Geoffrey Miller, Ph.D.

Recommended nonfiction books

Notes

• These 400+ books are arranged by topic, with topics arranged alphabetically; within topics, books are arranged alphabetically by last name of author.

• I’ve read all of these (at least partly!), and I can vouch for their quality, clarity, & accessibility. (I’ve read lots of other books I would recommend, but haven’t included yet, so don’t be offended if you’re an author and I don’t mention you!)

• For each book, there’s a link that you can click that will take you straight to the Amazon page for the book, so you can see further information, and order it if you want.

• This list focuses on selected topics that I know the most about; I haven’t included lots of other fascinating topics (like cosmology, theology, military history, travel) that are well worth exploring, but that I don’t know as well.

• About 2/3 of these are popular non-fiction books accessible to the educated lay reader; about 1/3 are more technical academic works.

• This list was last updated on March 17, 2020; I’ll update it again soon with many more titles, will fix formatting & missing info, and will add Amazon links if they’re missing.

• Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

My All-Time Favorite Top 10+ Non-Fiction Books (the tl;dr version of this list)

• Cochran, Gregory, & Harpending, Henry (2010). The 10,000 year explosion: How civilization accelerated human evolution. NY: Basic Books. [Human evolution didn’t stop in prehistory, but accelerated since the rise of civilization.] link

• Bostrom, Nick (2014). Superintelligence: Paths, dangers, strategies. Oxford, UK: Oxford U. Press. [A difficult, alarming book about the biggest existential risk that humans face in the 21st century: Artificial General Intelligence.] link

• Dawkins, Richard (1976/2016). The selfish gene (40th Anniversary Edition). [You’ve heard of it, but have you actually read it? It’s worth reading bro] Oxford U. Press. link

• Haidt, Jonathan (2012). The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. NY: Vintage. [A must-read book on the moral psychology of partisanship and political signaling, by an NYU social psychologist who deeply influenced my thinking.] link

• Hanson, Robin (2017). The age of Em: Work, love, and life when robots rule the earth. Oxford U. Press. [visionary analysis of a future where whole-brain emulations of people run the economy & society] link

• Harris, Sam (2014). Waking up: A guide to spirituality without religion. New York: Simon & Schuster. link

• Hogh-Olesen, Henrik (2018). The aesthetic animal. Oxford U. Press. [A great little book on the origins of art and beauty] link

• MacAskill, William (2016). Doing good better: How Effective Altruism can help you make a difference. NY: Penguin. [The assigned textbook for my Effective Altruism class; a great, accessible work by the Oxford moral philosopher who co-founded the EA movement.] link

• Pinker, Steven (2002). The blank slate: The modern denial of human nature. NY: Penguin/Putnam. [An excellent, vivid, scholarly argument against the Leftist blank slate dogma; I’ve often assigned it in classes.] link

• Richie, Stuart (2016). Intelligence: All that matters. NY: Teach Yourself. [A great short introduction to intelligence and IQ research, and why it matters.] link

Books arranged by topic

Animal Welfare

• Braithwaite, Victoria (2010). Do fish feel pain? Oxford U. Press. link

• Cooney, Nick (2013). Veganomics: The surprising science on what motivates vegetarians, from the breakfast table to the bedroom. Amazon CreateSpace. link

• Foer, Jonathan Safran (2010). Eating animals. Boston: Back Bay Books. link

• Reese, Jacy (2019). The end of animal farming: How scientists, entrepreneurs, and activists are building an animal-free food system. Boston: Beacon Press. link

• Singer, Peter (2009). Animal liberation (Revised Ed.). NY: HarperCollins link

Art, Evolutionary Aesthetics, & the Psychology of Beauty

• Dutton, Denis (2008). The art instinct: Beauty, pleasure, & human evolution. London: Bloomsbury Press. link

• Eco, Umberto (2012). History of beauty. New York: Rizzoli. link

• Gombrich, Ernst H. (1994). A sense of order: A study in the psychology of decorative art (2nd Ed.). London: Phaidon Press. link

• Gombrich, Ernst H. (2000). Art and illusion: A study in the psychology of pictorial representation. London: Phaidon Press. link

• Hersey, George L. (1996). The evolution of allure: Sexual selection from the Medici Venus to the Incredible Hulk. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. link

• Hersey, George L. (1999). The monumental impulse: Architecture’s biological roots. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. link

• Hogh-Olesen, Henrik (2018). The aesthetic animal. Oxford U. Press. link

• Kandel, Eric (2012). The age of insight: The quest to understand the unconscious in art, mind, and brain, from Vienna 1900 to the present. NY: Random House. link

• Postrel, Virginia (2004). The substance of style: How the rise of aesthetic value is remaking commerce, culture, & consciousness. NY: Harper Perennial. link

• Prum, Richard O. (2018). The evolution of beauty: How Darwin’s forgotten theory of mate choice shapes the animal world. NY: Anchor. link

• Scruton, Roger (2011). Beauty: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford U. Press. link

• Shepard, Roger N. (1990). Mind sights. NY: W. H. Freeman. link

• Steiner, Wendy (2001). Venus in exile: The rejection of beauty in twentieth-century art. NY: Free Press. link

• Veblen, Thorstein (1914/2019). The instinct of workmanship and the state of the industrial arts. NY: Macmillan. link

• Voland, Eckhart, & Grammer, Karl (Eds.). (2003). Evolutionary aesthetics. NY: Springer. link

• Thornton, S. (2009). Seven days in the art world. NY: W. W. Norton. link

Artificial Intelligence

• Barrat, James (2015). Our final invention: Artificial intelligence and the end of the human era. NY: Griffin. link

• Bostrom, Nick (2014). Superintelligence: Paths, dangers, strategies. Oxford U. Press. link

• Hanson, Robin (2017). The age of Em: Work, love, and life when robots rule the earth. Oxford U. Press. link

• Lee, Kai-Fu (2018) AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the new world order. NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. link

• Tegmark, Max (2018). Life 3.0: Being human in the age of artificial intelligence. NY: Vintage. link

Aspergers & Neurodiversity

• Baron-Cohen, Simon (2012). The essential difference: Men, women and the extreme male brain. London: Allen Lane. link

