking Up is for the 30 percent of Americans who follow no religion, but who suspect that Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, R
The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself book cover14

The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

Michael A. Singer

4.6
Who are you? When you start to explore this question, you find out how elusive it really is. Are you a physical body? A collection of experiences and memories? A partner in a relationship? Each time you consider these aspects of yourself, you realize that there is much more to you than any of these can define.

In The Untethered Soul—now a New York Times bestseller—spiritual teacher Michael Singer
Meditations book cover15

Meditations

Marcus Aurelius

4.6
One measure, perhaps, of a book's worth, is its intergenerational pliancy: do new readers acquire it and interpret it afresh down through the ages? The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, translated and introduced by Gregory Hays, by that standard, is very worthwhile, indeed. Hays suggests that its most recent incarnation--as a self-help book--is not only valid, but may be close to the author's intent
The Selfish Gene book cover16

The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins

4.5
Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we see ourselves and the world with the publication of The Selfish Gene. Suppose, instead of thinking about organisms using genes to reproduce themselves, as we had since Mendel's work was rediscovered, we turn it around and imagine that "our" genes build and mainta
When Breath Becomes Air book cover17

When Breath Becomes Air

Paul Kalanithi

4.5
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve me
Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing the Uncommon book cover18

Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing the Uncommon

Joe Dispenza

4.5
What would it mean to become supernatural? What if you could train your brain to tune in to frequencies beyond our material world . . . change your brain circuitry and chemistry to access transcendent level of awareness . . . and transform your very biology to enable profound healing?

This one of the abilities Dr. Joe Dispenza offers in this revolutionary book: a set of tools that allow ordinary pe
The Alchemist book cover19

The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho

4.5
Paulo Coelho's enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world. This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. What starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treas
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales book cover20

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales

Oliver Sacks

4.5
If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a leg or an eye; but if he has lost a self—himself—he cannot know it, because he is no longer there to know it. Dr. Oliver Sacks recounts the stories of patients struggling to adapt to often bizarre worlds of neurological disorder. Here are people who can no longer recognize everyday objects or those they love; who are stricken with violent t
The Doors of Perception: Heaven and Hell (Thinking Classics) book cover21

The Doors of Perception: Heaven and Hell (Thinking Classics)

Aldous Huxley

4.5
In 1953, in the presence of an investigator, Aldous Huxley took four-tenths of a gramme of mescalin, sat down and waited to see what would happen. Huxley described his experience in 'The Doors of Perception' and its sequel 'Heaven and Hell'.
Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, author's Official Revised Edition book cover22

Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, author's Official Revised Edition

David R. Hawkins

4.5
All human endeavors have the common goal of understanding or influencing human experience. To this end, man has developed numerous descriptive and analytical disciplines: Morality, Philosophy, Psychology, and so on. Regardless of what branch of inquiry one starts from-philosophy, political theory, theology-all avenues of investigation eventually converge at a common meeting point: the quest for an
I Am a Strange Loop book cover23

I Am a Strange Loop

Douglas R. Hofstadter

4.5
Can thought arise out of matter? Can self, soul, consciousness, “I” arise out of mere matter? If it cannot, then how can you or I be here?I Am a Strange Loop argues that the key to understanding selves and consciousness is the “strange loop”—a special kind of abstract feedback loop inhabiting our brains. The most central and complex symbol in your brain is the one called “I.” The “I” is the nexus
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness book cover24

The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness

Sy Montgomery

4.5
In pursuit of the wild, solitary, predatory octopus, popular naturalist Sy Montgomery has practiced true immersion journalism. From New England aquarium tanks to the reefs of French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico, she has befriended octopuses with strikingly different personalities—gentle Athena, assertive Octavia, curious Kali, and joyful Karma. Each creature shows her cleverness in myriad ways
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference book cover25

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Malcolm Gladwell

4.5
An alternate cover edition exists here.

The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller,
The Origins and History of Consciousness book cover26

