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Dwarkesh Patel’s book recommendations in 2026

16 books · 8 episodes · Dwarkesh Patel’s most recommended books, all years →

Every episode from 2026, newest first

Robert Caro – The master biographer reflects at 91

Dwarkesh Podcast · 2026-10-30

The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro · discussed · at 5:33
Master of the Senate by Robert A. Caro · discussed · at 32:55
Means of Ascent by Robert A. Caro · recommended · at 34:39

What I learned about power from LBJ and Robert Moses

Dwarkesh Podcast · 2026-10-29

The Power Broker by Robert A. Caro · discussed · at 8:30
Master of the Senate by Robert A. Caro · discussed · at 15:07

Grant Sanderson – AI and the future of math

Dwarkesh Podcast · 2026-06-30

Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos by Steven H. Strogatz · discussed · at 1:20:02
Chaos by Steven Henry Strogatz · discussed · at 1:20:02

Ada Palmer – Machiavelli is the most misunderstood thinker of all time

Dwarkesh Podcast · 2026-06-16

The prince by Niccolò Machiavelli · discussed · at 0:09
Discourses on Livy by Niccolò Machiavelli · discussed · at 48:30

David Reich – Why the Bronze Age was an inflection point in human evolution

Dwarkesh Podcast · 2026-05-08

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes · discussed · at 51:48

Michael Nielsen – How science actually progresses

Dwarkesh Podcast · 2026-04-07

Subtle is the Lord : The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein by Abraham Pais · discussed · at 3:29
The Principia by Isaac Newton, I. Bernard Cohen · discussed · at 23:26
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin · discussed · at 23:26
The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes by Imre Lakatos · discussed · at 46:13

Terence Tao – Kepler, Newton, and the true nature of mathematical discovery

Dwarkesh Podcast · 2026-03-20

Harmonies of the World by Johannes Johannes Kepler · discussed · at 4:33
The Clockwork Universe by Edward Dolnick · discussed · at 21:41
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin · discussed · at 21:49
Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica by Sir Isaac Newton · discussed · at 21:52

Why Leonardo was a saboteur, Gutenberg went broke, and Florence was weird – Ada Palmer

Dwarkesh Podcast · 2026-03-06

Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer · discussed · at 0:06