Steven Pinker
Cognitive scientist & author
Harvard cognitive scientist and author of The Better Angels of Our Nature and Enlightenment Now. One of the great defenders of reason, science, and progress. His book recommendations are meticulously curated — he only recommends books he considers rigorously argued.
@sapinker32
Timeless books
3,129
Avg Lindy score
235 yrs old
Oldest book
Stood the test of time — old, widely published, and repeatedly endorsed
“The Selfish Gene is the book that made evolutionary biology accessible to the general reader. Dawkins at his best.”
Also Recommends
27 books · below Lindy threshold
Getting Better
Charles Kenny
3.5k
“Kenny's earlier book "Getting Better" was a major inspiration for my Enlightenment Now. Also recommended: His new history of pandemics, and his cheeky "Close the Pentagon" (related to Mueller's The Stupidity of War).”
36 Arguments for the Existence of God
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein
2.5k
“When it came out 10 years ago I said it was the best book either of us had ever written. Authors are always proudest of their latest, but this remains a masterpiece: Thirty-Six Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction by Rebecca Goldstein”
Close the Pentagon
Charles Kenny
1.6k
“Kenny's earlier book "Getting Better" was a major inspiration for my Enlightenment Now. Also recommended: His new history of pandemics, and his cheeky "Close the Pentagon" (related to Mueller's The Stupidity of War).”
How You Say It
Katherine D. Kinzler
1.6k
“A fascinating new book on language and social relations by Katherine Kinzler | How You Say It: Why You Talk the Way You Do―And What It Says About You via @amazon”
You Say You Want a Revolution
Daniel Chirot
1.6k
“I've learned a lot from Daniel Chirot's books on autocrats, genocide, & the Enlightenment. His new book on radical revolution is especially timely. He discusses it here w @michaelshermer”
The Mental Life of Modernism
Samuel Jay Keyser
1.6k
“Fascinating, important new book by friend & former colleague.”
The Bias That Divides Us
Keith E. Stanovich
1.4k
“Stanovich's important book:”
The Constitution of Knowledge
Jonathan Rauch
1.4k
“An enlightening conversation: @JohnRWoodJr of Braver Angels speaks with @jon_rauch on his vitally important book on truth in our time, The Constitution of Knowledge. Highly recommended.”
The Plague Cycle
Charles Kenny
1.4k
“Kenny's earlier book "Getting Better" was a major inspiration for my Enlightenment Now. Also recommended: His new history of pandemics, and his cheeky "Close the Pentagon" (related to Mueller's The Stupidity of War).”
Don't Trust Your Gut
Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
1.2k
“Just finished a fascinating book - Don't Trust Your Gut, by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz (author of Everybody Lies). Classic psych finding: data out-predicts intuition. SS-D cites recent big data on happiness, love, career success, & more. via @amazon”