Books like Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body

01

Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

Sam Harris · Religion & Spirituality

Waking Up is Sam Harris' argument that the insights of contemplative traditions — particularly Buddhism's claim that the sense of self is an illusion — can be separated from religious metaphysics and investigated directly through meditation and introspection.

Both dig into meditation.

02

Why Buddhism Is True

Robert Wright · Religion & Spirituality

Why Buddhism Is True is Robert Wright's argument that modern evolutionary psychology and neuroscience provide independent confirmation for core Buddhist claims about the mind, suffering, and the nature of the self.

A kindred science read.

03

The Miracle of Mindfulness

Thich Nhat Hanh · Religion & Spirituality

The Miracle of Mindfulness is Thich Nhat Hanh's introduction to mindfulness practice, originally written in Vietnamese as a letter to a fellow monk.

Both dig into meditation.

04

The Mindful Way Through Depression

Mark Williams · Health

The Mindful Way Through Depression is a clinical self-help book by four researchers — Mark Williams, John Teasdale, Zindel Segal, and Jon Kabat-Zinn — who developed Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, a treatment program with strong evidence for reducing depression relapse.

A kindred science read.

05

Emotional Intelligence

Daniel Goleman · Psychology

Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence, published in 1995, made a widely influential argument: that the cluster of abilities involved in managing emotions — self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social skill — predicts life outcomes at least as well as IQ, and possibly better in many domains.

A kindred science read.

06

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

Robert M. Sapolsky · Science

Behave is Robert Sapolsky's attempt to explain why humans do what they do — the violence, the altruism, the tribalism, the heroism — by working through every layer of biology that contributes to a single act.

Both dig into neuroscience.

07

How to Change Your Mind

Michael Pollan · Science

Michael Pollan came to psychedelics late in life, as a skeptic.

Both dig into neuroscience.

08

How to Create a Mind

Ray Kurzweil · Science

Ray Kurzweil's central claim in How to Create a Mind is that the neocortex — the part of the brain responsible for higher thought — operates on a single repeating algorithm called the pattern recognition theory of mind.

Both dig into neuroscience.

09

Silent Spring

Rachel Carson · Science

Silent Spring, published in 1962, is Rachel Carson's investigation of the effects of synthetic pesticides — particularly DDT and related organochlorines — on birds, fish, insects, and the broader ecological web.

Both dig into scientific evidence.

10

The Distracted Mind

Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen · Science

The Distracted Mind brings together two distinct research traditions — cognitive neuroscience and psychology of technology — to explain why modern humans find sustained attention so difficult and what can be done about it.

Both dig into neuroscience.

11

The End of Overeating

David A. Kessler · Science

David Kessler, a former FDA commissioner and dean of two medical schools, wrote The End of Overeating as a scientific investigation into why so many people — including himself — find it nearly impossible to stop eating hyperpalatable food once they start.

Both dig into neuroscience.

12

The Hour Between Dog and Wolf

John Coates · Science

The Hour Between Dog and Wolf is John Coates's argument that financial markets are driven partly by biology, and specifically by the hormonal systems — testosterone and cortisol in particular — that evolved to prepare the body for physical challenges and that now operate on traders making millisecond decisions.

Both dig into neuroscience.