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A well earned 4 stars. If you're interested in the science and benefits of meditation, and want to know more then this book is a no-brainer. It's quite detailed about what we know, about how meditation works in the brain even up to a neuroscience level, and the history of the meditation science in general. Great reference material full with interesting discoveries, I would say the actual content does outshine the slower parts of the book. If you want to learn how to meditate then this still can be interesting, but it's not a how-to manual.

On the scale from 'story-driven pop science' to 'in-depth technical science' this book is diligently scientific in the best possible way, at least for me as a science-minded lad, while still having interesting story elements to keep you reading. Goleman makes refreshingly nuanced assessments and conclusions, not shying away from the limitations of the science, exactly like you would expect from a scientist involved in this topic since the very start. It was fascinating to read what it does to the brain, how/why it works, and what the current hypotheses are (and where we need more future research).

Going chronologically through the science's history from birth to the now holds the attention well enough as a way of being introduced to all the concepts and slowly adding complexity. How the science of meditation started out with rudimentary brain tools to measure brain waves, from a discipline where researching meditation was actually strongly frowned upon and was even seen as ruining your career because of its spiritual origins. (Also the curious story how meditation research into mind states was also inspired by the psychedelics research in the '60 in the US before they were banned). Then as later the science and understanding grew rapidly with more carefully designed studies and new revolutionary brain imaging technologies such as fMRI.

The main argument of the book, if you keep meditating then its temporary positive effects become more permanent is exciting science to say the least. As a meditator, which has perhaps only meditated a couple of hundred hours, I feel like it has deepened my understanding and appreciation of the practice, next to reinvigorating my motivation to keep at it.

Above all, it confirmed and underscored its importance and value with solid science. From just a few dozens hours of mindfulness meditation leading to measurable improvements, to meditation masters who have a young brain age statistically in the highest percentiles, recovering rapidly from stress and pain and show remarkable resilience. Sam Harris said it right when he said meditation might be the closest a human can get to a superpower.

4 stars overall as a non-fiction. It had a few points where I did have to push through the drier parts of the book, and I put the book down several times just to process information, but the content was solid and interesting enough for me to keep going through the slower parts.

5 stars for organizing most of the science and history of meditation neatly into a readable and intriguing book.