Books like Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much

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.

02

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein · Economics

Nudge is Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein's argument that the way choices are presented — the default option, the order of items, the framing of a question — powerfully shapes what people decide, often more than their own stated preferences.

03

The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

Barry Schwartz · Psychology

Barry Schwartz argues that the expansion of consumer choice in wealthy societies has not produced the freedom and happiness it promised.

04

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.

05

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.

06

100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People

Susan Weinschenk · Psychology

Susan Weinschenk is a behavioral scientist and UX consultant, and this book is her translation of cognitive science research into practical guidance for designers.