The Origins and History of Consciousness

Erich Neumann

4.5
The Origins and History of Consciousness draws on a full range of world mythology to show how individual consciousness undergoes the same archetypal stages of development as human consciousness as a whole. Erich Neumann was one of C. G. Jung's most creative students and a renowned practitioner of analytical psychology in his own right. In this influential book, Neumann shows how the stages begin a
27

The Mind’s I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul

Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel C. Dennett

4.4
Brilliant, shattering, mind-jolting, The Mind's I is a searching, probing cosmic journey of the mind that goes deeply into the problem of self and self-consciousness as anything written in our time. From verbalizing chimpanzees to scientific speculations involving machines with souls, from the mesmerizing, maze-like fiction of Borges to the tantalizing, dreamlike fiction of Lem and Princess Ineffa
The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are book cover28

The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are

Alan Watts

4.4
Alan Watts asks what is the cause of the illusion that the self is a separate ego, housed in a bag of skin, and which confronts a universe of physical objects that are alien to it. Rather a person's identity (their ego) binds them to the physical universe, creating a relationship with their environment and other people. The separation of the self and the physical world leads to the misuse of techn
Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts book cover29

Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts

Stanislas Dehaene

4.4
A breathtaking look at the new science that can track consciousness deep in the brain

How does our brain generate a conscious thought? And why does so much of our knowledge remain unconscious? Thanks to clever psychological and brain-imaging experiments, scientists are closer to cracking this mystery than ever before.

In this lively book, Stanislas Dehaene describes the pioneering work his lab and t
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow book cover30

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

Yuval Noah Harari

4.4
Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods.

Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to acce
The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness book cover31

The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness

Antonio R. Damasio

4.4
The publication of this book is an event in the making. All over the world scientists, psychologists, and philosophers are waiting to read Antonio Damasio's new theory of the nature of consciousness and the construction of the self. A renowned and revered scientist and clinician, Damasio has spent decades following amnesiacs down hospital corridors, waiting for comatose patients to awaken, and dev
Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence book cover32

Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Max Tegmark

4.4
How will Artificial Intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human? The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology--and there's nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor who's helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial.

How can we grow our prosperity th
Free Will book cover33
Belief in free will touches nearly everything that human beings value. It is difficult to think about law, politics, religion, public policy, intimate relationships, morality—as well as feelings of remorse or personal achievement—without first imagining that every person is the true source of his or her thoughts and actions. And yet the facts tell us that free will is an illusion.

In this enlighten
The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom book cover34

The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom

Jonathan Haidt

4.3
In his widely praised book, award-winning psychologist Jonathan Haidt examines the world’s philosophical wisdom through the lens of psychological science, showing how a deeper understanding of enduring maxims-like Do unto others as you would have others do unto you, or What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger-can enrich and even transform our lives.
35

The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory

David J. Chalmers

4.3
What is consciousness? How do physical processes in the brain give rise to the self-aware mind and to feelings as profoundly varied as love or hate, aesthetic pleasure or spiritual yearning? These questions today are among the most hotly debated issues among scientists and philosophers, and we have seen in recent years superb volumes by such eminent figures as Francis Crick, Daniel C. Dennett, Ger
Autobiography of a Yogi book cover36

Autobiography of a Yogi

Yogananda Paramahansa

4.3
Autobiography of a Yogi is one of the best-selling spiritual biographies of all time. The book is not merely read it is treasured and cherished by millions of spiritual seekers throughout the world.
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience book cover37

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

4.3
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's famous investigations of "optimal experience" have revealed that what makes an experience genuinely satisfying is a state of consciousness called flow. During flow, people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life. In this new edition of his groundbreaking classic work, Csikszentmihalyi demonstrates the ways this posit
Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind book cover38

Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind

V. S. Ramachandran, Sandra Blakeslee, et al.

4.3
Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran is internationally renowned for uncovering answers to the deep and quirky questions of human nature that few scientists have dared to address. His bold insights about the brain are matched only by the stunning simplicity of his experiments -- using such low-tech tools as cotton swabs, glasses of water and dime-store mirrors. In Phantoms in the Brain, Dr. Ramachandr
Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain book cover39

Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain

Antonio Damasio

4.3
From one of the most significant neuroscientists at work today, a pathbreaking investigation of a question that has confounded philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists for centuries: how is consciousness created?

