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https://github.com/daveshap/david_shapiro_reading_list

Public repo of the most influential books I've read
https://github.com/daveshap/david_shapiro_reading_list

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Public repo of the most influential books I've read

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# David Shapiro Reading List



Public repo of the most influential books I've read. This is a living document. I will try to sort them by order of importance. I've read most of these. Some are still on my TBR. Just because I read a book does not mean I endorse it. Sometimes I read books to get a broader perspective on how other people think. 



DO NOT SUBMIT A PULL REQUEST. It will be deleted and you will be banned. 



| Title | Author | Note |

|---|---|---|

| The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It | Will Storr | The most important book I've ever read | 

| Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence | Max Tegmark | Critical for understanding what's coming | 

| Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality | Patricia Churchland | Evolutionary and neurological basis for morality |

| Capital in the Twenty-First Century | Thomas Piketty | Pairs well with Basic Economics |

| Breath | James Nestor | Modern and ancient wisdom about how to breathe properly, metamodern perfection |

| Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind | Yuval Noah Harari | Replace "fictions" with "narratives" and this book would have been perfect | 

| Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed or Fail | Ray Dalio | More important than Fourth Turning, pairs nicely | 

| The Fourth Turning | William Strauss | Intergenerational patterns and trends, archetypes | 

| Basic Economics | Thomas Sowell | Critical for anyone who's a voter | 

| Rewire Your Anxious Brain: How to Use the Neuroscience of Fear to End Anxiety, Panic, and Worry | | |

| Adrenal Transformation Protocol: A 4-Week Plan to Release Stress Symptoms and Go from Surviving to Thriving | Izabella Wentz | The single best resource on burnout and diet |

| A Short History of Chinese Philosophy | Yu-lan Fung | Critical for understanding Chinese thinking and history | 

| Finite and Infinite Games | | Difficult to read, important idea. |

| It Was the Best of Sentences, It Was the Worst of Sentences: A Writer's Guide to Crafting Killer Sentences | June Casagrande | Best book on prose and writing | 

| A Brief History of Neoliberalism | David Harvey | Critical to understand current economic paradigms |

| The Forgetting Machine: Memory, Perception, and the Jennifer Aniston Neuron | Rodrigo Quian Quiroga | Excellent book to understand neuroscience of memory | 

| The Power of a Positive No: Save The Deal Save The Relationship and Still Say No | William Ury | Best book on boundaries | 

| Wabi Sabi: Japanese Wisdom for a Perfectly Imperfect Life | Beth Kempton | Beautiful book, probably the best single book to understand Japanese philosophy | 

| The Genius Myth | Michael Meade |  | 

| Homecoming | John Bradshaw | The single best book for inner child work |

| The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization | Peter M. Senge | Okay. Dated. Has some good ideas. | 

| The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) | Steven Pinker |  | 

| Liquid Reign | Tim Reutemann | Good fictional view of how the future might be | 

| Consensus Through Conversations: How to Achieve High-Commitment Decisions | | Best single book on consensus |

| Crucial Conversations Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition | | Fantastic negotiation book |

| Philosophy of Physics: Quantum Theory (Princeton Foundations of Contemporary Philosophy, 19) | Tim Maudlin |  | 

| The Tragedy of Great Power Politics | John J. Mearsheimer | Interesting take, good explanatory and predictive power | 

| Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon--Survival of Bodily Death | | The OG NDE book |

| Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most | | Great book on conflict and negotiation |

| The War on the West | Douglas Murray | Understanding conservative take | 

| Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself | Melody Beattie | Good book for understanding boundaries | 

| Laziness Does Not Exist | Devon Price | Great book for neurospicy workaholics and perfectionists |

| The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture | | |

| King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine | | |

| Automatic Customer | John Warrillow | Best book for Patreon creators | 

| The Grand Biocentric Design: How Life Creates Reality | Robert Lanza | Interesting take on reverse causality and cosmic wave function, jives really well with many spiritual models |

| On Task: How Our Brain Gets Things Done | David Badre | Critical to understand attention, focus, and cognitive control |

| Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies (The CBC Massey Lectures) | Noam Chomsky |  | 

| The Simulation Hypothesis: An MIT Computer Scientist Shows Why AI, Quantum Physics and Eastern Mystics All Agree We Are In a Video Game | | |

| The Pattern Seekers: How Autism Drives Human Invention | | |

| Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst | | |

| Insecure in Love: How Anxious Attachment Can Make You Feel Jealous, Needy, and Worried and What You Can Do About It | Leslie Becker-Phelps PhD | Best book on relationship schemas and attachment theory | 

| Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect | Jonice Webb | Best book to understand childhood abandonment - foundational to Nihilistic Crisis | 

| Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity | | |

| The Holographic Universe: The Revolutionary Theory of Reality | Michael Talbot |  | 

