Episode · The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast · 2025-06-05
Jordan Peterson & Dr. Gad Saad: books mentioned on The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast #553
553. Why Do Smart People Double Down On Bad Ideas? | Dr. Gad Saad
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson and evolutionary psychologist Dr. Gad Saad reunite for a conversation that blends ancient myth, evolutionary theory, and cultural psychology.
Jordan Peterson discussed The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad. Gad Saad recommended Naturalist (Pul) by Eo Wilson and Consilience by E. O. Wilson, and discussed Born to Rebel by Frank J. Sulloway.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Parasitic Mind
Discussed“The last one was called the parasitic mind where he outlines his theory of the woke mind virus.”
Where to get it
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Born to Rebel
Discussed“The book is titled Born to Rebel. And you'll see in a second how I'm going to tie it to the big five.”
Where to get it
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Naturalist (Pul)
Recommended“I recently read his autobiography Naturalist which I highly recommend for anyone who yeah it's beautifully written really gorgeous autobiography.”
Where to get it
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Consilience
Recommended“So Eio Wilson wrote in the late 1990s one of my favorite books of all time. The book was titled Consilience, right? The unity of knowledge, right?”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (4) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing The Saad Truth about Happiness
“He also wrote a book gad called the sad truth about happiness.”
Plugged The Parasitic Mind
“So in in chapter seven of the parasitic mind where I talk about how to seek truth I open up the chapter with a long quote by Leon Festinger the pioneer of theory of cognitive dissonance and it exactly speaks to your point.”
Plugged The Parasitic Mind
“And that's why I talk about ostrich parasitic syndrome in in the previous book because while the ostrich doesn't literally bury its head in the sand, the metaphor is very apt”
Plugged The Parasitic Mind
“The one prior to that was called The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense.”