Book · 2020 · Political Science
The Parasitic Mind
How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense
Why people recommend it
The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad is a non-fiction book that critiques modern ideological conformity, identity politics, and postmodernism through an evolutionary psychology lens. On The Rubin Report, Dave Rubin recommended and linked to the book at the end of an interview with the author. On The Joe Rogan Experience, Joe Rogan and Gad Saad discussed the themes of the book at length, touching upon academic elitism, the nature of peer-reviewed research versus popular science writing, and gender ideology anecdotes featured in the text. Gad Saad also humorously mentioned on the podcast that book royalties from The Parasitic Mind provided him with significant financial freedom. Rogan inquired about the audiobook format and expressed appreciation for Saad's work, having previously highlighted the author's background as an evolutionary biologist and professor from Montreal. Throughout these podcast discussions, both the host and the author used the book as a springboard to examine cultural phenomena, ideological dogmas, and the challenges facing contemporary intellectual discourse in academia and society at large.
Who recommended it
- Gad Saad Discussed
- Joe Rogan Discussed
- Dave Rubin Recommended
Gad Saad — 4 mentions
“and so i had tackled that book at my in my first book in 2007 as a bunch of uh gibberish that was part of sort of the victimhood narrative”
“this past year was the parasitic mind the book royalties came in and so you know i don't make 100 million spotify money so the royalties of that book are enough that oh now i can buy a home and retire if i wanted in austin or florida”
“it's something that i discussed in the parasitic mind did i ever tell you the story with my interaction with a woman with whom i had a battle about pregnant men getting pregnant”
“but in the very in the parasitic mind i tell the story in chapter one of the haughtiness of academia”
Joe Rogan — 3 mentions
“that's the difference between a peer-reviewed paper and what you write which by the way i want to give you a copy of the parasitic mind with a autograph”
“are the parasitic minds available now did you do the audiobook”
“yeah my friend god saad who is a uh he's a professor out of montreal he wrote a book he's an evolutionary biologist and he wrote a book on uh called the parasitic mind”
Dave Rubin — 1 mention
“- All right Gad, we're gonna link to the book The Parasitic Mind right below and you know, we could talk forever so next time in person my friend.”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
- Black Elk Speaks
- Empire of the summer moon
- Epictetus
- Immortality Key
- Journal of a trapper
- Name of the Rose
Other mentions (6: passing, ad reads, own books)
“So, I I thought maybe I'd give you because I I know that you know The Parasitic Mind really well. And so, I wanted to kind of contextualize this book in relation to that book.”
“Well, The Parasitic Mind was the story of what I need to do to hijack your cognitive system, your your your ability to think rationally. And hence, there were all these parasitic ideas that destroyed your capacity to think.”
“So, in the Parasitic Mind, I talk about social constructivism. Everything is a social construction.”
“Cultural relativism is a parasitic idea that I discuss in The Parasitic Mind. It basically says, "Who are you to judge the beliefs and the practices of another culture? Shut up, racist."”
“- So I called them of course in the book, idea pathogens and drawing a corollary to how animals could be parasitized by actual brain worms. I argue that human beings can be parasitized by another class of pathogens, idea pathogens. So and hence this is why it's called The Parasitic Mind.”
“- Well because their, their tribalism supersedes their desire to be truthful. So there's a tension that I discuss in The Parasitic Mind between two types of ethical systems.”