| Psychedelic Psychotherapy: A User Friendly Guide to Psychedelic Drug-Assisted Psychotherapy | | Will be critical to heal the world |

| Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving: A Guide and Map for Recovering from Childhood Trauma | Pete Walker |  | 

| Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle | | |

| A History of Japan: Revised Edition | | |

| Leadership: In Turbulent Times | Doris Kearns Goodwin | Excellent book for those who want to make a difference |

| Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers | | |

| Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind | V. S. Ramachandran | The best way to understand the mind is to observe when it breaks. | 

| The Facilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making | | |

| The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human | | |

| Nihilism: The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age | Seraphim Rose | Important to understand the Christian Regressive pattern (Jordan Peterson, Russell Brand) | 

| Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving | Celeste Headlee |  | 

| DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research Into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences | | |

| The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You | Elaine N. Aron | Quintessential book for HSPs | 

| How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence | Michael Pollan |  | 

| Healing from Hidden Abuse: A Journey Through the Stages of Recovery from Psychological Abuse | Shannon Thomas LCSW | Deep understanding of how pathological people use manipulation and triangulation | 

| The Hero with a Thousand Faces (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell) | Joseph Campbell |  | 

| Exponential Organizations: Why new organizations are ten times better, faster, and cheaper than yours (and what to do about it) | Salim Ismail | Highly dated, but has some good ideas | 

| Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World | | |

| Fast After 50: How to Race Strong for the Rest of Your Life | Joe Friel |  | 

| Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy - Until You're 80 and Beyond | Chris Crowley |  | 

| Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents | Lindsay C. Gibson |  | 

| The Book of Ichigo Ichie: The Art of Making the Most of Every Moment, the Japanese Way | Héctor García |  | 

| How to Be Yourself: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety | Ellen Hendriksen |  | 

| Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print | Renni Browne |  | 

| Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life | Emily Nagoski Ph.D. |  | 

| The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better | Will Storr |  | 

| The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity | David Graeber | Valid, but the style is postmodern garbage. So much white guilt and sarcasm. | 

| Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction | | |

| Sitting in the Fire: Large Group Transformation Using Conflict and Diversity | | Good insight on privilege. Very woo woo at the end. |

| The 4-Phase Histamine Reset Plan: Getting to the Root of Migraines, Eczema, Vertigo, Allergies and More | Dr. Becky Campbell | Fixed my diet finally | 

| Expert Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Converting Your Online Visitors into Lifelong Customers | Russell Brunson |  | 

| Launch (Updated & Expanded Edition): How to Sell Almost Anything Online, Build a Business You Love, and Live the Life of Your Dreams | Jeff Walker |  | 

| Running on Empty No More: Transform Your Relationships With Your Partner, Your Parents and Your Children | Jonice Webb PhD |  | 

| The Highly Sensitive Person's Guide to Dealing with Toxic People: How to Reclaim Your Power from Narcissists and Other Manipulators | Shahida Arabi MA |  | 

| Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family | Anne-Marie Slaughter |  | 

| Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy | Jessica Fern |  | 

| The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic (2nd Edition) (How to be More Likable and Charismatic) | Patrick King |  | 

| Read People Like a Book: How to Analyze, Understand, and Predict People’s Emotions, Thoughts, Intentions, and Behaviors (How to be More Likable and Charismatic) | Patrick King |  | 

| Better Small Talk: Talk to Anyone, Avoid Awkwardness, Generate Deep Conversations, and Make Real Friends (How to be More Likable and Charismatic) | Patrick King |  | 

| We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation | Eric Garcia |  | 

| Container Gardening for Beginners: A Guide to Growing Your Own Vegetables, Fruits, Herbs, and Edible Flowers | Tammy Wylie |  | 

| The Science-Backed Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Beginners: A Hassle-Free Guide and Simple Meal Plan To Enhance Immunity, Optimize Gut Health, and Reduce Chronic Pain at Any Age | Yasmine Elamir MD |  | 

| Inc. Yourself, 11th Edition: How to Profit by Setting Up Your Own Corporation | Judith McQuown |  | 

| Liberating Losses: When Death Brings Relief | Jennifer Elison |  | 

| Tao Te Ching | Lao Tzu |  | 

| The Art Of War | Sun Tzu |  | 

| The Covert Passive-Aggressive Narcissist: Recognizing the Traits and Finding Healing After Hidden Emotional and Psychological Abuse (The Narcissism Series) | Debbie Mirza |  | 

| How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain | | |

| I Was Told That He Wouldn't Survive: My Dear Son | Jodi Lenaghen Daly |  | 

| Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities | Diana Leafe Christian |  | 

| YOU MIGHT DIE TOMORROW: Face Your Fear of Death to Live Your Most Meaningful Life | Kate Manser |  | 

| Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life (Revised Edition) | Jon Lee Anderson |  | 

| The Blue Zones, Second Edition: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest | Dan Buettner |  | 