Antonio Damasio has spent the past thirty years studying and writing about how the brain operates, and his work has garnered acclaim for its singular melding of the scientific and
40

The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size

Tor Norretranders

4.3
As John Casti wrote, "Finally, a book that really does explain consciousness." This groundbreaking work by Denmark's leading science writer draws on psychology, evolutionary biology, information theory, and other disciplines to argue its revolutionary point: that consciousness represents only an infinitesimal fraction of our ability to process information. Although we are unaware of it, our brains
41

Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe

Robert Lanza and Bob Berman

4.3
Robert Lanza is one of the most respected scientists in the world—a US News & World Report cover story called him a “"genius” and a “"renegade thinker,” even likening him to Einstein. Lanza has teamed with Bob Berman, the most widely read astronomer in the world, to produce Biocentrism, a revolutionary new view of the universe.

Every now and then a simple yet radical idea shakes the very foundation
The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety book cover42

The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety

Alan Watts

4.3
In this fascinating book, Alan Watts explores man's quest for psychological security, examining our efforts to find spiritual and intellectual certainty in the realms of religion and philosophy. The Wisdom of Insecurity underlines the importance of our search for stability in an age where human life seems particularly vulnerable and uncertain. Watts argues our insecurity is the consequence of tryi
43

Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction

Susan Blackmore

4.3
Consciousness, "the last great mystery for science," remains a hot topic. How can a physical brain create our experience of the world? What creates our identity? Do we really have free will? Could consciousness itself be an illusion?

Exciting new developments in brain science are continuing the debates on these issues, and the field has now expanded to include biologists, neuroscientists, psycholog
DMT: The Spirit Molecule book cover44

DMT: The Spirit Molecule

Rick Strassman

4.3
A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death & Mystical Experiences.
A clinical psychiatrist explores the effects of DMT: A behind-the-scenes look at the cutting edge of psychedelic research.

From 1990 to 1995 Dr. Rick Strassman conducted US DEA-approved clinical research at the University of New Mexico in which he injected 60 volunteers with DMT, one of the most powerful psyched
The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology book cover45

The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

Ray Kurzweil

4.3
The great inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil is one of the best-known and controversial advocates for the role of machines in the future of humanity. In his latest, thrilling foray into the future, he envisions an event--thesingularity--in which technological change becomes so rapid and so profound that our bodies and brains will merge with our machines.

The Singularity Is Near portrays what life w
Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One book cover46

Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One

Joe Dispenza

4.3
You are not doomed by your genes and hardwired to be a certain way for the rest of your life. A new science is emerging that empowers all human beings to create the reality they choose. In Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, renowned author, speaker, researcher, and chiropractor Dr. Joe Dispenza combines the fields of quantum physics, neuroscience, brain chemistry, biology, and genetics to sho
47

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

Susan Blackmore

4.3
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
48

Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist

Christof Koch

4.3
In which a scientist searches for an empirical explanation for phenomenal experience, spurred by his instinctual belief that life is meaningful.

What links conscious experience of pain, joy, color, and smell to bioelectrical activity in the brain? How can anything physical give rise to nonphysical, subjective, conscious states? Christof Koch has devoted much of his career to bridging the seemingly
49

The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self

Thomas Metzinger

4.3
We’re used to thinking about the self as an independent entity, something that we either have or are. In The Ego Tunnel, philosopher Thomas Metzinger claims otherwise: No such thing as a self exists. The conscious self is the content of a model created by our brain—an internal image, but one we cannot experience as an image. Everything we experience is “a virtual self in a virtual reality.”

