Books like The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

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.

A kindred psychology read.

02

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.

A kindred psychology read.

03

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Yuval Noah Harari · History

Sapiens traces the full arc of human history from the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa roughly 70,000 years ago to the present.

A kindred psychology read.

04

The Coddling of the American Mind

Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt · Psychology

Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt argue that American universities — and the parents and institutions that feed them — have adopted three ideas they call the Great Untruths: that what doesn't kill you makes you weaker, that you should always trust your feelings, and that life is a battle between good people and evil people.

A kindred psychology read.

05

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.

A kindred psychology read.

06

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell · Psychology

Blink is Malcolm Gladwell's argument that fast, unconscious decisions — the ones made in the first two seconds of encountering something — are often just as reliable as slow, deliberate analysis, and sometimes more so.

Both dig into intuition.

07

The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence

Gavin de Becker · Psychology

Gavin de Becker's central argument is that fear is a gift, not a problem to manage.

Both dig into intuition.

08

The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

Philip Zimbardo · Psychology

Philip Zimbardo designed the Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971, then watched it spin out of control within days.

Both dig into moral psychology.

09

Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right

Arlie Russell Hochschild · Politics

Strangers in Their Own Land is Arlie Russell Hochschild's attempt to understand the American Right from the inside — specifically, why working-class white Louisianans who live in a state ravaged by the petrochemical industry vote for politicians who oppose the regulations that might clean it up.

Both dig into political polarization.

10

The Screwtape Letters

C. S. Lewis · Religion & Spirituality

The Screwtape Letters is C.

Both dig into moral psychology.

11

The Year of the Flood

Margaret Atwood · Science fiction

The Year of the Flood is the second book in Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy, set in the same near-future corporate dystopia as Oryx and Crake (2003) but following different survivors.

Both dig into religion and community.

12

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.

A kindred psychology read.