Books like Rationality: From AI to Zombies

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.

Both dig into cognitive bias.

02

The Enigma of Reason

Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber · Psychology

The standard account of human reasoning treats it as a tool for individual problem-solving that happens to malfunction under certain conditions.

Both dig into cognitive bias.

03

Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking

Daniel Dennett · Philosophy

Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking is Daniel Dennett's handbook for thinking well — a collection of seventy-odd conceptual tools assembled across a long career in philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and evolutionary theory.

A kindred philosophy read.

04

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.

Both dig into cognitive bias.

05

Predictably Irrational

Dan Ariely · Psychology

Predictably Irrational is Dan Ariely's examination of how humans make decisions that are consistently, systematically irrational — not random or arbitrary, but irrational in ways that follow patterns.

Both dig into cognitive bias.

06

Irrationality

Stuart Sutherland · Psychology

Irrationality is Stuart Sutherland's rigorous and often mordant survey of the ways human beings consistently fail to reason well.

Shares rationality and cognitive bias with Rationality: From AI to Zombies.

07

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Nassim Nicholas Taleb · Science

The Black Swan is Nassim Nicholas Taleb's argument that the most consequential events in history — financial crashes, technological breakthroughs, wars, pandemics — are not predictable outliers but structurally unpredictable ones.

Shares cognitive bias and epistemology with Rationality: From AI to Zombies.

08

Meditations

Marcus Aurelius · Philosophy

Meditations is not a book Marcus Aurelius wrote for anyone to read.

Both dig into rationality.

09

Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger

Peter Bevelin · Philosophy

Seeking Wisdom is Peter Bevelin's distillation of ideas from Charles Darwin, Charlie Munger, and a wide range of scientific and philosophical disciplines — assembled into a practical guide for better thinking and decision-making.

Both dig into rationality.

10

The Art of the Good Life

Rolf Dobelli · Philosophy

The Art of the Good Life is Rolf Dobelli's sequel to The Art of Thinking Clearly, applying the same format — short, self-contained chapters on discrete mental tools — to the question of how to construct a life that goes well.

Both dig into self-improvement.

11

The Bed of Procrustes

Nassim Nicholas Taleb · Philosophy

The Bed of Procrustes is Nassim Nicholas Taleb's collection of philosophical aphorisms, the third volume in his Incerto series following Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan.

Both dig into epistemology.

12

10% Happier

Dan Harris · Memoir

10% Happier is Dan Harris's account of discovering meditation after a panic attack live on Good Morning America in 2004 forced him to confront an anxiety problem he'd been managing with cocaine and a punishing work schedule.

Both dig into self-improvement.