Books › Waking Up
Waking Up
304 pages
A rigorous, clear-eyed dismantling of the self that builds a secular bridge to profound spiritual experience.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like having a deep, late-night conversation with a brilliant, highly rational friend who has suddenly discovered the profound. The pace is steady and deliberate, asking you to pause and examine the very nature of your own consciousness. It strips away the mystical woo-woo often associated with spirituality, replacing it with a clear-headed, intellectually stimulating atmosphere grounded in neuroscience and psychology. The prose is sharp, lucid, and occasionally provocative, guiding you through a rigorous dismantling of the ego. It is a deeply contemplative experience that ultimately feels liberating rather than cold. This is the perfect read for skeptics and secular thinkers who yearn for inner peace and mindfulness but refuse to check their critical thinking at the door.
- Mood
- contemplative
- clear-headed
- intellectually stimulating
- grounded
- Tone
- analytical
- rational
- earnest
- authoritative
- skeptical
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- secular spirituality · the illusion of the self · mindfulness and consciousness · the intersection of science and philosophy
- The writing
- Precise, lucid, and highly argumentative, blending scientific rigor with deeply personal anecdotes.
- The arc
- Moves from rigorous skepticism to a profound, liberating appreciation of present-moment awareness.
- Who it's for
- Secular thinkers and skeptics who crave the psychological benefits of meditation without the baggage of religious dogma.
Content notes
- critiques of religion
- discussions of psychedelic drug use
About the book
For the millions of Americans who want spirituality without religion, Waking Up is a guide to meditation as a rational practice informed by neuroscience and psychology.
From Sam Harris, neuroscientist and author of numerous books, Waking Up is for the twenty percent of Americans who follow no religion but who suspect that important truths can be found in the experiences of such figures as Jesus, the Buddha, Lao Tzu, Rumi, and the other saints and sages of history. Throughout this book, Harris argues that there is more to understanding reality than science and secular culture generally allow, and that how we pay attention to the present moment largely determines the quality of our lives.
Waking Up is part 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 skeptic—could write it.
Description from Open Library.
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