| The Blue Zones Kitchen: 100 Recipes to Live to 100 | Dan Buettner |  | 

| Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To | Dr David A. Sinclair |  |

| The Complete Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Beginners: A No-Stress Meal Plan with Easy Recipes to Heal the Immune System | Dorothy Calimeris |  | 

| Economic Dignity | Gene Sperling |  | 

| You're It: Crisis, Change, and How to Lead When It Matters Most | Leonard J. Marcus |  | 

| The Anarchy | William Dalrymple |  | 

| Whole Again: Healing Your Heart and Rediscovering Your True Self After Toxic Relationships and Emotional Abuse | Jackson MacKenzie |  | 

| Recovering from Emotionally Immature Parents: Practical Tools to Establish Boundaries and Reclaim Your Emotional Autonomy | Lindsay C. Gibson |  | 

| Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive | Marc Brackett Ph.D. |  | 

| Love Me, Don't Leave Me: Overcoming Fear of Abandonment and Building Lasting, Loving Relationships | Michelle Skeen PsyD |  | 

| Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love (The Dr. Sue Johnson Collection, 1) | Dr. Sue Johnson EdD |  | 

| The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression (Second Edition) (Writers Helping Writers Series) | Becca Puglisi |  | 

| Neuroscience For Dummies | Frank Amthor |  | 

| The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma | Bessel van der Kolk M.D. |  | 

| Deep Learning with Python | Francois Chollet |  | 

| Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity | Peter Attia MD |  | 

| The Zen Book | Daniel Levin |  | 

| How to Win Friends & Influence People (Dale Carnegie Books) | Dale Carnegie |  | 

| Thinking, Fast and Slow | Daniel Kahneman |  | 

| Computer Vision | Simon J. D. Prince |  | 

| Programming Computer Vision with Python: Tools and algorithms for analyzing images | Jan Solem |  | 

| Gifted Grownups: The Mixed Blessings of Extraordinary Potential | Marylou Kelly Streznewski |  | 

| The Art Of Saying NO: How To Stand Your Ground, Reclaim Your Time And Energy, And Refuse To Be Taken For Granted (Without Feeling Guilty!) (The Art Of Living Well) | Damon Zahariades | Pales in comparison to Positive No | 

| The New Topping Book | Dossie Easton |  | 

| The Chalice and the Blade | | |

| The Coming of the Third Reich | | |

| One Million Followers, Updated Edition: How I Built a Massive Social Following in 30 Days | Brendan Kane |  | 

| Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1934-1941 | | |

| The Gods Themselves | Isaac Asimov |  | 

| Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets | | |

| The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin | | |

| Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire (Pulitzer Prize Winner) | | |

| The Hedonism Handbook: Mastering the Lost Arts of Leisure and Pleasure | | |

| Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. | | |

| The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company | | |

| Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story | | |

| The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses | | |

| What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful | | Written for a previous generation |

| Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating Behavior | | Written for angry blowhard old Boomer men |

| The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You | | |

| The Only Grant-Writing Book You'll Ever Need | | |

| Grant Writing for Dummies | | |

| Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project | | |

| Breaking Robert's Rules: The New Way to Run Your Meeting, Build Consensus, and Get Results | | |

| How to Meet Think Work Consensus | | |

| Tales from Both Sides of the Brain: A Life in Neuroscience | | Wastes so much time wistfully bragging about the good old days |

| The Mayo Clinic Handbook for Happiness: A Four-Step Plan for Resilient Living | | |

| Kushiel's Mercy (The Kushiel's Legacy, 3) | | |

| Kushiel's Scion (Kushiel's Legacy) | | |

| Understanding Autism in Adults and Aging Adults 2nd Edition: Updated in 2021 with New Insights for Improving Diagnosis and Quality of Life | | |

| Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity | | |

| Children of Dune | | |

| Taming Your Outer Child: Overcoming Self-Sabotage and Healing from Abandonment | Susan Anderson |  | 

| From Modernism to Postmodernism (Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies) | | |

| Nihilism | Nolen Gertz | Too sarcastic and dismisive to take seriously |

| The Unicorn Project: A Novel about Developers, Digital Disruption, and Thriving in the Age of Data | | |

| The Ghost in the Atom: A Discussion of the Mysteries of Quantum Physics | | |

| Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly | | |

| Dark Matter and Dark Energy: The Hidden 95% of the Universe | | |

| The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype | | |

| The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder | | |

| Dune Messiah | | |

| Ancillary Mercy | | |

| How to Deal with Emotionally Explosive People | | |

| Surrounded by Idiots: The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with Each in Business (and in Life) | | |

| Fire in the Belly: On Being a Man | | |

| Flow | | |

| The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win | | |

| Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships | | |

| Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are | | |

| Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind | | |

| Shattered: Surviving the Loss of a Child | | |

| Beyond Tears: Living After Losing a Child | | |