Episode · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2025-04-09
Books mentioned on #805: Philip Goff — Exploring Consciousness and Non-Ordinary Religion, Galileo's Error, Panpsychism, Heretical Ideas, and Therapeutic Belief
Philip Goff is a professor of philosophy at Durham University. His main research focus is consciousness, but he is interested in many questions about the nature of reality.
Tim Ferriss recommended Mind Beyond Brain by David E. Presti and The Varieties of Spiritual Experience by David B. Yaden and others, and discussed Why? the Purpose of the Universe by Philip Goff, Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell, and The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs. Philip Goff recommended The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James, and discussed Reality+ by David J. Chalmers, The case for God. by Karen Armstrong, Dominion by Tom Holland, and Mind and Cosmos by Thomas Nagel.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Mind Beyond Brain
Mind Beyond Brain by David E.
Recommended“So if people want to get really squirly and explore consciousness as something perhaps non-loized or not limited to the brain, they can read a collection of different writings called mind beyond brain which was edited by David Prey. Now, if David Prey were just playing singing bowls and swinging copal around the public square, walking around in rags, it”
Where to get it
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The Varieties of Religious Experience
William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience is a foundational exploration of human spirituality, religious sentiment, and psychological states of consciousness.
Recommended“If people needed to start with one or if they were only going to read one, where would you have them start? I would suppose the most recognizable of his writing for at least an American audience would probably be the varieties of religious experience.”
Where to get it
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The Varieties of Spiritual Experience
The Varieties of Spiritual Experience by David B.
Recommended“Also if people want an adjunct to that there's a book called the varieties of spiritual experiences the newer book 21st century research and perspectives by a scientist named David Yeden y a deen out of John's Hopkins and that is also worth taking a gander at if you are particularly really interested in mystical experiences, what that means and”
Where to get it
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Why? the Purpose of the Universe
Discussed“And so your last book, why explored the middle ground between God and atheism. Now I'm going to paraphrase this just to make a third person or a second person. I guess you came out as a heretical Christian, which caused a big reaction, a heated discussion within the philosophical community”
Where to get it
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Why I Am Not a Christian
Discussed“And Burton Russell has a book called Why I Am Not a Christian. And I'm wondering, you can edge into this however you would like, but I'm curious what you think he gets right or wrong in that book since you see him very familiar with his work.”
Where to get it
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Reality+
Discussed“or the simulation hypothesis Nick Bostonramm's famous for exploring and David Charas in his recent book reality plus you know maybe we're in a computer simulation and there's some you know random software engineer who set it all up”
Where to get it
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The Year of Living Biblically
The Year of Living Biblically by A.
Discussed“And then I'm going to make an awkward transition to my friend AJ Jacobs who wrote a book called the year of living biblically in which he tried to follow all the rules of the Old and New Testament. It's intended to be a funny but also very informative read. I learned a lot about religion from that book.”
Where to get it
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The case for God.
The Case for God by Karen Armstrong is a historical exploration of religion that traces the evolution of faith, ritual, and belief from ancient times to the modern era.
Discussed“So her book, her great book, The Case for God, which is a bad title. I think that's a strong title.”
Where to get it
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Dominion
Dominion by Tom Holland is a sweeping historical work examining how Christianity shaped Western culture, secular values, and modern moral frameworks.
Discussed“I mean there's wonderful recent book Dominion by Tom Holland which is again the history of the influence of Christianity. What a bloody radical idea that was.”
Where to get it
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Mind and Cosmos
Mind and Cosmos by Thomas Nagel is a concise philosophical work by a prominent non-religious thinker that challenges the fundamental limits, assumptions, and problems of a strictly materialist framework on the world.
Discussed“a similar book was written more than 10 years ago 15 years ago nearly by the p great philosopher Thomas Nagel yes Mr. bat called Mind and Cosmos and he got absolutely destroyed in reviews.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“And in fact one final thing physical science kicked off with Galileo taking consciousness outside of the domain of science for this precise reason because he thought correctly I think you can't capture those qualities in purely mathematical language. If we want mathematical science, we got to take consciousness out. And I think that's really I mean this is my”