Sam Harris

Author, Philosopher, Podcaster

Samuel Benjamin Harris is an American philosopher, author, and podcast host. His work touches on a wide range of topics, including rationality, religion, ethics, free will, neuroscience, meditation, psychedelics, philosophy of mind, politics, terrorism, and artificial intelligence.

Sam Harris's 177 Book Recommendations

• Enlightenment Now
• One Blade of Grass
• The Qur'an
• The Last Word
• Reasons and Persons
• The Flight of the Garuda
• The Anatomy of Disgust
• Stumbling on Happiness
• Our Final Invention
• Mortal Questions
• Humiliation
• The History of Western Philosophy
• Hitch-22
• Machete Season
• Behave
• God Is Not Great
• The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations?: “He has published ten books, including super power, the end of the free market, and every nation for itself.”
• ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror: “New York Times bestseller about the Islamic State entitled ISIS, Inside the Army of Terror.”
• Security Mom: An Unclassified Guide to Protecting Our Homeland and Your Home: “she's written a book which I'm loving entitled Security Mom”
• A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love
• The Happiness Hypothesis: “He's the author of The Righteous Mind and the Happiness Hypothesis.”
• The Canceling of the American Mind: Cancel Culture Undermines Trust and Threatens Us All—But There Is a Solution: “Most recently, he wrote along with Ricky Schlott, the canceling of the American mind.”
• In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife: “His most recent book is In My Time of Dying, How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an”
• The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
• Understanding Urban Warfare: “He is the author of the book, understanding urban warfare.”
• Tribe: “Sebastian is a New York Times bestselling author of several books, Tribe, War, Freedom, a Death”
• Freedom: “Sebastian is a New York Times bestselling author of several books, Tribe, War, Freedom, a Death”
• The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea: “Sebastian is a New York Times bestselling author of several books, Tribe, War, Freedom, a Death in Belmont, Fire, and the Perfect Storm.”
• Possible Minds: Twenty-Five Ways of Looking at AI: “So this podcast is the result of three interviews and is organized around a new book from my agent John Brockman who edited it and the book is titled Possible Minds 25 Ways of Looking at AI”
• Darwin Among the Machines: The Evolution of Global Intelligence: “George is a historian of technology and he's the author of Darwin among the machines and Turing's Cathedral.”
• A Death in Belmont: “Sebastian is a New York Times bestselling author of several books, Tribe, War, Freedom, a Death in Belmont, Fire, and the Perfect Storm.”
• Fire: “Sebastian is a New York Times bestselling author of several books, Tribe, War, Freedom, a Death in Belmont, Fire, and the Perfect Storm.”
• Thinking, Fast and Slow: “The appearance of Thinking, Fast and Slow is a major event.”
• Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality: “most recently he has published a fantastic primer on the state of physics. And that is called Fundamentals. Ten Keys to Reality.”
• War
• Blueprint: “Nicholas has been on the podcast before, but that was before he had his new book, Blueprint,”
• Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind: “The book is conscious, a brief guide to the fundamental mystery of the mind.”
• Guns, Germs, and Steel: “He's the author quite famously of the books, guns, germs, and steel, and collapse.”
• Collapse: “He's the author quite famously of the books, guns, germs, and steel, and collapse.”
• Upheaval: “And his newest book is upheaval, turning points for nations in crisis.”
• What This Comedian Said Will Shock You: “21 years, Bill created and hosted politically incorrect on ABC, and he's the author of a new book, what this comedian said will shock you, which we discussed at the beginning of this conversation.”
• The Selfish Gene
• Climbing Mount Improbable
• Superbugs: The Race to Stop an Epidemic: “He's the author of several books and his latest is Superbugs, The Race to Stop an Epidemic.”
• Mind in Motion: How Action Shapes Thought: “Anyway, Barbara and I talk about a new book, Mind in Motion, Our Action Shapes Thought.”
• The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes: “And his new book is the case against reality.”
• On Intelligence: “The first is On Intelligence.”
• A Thousand Brains: “And the second and most recent is A Thousand Brains,”
• Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church: “Her book is Unfollow a memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist”
• Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa: “Dambisa is a prize-winning author of several bestsellers, The Edge of Chaos, Winter Take All, Dead Aid.”
• How Boards Work: And How They Can Work Better in a Chaotic World: “Her most recent book is How boards work.”
• Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine: “Her books include Red Famine, Stalin's War on Ukraine, Iron Curtain, The Crushing of”
• Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944–1956: “Her books include Red Famine, Stalin's War on Ukraine, Iron Curtain, The Crushing of”
• Divided We Fall: America's Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation: “And his most recent book is Divided We Fall, America's Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.”
• Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs
• Abundance
• Brave Genius: A Scientist, a Philosopher, and Their Daring Adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize
• How to Fight Anti-Semitism: “And the timing of this episode is fortuitous because I am speaking with Barry Weiss about her new book, How to Fight Anti-Semitism.”
• The Problem with Everything: My Journey Through the New Culture Wars: “And her most recent book is The Problem with Everything, My Journey Through the New Culture Wars.”