But if

The Bhagavad Gita book cover50

The Bhagavad Gita

Eknath Easwaran

4.3
The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness book cover51

The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness

Culadasa, Matthew Immergut, and Jeremy Graves

4.2
A revolutionary, science-based approach to meditation from a neuroscientist turned meditation master, The Mind Illuminated is an accessible, step-by-step toolkit for anyone looking to start—or improve—their daily meditation practice.

The book that bestselling meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg raves “brings the path of meditation to life,” The Mind Illuminated is the first how-to meditation guide f
Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life book cover52

Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life

Jon Kabat-Zinn

4.2
In this book, the author maps out a simple path for cultivating mindfulness in one's own life. It speaks both to those coming to meditation for the first time and to longtime practitioners, anyone who cares deeply about reclaiming the richness of his or her moments.
53

The River of Consciousness

Oliver Sacks

4.2
From the bestselling author of Gratitude and Musicophilia, a collection of essays that displays Oliver Sacks's passionate engagement with the most compelling ideas of human endeavor: evolution, creativity, memory, time, consciousness, and experience.

Oliver Sacks, scientist and storyteller, is beloved by readers for the extraordinary neurological case histories (Awakenings, An Anthropologist on Mar
Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life book cover54

Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

Héctor García, Francesc Miralles

4.2
Bring meaning and joy to all your days with this internationally bestselling guide to the Japanese concept of ikigai (pronounced ee-key-guy)—the happiness of always being busy—as revealed by the daily habits of the world’s longest-living people.

What’s your ikigai?

“Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years.” —Japanese proverb

According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai—a r
The Way of Zen book cover55

The Way of Zen

Alan Watts

4.2
In his definitive introduction to Zen Buddhism, Alan Watts explains the principles and practices of this ancient religion to Western readers. With a rare combination of freshness and lucidity, he delves into the origins and history of Zen to explain what it means for the world today with incredible clarity. Watts saw Zen as “one of the most precious gifts of Asia to the world,” and in The Way of Z
The Art of Happiness book cover56

The Art of Happiness

Dalai Lama

4.2
Nearly every time you see him, he's laughing, or at least smiling. And he makes everyone else around him feel like smiling. He's the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, a Nobel Prize winner, and an increasingly popular speaker and statesman. What's more, he'll tell you that happiness is the purpose of life, and that "the very motion of our life is towards happiness." How to get
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking book cover57

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell

4.2
Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology and displaying all of the brilliance that made The Tipping Point a classic, Blink changes the way you'll understand every decision you make. Never again will you think about thinking the same way.

Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. Now, in Blink, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. Blink is a bo
Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain book cover58

Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain

Antonio Damasio

4.2
Since Descartes famously proclaimed, "I think, therefore I am," science has often overlooked emotions as the source of a person’s true being. Even modern neuroscience has tended, until recently, to concentrate on the cognitive aspects of brain function, disregarding emotions. This attitude began to change with the publication of Descartes’ Error in 1995. Antonio Damasio—"one of the world’s leading
Tao Te Ching: By Lao Tzu - Illustrated book cover59

Tao Te Ching: By Lao Tzu - Illustrated

Lao Tse

4.2
A lucid translation of the well-known Taoist classic by a leading scholar-now in a Shambhala Pocket Library edition.
Written more than two thousand years ago, the Tao Teh Ching, or -The Classic of the Way and Its Virtue, - is one of the true classics of the world of spiritual literature. Traditionally attributed to the legendary -Old Master, - Lao Tzu, the Tao Teh Ching teaches that the qualities o
The Secret (The Secret, #1) book cover60

The Secret (The Secret, #1)

Rhonda Byrne

4.2
The Secret’s 10th Anniversary Edition includes a new foreword by Rhonda Byrne, and 10 of the most life-changing insights she’s had over the last 10 years of practicing and living The Secret every day. The 10 insights alone will accelerate your understanding and mastery of the law of attraction.
How the Mind Works book cover61