• Grandin, Temple, & Barron, Sean (2017). Unwritten rules of social relationships: Decoding social mysteries through the unique perspectives of autism. NY: Future Horizons. link

• Silberman, Steve (2015). Neurotribes: The legacy of autism and the future of neurodiversity. NY: Penguin. link

Behavior Genetics [Note: this will be expanded soon]

• Knopik, Valerie S., Neiderhiser, Jenae M., DeFries, John C, & Plomin, R. (2016). Behavioral genetics (7th Ed.). NY: Worth. link

• Murray, Charles (2020). Human diversity: The biology of gender, race, and class. NY: Twelve. link

• Plomin, Robert (2019). Blueprint: How DNA makes us who we are. MIT Press. link

Bioethics & Human Enhancement

• Anomaly, Jonathan (2020). Creating future people: The ethics of genetic enhancement. NY: Routledge. link

• Buchanan, Allen (2017). Better than human: The promise and perils of beiomedical enhancement. Oxford U. Press. link

• Kuhse, Helga, et al. (Eds.). (2015). Bioethics: An anthology (3rd Ed.). NY: Wiley-Blackwell. link

• Savalescu, J., & Bostrom, N. (Eds.). (2011). Human enhancement. Oxford: Oxford U. Press. link

Books, Writing, & Publishing

• Block, Lawrence (1994). Telling lies for fun & profit: A manual for fiction writers. NY: William Morrow. link

• Blum, Deborah et al. (2015). A field guide for science writers: The office guide of the National Association of Science Writers. Oxford U. Press. link

• Gottschall, Jonathan (2013). The storytelling animal: How stories make us human. NY: Mariner Books. link

• Katz, Christina (2008). Get known before the book deal: Use your personal strengths to grow an author platform. NY: Writer’s Digest Books. link

• Pinker, Steven (2014). The sense of style: The thinking person’s guide to writing in the 21st century. NY: Viking. link

• Schmidt, Victoria Lynn (2005). Story structure architect: A writer’s guide to building dramatic situations and compelling characters. NY: Writer’s Digest Books.

Career Planning, Work Advice, Entrepreneurship

• De Botton, Alain (2010). The pleasures and sorrows of work. NY: Vintage. link

• Ferriss, Tim (2009). The 4-hour work week: Escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich. NY: Harmony. link

• Frank, Robert H., & Cook, P. J. (1996). The winner-take-all society: Why the few at the top get so much more than the rest of us. NY: Free Press. link

• Frank, Robert H. (2010). What price the moral high ground? How to succeed without selling your soul. Princeton U. Press. link

• Furnham, Adrian (2006). Just for the money? What really motivates us at work. London: Cyan Communications. link

• Hoehn, Charlie (2014). Recession-proof graduate: How to land the job you want by doing free work. Hoehn Zone Media. link

• Hochschild, A. (2012). The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling (3rd Ed.). Berkeley: U. California Press. link

• Kaufman, Josh (2012). The personal MBA: Master the art of business. NY: Portfolio. link

• Stanley, Thomas J., & Danko, William D. (2010). The millionaire next door: The surprising secrets of America’s wealthy. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade. link

• Thiel, Peter (2014). Zero to one: Notes on startups, or how to build the future. NY: Crown Business. link

• Todd, Benjamin (2016). 80,000 hours: Finding a fulfilling career that does good. NY: CreateSpace. link

Combat sports, Warfare, Psychology of Aggression

• Buss, David (2006). The murderer next door: Why the mind is designed to kill. NY: Penguin. link

• Gat, Azar (2008). War in human civilization. Oxford U. Press. link

• Gottschall, J. (2008). The rape of Troy: Evolution, violence, and the world of Homer. Cambridge U. Press. link

• Gottschall, Jonathan (2015). The professor in the cage: Why men fight and why we like to watch. NY: Penguin. link

• Grossman, Dave, & Christensen, Loren W. (2008). On combat: The psychology and physiology of deadly conflict in war and peace (3rd Ed.). Warrior Science Publications. link

• Hardy, I. C. W., & Briffa, M. (Eds.). (2013). Animal contests. Cambridge U. Press. link

• Miller, Rory (2008). Meditations on violence: A comparison of martial arts training and real world violence. Wolfeboro, NH: YMAA Publication Center. link

• Pinker, Steven (2012). The better angels of our nature: Why violence has declined. NY: Penguin. link

• Plantinga, Adam (2014). 400 things cops know: Street-smart lessons from a veteran patrolman. Fresno, CA: Quill Driver Books. link

• Schaffer, Bernard (2013). Way of the warrior: The philosophy of law enforcement. CreateSpace. link

• Shackelford, Todd K. (2012). The Oxford handbook of evolutionary perspectives on violence, homicide, and war. Oxford U. Press. link

• Shackelford, Todd K., & Hansen, Ranald D. (Eds.). (2013). The evolution of violence. NY: Springer. link

• Stout, Martha (2005). The sociopath next door. NY: Harmony. link

Consumer Behavior

• De Botton, Alain (2005). Status anxiety. NY: Penguin. link

• Frank, Robert H. (2000). Luxury fever: Weighting the cost of excess. Princeton U. Press. link

• Frank, Robert (2012). The Darwin economy: Liberty, competition, and the common good. Princeton U. Press. link

• Frank, Thomas (1998). The conquest of cool: Business culture, counterculture, and the rise of hip consumerism. U. Chicago Press. link

• Miller, Geoffrey (2010). Spent: Sex, evolution, and consumer behavior. NY: Penguin. link

• Saad, Gad (2007). The evolutionary bases of consumption. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. link

• Veblen, Thorstein (1899/2009). The theory of the leisure class. Oxford U. Press. link

• Zelizer, Viviana A. (2013). Economic lives: How culture shapes the economy. Princeton U. Press. link

Dating & Mating

• Kipnis, Laura (2017). Unwanted advances: Sexual paranoia comes to campus. NY: Harper. link

• Max, Tucker, & Miller, Geoffrey (2016). What women want. NY: Little, Brown. link

• Prioleau, Betsy (2013). Swoon: Great seducers and why women love them. NY: W. W. Norton. link

