Depending on how long you may have followed Sam Harris, this book will either read like one man's personal tales reinforced by a few fairly well known phenomena and conclusions drawn from science, or something of struggle to suss out ideas about consciousness, awareness, and self from someone who doesn't want to wade in the pools of the yogis or mystics.
Harris is one of the clearest writers I know. He doesn't leave much to interpretations. Until he's pressed or rushed in a Ben Affleck situation, even if the concept being talked about is incomplete, Harris at least meant what he said. With that, you'll know what he's speaking to when he talks about "transcendent" experiences and trust that it has nothing to do with the metaphysical. You hear his drug trips regarding unending love or standing atop a mountain of shame and know he's painting a picture, not providing a road map you'll need to explicitly stick to.
I suppose at the, primarily uninformed enough, gut level, I think this book has the same kind of problem that "Free Will" had. This is a discussion of the very nature of existence. How or what our brain does to put us in a moment or make us aware of infinite things going on around us. The idea is to hammer in the notion that you can abolish the ego, if only for moments, and when you do you'll be able to cope with stress, anger, pain, or just generally be able to manifest happiness or contentedness easier.
One has to assume we know, or will ever be able to know, enough about our ability and capacity for perception to really buy in to the degree you feel he's advocating. To say something like "'I' is an illusion" is to speak towards an, admittedly potentially inaccessible condition, from which the illusion can arise. Whatever "I" is, or wherever I get my illusion of self, it's still here and plays out for reasons that, illusions or not, can change, be influenced, and have consequences.
And I don't think Harris would dispute that in the book and tries to explain more in the idea that classically understood "religious experiences" are not the sole possession of believers over picking apart the particulars of existence, but it's hard to see this as little more than a book advocating meditation and feeling management.
After finishing and reflecting, there wasn't a kind of jarring or lasting impression, which is odd for a Sam Harris book. My bias could be showing in my familiarity of the subject and knowing his views for so long. I imagine if "the whole religion and spirituality thing" isn't one of your favorite topics, the lessons and groundwork he explains will resonate more powerfully. It's also a pretty quick read that I wouldn't use to characterize Harris as an author in general.
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