• Why We Sleep: “His first book, Why We Sleep, has been an international bestseller.”
• The Age of AI: And Our Human Future: “He is the host of Reimagine with Eric Schmidt, his own podcast, and most recently he is the co-author of a new book, The Age of AI and Our Human Future.”
• White American Youth: My Descent into America's Most Violent Hate Movement—and How I Got Out: “Christian's written a wonderful book, White American Youth”
• A Universe from Nothing: “Lawrence generously took time to answer a few questions about his new book, A Universe from Nothing.”
• The Professor in the Cage: “If you've ever wondered why combat is a perennial source of fascination for us, and whether this fascination can be channeled toward truly productive ends, The Professor in the Cage is the book to read.”
• Superintelligence: “Nick Bostrom, who wrote the book Superintelligence, which I found very interesting”
• The Case of the Pope: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights Abuse
• Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting
• Freedom Evolves
• The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan
• Nomad: From Islam to America: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations
• Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism
• Terror and Liberalism
• The Blue and Brown Books: Preliminary Studies for the Philosophical Investigations
• Out of My Later Years
• On Bullshit
• You are Not a Gadget
• The Caged Virgin
• Infidel
• The Moral Arc
• The Better Angels of Our Nature: “He is also my friend and an occasional mentor. Steve's new book is The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.”
• One by One from the Inside Out: Essays and Reviews on Race and Responsibility in America
• The Anatomy of Racial Inequality
• Race, Incarceration, and American Values
• Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America: “You recommended the book Ghettoside on your podcast, which I also recommend.”
• Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind
• Church of Spies: The Pope's Secret War Against Hitler
• Scaling Force: Dynamic Decision-Making Under Threat of Violence
• A Manual for Creating Atheists: “Peter was kind enough to answer a few questions about his new book, A Manual for Creating Atheists.”
• Nuclear Terrorism
• Mindfulness in Plain English
• The Experience of Insight: A Simple and Direct Guide to Buddhist Meditation
• Wherever You Go, There You Are
• I Wonder
• The Fabric of Reality: “the first one being The Fabric of Reality, which I read when it came out and loved”
• The Beginning of Infinity: “We talk about much of the other material in his most recent book, The Beginning of Infinity”
• Not Impossible: The Art and Joy of Doing What Couldn't Be Done
• Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions: “Your most recent book is Living the Secular Life”
• The God Argument: The Case Against Religion and for Humanism
• SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable
• The Year of Magical Thinking
• The Self Illusion: How the Social Brain Creates Identity: “Bruce was kind enough to answer a few questions about his new book, The Self Illusion: How the Social Brain Creates Identity.”
• Our Mathematical Universe: “I have a lot I want to talk about, including your book, Our Mathematical Universe, which I highly recommend to our listeners.”
• The Age of Atheists: How We Have Sought to Live Since the Death of God: “He was kind enough to answer a few question about his new book The Age of Atheists”
• Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust That Society Needs to Thrive
• How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: “And he's the author of five books, including How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life, and most”
• The Evolution of Everything: “They include the Red Queen, Genome, the Rational Optimist, and the Evolution of Everything.”
• Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger: “we are talking about your new book, which really could not have come at a better time.”
• Unveiled: How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islam: “And I've been in Yasmin's corner for a little while when she was getting ready to write her book and it was at the proposal stage.”
• Consolations: “which is a book I absolutely love.”
• Blue Nights
• The Journalist and the Murderer
• Fatal Vision
• The Gift of Fear
• Meditations on Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence
• Facing Violence: Preparing for the Unexpected
• Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism
• Storming Heaven: LSD and the American Dream
• The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications
• Ethics for the Real World: Creating a Personal Code to Guide Decisions in Work and Life
• Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil
• The Emotional Life of Your Brain: How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live—and How You Can Change Them
• Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives: “He is the coordinator of the Yale Institute of Network Science and the co-author of Connected.”
• Inadequate Equilibria: Where and How Civilizations Get Stuck: “And he has a new book out which is inadequate equilibria where and how civilizations get stuck.”
• Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization: “Most recently he's the author of a new book titled titled Starry Messenger, Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization.”
• The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness: “He also has a new book out based on this study called The Good Life, lessons from the world's longest scientific study of happiness, which he wrote along with his co-author Mark Schulz.”
• The Fence: The Art of Protection
• The Archaic Revival: Speculations on Psychedelic Mushrooms, the Amazon, Virtual Reality, UFOs, Evolution, Shamanism, the Rebirth of the Goddess, and the End of History