• Rudder, Christian (2015). Dataclysm: Who we are when we think no one’s looking. NY: Crown. link

• Slater, Dan (2014). A million first dates: Solving the puzzle of online dating. Rancho Santa Margarita, CA: Current Publishing. link

Decision-Making, Judgment, Risk [Note: this will be expanded soon]

• Gigerenzer, Gerd (2014). Risk savvy: How to make good decisions. NY: Viking. link

• Kenrick, Ddouglas T., & Griskevicius, Vladas (2013). The rational animal: How evolution made us smarter than we think. NY: Basic Books. link

• Sutherland, Rory (2020). Alchemy: The dark art and curious science of creating magic in brands, business, and life. NY: William Morrow. link

• Watts, Duncan (2012). Everything is obvious: How common sense fails us. NY: Crown Business. link

Depression, Bipolar, Mood Disorders

• Gilbert, Paul (2009). Overcoming depression: A self-help guide using cognitive behavioral techniques. NY: Basic Books. link

• Kahn, Jeffrey P. (2012). Angst: Origins of anxiety and depression. Oxford U. Press. link

• Miklowitz, David J. (2019). The bipolar disorder survival guide: What you and your family need to know (3rd Ed.). NY: Guilford Press. link

• Nesse, Randolph (2019). Good reasons for bad feelings: Insights from the frontier of evolutionary psychiatry. NY: Dutton. link

• Rottenberg, Jonathan (2014). The depths: The evolutionary origins of the depression epidemic. NY: Basic Books. link

Economics, Economic History, Economic Psychology

• Allen, Robert C. (2011). Global economic history: A very short introduction. Oxford U. Press. link

• Clark, Gregory, (2007). A farewell to alms: A brief economic history of the world. Princeton U. Press. link

• Conniff, Richard (2002). The natural history of the rich: A field guide. NY: W. W. Norton. link

• Earle, Timothy (2002). Bronze age economics: The beginnings of political economics. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. link

• English, James F. (2005). The economy of prestige: Prizes, awards, and the circulation of value. Harvard U. Press. link

• Flannery, Kent, & Marcus, Joyce (2012). The creation of inequality: How our prehistoric ancestors set the stage for monarchy, slavery, and empire. Harvard U. Press. link

• Frank, Robert H. (2008). The economic naturalist: In search of explanations for everyday enigmas. NY: Basic Books. link

• Frank, Robert H. (2014). Microeconomics and behavior (9th Ed.). NY: McGraw-Hill. link

• Miller, Geoffrey (2010). Spent: Sex, evolution, and consumer behavior. NY: Penguin. link

• Seabright, Paul (2010). The company of strangers: A natural history of economic life (2nd Ed.). Princeton U. Press. link

• Shermer, Michael (2007). The mind of the market: Compassionate apes, competitive humans, and other tales from evolutionary economics. NY: Times Books. link

Education

• Brandon, Craig (2010). The five-year party: How colleges have given up on educating your child and what you can do about it. Dallas, TX: BenBella Books. link

• Brockman, John (Ed.). (2012). This will make you smarter: New scientific concepts to improve your thinking. NY: Harper Perennial. link

• Caplan, Bryan (2018). The case against education: Why the education system is a waste of time and money. Princeton U. Press. link

• Ellsberg, Michael (2012). The education of millionaires: Everything you won’t learn in college about how to be successful. NY: Portfolio/Penguin. link

• Hirsch, E. E. (2006). The knowledge deficit: Closing the shocking education gap for American. NY: Houghton Mifflin. link

• Karabel, Jerome (2006). The chosen: The hidden history of admission and exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. NY: Mariner Books. link

• Murray. Charles (2009). Real education: Four simple truths for bringing America’s schools back to reality. NY: Crown Forum. link

• O’Shea, Joseph (2013). Gap year: How delaying college changes people in ways the world needs. Johns Hopkins U. Press. link

• Sasse, Ben (2017). The vanishing American adult: Our coming-of-age crisis and how to rebuild a culture of self-reliance. NY: St. Martin’s Press. link

• Selingo, Jeffrey J. (2013). College (un)bound: The future of higher education and what it means for students. Boston: New Harvest. link

• Steinberg, Jacques (2003). The gatekeepers: Inside the admissions process of a premier college. NY: Penguin. link

Effective Altruism [Note: this will be expanded soon]

• MacAskill, William (2016). Doing good better: How Effective Altruism can help you make a difference. NY: Penguin. link

• Singer, Peter (2015). The most good you can do: How Effective Altruism is changing ideas about living ethically. New Haven, CN: Yale U. Press. link

Enlightenment Values & Western Civilization

• Murray, Charles (2004). Human accomplishment: The pursuit of excellence in the arts and sciences, 800 BC to 1950. Washington, DC: AEI Press. link

• Pinker, Steven (2019). Enlightenment now: The case for reason, science, humanism, and progress. NY: Penguin. link

• Ridley, Matt (2010). The rational optimist: How prosperity evolves. NY: HarperCollins. link

• Shapiro, Ben (2010). The right side of history: How reason and moral purpose made the West great. NY: Broadside Books. link

• Shermer, Michael (2016). The moral arc: How science makes us better people. NY: Griffin. link

Evolutionary Biology & Animal Behavior [Note: this will be expanded soon]

• Rubenstein, Dustin R., & Alcock, John (2013). Animal behavior (11th Ed.). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer. link

• Darwin, Charles (1871/1981). The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. Princeton U. Press. link

• Dawkins, Richard (1976/2016). The selfish gene (40th Anniversary Edition). Oxford U. Press. link

• Dawkins, Richard (1976/2016). The extended phenotype: The long reach of the gene. Oxford U. Press. link

• Ridley, Mark (2001). The cooperative gene: How Mendel’s demon explains the evolution of complex beings. NY: Free Press. link

Evolutionary Medicine & Health

• Gluckman, Peter, et al. (2016). Principles of evolutionary medicine (2nd Ed.). Oxford U. Press. link

• Lieberman, D. (2014). The story of the human body: Evolution, health, and disease. New York: Vintage. link

Evolutionary Psychology

• Boyer, Pascal (2018). Minds make societies: How cognition explains the world humans create. New Haven, CN: Yale U. Press. link

• Buss, David (2019). Evolutionary psychology (6th Ed.). NY: Routledge. link

• Buss, David (Ed.). (2015). Handbook of evolutionary psychology (2nd Ed.). NY: Wiley. link

• Cronin, Helena (1991). The ant and the peacock. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press.

