Anthologies#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| A Glorious Accident |
1993 |
Buy |
| Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think |
2006 |
Buy |
| Mind and Consciousness: 5 Questions |
2009 |
Buy |
| This Explains Everything |
2013 |
Buy |
Non-Fiction#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Content and Consciousness |
1969 |
Buy |
| Brainstorms: Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology |
1978 |
Buy |
| The Mind’s I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul |
1981 |
Buy |
| Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting |
1984 |
Buy |
| The Moral First Aid Manual: The Tanner Lectures on Human Values |
1986 |
N/A |
| The Philosophical Lexicon |
1987 |
N/A |
| The Intentional Stance |
1987 |
Buy |
| Quining Qualia |
1988 |
N/A |
| Consciousness Explained |
1991 |
Buy |
| Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life |
1995 |
Buy |
| Brainchildren: Essays on Designing Minds |
1998 |
Buy |
| Mind and Reality: The Nature of Mind and the Expansion of Consciousness |
1999 |
Buy |
| The Computational Perspective |
2001 |
N/A |
| Freedom Evolves |
2003 |
Buy |
| Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness |
2005 |
Buy |
| Thank Goodness! |
2006 |
N/A |
| Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon |
2006 |
Buy |
| Where Am I? |
2008 |
N/A |
| Science and Religion: Are They Compatible? |
2010 |
Buy |
| Inside Jokes: Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind |
2011 |
Buy |
| Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking |
2013 |
Buy |
| Convergence of Biogenetics, Cognitive Neuroscience and Computing |
2015 |
Buy |
| Caught in The Pulpit:Leaving Belief Behind |
2015 |
Buy |
| From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds |
2017 |
Buy |
| The Four Horsemen |
2019 |
Buy |
| Just Deserts: Debating Free Will |
2021 |
Buy |
| I’ve Been Thinking |
2023 |
Buy |
The Science Masters Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| The Last Three Minutes |
1995 |
Buy |
| River Out of Eden |
1996 |
Buy |
| One Renegade Cell |
1998 |
Buy |
| Symbiotic Planet |
1998 |
Buy |
| Words and Rules |
1999 |
Buy |
| Three Roads To Quantum Gravity |
2000 |
Buy |
| What Evolution Is |
2008 |
Buy |
| Kinds Of Minds |
2008 |
Buy |
| The Human Brain |
2008 |
Buy |
| The Periodic Kingdom |
2008 |
Buy |
| The Origin Of Humankind |
2008 |
Buy |
| Laboratory Earth |
2014 |
Buy |
| The Origin Of The Universe |
2014 |
Buy |
| The Pattern on the Stone |
2014 |
Buy |
Daniel Dennett spent most of his career at Tufts University, where he was the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy and co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies. He studied under Gilbert Ryle at Oxford, and Ryle’s analytical approach to mind stayed with him through a career spent arguing that consciousness, free will, and religious belief are all best understood through the lens of evolutionary biology and cognitive science.
His books — Consciousness Explained, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, Freedom Evolves, Breaking the Spell — are works of public philosophy as much as academic ones, written to be read by anyone curious about the nature of mind rather than only by specialists. He had a gift for the extended thought experiment (“Intuition pumps,” as he called them) and for making difficult ideas feel like they were something a persistent reader could follow. He died in April 2024.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books has Daniel C. Dennett written?
Daniel C. Dennett has written 45 books across three series.
What was Daniel C. Dennett's first book?
Daniel C. Dennett’s first book is Content and Consciousness, published in 1969.
What is Daniel Dennett's most important book?
Consciousness Explained (1991) is generally considered his most influential work — a major materialist account of how consciousness arises from physical brain processes that generated significant debate both inside and outside philosophy.