• True Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Author's Extraordinary Adventures in the Devil's Paradise
• Pharmacotheon
• DMT: The Spirit Molecule
• Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence: “He's the author of a few books, better never to have been, the harm of coming into existence,”
• The Human Predicament: A Candid Guide to Life's Biggest Questions: “He's the author of a few books, better never to have been, the harm of coming into existence, and most recently the human predicament, a candid guide to life's biggest questions.”
• The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook: “And he is most recently the author of the Square and the Tower.”
• The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature: “They include the Red Queen, Genome, the Rational Optimist, and the Evolution of Everything.”
• Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19: “And his new book with Alina Chan is Viral, the Search for the Origin of COVID-19.”
• The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality: “And is the author of several books, most recently the Experience Machine,”
• Transformative Experience: “Her most recent book is titled Transformative Experience.”
• Writings on an Ethical Life
• The Life You Can Save
• Dead or Alive: The Choice Is Yours: The Definitive Self-Protection Handbook
• Incognito
• Altered Traits: “And that book is altered traits.”
• The Rational Optimist: “They include the Red Queen, Genome, the Rational Optimist, and the Evolution of Everything.”
• The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State: “He wrote a great book on the Islamic State, titled The Way of the Strangers, Encounters with the Islamic State.”
• Animal Liberation: “What was your experience as a philosopher writing a book of such compelling social importance?”
• The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning: “And it's a very fun book which we discuss in part.”
• Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way
• The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell
• Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge
• The Coming Wave: “And he is also the author of a new book, The Coming Wave, Technology, Power, and the”
• Infectious Generosity: “You have a new book, Infectious Generosity, the ultimate idea worth spreading.”
• The Elephant in the Brain: “Robin's professor of economics at George Mason University and he's the author with Kevin Simler of a very interesting book titled The Elephant in the Brain, Hidden Motives in”
• The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin: “And The Man Without a Face, the unlikely rise of Vladimir Putin.”
• The God Delusion: “As Richard Dawkins explains in his marvelous book, The God Delusion”
• The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life: “co-author of the controversial (and endlessly misrepresented) book The Bell Curve”
• Outlive: “So you have written this amazing book, which we're going to talk about.”
• Who Owns the Future?
• On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious
• Genome
• The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future: “And he has a book titled The War on Normal People, which we talk about in this episode.”
• The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia: “She's the author of nine books, including The Future is History, How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia,”
• The Righteous Mind: “He's the author of The Righteous Mind and the Happiness Hypothesis.”
• The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire: “He has written many books, including the New York Times bestseller is The Great Derangement, Griftopia, and The Divide.”
• Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History: “He has written many books, including the New York Times bestseller is The Great Derangement, Griftopia, and The Divide.”
• The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap: “He has written many books, including the New York Times bestseller is The Great Derangement, Griftopia, and The Divide.”
• Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression—and the Unexpected Solutions: “His most recent book is Lost Connections, Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression, and The Unexpected Solutions.”
• The Madness of Crowds: “My friend Douglas Murray has a new book out called The Madness of Crowds. And this is a book I am really happy he wrote.”
• Mate: Become the Man Women Want: “Jeffrey is an evolutionary psychologist best known for his books, The Made in Mind, Made in Intelligence, Spent, and Mate.”
• The Meritocracy Trap: “His book is the meritocracy trap.”
• Spent: “Jeffrey is an evolutionary psychologist best known for his books, The Made in Mind, Made in Intelligence, Spent,”
• 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works: “One thing I love about your book—admittedly, somewhat selfishly—is that it's exactly the book I would want people to read before Waking Up comes out in the fall.”
• Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why
• Never Split the Difference: “And he's written a book on negotiation titled Never Split the Difference, Negotiating as if your life depended on it.”
• Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World: “He has published ten books, including super power, the end of the free market, and every nation for itself.”
• Faith at War: A Journey on the Frontlines of Islam, from Baghdad to Timbuktu
• The Blind Watchmaker
• The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory

Books written by Sam Harris

• Waking Up
• The Moral Landscape
• The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason
• Free Will
• Lying
• Letter to a Christian Nation
• Islam and the Future of Tolerance: A Dialogue
• Making Sense: Conversations on Consciousness, Morality, and the Future of Humanity
• The Four Horsemen: The Conversation That Sparked an Atheist Revolution