Person
Every book Eugenia Kuyda recommended on podcasts
Across 4 podcasts. Every show Eugenia Kuyda appears on, in one place — not just one.
Eugenia Kuyda’s most recommended books
- On Becoming a Person by Carl Rogers
- Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein
- Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter
- In Search of the Miraculous by P. D. Ouspensky
- Surfaces and Essences by Douglas Hofstadter, Emmanuel Sander
- The Worm at the Core by Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski
- Alone Together by Sherry Turkle
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
- Be Your Own Shaman by Jane Christensen, Brian Christensen
- Blue Nights by Joan Didion
Eugenia Kuyda appeared on the Lex Fridman Podcast in 2020 to discuss her friendship with an AI companion. During the episode, she recommended several books that shaped her thinking and inspired her work on her company, Replika. She recommended Douglas Hofstadter and Emmanuel Sander's Surfaces and Essences alongside Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach, praising both for how they explore complexity and the ways meaning emerges from simple components. She described Carl Rogers's On Becoming a Person as the most foundational book for her company, citing its insights into therapeutic relationships and unconditional positive regard. Kuyda also highlighted Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, and Tom Pyszczynski's The Worm at the Core for its exploration of Ernest Becker's ideas regarding mortality and human motivation. Additionally, she mentioned Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, noting its famous quote on language that inspired a neon sign in her early office, and referenced P.D. Ouspensky's In Search of the Miraculous in connection with her optimism and belief in miracles.
Books recommended by Eugenia Kuyda
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On Becoming a Person
On Becoming a Person is a seminal psychology book by Carl Rogers that explores humanistic therapy, personal growth, and the transformative power of empathetic listening and unconditional positive regard.
Discussed“I mean a replica is fully based on kind of the biggest inspiration for replica as an app comes from one book really by Carl Rogers on becoming person and it's all focused on this just one aspect”
Where to get it
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Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus by Ludwig Wittgenstein is a dense and revolutionary philosophical text exploring the intricate relationship between language, thought, and the boundaries of what can be meaningfully expressed.
Recommended“when we start a company in russia we put a neon sign in our office because we thought that's that's the recipe for success yeah if we do that we're definitely going to wake up as a multi-billion dollar company it was the ludwig whitney constant quote the limits of my language the limits of my world what was the”
Where to get it
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Gödel, Escher, Bach
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R.
Recommended“so my choice the three books right three books my choice is um so the one book that really influenced me a lot when i was building starting out this company maybe 10 years ago was gb go to leicester block and i like everything about it first of all it's just beautifully written”
Where to get it
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In Search of the Miraculous
Why people recommend it: This profound spiritual and philosophical work details the teachings of George Gurdjieff, offering a pragmatic approach to self-awareness and inner transformation.
Recommended“so yeah my life's been i've been incredibly lucky and things just miracles happen all the time with this company with people i know with everything around me And so i didn't mention that book but maybe in search of miraculous or in search for miraculous or whatever the english translation for that is good russian book too for everyone”
Where to get it
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Surfaces and Essences
Surfaces and Essences by Douglas Hofstadter and Emmanuel Sander is a profound exploration of concepts, categorization, and the fundamental cognitive mechanisms of human thought.
Recommended“my choice is um so the one book that really influenced me a lot when i was building starting out this company maybe 10 years ago uh was gb go to leicester block and um i like everything about it”
Where to get it
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The Worm at the Core
The Worm at the Core by Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, and Tom Pyszczynski explores terror management theory and the foundational role that the fear of death plays in driving human behavior and societal creation.
Recommended“uh his whole idea is that ernest becker i think i i find this idea really compelling is uh that everything human beings have created like our whole motivation in life is to uh create like escape death is to try to uh construct an illusion of um that we're somehow immortal It's like everything around us this room your”
Where to get it
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Alone Together
Alone Together by Sherry Turkle is a sociological examination of how digital devices, social media, and robotics diminish genuine human connection and alter interpersonal relationships.
