Books like The Molecule of More

01

Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence

Anna Lembke · Psychology

Dopamine Nation is psychiatrist Anna Lembke's account of how modern life has engineered an environment of endless easy pleasure — and what that does to the brain.

Shares dopamine and addiction with The Molecule of More.

02

Why We Sleep

Matthew Walker · Science

Why We Sleep is Matthew Walker's attempt to do for sleep what no amount of public health messaging has managed: make people genuinely afraid of what they're losing.

A kindred science read.

03

The Willpower Instinct

Kelly McGonigal · Self-help

The Willpower Instinct is based on Kelly McGonigal's popular ten-week science of willpower course at Stanford University's Continuing Studies program.

A kindred science read.

04

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.

Both dig into human behavior.

05

The Brain That Changes Itself

Norman Doidge · Psychology

Norman Doidge is a Canadian psychiatrist who traveled to interview the scientists and patients at the frontier of neuroplasticity research in the mid-2000s.

A kindred science read.

06

To Sell Is Human

Daniel H. Pink · Business

To Sell Is Human is Daniel Pink's case that selling — in the broad sense of moving people to think or act differently — is central to what most of us do at work every day, whether or not our job title includes the word "sales." Drawing on Bureau of Labor Statistics data, Pink estimates that Americans spend roughly 40% of their work time in non-sales selling: persuading, convincing, and nudging.

Shares motivation and human behavior with The Molecule of More.

07

Salt Sugar Fat

Michael Moss · Science

Michael Moss, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, spent four years inside the processed food industry to produce Salt Sugar Fat.

Both dig into addiction.

08

The Talent Code

Daniel Coyle · Science

The Talent Code is Daniel Coyle's investigation into why certain places — a tennis academy in Russia, a soccer training ground in Brazil, a music conservatory in Texas — produce a disproportionate number of world-class performers.

Both dig into motivation.

09

A Guide to the Good Life

William Irvine · Philosophy

William Irvine's book is a modern case for reviving Stoic philosophy as a practical guide to living well.

Both dig into desire.

10

Awaken the Giant Within

Tony Robbins · Self-help

Awaken the Giant Within is Tony Robbins' comprehensive manual for personal transformation, built on the premise that most people operate at a fraction of their potential because they have never taken control of the forces that shape their behavior: their beliefs, values, emotions, and the questions they habitually ask themselves.

Both dig into motivation.

11

Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction

David Sheff · Memoir

Beautiful Boy is David Sheff's account of watching his son Nic become addicted to methamphetamine through his late teens and early twenties, and of the years Sheff spent trying to understand it, respond to it, and survive it as a parent.

Both dig into addiction.

12

Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street

John Brooks · Business

Business Adventures is a collection of twelve long-form New Yorker profiles originally published between 1959 and 1969.

Both dig into human behavior.