Episode · Conversations with Tyler · 2026-08-19
Tyler Cowen & Luke Burgis: books mentioned on Conversations with Tyler
Luke Burgis on Mimetic Desire, Catholicism, and the Age of Social Contagion
Luke Burgis left Wall Street after two years, founded a few successful companies in his twenties, then walked away to spend three years in a Roman seminary on the path to the priesthood. He now runs the Cluny Institute and teaches at Catholic University.
Tyler Cowen discussed The One and the Ninety-Nine by Luke Burgis and The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher. Luke Burgis recommended The Burnout Society by Byung-Chul Han and The Italians by Luigi Barzini, and discussed Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The One and the Ninety-Nine
Discussed“He’s author of the bestselling book Wanting, and his recent work is just coming out. It is called The One and the Ninety-Nine: Forging Identity in the Age of Social Contagion.”
Where to get it
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The Burnout Society
The Burnout Society by Byung-Chul Han is a sharp philosophical critique of modern achievement culture, arguing that contemporary society's obsession with endless productivity and self-exploitation leads directly to widespread psychological exhaustion and systemic burnout.
Recommended“The Anglo world, I think, especially in the US, I really believe that we have some bad ideas, what Byung-Chul Han has called the achievement subject. It’s this very Calvinist idea that I think has affected even the way that we think about entrepreneurship, which I’m extremely pro-entrepreneurship, but I think that it’s in his book, The Burnout Society, which”
Where to get it
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Demons
Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a profound novel exploring the societal and psychological chaos that erupts when ideological dogmas displace spiritual frameworks.
Discussed“I’m going to go with Dostoevsky, though, because I think his book Demons diagnoses what can happen at a psychic and spiritual level when social contagion runs rampant.”
Where to get it
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The Benedict Option
The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher is a conservative Christian book that argues for the intentional withdrawal of believers from mainstream secular culture to build resilient, traditional communities.
Discussed“You must know Rod Dreher. What do you think of The Benedict Option? Withdraw. I want to do Rod justice, and I think it’s easy to strawman Rod and say that he’s just recommending that everybody move to a small farm.”
Where to get it
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The Italians
The Italians by Luigi Barzini is a classic, insightful sociological exploration of Italian national character, culture, and regional complexities written during the 1960s.
Recommended“To the Northern Italian question, there’s a great book on Italy, if you haven’t read it. It’s called The Italians by Luigi Barzini in the ’60s. It’s just a fantastic book.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“He’s author of the bestselling book Wanting, and his recent work is just coming out. It is called The One and the Ninety-Nine”
“The new book or Wanting or both? ... Wanting is about mimetic desire, and this book is a continuation of that and how it plays out in social dynamics, the self versus the crowd.”
“The book is titled The One and the Ninety-Nine. The message, as you know from having read it, is not that everybody should become a rugged individualist and that the goal is to become the one.”
“Before the last two questions, just another plug for your book. The title is The One and the Ninety-Nine: Forging Identity in the Age of Social Contagion.”