Books like Status Anxiety

01

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Mark Manson · Self-help

Mark Manson's argument is that the relentless pursuit of positivity is itself a source of misery.

Both dig into meaning.

02

Meditations

Marcus Aurelius · Philosophy

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

A kindred philosophy read.

03

Stumbling on Happiness

Daniel Gilbert · Psychology

Daniel Gilbert is a Harvard psychologist whose central finding, after decades of studying affective forecasting, is that humans are systematically wrong about what will make them happy.

A kindred philosophy read.

04

Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl · Psychology

Man's Search for Meaning is Viktor Frankl's account of his years as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and the psychological theory he developed from that experience.

Both dig into meaning.

05

The Happiness Hypothesis

Jonathan Haidt · Psychology

Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at NYU who spent the early part of his career studying morality and happiness, and this book — published in 2006, before his work on political psychology brought him wider attention — synthesizes ancient philosophical wisdom with modern psychological research.

Both dig into meaning.

06

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives

David Eagleman · Philosophy

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives is a collection of forty short, fictional vignettes, each imagining a different version of what happens after death.

Shares identity and meaning with Status Anxiety.

07

When Breath Becomes Air

Paul Kalanithi · Memoir

When Breath Becomes Air is Paul Kalanithi's account of his life before and after being diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer at 36, while completing his residency in neurosurgery at Stanford.

Shares identity and meaning with Status Anxiety.

08

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Yuval Noah Harari · Philosophy

Where Sapiens traced humanity's past and Homo Deus speculated about its future, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century plants itself in the present.

Both dig into meaning.

09

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

George Saunders · Philosophy

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is George Saunders's account of the graduate fiction workshop he has taught at Syracuse for over twenty years, organized around seven stories by Tolstoy, Chekhov, Turgenev, and Gogol.

Both dig into meaning.

10

Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living

Krista Tippett · Philosophy

Becoming Wise draws on Krista Tippett's decades of conversation with scientists, poets, theologians, activists, and philosophers through her radio program On Being.

Both dig into meaning.

11

Ikigai

Héctor García · Philosophy

Ikigai is a short, accessible book by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles that explores the Japanese concept of a reason for being — the intersection of what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for.

Both dig into meaning.

12

Letters and Papers from Prison

Dietrich Bonhoeffer · Philosophy

Letters and Papers from Prison is a posthumous collection of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's correspondence written during his imprisonment at Tegel military prison in Berlin between April 1943 and October 1944, along with some earlier papers and the poem "Who Am I?" written near the end.

Both dig into identity.