Person
Every book Charles C. Mann recommended on podcasts
Across 2 podcasts. Every show Charles C. Mann appears on, in one place — not just one.
Charles C. Mann’s most recommended books
- Aztec Warfare by Ross Hassig
- Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson
- Against the Grain by James C. Scott
- Civilizations by Laurent Binet
- Rebellion in the backlands (Os sertoes) by Euclides da Cunha
- Road to Survival by William Vogt
- The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber
Charles C. Mann appeared on podcasts to discuss history, technology, and various literary works. During his appearance on the Dwarkesh Podcast, he recommended Ross Hassig's Aztec Warfare, praising it as a wonderful and amazing military history book on the Aztecs. He also plugged Neal Stephenson's novel Termination Shock, describing it as a fun book about a rich person engaging in geoengineering. Additionally, Mann discussed several other titles during the interview. He mentioned Laurent Binet's Civilizations as an alternative history example, and referenced Euclides da Cunha's Rebellion in the Backlands, which he noted was translated into English and served as a great Brazilian classic comparable to Moby Dick or Huckleberry Finn. He also discussed David Graeber and David Wengrow's The Dawn of Everything while talking about ancient societies and social egalitarianism, and mentioned his own books 1491 and 1493 when explaining historical findings that were absent from the original publications. Furthermore, on Freakonomics Radio, Mann discussed William Vogt's influential yet now forgotten 1948 book Road to Survival, characterizing it as the first modern pessimistic environmental book.
Books recommended by Charles C. Mann
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Aztec Warfare
Aztec Warfare by Ross Hassig is a comprehensive historical study examining the military strategies, organization, and campaigns of the Aztec empire.
Recommended“There's a wonderful book by Ross Hess called um Aztec warfare in which he it's an amazing um book which is like a military history of the Aztecs.”
Where to get it
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Termination Shock
Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson is a near-future science fiction novel that explores the dramatic consequences of unilateral geoengineering and climate change.
Recommended“So, let me give a plug here for a fun novel by my friend Neil Stevenson called Termination Shock, which is about some rich person just do just doing it and just doing geoengineering”
Where to get it
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1491
1491 by Charles C.
Discussed“Certainly, it was new and I didn't include it in 1491 or 1493 because it wasn't uh it was it was so new that I didn't know anything about it”
Where to get it
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1493
1493 by Charles C.
Discussed“Certainly, it was new and I didn't include it in 1491 or 1493 because it wasn't uh it was it was so new that I didn't know anything about it”
Where to get it
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Against the Grain
Against the Grain by James C.
Discussed“And you you see that in um against the grain, the James Scott book, where you know, you say, "What do you mean barbarians?”
Where to get it
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Civilizations
Discussed“there's a wonderful um uh book by Laurent Bin uh called Civilizations that in fact just does that.”
Where to get it
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Rebellion in the backlands (Os sertoes)
Discussed“there's a great um the great Brazilian sort of you know classic like Moby Decker is or or Huckfinn is to the US is this thing called um Oshotoys by a guy named Dunia and it's it's translated amazing translation very good translation in English to under rebellion in the backlands”
Where to get it
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Road to Survival
Discussed“and he put this all together in a book it's now forgotten but was hugely influential called road to survival it was published in 1948 and it's the first modern we're all going to hell book”
Where to get it
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The Dawn of Everything
The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow is a sweeping historical and anthropological reevaluation of human social evolution, challenging long-held assumptions about the origins of inequality and the development of civilizations.
Discussed“And there's a whole chapter in the book by David Wingro and David Greyber, the dawn of everything about this and there they make this argument that that you know technology is ti excuse me is um you know an example that we can look at of an ancient society that was you know much more socially egalitarian than we”
Where to get it
Books Charles C. Mann wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two (Totally Opposite) Ways to Save the Planet | Freakonomics Radio | Episode 346 | Freakonomics Radio | 2023-08-26 | 1 |
| Charles C. Mann - Americas Before Columbus & Scientific Wizardry | Dwarkesh Podcast | 2022-09-14 | 8 |
Other mentions (4: passing, ad reads, own books)
“So the the the this is sort of a it's like a sequel or something or offshoot of 1491. And that book, um, I'm embarrassed to say, was supposed to end with another chapter, and that chapter was going to be about the American West”
“or (no in the book I u 1491 I mentioned the moldboard plow which is the one with a curving blade that allows you to go through the the soil much more easily invented in China you know thousands of years ago not not around in Europe till the till the 1400s”
“And there's a I think I reproduced this in 1493. There's there's all kinds of maps in Britain at the time showing this little skinny, you know, Philippines-l like islands.”
“I wrote this book the wizard and the prophet and there's about these sort of two camps um that have been around for a long time regarding about how we think about energy resources the environment”