How the Mind Works

Steven Pinker

4.2
In this extraordinary bestseller, Steven Pinker, one of the world's leading cognitive scientists, does for the rest of the mind what he did for language in his 1994 book, The Language Instinct. He explains what the mind is, how it evolved, and how it allows us to see, think, feel, laugh, interact, enjoy the arts, and ponder the mysteries of life. And he does it with the wit that prompted Mark Ridl
My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey book cover62

My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey

Jill Bolte Taylor

4.2
The astonishing New York Times bestseller that chronicles how a brain scientist's own stroke led to enlightenment

On December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, a thirty-seven- year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist experienced a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. As she observed her mind deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life-all
Be Here Now book cover64

Be Here Now

Ram Dass

4.2
Describes one man's transformation upon his acceptance of the principles of Yoga & gives a modern restatement of the importance of the spiritual side of human nature. Illustrated.
The book is divided into four sections:
Journey: The Transformation: Dr Richard Alpert, PhD into Baba Ram Dass
From Bindu to Ojas: The Core Book
Cookbook for a Sacred Life: A Manual for Conscious Being
Painted Cakes (Do Not S
Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind book cover65

Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind

Annaka Harris

4.2
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"If you’ve ever wondered how you have the capacity to wonder, some fascinating insights await you in these pages.” --Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals

As concise and enlightening as Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, this mind-expanding dive into the mystery of consciousness is an illuminating meditation on the se
The Power of Your Subconscious Mind book cover66

The Power of Your Subconscious Mind

Joseph Murphy

4.2
In The Power of Your Subconscious Mind, Dr. Joseph Murphy gives you the tools you will need to unlock the awesome powers of your subconscious mind. You can improve your relationships, your finances, your physical well-being. Once you learn how to use this unbelievably powerful force there is nothing you will not be able to accomplish. Join the millions of people who have already unlocked the power
The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics (Oxford Landmark Science) book cover67

The Emperor's New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics (Oxford Landmark Science)

Roger Penrose

4.2
For many decades, the proponents of `artificial intelligence' have maintained that computers will soon be able to do everything that a human can do. In his bestselling work of popular science, Sir Roger Penrose takes us on a fascinating tour through the basic principles of physics, cosmology, mathematics, and philosophy to show that human thinking can never be emulated by a machine.

Oxford Landmark
Siddhartha book cover68

Siddhartha

Hermann Hesse

4.2
Herman Hesse's classic novel has delighted, inspired, and influenced generations of readers, writers, and thinkers. In this story of a wealthy Indian Brahmin who casts off a life of privilege to seek spiritual fulfillment. Hesse synthesizes disparate philosophies--Eastern religions, Jungian archetypes, Western individualism--into a unique vision of life as expressed through one man's search for me
The Holographic Universe: The Revolutionary Theory of Reality book cover69

The Holographic Universe: The Revolutionary Theory of Reality

Michael Talbot

4.2
"Awake-up call to wonder, an adventure in ideas." —Larry Dossey,M.D., author of Space, Time & Medicine

Now witha new foreword by Lynn McTaggart, author of TheField, Michael Talbot’s classic treatise on the latest frontiers of physicsreveals a revolutionary theory of reality, explaining the paranormal abilitiesof the mind, the unsolved riddles of brain and body, and the true nature of theuniverse. L
Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work book cover70

Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work

Steven Kotler, Jamie Wheal

4.2
National Bestseller

CNBC and Strategy + Business Best Business Book of the Year

It’s the biggest revolution you’ve never heard of, and it’s hiding in plain sight. Over the past decade, Silicon Valley executives like Eric Schmidt and Elon Musk, Special Operators like the Navy SEALs and the Green Berets, and maverick scientists like Sasha Shulgin and Amy Cuddy have turned everything we thought we kn
Transcending the Levels of Consciousness: The Stairway to Enlightenment book cover71

