Episode · The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast · 2023-07-27
Books mentioned on Evolution, Religion, and Happiness | Dr. Gad Saad | EP 377
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
-
The Saad Truth about Happiness
The Saad Truth about Happiness by Gad Saad is a self-help and behavioral psychology book that outlines practical secrets for navigating life and achieving genuine personal well-being.
Discussed“You know, you just wrote a book called The Saad Truth About Happiness, that's coming out July 25th, I believe, and you know, it is the case that I think you're a credible observer on that front”
Where to get it
-
The Parasitic Mind
The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad is a provocative critique of modern ideological conformity and intellectual trends that the author argues undermine reason, objective truth, and academic freedom.
Discussed“Let's start with your last book, The Parasitic Mind. When was that published, Gad?”
Where to get it
-
The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is a seminal science book that popularizes a gene-centric view of evolution and explores the biological origins of selfishness and altruism.
Discussed“So think back of Richard Dawkins, uh, when he introduced the concept of the meme in his 1976 book, The Selfish Gene.”
Where to get it
-
Darwin's Cathedral
Darwin's Cathedral by David Sloan Wilson is a notable work exploring the evolutionary origins of religion through the lens of group selection and communality.
Recommended“who actually he wrote a a great book called Darwin's Cathedral, which if you haven't read it, Jordan, I think you'd enjoy it.”
Where to get it
-
Nicomachean Ethics
Aristotle's classical treatise on virtue, happiness, and human flourishing remains a cornerstone of philosophical inquiry and ethical discussion.
Discussed“So, I I argue that the most fundamental universal law that is most ubiquitous is something that Aristotle had already talked about in his uh Nicomachean Ethics book, uh the golden mean, right?”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (6) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“But it turns out, and I discussed this in The Parasitic Mind, that, for example, your likelihood of supporting military interventionism is correlated to your upper body strength.”
“And so, in the in The Parasitic Mind, I argue that male social justice warriors are instantiating a form of sneaky [ __ ] strategy, right?”
“And of course previous to that, because I'm writing a new book called 'We Who Wrestle with God.'”
“In The Consuming Instinct, which was one of my earlier books in 2011, I had a whole chapter where I was talking about the thought experiment of what might happen if an extraterrestrial being came to Earth shopping for the one good faith.”
“You can debate whether what they found was spurious, but in my book Maps of Meaning, I attempted to take their findings, construct a nomological network of cross-cultural mythological analysis, and compare it against the measurement techniques of behavioral psychology and neuroscience.”
“and in my Maps of Meaning book, what I tried to do was to take what the Union's had discovered by constructing a nomological network of cross-cultural mythological analysis and I tried to beat that against the measurement techniques of behavioral psychology and neuroscience.”