Bob Hurling

For centuries we've searched for the chooser. We've imagined a soul, a conscious self or some hidden decision-maker somewhere inside the brain. Modern neuroscience has searched for it too. Yet despite remarkable advances, the chooser remains elusive.

What if many of our most cherished assumptions are wrong? In Dark Thoughts, behavioural scientist and author Bob Hurling explores unsettling questions about free will, consciousness, morality, meaning and human nature.

I have spent years in yoga classes being told to notice my breath, stand on one leg, fold forwards and occasionally attempt positions that looked considerably easier when demonstrated by somebody else. Over time I became interested in the thoughts that seemed to accompany these movements.

What do you get when you mix a psychologist in shorts, a spreadsheet wizard, a pantomime genie, and a corporate system that’s protective? A quietly subversive tale of insight, awkward meetings, and the strange rituals of work life.