Transcending the Levels of Consciousness: The Stairway to Enlightenment

David R. Hawkins M.D.Ph.D

4.1
The now widely known Map of calibrated levels of Consciousness was presented in Power vs. Force in 1995 and has been translated into all the world’s major languages. This was followed by The Eye of the I (2001), I: Reality and Subjectivity (2003), and Truth vs. Falsehood (2005), which explored the levels of Truth reflected throughout society.
Transcending the Levels of Consciousness returns to the
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender book cover72

Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender

David R. Hawkins

4.1
Letting Go describes a simple and effective means by which to let go of the obstacles to enlightenment and become free of negativity. During the many decades of the author's clinical psychiatric practice, the primary aim was to seek the most effective ways to relieve human suffering in all of its many forms. The inner mechanism of surrender was found to be of great practical benefit and is describ
Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy book cover73

Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy

Sadhguru

4.1
Achieve absolute well-being with the classical science of yoga

The practice of what is commonly known as hatha yoga is but one of eight branches of the body of knowledge that is yoga. Yoga is a sophisticated system of self-empowerment that is capable of harnessing and activating inner energies in such a way that your body and mind function at their optimal capacity. It is a means to create inner si
Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others book cover75

Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others

Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, Connie Burk

4.1
A longtime trauma worker, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky offers a deep and empathetic survey of the often-unrecognized toll on those working to make the world a better place. We may feel tired, cynical, numb, or like we can never do enough. These, and other symptoms, affect us individually and collectively, sapping the energy and effectiveness we so desperately need if we are to benefit humankind, other
Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge book cover76

Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge

Terence McKenna

4.1
s/t: A Radical History of Plants, Drugs & Human Evolution
For the first time in paperback, the critically acclaimed counterculture manifesto by the wildly popular McKenna. "Deserves to be a modern classic on mind-altering drugs & hallucinogens."--The Washington Post. Photos & illustrations.
Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies book cover77

Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies

Nick Bostrom

4.1
Superintelligence asks the questions: what happens when machines surpass humans in general intelligence? Will artificial agents save or destroy us? Nick Bostrom lays the foundation for understanding the future of humanity and intelligent life.

The human brain has some capabilities that the brains of other animals lack. It is to these distinctive capabilities that our species owes its dominant posi
Death; An Inside Story: A book for all those who shall die book cover78

Death; An Inside Story: A book for all those who shall die

SADHGURU

4.1
What is death? Is it the cessation of life or a part of the continuum of existence?
Is it to be feared, or loved and embraced?
What are these relationships that we carry through our lives and beyond them?
How can one gain enough spiritual knowledge and experience that one comes out of this cycle of rebirth?
These are just a few of the many aspects that Sadhguru explores in Death. He is talking from a
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams and Reaching Your Destiny book cover79

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams and Reaching Your Destiny

Robin Sharma

4.1
Wisdom to Create a Life of Passion, Purpose, and Peace

This inspiring tale provides a step-by-step approach to living with greater courage, balance, abundance, and joy. A wonderfully crafted fable, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari tells the extraordinary story of Julian Mantle, a lawyer forced to confront the spiritual crisis of his out-of-balance life. On a life-changing odyssey to an ancient culture
The Mastery of Love: A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship, A Toltec Wisdom Book book cover80

The Mastery of Love: A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship, A Toltec Wisdom Book

Miguel Ruiz

4.1
In The Mastery of Love, don Miguel Ruiz illuminates the fear-based beliefs and assumptions that undermine love and lead to suffering and drama in our relationships. Using insightful stories to bring his message to life, Ruiz shows us how to heal our emotional wounds, recover the freedom and joy that are our birthright, and store the spirit of playfulness that is vital to loving relationships. The
The School of Life: An Emotional Education book cover81

The School of Life: An Emotional Education

The School of Life

4.1
Discover everything you were never taught at school about how to lead a better life...

Introduced and edited by the bestselling author of The Consolations of Philosophy, The Art of Travel and The Course of Love

We spend years in school learning facts and figures but the one thing we're never taught is how to live a fulfilled life. That's why we need The School of Life - a real organisation founded t
Phi: A Voyage from the Brain to the Soul book cover82

Phi: A Voyage from the Brain to the Soul

Giulio Tononi

4.1
This title is printed in full color throughout.

From one of the most original and influential neuroscientists at work today, here is an exploration of consciousness unlike any other—as told by Galileo, who opened the way for the objectivity of science and is now intent on making subjective experience a part of science as well.

