Lights On

How Understanding Consciousness Helps Us Understand the Universe

By: Annaka Harris

Narrated by: Annaka Harris

“Consciousness might be the greatest mystery of the universe, and Annaka Harris is our best detective… You’ll never think about what happens between your ears in the same way again.” —Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again

“Follow along as Annaka Harris interviews (and graciously challenges) the world’s leading scientists on the nature of consciousness… Magnificent.” —Susan Cain, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Quiet

As accessible as it is awe-inspiring, this exclusive audio documentary by New York Times bestselling author Annaka Harris explores the unknown corners of consciousness and the cosmos.

Is consciousness a fundamental building block of the universe, like gravity? Can humans develop new senses through neuroscience? And can artificial intelligence ever truly replicate the subjective experience of being conscious?

Join Annaka Harris as she calls on distinguished experts in science and philosophy to find answers to today’s most perplexing questions about our minds and the universe at large. Through interviews with thinkers such as Brian Greene, David Eagleman, Anil Seth, Carlo Rovelli, and more, Harris presents diverse perspectives on whether consciousness could be considered a fundamental aspect of the universe.

This revolutionary idea challenges traditional neuroscience and quantum physics, shattering what we think we know about ourselves and scientific phenomena as foundational as space and time. Lights On also questions how a new understanding of consciousness might affect our perception of existence, our notions of free will, the development of technology, and the future of scientific discovery. In a follow-up to her seminal book, Conscious, this audio-original documentary offers beginners and experts alike a chance to unravel some of humankind’s most enduring puzzles. Where Conscious presents new questions about felt experience, Lights On seeks to find the answers.

“Only Annaka Harris could take one of the greatest mysteries of science and make it not only an adventure but also deeply relevant to everyday human flourishing.” —Dan Harris, author of the New York Times bestseller 10% Happier and host of the 10% Percent Happier podcast

Narrated by Annaka Harris; featuring Jay Shapiro, Susan Blackmore, Sean Carroll, Daniel Chamovitz, David Eagleman, Sascha Fink, Adam Frank, Philip Goff, Joseph Goldstein, Brian Greene, Donald Hoffman, Patrick House, Christof Koch, Janna Levin, George Musser, Zoë Schlanger, Anil Seth, Lee Smolin, Sara Imari Walker

Produced and directed by Jay Shapiro and Annaka Harris

An audio original from Macmillan Audio.

©2025 Annaka Harris (P)2025 Macmillan Audio

Absolutely delighted

I loved this. I just felt it out and had to get the gist of a lot of it because I don’t have a strong science or math mind - but I absolutely love the questions and curiosity that Annnika is working with, “obsessed” with and sharing here! I am fascinated by the “fact” that we are even here and don’t take it for granted - I love hearing the wonders and questions that she brings up and the conversations included. I am delighted that people are out there working seriously on these questions!

Truly Excellent Work

Anaka Harris brings the tone, narrative style and disposition of a reporter. Do not be misled. She is the most coherent philosopher of consciousness who is currently publishing. She clarifies arguments that leaders in the field struggle to express while maintaining a level of humility and detached objectivity that, frankly speaking, puts her counterparts in academia to shame.

Exceptional!

I know I will listen to this multiple times and learn more with each listen! Really thorough and put together beautifully. I hope Annaka releases this content in other formats.

Cool listen

I enjoyed this. I might even listen again. Like 5 grams of psilocybin alone in the dark but less destabilizing.

Incredibly engaging

Annaka is incredible at walking you through her developing insights and questions in such a thoughtful way. I was captured from the beginning. There is SO much content that is worthy of a deeper dive, I loved that it opens all this avenues of thought to explore. What a wonderful gift for the world! Amazing.

Plants and Parasites Oh my!

What a Felt Experience! An absolute delight. What is Consciousness? What is the of, of the of, of the of? When did we start feeling things? And why?

Great audio

I’ve been diving into consciousness. I am reading Susan Blackmore’s book, Annika’s book, and years of Zen Buddhism practice. Fascinating!! Lights on audio book is addictive! I can’t stop being drawn in!!

Heady stuff

I love explorations into consciousness, and Annika Harris had brought together an incredible cast of renown scientists to bounce things off of. Personally for me, some of the discussions get so technical and complex that it makes it pretty difficult to follow, at least in audio format. Perhaps as book it would work a bit better in order to give one the time to go back over passages, perhaps research things, even ask an AI to explain them on a more basic level. I think if you don't have a formal scientific background, or just have not studied a lot of science in depth and don't have that kind of very technical mind, some of this stuff can get pretty daunting. That being said, I prefer that to being so basic that it doesn't really give you much new information, and treats you like you are a complete neophyte either, although there are certainly contexts where that's entirely appropriate.

While I'm agnostic about the metaphysics of consciousness, I kept thinking to myself, "I wish she had talked to X or Y" about these things. Specifically, I have three people in mind, who are all scientists. One is the fairly well known idealist Barnardo Kastrup. Another is a neuroscientist who's done a lot of spiritual as well as philosophical and scientific work on areas of consciousness and came out last year with his own excellent book on the subject, Dr. James Cooke. And Finally Michael Levin, a professor at Tufts who's done a lot of work on living systems and has spoken a bunch about how ideas of consciousness plays into "simpler" life systems. However, at least Cooke's work was not nearly as well known as the scientists that were interviewed for this book, so I can understand this, and Kastrup perhaps comes with his own baggage. But I wish that given her look into the plant kingdom and consciousness, that Levin's work would have provided an additional area of inquiry and a perspective that was similarly less hard physics in it's approach than what seemed to be the main scientific target for the inquiries in the series.

It started well but....

Was not this a "refined" version of what "Closer to True" had been offering for years? The main "narrator" has an slightly "acid" touch in her deployment that is slightly off-putting in this audio format. The person acting as editor starts well, but he kind of gives up very early.

I found the setup surprisingly interesting and well done, but then it dissolved like a sugar cube. Trying to link up with certain speculative physics and hobby philosophy just made it more muddy.

Also it is difficult to know whether the author is posing as journalist, scientist, philosopher or what. It feels like someone trying to buy the entry into a club that some scientist and philosophers have created around this topic, and meet from time to time and control this market that is becoming more popular.

Deep Thoughts on Consciousness

The author presents her views that consciousness is fundamental, along with supporting and oppositional views. The book is engaging and very thought provoking.