{"title":"Books by Robert Wright","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781982111601","title":"Why Buddhism is True","description":"From one of America’s most brilliant writers, a \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling journey through psychology, philosophy, and lots of meditation to show how Buddhism holds the key to moral clarity and enduring happiness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the heart of Buddhism is a simple claim: The reason we suffer—and the reason we make other people suffer—is that we don’t see the world clearly. At the heart of Buddhist meditative practice is a radical promise: We can learn to see the world, including ourselves, more clearly and so gain a deep and morally valid happiness.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e In this “sublime” (\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e), pathbreaking book, Robert Wright shows how taking this promise seriously can change your life—how it can loosen the grip of anxiety, regret, and hatred, and how it can deepen your appreciation of beauty and of other people. He also shows \u003ci\u003ewhy \u003c\/i\u003ethis transformation works, drawing on the latest in neuroscience and psychology, and armed with an acute understanding of human evolution.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e This book is the culmination of a personal journey that began with Wright’s landmark book on evolutionary psychology, \u003ci\u003eThe Moral Animal\u003c\/i\u003e, and deepened as he immersed himself in meditative practice and conversed with some of the world’s most skilled meditators. The result is a story that is “provocative, informative and...deeply rewarding” (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e), and as entertaining as it is illuminating. Written with the wit, clarity, and grace for which Wright is famous, \u003ci\u003eWhy Buddhism Is True\u003c\/i\u003e lays the foundation for a spiritual life in a secular age and shows how, in a time of technological distraction and social division, we can save ourselves from ourselves, both as individuals and as a species.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43205962629298,"sku":"9781982111601","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781982111601_66e9db01-511b-4555-b512-69217096f2ec.jpg?v=1786031443"},{"product_id":"9781398402409","title":"The Sinking of the Lusitania","description":"\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback \/ softback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55412245496181,"sku":"9781398402409","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781398402409_4587f980-d37e-4827-b9fb-c7ec42b00502.jpg?v=1786018669"},{"product_id":"9780349107042","title":"The Moral Animal","description":"\u003cp\u003eTHE MORAL ANIMAL examines the significance of this extraordinary shift in our perception of morality and what it means to be human.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTaking the life of Charles Darwin as his context, Robert Wright brilliantly demonstrates how Darwin's ideas have stood the test of time, drawing startling conclusions about the structure of some of our most basic preoccupations.  Why do we commit adultery, express suicidal tendencies and have the capacity for self-deception?  Wright not only provides the answers to such fundamental moral questions from the perspective of evolutionary psychology but challenges us to see ourselves anew through the clarifying lens of this fledgling and exciting science.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56286331109749,"sku":"9780349107042","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780349107042_80b993d9-82ce-4b2b-92cf-e4ca0a821ef9.jpg?v=1786033433"},{"product_id":"9780349122465","title":"The Evolution Of God","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn The Evolution of God, Robert Wright, award-winning author of the bestselling books Nonzero and The Moral Animal, takes us on a sweeping journey through religious history, from the Stone Age to the Information Age, unveiling along the way an astonishing discovery: that there is a hidden pattern in the way that Judaism, Christianity and Islam have all evolved.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThrough the prisms of archaeology, theology, evolutionary psychology and a careful re-reading of the scriptures, Wright's findings repeatedly overturn conventional wisdom and basic assumptions about the great monotheistic faiths.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLooking at the forces that have moved the Abrahamic faiths away from belligerence and intolerance to a higher moral plane, Wright finds that this previously unrecognized evolutionary logic points not toward continued religious extremism as the media would have us believe, but towards future harmony.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56286347821429,"sku":"9780349122465","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780349122465_b92c7abe-b136-44d0-8b82-16234b3c2217.jpg?v=1786013975"},{"product_id":"9780349113340","title":"Nonzero","description":"In a book sure to stir argument for years to come, Robert Wright challen+ges the conventional view that biological evolution and human history are aimless.  Ingeniously employing game theory - the logic of 'zero-sum' and 'non-zero-sum' games - Wright isolates the impetus behind life's basic direction: the impetus that, via biological evolution, created complex, intelligent animals, and then via cultural evolution, pushed the human species towards deeper and vaster social complexity.  In this view, the coming of today's independent global society was 'in the cards' - not quite inevitable, but, as Wright puts it, 'so probable as to inspire wonder'.   In a narrative of breathtaking scope and erudition, yet pungent wit, Wright takes on some of the past century's most prominent thinkers, including Isaiah Berlin, Karl Popper, Stephen Jay Gould, and Richard Dawkins.  Wright argues that a coolly specific appraisal of humanity's three-billion-year past can give new spiritual meaning to the present and even offer political guidance for the future.  This book will change the way people think about the human prospect.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56286845239669,"sku":"9780349113340","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780349113340_d5a8971b-7061-4a56-bf65-69188eb61d31.jpg?v=1786013779"},{"product_id":"the-god-test","title":"The God Test","description":"From bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Robert Wright comes a sweeping new view of artificial intelligence – as an evolutionary force that will pose deep political and spiritual challenges and could, in the process, give our species a unifying sense of purpose.   The God Test is the first book to capture the power behind the AI revolution – to clearly explain the breakthroughs that sparked the current wave of advance and compellingly show why this wave will grow in magnitude and meaning. Written by one of our foremost public intellectuals, and informed by his decades of chronicling the digital age, the book argues that we are about to witness the most abruptly dramatic social transformation in the history of our species.   Wright says that to truly understand this moment in technological history, we need to expand our perspective beyond the last century or even the whole history of technology and look back across billions of years of life on Earth. The advance of AI, he argues, is driven by evolutionary dynamics like those that led to intelligent life in the first place. And understanding those dynamics can empower us to confront our climactic challenge: Can we muster the political, moral and even spiritual resources needed to guide this technology wisely?If we fail, the consequences for the whole planet could be grave. But if we meet the challenge – if we pass ‘the God test’ – we can live in a world where humanity thrives, finding not just happiness but deeper meaning and purpose. The very machines that might otherwise imperil or oppress us can enrich us, helping us transcend the psychological impediments to human concord and fulfillment.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":57483564253557,"sku":"9781398568167","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57682730484085,"sku":"9781398568204","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781398568167.jpg?v=1792511609"},{"product_id":"why-buddhism-is-true","title":"Why Buddhism is True","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe New York Times Bestseller\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Sublime’ New Yorker\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Provocative’ New York Times Book Review\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Illuminating’ Washington Post *\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the heart of Buddhism is a simple claim: The reason we suffer – and the reason we make other people suffer – is that we don’t see the world clearly. At the heart of Buddhist meditative practice is a radical promise: We can learn to see the world, including ourselves, more clearly, and so gain a deep and morally valid happiness. In this pathbreaking book, Robert Wright shows how taking this promise seriously can change your life – how it can loosen the grip of anxiety, regret and hatred, and how it can deepen your appreciation of beauty and of other people. He also shows why this transformation works. Drawing on the latest in neuroscience and psychology, and armed with an acute understanding of human evolution, Wright explains why the path toward truth and the path toward happiness are one and the same.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57503596904821,"sku":"9781398568235","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781398568235.jpg?v=1786867304"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-robert-wright.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}