Galileo’s journey has three parts, each with a different guide. In the fi
83

The Quest for Consciousness: A Neurobiological Approach

Christof Koch

4.1
About the Author

Born in 1956 in the American Midwest, Christof Koch grew up in Holland, Germany, Canada, and Morocco, where he graduated from the Lycée Descartes in 1974. He studied physics and philosophy at the University of Tübingen in Germany and was awarded his Ph.D. in biophysics in 1982. He is now the Lois and Victor Troendle Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology at the California In

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain book cover84

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain

David Eagleman

4.1
If the conscious mind—the part you consider you—accounts for only a tiny fraction of the brain’s function, what is all the rest doing? This is the question that David Eagleman—renowned neuroscientist and acclaimed author of Sum—answers in a book as accessible and entertaining as it is deeply informed by startling, up-to-the-minute research.
The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge book cover85

The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge

Jeremy Narby

4.1
This adventure in science and imagination, which the Medical Tribune said might herald "a Copernican revolution for the life sciences," leads the reader through unexplored jungles and uncharted aspects of mind to the heart of knowledge.In a first-person narrative of scientific discovery that opens new perspectives on biology, anthropology, and the limits of rationalism, The Cosmic Serpent reveals
86

Kinds of Minds: Towards an Understanding of Consciousness

Daniel C. Dennett

4.1
Combining ideas from philosophy, artificial intelligence, and neurobiology, Daniel Dennett leads the reader on a fascinating journey of inquiry, exploring such intriguing possibilities as: Can any of us really know what is going on in someone else's mind? What distinguishes the human mind from the minds of animals, especially those capable of complex behavior? If such animals, for instance, were m
87

The Spectrum of Consciousness

Ken Wilber

4.1
Wilber's groundbreaking synthesis of religion, philosophy, physics, and psychology started a revolution in transpersonal psychology. He was the first to suggest in a systematic way that the great psychological systems of the West could be integrated with the noble contemplative traditions of the East. Spectrum of Consciousness, first released by Quest in 1977, has been the prominent reference poin
Memories, Dreams, Reflections book cover88

Memories, Dreams, Reflections

C.G. Jung

4.0
In the spring of 1957, when he was eighty-one years old, C. G. Jung undertook the telling of his life story. At regular intervals he had conversations with his colleague and friend Aniela Jaffé, and collaborated with her in the preparation of the text based on these talks. On occasion, he was moved to write entire chapters of the book in his own hand, and he continued to work on the final stages o
89

Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality

Dean I. Radin

4.0
Is everything connected? Can we sense what's happening to loved ones thousands of miles away? Why are we sometimes certain of a caller's identity the instant the phone rings? Do intuitive hunches contain information about future events? Is it possible to perceive without the use of the ordinary senses?

Many people believe that such "psychic phenomena" are rare talents or divine gifts. Others don't
The Prophet book cover90

The Prophet

Kahlil Gibran

4.0
Kahlil Gibran’s masterpiece, The Prophet, is one of the most beloved classics of our time. Published in 1923, it has been translated into more than twenty languages, and the American editions alone have sold more than nine million copies.