• Kenrich, Douglas T., & Griskevicius, Vladas (2013). The rational animal: How evolution made us smarter than we think. NY: Basic Books. link

• Kurzban, Robert (2012). Why everyone (else) is a hypocrite. Princeton, NJ: Princeton U. Press.

• Miller, Geoffrey F. (2000). The mating mind: How sexual choice shaped the evolution of human nature. NY: Viking. link

• Nesse, Randolph M. (Ed.). (2001). Evolution and the capacity for commitment. NY: Russell Sage Foundation. link

• Pinker, Steven (2002). The blank slate: The modern denial of human nature. NY: Penguin/Putnam. link

• Salmon, Catherine, & Symons, Ddn (2003). Warrior lovers: Erotic fiction, evolution, and female sexuality. Yale U. Press.

• Stewart-Williams, Steve (2018). The ape that understood the universe: How the mind and culture evolve. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge U. Press. link

• Wilson, David Sloan (2019). This view of life: Completing the Darwinian revolution. NY: Pantheon. link

Existential Risks

• Bostrom, Nick (2014). Superintelligence: Paths, dangers, strategies. Oxford, UK: Oxford U. Press. link

• Ellsberg, Daniel (2017) The doomsday machine: Confessions of a nuclear war planner. Bloomsbury USA. link

• Ord, Toby (2020). The precipice: Existential risk and the future of humanity. NY: Hachette Books. link

Food, Cooking, Paleo eating

• Asprey, Dave (2018). The bulletproof diet. Emmaus, PA: Rodale. link

• Bourdain, Anthony (2007). Kitchen confidential: Adventures in the culinary underbelly. NY: Ecco. link

• Ferriss, Tim (2012). The 4-hour chef: The simple path to cooking like a pro, learning anything, and living the good life. Boston: New Harvest. link

• Jaminet, Paul, & Jaminet, Shou-Ching (2012). Perfect health diet: Regain health and lose weight by eating the way you were meant to eat. NY: Scribner. link

• McGee, Harold (2004). On food and cooking: The science and lore of the kitchen (Revised Ed.). NY: Scribner. link

• Perlmutter, David (2013). Grain brain: The surprising truth about wheat, carbs, and sugar. NY: Little, Brown. link

• Pollan, Michael (2009). In defense of food: An eater’s manifesto. New York: Penguin. link

• Sanfilippo, Diane (2016). Practical paleo: A customized approach to health and a whole-foods lifestyle (2nd Ed.) Auberry, CA: Victory Belt Publishing. link

• Shanahan, Catherine (2018). Deep nutrition: Why your genes need traditional food. Flatiron Books. link

• Wolf, Rob (2010). The paleo solution: The original human diet. Auberry, CA: Victory Belt Publishing. link

• Wrangham, Richard (2010). Catching fire: How cooking made us human. NY: Basic Books. link

Free Speech & Viewpoint Diversity

• Boghossian, Peter, & Lindsay, James (2019). How to have impossible conversations: A very practical guide. Boston, MA: Da Capo Press. [Tips on how to have constructive conversations about polarizing topics] link

• Brockman, John (Ed.) (2007). What is your dangerous idea? Today’s leading thinkers on the unthinkable. NY: Harper Perennial. link

• Campbell, Bradley, & Manning, Jason (2018). The rise of victimhood culture: Microaggressions, safe spaces, and the new culture wars. NY: Palgrave Macmillan. link

• Dreger, Alice (2015). Galileo’s middle finger: Heretics, activists, and one scholar’s search for justice. NY: Penguin. link

• Kahane, Adam (2017). Collaborating with the enemy: How to work with people you don’t agree with or like or trust. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler. link

• Lukianoff, Greg (2014). Unlearning liberty: Campus censorship and the end of American debate. NY: Encounter Books. link

• Lukianoff, Greg, & Haidt, Jonathan (2018). The coddling of the American mind: How good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure. NY: Penguin Press. link

• McGrath, Titania (2019). Woke: A guide to social justice. Edinburgh, UK: Constable. link

• Rauch, Jonathan (2013). Kindly inquisitors: The new attacks on free thought. Chicago: U. Chicago Press. link

• Ronson, Jon (2015). So you’ve been publicly shamed. NY: Riverhead Books. link

• Segerstråle, Ullica (2000). Defenders of the truth: The sociology debate. NY: Oxford U. Press. link

Futurism, future evolution, transhumanism

• Blackford, Russell, & Broderick, Damien (Eds.). (2014). Intelligence unbound: The future of uploaded and machine minds. NY: Wiley-Blackwell. link

• Danaher, John & McArthur, Neil. (Eds.) (2018). Robot sex: Social and ethical implications. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. link

• Diamandis, P. H., & Kotler, S. (2014). Abundance: The future is better than you think. New York: Free Press. link

• Hanson, Robin (2017). The age of Em: Work, love, and life when robots rule the earth. Oxford U. Press. [visionary analysis of a future where whole-brain emulations of people run the economy & society] link

Game Theory & Strategy

• Binmore, Ken (2007). Game theory: A very short introduction. Oxford U. Press. link

• Binmore, Ken (2011). Natural justice. Oxford U. Press. link

• Camerer, Colin F. (2003). Behavioral game theory: Experiments in strategic interaction. Princeton U. Press. link

• Dixit, A. K., & Nalebuff, B. J. (2010). The art of strategy: A game theorist’s guide to success in business and life. NY: W. W. Norton. link

• Tadelis, Steven (2013). Game theory: An introduction. Princeton U. Press. link

Health, fitness, Paleo exercise

• Durant, John (2014). The paleo manifesto: Ancient wisdom for lifelong health. New York: Harmony. link

• Ferriss, T. (2010). The 4-hour body. New York: Harmony. link

• Greenfield, Ben (2014). Beyond training: Mastering endurance, health, and life. Auberry, CA: Victory Belt Publishing. link

