Books like Guns, Germs, and Steel

01

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Yuval Noah Harari · History

Sapiens traces the full arc of human history from the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa roughly 70,000 years ago to the present.

Both dig into civilization.

02

Outliers: The Story of Success

Malcolm Gladwell · Psychology

Outliers is Malcolm Gladwell's argument that exceptional success is less a product of individual genius or drive than it is of hidden advantages, timing, and accumulated opportunity.

A kindred science read.

03

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.

A kindred science read.

04

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

David Epstein · Science

Range is David Epstein's argument against the ten-thousand-hours gospel.

A kindred science read.

05

Civilized to Death

Christopher Ryan · Science

Christopher Ryan is the co-author of Sex at Dawn, a 2010 book that argued human beings are not naturally monogamous.

Both dig into civilization.

06

Cosmos

Carl Sagan · Science

Cosmos is Carl Sagan's attempt to tell the full story of the universe and humanity's place in it — from the Big Bang to the origins of life to the rise of science as a way of knowing.

Both dig into civilization.

07

Weapons of Math Destruction

Cathy O'Neil · Science

Weapons of Math Destruction is mathematician and data scientist Cathy O'Neil's investigation of how algorithms — statistical models used to make decisions about people's lives — can perpetuate and amplify inequality rather than reduce it.

Both dig into inequality.

08

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity

Katherine Boo · History

Behind the Beautiful Forevers is Katherine Boo's account of three years spent in Annawadi, a Mumbai slum built on reclaimed land next to the international airport.

Both dig into inequality.

09

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

Matthew Desmond · History

Evicted is Matthew Desmond's account of eight Milwaukee families — tenants and landlords — living through the American housing crisis at its most basic level: the cycle of eviction.

Both dig into inequality.

10

Poverty, by America

Matthew Desmond · Economics

Poverty, by America is Matthew Desmond's follow-up to Evicted, and it makes a more explicit and polemical argument: poverty in the United States is not a natural condition or a problem of insufficient resources.

Both dig into inequality.

11

The Clock of the Long Now

Stewart Brand · Philosophy

The Clock of the Long Now is Stewart Brand's case for thinking at a civilizational scale rather than a quarterly one.

Both dig into civilization.

12

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

Richard Rothstein · History

Richard Rothstein's The Color of Law makes a precise and uncomfortable argument: residential segregation in American cities was not the result of private prejudice or individual choice but of explicit, deliberate government policy at the federal, state, and local levels.

Both dig into inequality.