Books like Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking

01

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Daniel Kahneman · Psychology

Thinking, Fast and Slow is Daniel Kahneman's account of the two cognitive systems that govern human thought.

A kindred philosophy read.

02

The Art of Thinking Clearly

Rolf Dobelli · Psychology

Rolf Dobelli is a Swiss entrepreneur and novelist who wrote a series of short newspaper columns on cognitive biases, later collected and expanded into this book.

A kindred philosophy read.

03

Consciousness Explained

Daniel C. Dennett · Philosophy

Consciousness Explained is Daniel Dennett's attempt to replace what he calls the Cartesian Theater — the intuitive picture of consciousness as a single unified stream of experience observed by a self — with a model he calls Multiple Drafts.

Shares philosophy of mind and consciousness with Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking.

04

The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins · Science

The Selfish Gene reframes evolution from the organism's point of view to the gene's.

Both dig into evolution.

05

Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions

Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths · Psychology

Brian Christian is a writer and Tom Griffiths is a cognitive scientist, and together they argue that computer science has worked out rigorous solutions to many of the problems humans face every day — when to stop searching for a better option, how to manage your schedule, how to sort your memory — and that these solutions are both interesting and useful.

A kindred philosophy read.

06

Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness

Peter Godfrey-Smith · Science

Peter Godfrey-Smith is a philosopher of science and a scuba diver who began spending time with octopuses off the coast of Sydney, and Other Minds is the result of that dual perspective.

Shares philosophy of mind and evolution with Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking.

07

A Rulebook for Arguments

Anthony Weston · Philosophy

A Rulebook for Arguments is Anthony Weston's slim, widely assigned handbook on how to build and judge arguments.

Shares critical thinking and argumentation with Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking.

08

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

Daniel C. Dennett · Philosophy

Breaking the Spell is Daniel Dennett's case that religion is a natural phenomenon — one that can and should be studied using the methods of evolutionary biology, cognitive science, and anthropology.

Shares philosophy of mind and evolution with Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking.

09

The Mind's I

Douglas Hofstadter & Daniel Dennett · Philosophy

The Mind's I is a collaborative anthology edited by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett, two of the most influential thinkers on consciousness and mind of the late twentieth century.

Shares philosophy of mind and consciousness with Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking.

10

From Bacteria to Bach and Back

Daniel C. Dennett · Science

Daniel Dennett's 2017 book is his most comprehensive attempt to explain how minds — conscious, intentional, creative minds — could have evolved from mindless matter without any homunculus, soul, or top-down designer.

Shares evolution and consciousness with Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking.

11

Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain

Lisa Feldman Barrett · Psychology

Lisa Feldman Barrett wrote this short book — genuinely short at under thirty thousand words — as an accessible introduction to seven core findings of modern neuroscience, each presented as a lesson that overturns something most people believe.

Shares evolution and consciousness with Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking.

12

Being and Nothingness

Jean-Paul Sartre · Philosophy

Being and Nothingness is Sartre's major philosophical treatise and the founding text of French existentialism.

Both dig into consciousness.