• Herz, J. C. (2014). Learning to breathe fire: The rise of CrossFit and the primal future of fitness. New York: Crown Archetype. link

• Lockley, Steven W., & Foster, Russell G. (2012). Sleep: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford U. Press. link

• McDougall, Christopher (2011). Born to run: A hidden tribe, superathletes, and the greatest race the world has never seen. New York: Random House. link

• Rippetoe, Mark (2013). Starting strength: Basic barbell training (3rd Ed.). Wichita Falls, TX: Aasgard. link

• Starrett, Kelly (2013). Becoming a supple leopard: The ultimate guide to resolving pain, preventing injury, and optimizing athletic performance (2nd Ed.). Auberry, CA: Victory Belt Publishing. link

• Sisson, Mark (2019). The primal blueprint (4th Ed.). New York: Primal Nutrition. link

Human Evolution [Note: this will be expanded soon]

• Boyd, Robert, & Silk, Joan B. (2017). How humans evolved (8th Ed.). NY: W. W. Norton. [An excellent textbook by ASU anthropologists on human origins] link

• Cochran, Gregory, & Harpending, Henry (2010). The 10,000 year explosion: How civilization accelerated human evolution. NY: Basic Books. [Human evolution didn’t stop in prehistory, but accelerated since the rise of civilization.] link

• Fleagle, John (2013). Primate Adaptation and Evolution (3rd Ed.). link

Humor, Stand-Up Comedy, & Psychology of Playfulness

• Bateson, Patrick, & Martin, Paul (2013). Play, playfulness, creativity, and innovation. Cambridge U. Press. link

• Burghardt, Gordon M. (2006). The genesis of animal play: Testing the limits. MIT Press. link

• Hurley, Matthew M. et al. (2013). Inside jokes: Using humor to reverse-engineer the mind. MIT Press. link

• Kaplan, Steve (2013). The hidden tools of comedy: The serious business of being funny. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions. link

• Martin, Steve (2008). Born standing up: A comic’s life. NY: Scribner’s. link

• McGraw, Peter, & Warner, Joel (2014). The humor code: A global search for what makes things funny. New York: Simon & Schuster. link

• Sacks, Mike (2014). Poking a dead frog: Conversations with today’s top comedy writers. NY: Penguin. link

Intelligence & IQ Research

• Ceci, Stephen J. (2009). On intelligence: A bioecological treatise on intellectual development (2nd Ed.). Harvard U. Press. link

• Flynn, James R. (2009). What is intelligence? Beyond the Flynn effect. (Revised Ed.). Cambridge U. Press. link

• Herrnstein, Richard J., & Murray, Charles (1996). The bell curve: Intelligence and class structure in American life. NY: Free Press. link

• Jensen, Arthur R. (1998). The g factor: The science of mental ability. NY: Prager. link

• Kaufman, Alan S. (2009). IQ testing 101. NY: Springer. link

• MacKintosh, Nicholas J. (2011). IQ and human intelligence (2nd Ed.). link

• Richie, Stuart (2016). Intelligence: All that matters. NY: Teach Yourself. [A great short introduction to intelligence and IQ research, and why it matters.] link

• Sternberg, Robert L. (Ed.). The Cambridge handbook of intelligence (2nd Ed.). Cambridge U. Press. link

Libertarianism, Free Markets, Free Minds

• Brennan, Jason (2012). Libertarianism: What everyone needs to know. Oxford U. Press. link

• Frank, R. H. (2011). The Darwin economy: Liberty, competition, and the common good. Princeton U. Press. link

• Hayek, F. A. (1944/2007). The road to serfdom. U. Chicago Press. link

• Murray, Charles (1997). What it means to be a libertarian. NY: Broadway. link

• Nozick, Robert (1974/2013). Anarchy, state, and utopia. NY: Basic Books. link

Life Advice, Willpower, Getting Things Done, Self-Improvement

• Allen, David (2002). Getting things done: The art of stress-free productivity. NY: Penguin. link

• Baumeister, Roy F., & Tierney, John (2012). Willpower: Rediscovering the greatest human strength. NY: Penguin. link

• Covey, Stephen R. (1989/2013). The 7 habits of highly effective people: Powerful lessons in personal change. NY: Simon & Schuster. link

• Duhigg, Charles (2014). The power of habit: Why we do what we do in life and business. NY: Random House. link

• Gawande, Atul (2010). The checklist manifesto: How to get things right. NY: Picador. link

• Hoffman, Reid (2012). The start-up of you: Adapt to the future, invest in yourself, and transform your career. NY: Crown Business. link

• Kondo, Marie (2014). The life-changing magic of tidying up: The Japanese art of decluttering and organizing. NY: Ten Speed Press. link

• Max, Tucker, & Miller, Geoffrey (2016). What women want. NY: Little, Brown. link

• McGonigal, K. (2013). The willpower instinct: How self-control works, why it matters, and what you can do to get more of it. NY: Avery Trade. link

• Peterson, Jordan B. (2018). 12 rules for life: An antidote to chaos. NY: Random House. link

Longevity & Regenerative Medicine

• Atala, Anthony, et. al. (2018). Principles of regenerative medicine (3rd Ed.). NY: Academic Press. link

• de Grey, Aubrey, & Rae, Michael (2008). Ending aging: The rejuvenation breakthroughs that could reverse human aging in our lifetime. NY: St. Martin’s Griffin. link

• Kurzweil, Ray, & Grossman, Terry (2010). Transcend: Nine steps to living well forever. Emmaus, PA: Rodale. link

• Sinclair, David (2019). Lifespan: Why we age, and why we don’t have to. NY: Atria. link

Love, Marriage, & the Psychology of Romantic Commitment

• Coontz, Stephanie (2006). Marriage, a history: How love conquered marriage. NY: Penguin. link

• Finkel, Eli J. (2019). The all-or-nothing marriage: How the best marriages work. NY: Dutton. link

• Fisher, Helen (2010). Why him? Why her? How to find and keep lasting love. NY: Holt. link

• Fletcher, Garth, et al. (2019). The science of intimate relationships (2nd Ed.). NY: Wiley-Blackwell. link

• Gottman, John, & Silver, Nan. (2013). What makes love last? How to build trust and avoid betrayal. NY: Simon & Schuster. link