The Prophet is a collection of poetic essays that are philosophical, spiritual, and, above all, inspirational. Gibran’s musings are divided into twenty-eight chap
From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds book cover91

From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds

Daniel C. Dennett

4.0
How did we come to have minds?

For centuries, this question has intrigued psychologists, physicists, poets, and philosophers, who have wondered how the human mind developed its unrivaled ability to create, imagine, and explain. Disciples of Darwin have long aspired to explain how consciousness, language, and culture could have appeared through natural selection, blazing promising trails that tend,
92

A Universe of Consciousness: How Matter Becomes Imagination

Gerald Edelman, Giulio Tononi

4.0
In A Universe of Consciousness, Gerald Edelman builds on the radical ideas he introduced in his monumental trilogy-Neural Darwinism, Topobiology, and The Remembered Present-to present for the first time an empirically supported full-scale theory of consciousness. He and the neurobiolgist Giulio Tononi show how they use ingenious technology to detect the most minute brain currents and to identify t
93

Consciousness and the Social Brain

Michael S. A. Graziano

4.0
What is consciousness and how can a brain, a mere collection of neurons, create it? In Consciousness and the Social Brain, Princeton neuroscientist Michael Graziano lays out an audacious new theory to account for the deepest mystery of them all. The human brain has evolved a complex circuitry that allows it to be socially intelligent. This social machinery has only just begun to be studied in deta
94

How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed

Ray Kurzweil

4.0
The bold futurist and bestselling author explores the limitless potential of reverse-engineering the human brain

Ray Kurzweil is arguably today’s most influential—and often controversial—futurist. In How to Create a Mind, Kurzweil presents a provocative exploration of the most important project in human-machine civilization—reverse engineering the brain to understand precisely how it works and usin
95

The Society of Mind

Marvin Minsky

4.0
Marvin Minsky -- one of the fathers of computer science and cofounder of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT -- gives a revolutionary answer to the age-old question: "How does the mind work?"
Minsky brilliantly portrays the mind as a "society" of tiny components that are themselves mindless. Mirroring his theory, Minsky boldly casts The Society of Mind as an intellectual puzzle whose pi
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind book cover96

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Shunryu Suzuki, David Chadwick

4.0
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few." So begins this most beloved of all American Zen books. Seldom has such a small handful of words provided a teaching as rich as has this famous opening line of Shunryu Suzuki's classic. In a single stroke, the simple sentence cuts through the pervasive tendency students have of getting so close to Zen as to co
Awareness book cover97

Awareness

Anthony de Mello, SJ, J. Francis Stroud

4.0

"This is your wake-up call! You may not have even realized you were sleep-walking. Most of us are most of the time. Awareness is an eye-opener. It's Anthony de Mello telling you gently but firmly, 'It's time to get up now.'" --Charles Osgood of "CBS Sunday Morning" and "The Osgood File"

"Awareness will be the critical test of American business in the next decade. I call it the 'business of awarenes

98

Making Up The Mind: How The Brain Creates Our Mental World

Chris Frith

4.0
Written by one of the world's leading neuroscientists, Making Up the Mind is the first accessible account of experimental studies showing how the brain creates our mental world.

Uses evidence from brain imaging, psychological experiments and studies of patients to explore the relationship between the mind and the brain
Demonstrates that our knowledge of both the mental and physical comes to us thr
Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story book cover99

Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story

Alexander Shulgin

4.0
phen-ethyl-amine \fen-'eth-al-a-,men\ n. [phenyl fr. F. phène, fr. Gk. phainein, to show (from its occurrence in illuminating gas)+ ethyl ( + yl) + amine fr. NL ammonia] 1: A naturally occurring compound found in both the animal and plant kingdoms. It is an endogenous component of the human brain. 2: Any of a series of compounds containing the phenethylamine skeleton, and modified by chemical cons
This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life book cover100

This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life

David Foster Wallace

4.0
Only once did David Foster Wallace give a public talk on his views on life, during a commencement address given in 2005 at Kenyon College. The speech is reprinted for the first time in book form in THIS IS WATER.

How does one keep from going through their comfortable, prosperous adult life unconsciously? How do we get ourselves out of the foreground of our thoughts and achieve compassion? The spee