Richard Dawkins's Book Recommendations

Entangled Life

by Merlin Sheldrake

"Entangled Life by @MerlinSheldrake is one of the best works of scientific literature I have ever read: intelligent (a scientist can be good at philosophy), informative (I learned so much), inspiring (almost every sentence made me pause for thought), beautifully written (this author has a real way with words). The vignettes of autobiography add to the appeal. A marvellous book."

The Spy and the Traitor

by Ben Macintyre

"“The Spy & the Traitor” by Ben Macintyre. “The best true spy story I have ever read” (John Le Carré). I’d call it the best, most thrilling thriller I’ve ever read, with the bonus that it’s – astonishingly – true. Breathtaking courage, cliff-edge suspense, even black comedy."

Conundrum

by Jan Morris

"I recommend Conundrum by Jan Morris. Moving story of growing up feeling like a female trapped in a male body. 10-year odyssey of hormone therapy and surgery, after which she felt happy & fulfilled & remarried her former wife. Very much not a victim of transient fashion."

The Coddling of the American Mind

by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

"The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, audiobook read by @JonHaidt. Utterly superb book, recommended unreservedly. Brilliant book, exposes one of the major things wrong with society today. Please please read it."

The Tangled Tree

by David Quammen

"Strongly recommend The Tangled Tree. @DavidQuammen is an excellent writer, as we know from e.g. The Song of the Dodo. Good science & balanced judgment enlivened with warts-&-all portraits & anecdotes of scientist personalities: Carl Woese, Ford Doolittle, Lynn Margulis etc."

The Dawn of Language

by Sverker Johansson

"I love a book that teaches me things I didn’t know while provoking in me thoughts I never had before, setting my mind racing in new directions. Such a book is The Dawn of Language by Sverker Johansson. Alongside his own view of language origins, he fairly treats alternatives."

The Righteous Mind

by Jonathan Haidt

"Finished Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind. V important book. Well-written, wise, even-handed, informed by wide reading in evolution, sociology, psychology, economics, moral & political theory. Every page stimulates constructive thought (& sometimes constructive disagreement)."

The Righteous Mind

by Jonathan Haidt

"From time to time I read a book which I find seminal: seeds new constructive thought. Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind (I’m now half way through) is seminal. Recommended, especially if you’re one of those who fashionably rubbishes Evolutionary Psychology & its “modules”."

The Book of Humans

by Adam Rutherford

"Finished The Book of Humans by Adam Rutherford. It’s really very good. Highly stimulating, lots to think about, lots to learn. Very well-written, though the occasional bouts of over-egged political correctness burst onto the page a little jarringly. Thoroughly recommended."

Blueprint

by NA Christakis

"Very nice to see a thorough and vivid exposition of the Extended Phenotype (he calls it “Exophenotype”) by @NAChristakis in Chapter 10 of Blueprint, a book that I strongly recommend in general. So good to read a sociologist who understands evolution and takes it seriously."