• Hawley, Katherine (2012). Trust: A very short introduction. Oxford U. Press. link

• Nesse, Randolph M. (Ed.). (2001). Evolution and the capacity for commitment. NY: Russell Sage. link

• Simpson, Jeffrey A., & Campbell, Lorne (Eds.). (2013). The Oxford handbook of close relationships. Oxford U. Press. link

• Vangelisti, Anita L., & Perlman, Daniel (Eds.). (2019). The Cambridge handbook of personal relationships (2nd Ed.). Cambridge U. Press. link

Manosphere: PUAs, MRAs, Red Pill, etc

• Baumeister, Roy F. (2010). Is there anything good about men? How cultures flourish by exploiting men. Oxford U. Press. link

• Blanton, Brad (2005). Radical honesty: How to transform your life by telling the truth. Stanley, VA: Sparrowhawk. link

• Bronze Age Pervert (2018). Bronze age mindset. Independently published. link

• Donovan, Jack (2012). The way of men. Dissonant Hum. link

• Glover, Robert A. (2003). No more Mr. Nice Guy: A proven plan for getting what you want in love, sex, and life. Philadelphia: Running Press. link

• Greene, Robert (2000). The 48 laws of power. NY: Penguin. link

• Green, Robert (2004). The art of seduction. London: Profile Books. link

• McKay, Brett, & McKay, Kay (2009). The art of manliness: Classic skills and manners for the modern man. HOW Books. link

• Sommers, Christina Hoff (2015). The war against boys: How misguided policies are harming our young men. NY: Simon & Schuster. link

Mental Health, Well-Being, Positive Psychology, Mindfulness

• Chodron, Pema (2013). How to meditate: A practical guide to making friends with your mind. Louisville, CO: Sounds True. link

• Gilbert, Paul, & Choden (2014). Mindful compassion. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger. link

• Haidt, Jonathan (2006). The happiness hypothesis: Finding modern truth in ancient wisdom. New York: Basic Books. link

• Harris, Sam (2014). Waking up: A guide to spirituality without religion. New York: Simon & Schuster. link

• Hoehn, Charlie (2014). Play it away: A workaholic’s cure for anxiety. Charliehoehn.com. link

• Irvine, William B. (2008). A guide to the good life: The ancient art of stoic joy. Oxford U. Press. link

• Kabat-Zinn, Jon (2005). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. Boston: Hachette Books. link

• Lyobomirsky, S. (2014). The myths of happiness: What should make you happy, but doesn’t; what shouldn’t make you happy, but does. NY: Penguin. link

• Seligman, Marin E. P. (2012). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. NY: Atria Books. link

• Yalom, Irving D. (2012). Love’s executioner, and other tales of psychotherapy (2nd Ed.). NY: Basic Books. link

Moral Economics

• Bowles, Samuel (2016). The moral economy: Why good incentives are no substitute for good citizens. Yale U. Press. link

• Brennan, Jason, & Paworski, Peter (2015). Markets without limits: Moral virtues and commercial interests. NY: Routledge. link

• Cowen, Tyler (2018). Stubborn attachments: A vision for a society of free, prosperous, and responsible individuals. NY: Stripe Press. link

• Gintis, Herbert (2016). Individuality and entanglement: The moral and material basis of social life. Princeton U. Press. link

• McClosky, Deirdre (2006). The bourgeois virtues: Ethics for an age of commerce. U. Chicago Press. link

• Nelson, Phillip J., & Greene, Kenneth V. (2003). Signaling goodness: Social rules and public choice. AU. Michigan Press. link

• Smith, Adam (1759/2010). The theory of moral sentiments. NY: Penguin Classics. link

• Smith, Vernon, & Wilson, Bart J. (2019). Humanomics: Moral sentiments and the wealth of nations for the twenty-first century. Cambridge U. Press. link

• Zuboff, Shoshana (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism: The fight for a human future at the new frontier of power. NY: Public Affairs. link

Moral Philosophy & Virtue Ethics

• Brady, Michael S., & Pritchard, Duncan H. (Eds.). (2004). Moral and epistemic virtues. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. link

• Brooks, David (2015). The road to character. NY; Random House. link

• Flanagan, Owen (1991). Varieties of moral personality: Ethics and psychological realism. Harvard U. Press. link

• Harris, John (2016). How to be good: The possibility of moral enhancement. Oxford U. Press. link

• Harris, Sam (2010). The moral landscape: How science can determine human values. NY: Free Press. link

• MacIntyre, Alasdair (2007). After virtue: A study in moral theory (3rd Ed.). U. Notre Dame Press. link

• Nietzsche, Friedrich (1887/2014). On the genealogy of morals. NY: Penguin Classics. link

• Russell, Daniel C. (Ed.). (2013). The Cambridge companion to virtue ethics. Cambridge U. Press. link

• Singer, Peter (2017). Ethics in the real world: 82 brief essays on things that matter. Princeton U. Press. link

Moral Psychology and Virtue Signaling

• Bloom, Paul (2016) Against empathy: The case for rational compassion. NY: Ecco. link

• Caruso, Gregg, & Flanagan, Owen (Eds.). (2018). Neuroexistentialism: Meaning, morals, and purpose in the age of neuroscience. Oxford U. Press. link

• Christakis, Nicholas A. (2019). Blueprint: The evolutionary origins of a good society. NY: Little, Brown. link

• De Waal, Frans (2010). The age of empathy: Nature’s lessons for a kinder society. NY: Broadway Books. link

• Decety, Jean, & Wheatley, Thalia (Eds.). (2017). The moral brain: A multidisciplinary perspective. MIT Press. link

• Flesch, William (2008). Comeuppance: Costly signaling, altruistic punishment, and other biological components of fiction. Harvard U. Press. link

• Greene, Joshua (2014). Moral tribes: Emotion, reason, and the gap between us and them. NY: Penguin. link

• Haidt, Jonathan (2012). The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. NY: Vintage. link

• Miller, Geoffrey (2019). Virtue signaling: Essays on Darwinian politics & free speech. Cambrian Moon. link

• Ridley, Matt (1997). The origins of virtue: Human instincts and the evolution of cooperation. NY: Viking. link

