Books like The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It Every Time

01

The Psychopath Test

Jon Ronson · Psychology

Jon Ronson is a journalist who starts investigating a strange series of anonymous books sent to academics around the world, and ends up spending a year exploring psychopathy, the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, and the question of whether the diagnostic categories psychiatry uses are tools for understanding people or labels that do damage of their own.

A kindred psychology read.

02

Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior

Leonard Mlodinow · Psychology

Leonard Mlodinow is a theoretical physicist who writes accessible science for general audiences.

A kindred psychology read.

03

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Robert B. Cialdini · Psychology

Influence is Robert Cialdini's account of why people say yes, and how that agreement is manufactured.

Both dig into persuasion.

04

Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade

Robert B. Cialdini · Psychology

Robert Cialdini spent decades studying the principles of persuasion that animate Influence, his 1984 masterwork.

Both dig into persuasion.

05

The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life

Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson · Psychology

Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson argue that human behavior is much more self-interested and much less high-minded than the explanations people give for it.

A kindred psychology read.

06

The Social Animal

Elliot Aronson · Psychology

Elliot Aronson is one of the most influential social psychologists in the history of the field, and The Social Animal, first published in 1972 and now in its twelfth edition, is the textbook introduction to social psychology that has shaped how generations of students think about human behavior.

Shares persuasion and human nature with The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It Every Time.

07

Dare to Lead

Brené Brown · Business

Dare to Lead is Brené Brown's application of her research on vulnerability and courage to the specific context of leadership.

Shares trust and vulnerability with The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It Every Time.

08

Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion

Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson · Psychology

Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson's central concern is that modern media, advertising, and politics have optimized for propaganda techniques that bypass critical reasoning and exploit psychological vulnerabilities.

Both dig into persuasion.

09

Atlas of the Heart

Brené Brown · Psychology

Atlas of the Heart is Brené Brown's attempt to map eighty-seven distinct human emotions and experiences — not as a clinical taxonomy but as a practical vocabulary for people who want to communicate more precisely about what they feel.

Both dig into vulnerability.

10

I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't)

Brené Brown · Psychology

I Thought It Was Just Me is Brené Brown's first major book, written from her research on shame as a social scientist.

Both dig into vulnerability.

11

Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion

Robert B. Cialdini · Psychology

Influence, New and Expanded is the 2021 revision of Robert Cialdini's foundational 1984 work on the psychology of persuasion.

Both dig into persuasion.

12

Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil

Paul Bloom · Psychology

Paul Bloom's central question is how much morality is innate versus learned.

Both dig into human nature.