Discussed“they're really great books um by Sher turle on that uh one I think even from 2015 called alone together”
Where to get it
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Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy is a monumental masterpiece of nineteenth-century literature exploring themes of love, family, societal hypocrisy, and tragic fate.
Discussed“Leo tolto uh most famous I think book Ana starts with you know every family is I'm not going to quote it verbatim but it's something along the lines like every family is happy in a similar way but unhappy in so many different ways”
Where to get it
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Be Your Own Shaman
Discussed“and then there were some other books like i don't know uh mostly just self-help books around how to be the best conversationalist or um how to make people like you or some other stuff like dale carnegie or whatever uh and then there was this one book the most human human by brian christensen that really was important for”
Where to get it
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Blue Nights
Blue Nights by Joan Didion is a deeply personal memoir about grief, aging, and the pain of losing her daughter, written in the wake of immense personal tragedy.
Discussed“and i was reading this you know the the book the year of magical thinking by joan didion about her losing and blue knights about her losing her husband her daughter”
Where to get it
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Can't Hurt Me
Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins is a powerful memoir detailing the author's harrowing journey from a brutal, abusive childhood and severe obstacles to becoming a Navy SEAL, ultra-marathon runner, and symbol of extreme mental toughness.
Discussed“he's a this navy seal person uh he's wrote this book can't hurt me he's basically one of the toughest human beings on earth he ran all these crazy ultra marathons in the desert he set the world record a number of pull-ups”
Where to get it
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Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is Adolf Hitler's notorious autobiographical manifesto detailing his political ideology and antisemitic worldview.
Discussed“uh sorry but the been studying hitler a lot recently and uh going through mineconf he uh pretty much rode out of minecon for everything he was gonna do Unfortunately most leaders including stalin didn't read the read it”
Where to get it
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Reclaiming Conversation
Reclaiming Conversation by Sherry Turkle is a sociological book that argues how constant texting and social media use erode human empathy, self-awareness, and the capacity for deep conversation.
Discussed“another one reclaiming conversation really just focusing on how people are losing the art of conversation levels of empathy that are dropping across the board”
Where to get it
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Run River
Discussed“and i was reading this you know the the book the year of magical thinking by joan didion about her losing and blue knights about her losing her husband her daughter and the way to cope for her was to write those books”
Where to get it
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The Denial of Death
The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker is a Pulitzer Prize-winning philosophical and psychological study that argues human behavior is fundamentally driven by an unconscious terror of mortality and the subsequent cultural mechanisms created to deny it.
Discussed“there's a philosopher ernest becker who wrote a book um denial of death i'm not sure if you're familiar with any of those folks”
Where to get it
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The Futurological Congress
Discussed“it's probably the main way people are still using chat bots today is for this kind of companionship stuff a lot of these things were already covered by have already been covered by uh sci-fi there's for example there's the book by Stenisam Congress right that shows a very dystopian future of VR”
Where to get it
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The Most Human Human
Discussed“and then there was this one book the most human human by brian christensen that really was important for me to read back in the day because he was on the um human side”
Where to get it
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The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L.
Discussed“i'm reading the rise and fall of the third reich Oh my god So i'm like really steeped into like world war ii and stalin and hitler and just these dramatic personalities that brought so much evil to the world”
Where to get it
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The White Album
The White Album is a prominent collection of essays by Joan Didion that captures the cultural and social landscape of the turbulent late nineteen sixties and seventies.
Discussed“and i was reading this you know the the book the year of magical thinking by joan didion about her losing and blue knights about her losing her husband her daughter and the way to cope for her was to write those books”
Where to get it
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Year of Magical Thinking, The
Discussed“and i was reading this you know the the book the year of magical thinking by joan didion about her losing and blue knights about her losing her husband her daughter and the way to cope for her was to write those books and it was sort of like a tribute”
Where to get it