• Sober, Eliot, & Wilson, David S. (1998). Unto others: The evolution and psychology of unselfish behavior. Harvard U. Press. link

• Wilson, David Sloan (2015). Does altruism exist? Culture, genes, and the welfare of others. Yale U. Press. link

• Wrangham, Richard (2019). The goodness paradox: The strange relationship between virtue and violence in human evolution. NY: Pantheon. link

Music & Psychology of Sound

• Byrne, David (2013). How music works. San Francisco: McSweeney’s. link

• Catchpole, C. K., & Slater, P. J. B. (2008). Bird song: Biological themes and variations (2nd Ed.). Cambridge U. Press. link

• Huron, David (2006). Sweet anticipation: Music and the psychology of expectation. MIT Press. link

• Levitin, Daniel (2007). This is your brain on music: The science of a human obsession. NY: Plume/Penguin. link

• Marcus, Gary (2012). Guitar zero: The science of becoming musical at any age. NY: Penguin. link

• Mithen, Steven (2007). The singing Neanderthals: The origins of music, language, and body. Harvard U. Press. link

• Wallin, Nils, et al. (Eds.). (2001). The origins of music. Cambridge, MA: Bradford Books. link

Parenting, kids, families, development [Note: this will be expanded soon]

• Hrdy, Sarah Blaffer (2011). Mothers and others: The evolutionary origins of mutual understanding. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press. link

• Lancy, David F. (2014). The anthropology of childhood: Cherubs, chattel, changelings (2nd Ed.). Cambridge U. Press. link

• Royle, Nick J., et al. (2012). The evolution of parental care. Oxford U. Press. link

• Salmon, Catherine, & Shackelford, Todd K. (Eds.). (2011). The Oxford handbook of evolutionary family psychology. Oxford U. Press. link

Personality Traits

• Buss, David, & Hawley, Patricia H. (Eds.) (2010). The evolution of personality and individual differences. Oxford U. Press. link

• Carere, Claudio, & Maestripieri, Dario (Eds.). (2013). Animal personalities: Behavior, physiology, and evolution. U. Chicago Press. link

• Cain, Susan (2012). Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking. NY: Random House. link

• Funder, David C. (2015). The personality puzzle (7th Ed.). NY: W. W. Norton. link

• Larsen, Randy J., & Buss, David (2017). Personality psychology: Domains of knowledge about human nature (6th Ed.). NY: McGraw-Hill. link

• Matthews, Gerald, Deary, Ian, & Whiteman, Martha C. (2009). Personality traits (3rd Ed.). Cambridge U. Press. link

• Nettle, Daniel. (2009). Personality: What makes you the way you are. Oxford U. Press. link

Political Science & Political Theory [Note: this will be expanded soon]

• Brennan, Jason (2017). Against democracy. Princeton U. Press. link

• Caplan, Bryan (2011). The myth of the rational voter: Why democracies choose bad policies. Princeton U. Press. link

• Land, Nick (2018). Fanged noumena: Collected writings 1987-2007 (5th Ed.). Urbanomic/Sequence Press. link

• Moldbug, Mencius (2015). An open letter to open-minded progressives. Unqualified Reservations. link

• Singer, Peter (2018). Marx: A very short introduction. Oxford U. Press. link

Political Psychology & Sociology

• Haidt, Jonathan (2012). The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. NY: Vintage. link

• Miller, Geoffrey (2019). Virtue signaling: Essays on Darwinian politics & free speech. Cambrian Moon. link

• Putnam, Robert (2001). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. NY: Touchstone Books. link

• Sasse, Ben (2018). Them: Why we hate each other – and how to heal. NY: St. Martin’s Press. link

• Sowell, Thomas (2007). A conflict of visions: Ideological origins of political struggles. NY: Basic Books. link

Polyamory & open relationships

• Hardy, Janet W., & Easton, Dossie (2017). The Ethical Slut: A practical guide to polyamory, open relationships, and other freedoms in sex and love (3rd Ed.) Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press. link

• Kardos, Eri (2016). Relationship agreements. Amazon CreateSpace. link

• Labriola, Kathy (2013). The jealousy workbook: Exercises and insights for managing open relationships. Greenery Press. link

• Ley, David (2009). Insatiable wives: Women who stray and the men who love them. NY: Rowman & Littlefield. link

• Michaels, Mark A., & Johnson, Patricia (2015). Designer relationships: A guide to happy monogamy, positive polyamory, and optimistic open relationships. Berkeley, CA: Cleis Press. link

• Perel, Esther (2007). Mating in Captivity: Unlocking erotic intelligence. NY: Harper. link

• Perel, Esther (2017). The state of affairs: Rethinking infidelity. NY: Harper. link

• Ryan, C., & Jetha, C. (2011). Sex at dawn: How we mate, why we stray, and what it means for modern relationships. New York: Harper Perennial. link

• Saxon, Lynn (2012). Sex at dusk: Lifting the shiny wrapping from ‘Sex at Dawn’. CreateSpace. link

• Taormino, Tristan (2008). Opening up: A guide to creating and sustaining open relationships. Berkeley, CA: Cleis Press. link

Sex & Sexuality: Sex Research

• Bering, J. (2014). Perv: The sexual deviant in all of us. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. link

• Klein, Marty (2012). Sexual intelligence: What we really want from sex, and how to get it. New York: HarperOne. link

• Langdridge, Darren, & Barker, Meg (2007). Safe, sane, and consensual: Contemporary perspectives on sadomasochism. NY: Palgrave Macmillan. link

• Lehmiller, Justin (2018). Tell me what you want: The science of sexual desire and how it can help you improve your sex life. De Capo Lifelong Books link

• Levay, Simon, et al. (2018). Discovering human sexuality (4th Ed.) NY: Sinauer. link

• Ley, David (2014). The myth of sex addiction. NY; Rowman & Littlefield. link

• Maier, T. (2013). Masters of sex: The life and times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson. New York: Basic Books. link

• Newmahr, Staci (2011). Playing on the edge: Sadomasochism, risk, and intimacy. Indiana U. Press. link

• Ogas, Ogi, & Gaddam, Sai (2012). A billion wicked thoughts: What the internet tells us about sexual relationships. New York: Plume. link

