We flatter ourselves into thinking we have free will and yet enormous forces—logical, physical, metaphysical—constrain our every action, posits political philosopher John Gray. Many writers and intellectuals have understood this, he argues, but instead of embracing our condition we deny it, with everyone from conquerors to scientists envisioning a "human dominion" almost comically at odds with our true state. In this follow-up to Straw Dogs and False Dawn, Gray explores such sources as the ancient Gnostics and visionary sci-finovelist Philip K. Dick to argue that freedom is an illusion, and that our greatest desire is to be free of the need to make choices.