Determined

Robert Sapolsky explains why the latest developments in neuroscience and psychology explode our conventional idea of Free Will. The book's chock-full of complex and often counter-intuitive ideas. It's also a joy to read. That's because Sapolsky is not only one of the world's most brilliant scientists, but also an immensely gifted writer who tells this important story with wit and compassion. It's impossible to recommend this book too highly. Reading it could change your life

Laurence Rees

In his usual frank and amusing style, Robert Sapolsky argues that free will is an illusion. His stance is both hard to accept and hard to deny. An utterly fascinating topic with mind-boggling implications for human morality

Frans de Waal, author of Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist

Fascinating, provocative and profound. This book tackles all sorts of big issues: how the human brain works, what makes us different, and what underlies everything we do. If Sapolsky is right, we might need to rethink justice and law, and for each of us personally, what it really takes to be happy and successful

Daniel M. Davis, author of The Secret Body

Fascinating and challenging - though I'm not sure if I really had a say in the matter

New Scientist

A bravura performance, well worth reading for the pleasure of Sapolsky’s deeply informed company … he makes a moving case that [our lack of freedom is] a reason to live with profound forgiveness and understanding … absorbing and compassionate

Oliver Burkeman, Observer

[A] highly entertaining account of why … we should and must overcome the infuriating conspiracy of mind that insists we are the authors of our actions. Anyone who believes otherwise needs to read it

Philip Ball, Times Literary Supplement

Provocative … If Sapolsky’s ideas were widely accepted they would lead to profound societal changes, not least within the criminal justice system

Sunday Times

Wonderfully readable ... humorous and warm and humane

Justin Webb, Today (BBC Radio 4)

Excellent . . . Outstanding for its breadth of research, the liveliness of the writing, and the depth of humanity it conveys

Wall Street Journal

Sapolsky’s decades of experience studying the effects of the interplay of genes and the environment on behavior shine brightly . . . He provides compelling examples that bad luck compounds . . . convincingly argues against claims that chaos theory, emergent phenomena, or the indeterminism offered by quantum mechanics provide the gap required for free will to exist

Science

Witty and engaging, Determined is also a goldmine of fascinating information (most of it accessible even to those of us who aren’t scientifically literate) about neuroscience; philosophy; chaos theory; emergent complexity; quantum indeterminacy; evolving knowledge of the causes of epilepsy, schizophrenia, and autism; and, of course, the impact of nature and nurture on decision-making

Psychology Today

[A] witty, erudite, imaginative and deeply humane new book… [The] case that Sapolsky makes for a transition from a criminal-justice system based on blame and retribution…to one founded on blame-free rehabilitation is moving and compelling

Literary Review