• Ortmann, David M., & Sprott, Richard A. (2015). Sexual outsiders: Understanding BDSM sexualities and communities. Rowman & Littlefield. link

• Roach, Mary (2009). Bonk: The curious coupling of science and sex. New York: W. W. Norton. link

Sex & Sexuality: Evolutionary views

• Boesch, Christophe (2009). The real chimpanzee: Sex strategies in the forest. Cambridge U. Press. link

• Buss, D. M. (2000). The dangerous passion: Why jealousy is as necessary as love and sex. NY: Free Press. link

• Dixson, Alan (2013). Primate sexuality: Comparative studies of the prosimians, monkeys, apes, and humans. (2nd Ed.). Oxford U. Press. link

• Meston, Cindy, & Buss, David (2010). Why women have sex. NY: St. Martin’s Griffin. link

• Miller, Geoffrey F. (2000). The mating mind: How sexual choice shaped the evolution of human nature. NY: Viking. link

• Muller, Martin N., & Wrangham, Richard W. (Eds.). (2009). Sexual coercion in primates and humans: An evolutionary perspective on male aggression against females. Harvard U. Press. link

• Thornhill, Randy, & Gangestad, Steven W. (2008). The evolutionary biology of human female sexuality. Oxford U. Press. link

• Weekes-Shackelford, V. A., & Shackelford, T. K. (Eds.). (2014). Evolutionary perspectives on human sexual psychology and behavior. NY: Springer. link

Sex & Sexuality: The future

• Danaher, John, & McArthur, Neil (Eds.). (2017). Robot sex: Social and ethical implications. MIT Press. link

• Earp, Brian, & Savulescu, Julian (2020). Love drugs: The chemical future of relationships. Redwood Press. link

Sex & Sexuality: Tips, Tactics, & Practices

• Carrellas, Barbara (2017). Urban tantra: Sacred sex for the twenty-first century. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press. link

• Harrington, Lee, & Williams, Mollena (2013). Playing well with others. Greenery Press. link

• Joannides, P. (2009). The guide to getting it on (6th Ed). Waldport, OR: Goofy Foot Press. link

• Ley, David (2016). Ethical porn for dicks: A man’s guide to responsible viewing pleasure. ThreeL Media. link

• Nagoski, E. (2015). Come as you are: The surprising new science that will transform your sex life. New York: Simon & Schuster. link

Sex Differences

• Baron-Cohen, Simon (2004). The essential difference: Male and female brains and the truth about autism. NY: Basic Books. link

• Campbell, A. (2013). A mind of her own: The evolutionary psychology of women (2nd Ed.). Oxford U. Press. link

• Geary, David C. (2020). Male, female: The evolution of sex differences (3rd Ed.). Washington, CA: American Psychological Association. link

• Shackelford, Todd K., & Goetz, Aaron T. (Eds.). (2012). The Oxford handbook of sexual conflict in humans. Oxford U. Press. link

• Tannen, Deborah (2007). You just don’t understand: Women and men in conversation. NY: William Morrow. link

Signaling Theory & Animal Communication

• Bradbury, Jack W., & Vehrencamp Sandra L. (2011). Principles of animal communication (2nd Ed.). Oxford, UK: Sinauer Associates. link

• Holland, John H. (2014). Signals and boundaries: Building blocks for complex adaptive systems. MIT Press. link

• Neiva, Eduardo (2007). Communication games. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

• Pentland, Alex (2010). Honest signals: How they shape our world. MIT Press. link

• Searcy, William A., & Nowicki, Stephen (2005). The evolution of animal communication: Reliability and deception in signaling systems. Princeton U. Press. link

• Simler, Kevin, & Hanson, Robin (2017). The elephant in the brain: Hidden motives in everyday life. Oxford U. Press. link

• Skyrms, Brian (2010). Signals: Evolution, learning, and information. Oxford U. Press. link

• Zahavi, Amotz, & Zahavi, Avishag (1997). The handicap principle: A missing piece of Darwin's puzzle. Oxford U. Press. link

Social Psychology, Person Perception, Social Evolution

• Ambady, Nalini, & Skowronski, John J. (Eds.). (2008). First impressions. NY: Guilford Press. link

• Baumeister, Roy F. (2005). The cultural animal: Human nature, meaning, and social life. Oxford U. Press. link

• Caldarelli, Guido, & Catanzaro, Michele (2012). Networks: A very short introduction. Oxford U. Press. link

• Cialdini, Robert B. (2008). Influence: Science and practice (5th Ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. link

• Donath, Judith (2014). The social machine: Designs for living online. MIT Press. link

• Gamble, Clive, et al. (2014). Thinking big: How the evolution of social life shaped the human mind. London: Thames & Hudson. link

  Hertwig, Ralph, & Hoffrage, Ulrich, & the ABC Research Group (2012). Simple heuristics in a social world. Oxford U. Press. link

• Hruschka, Daniel J. (2010). Friendship: Development, ecology, and evolution of a relationship. Berkeley: U. California Press. link

• Jussim, Lee (2012). Social perception and social reality: Why accuracy dominates bias and self-fulfilling prophecy. Oxford U. Press. link

• Keltner, Dacher (2016). The power paradox: How we gain and lose influence. NY: Penguin Books. link

• Lieberman, Matthew D. (2015). Social: Why our brains are wired to connect. NY: Broadway Books. link

• Mitani, John C., et al. (Eds.). (2012). The evolution of primate societies. U. Chicago Press. link

• Perrett, David (2012). In your face: The new science of human attraction. NY: Palgrave Macmillan. link

• Schaller, M., et al. (Eds.). (2006). Evolution and social psychology. NY: Psychology Press. link

• Wilson, Edward O. (2013). The social conquest of earth. NY: Liveright. link

Survival, Prepping [Note: this will be expanded soon]

• de Becker, Gavin (1999). The gift of fear, and other survival signals that protect us from violence. NY: Dell. link

• Gonzales, Laurence (2004). Deep survival: Who lives, who dies, and why. NY: W. W. Norton. link

• Sherwood, Ben (2010). The survivors club: The secrets and science that could save your life. NY: Grand Central Publishing. link