Dr. David Barash begins this book by commenting that he did not put "his heart and soul" into it because he does not believe there is any such thing as a "soul." After reading it, I can only assume he has serious doubts about the philosophical category of "substance" too, as he has also put very little of that into it. The jacket commendations are laudatory: a "wise, scientific philosopher… deftly disposes of dualism" (Richard Dawkins); an argument written with "clarity and wit" that "shows how appreciating our actual lives is the ultimate uplifting value" (Steven Pinker); "Superb read, erudite and stimulating" (Robert Sapolsky); a book that is "sharp, deeply informed, and often darkly entertaining" (Paul Bloom); "brilliant, ground-breaking, magisterial … the best analysis and demolition of the topic I ever encountered" (Michael Shermer). The reality, however, is far different.