Person
Gad Saad books: every book Gad Saad wrote and recommended
Across 6 podcasts. Every show Gad Saad appears on, in one place — not just one.
Books by Gad Saad
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The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption
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The Parasitic Mind
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The Consuming Instinct
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The Saad Truth about Happiness
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Suicidal Empathy
Gad Saad’s most recommended books
- Consilience by E. O. Wilson
- Born to Rebel by Frank J. Sulloway
- Darwin's Cathedral by David Wilson
- The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf
- The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
- Homicide by Martin Daly
- Sperm Wars by Robin Baker
- The Name of the Rose (Helen and Kurt Wolff Books) by Umberto Eco
- American Buffalo by Steven Rinella
- Immortality Key by Brian C. Muraresku, Graham Hancock
Gad Saad is a Lebanese-born Canadian marketing professor, currently at the University of Mississippi, and formerly at the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University in Montreal. He has argued for applying evolutionary psychology to marketing and consumer behaviour, wrote a blog for Psychology Today, and hosts a podcast titled The Saad Truth. Across multiple podcast appearances, including The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast, The Diary Of A CEO, and The Joe Rogan Experience, Saad recommended several notable books spanning autobiography, evolutionary science, and history. He praised E.O. Wilson's autobiography Naturalist as beautifully written and gorgeous, and described Wilson's earlier work Consilience as one of his favorite books of all time for exploring the unity of knowledge. Saad also recommended Frank J. Sulloway's Born to Rebel, noting that it is a technical but accessible study by a historian of science looking at radical scientific innovations and birth order. Furthermore, he recommended Brian Muraresku and Graham Hancock's The Immortality Key as an amazing book about the Eleusinian Mysteries, and he highlighted David Sloan Wilson's Darwin's Cathedral to discuss group selection and the evolutionary roots of religion. Finally, he enthusiastically endorsed Steven Rinella's book on the American buffalo during a conversation with Joe Rogan.
Books recommended by Gad Saad
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Consilience
Consilience by E.O.
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
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Born to Rebel
Born to Rebel by Frank J.
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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Darwin's Cathedral
Darwin's Cathedral by David Sloan Wilson is a notable work exploring the evolutionary origins of religion through the lens of group selection and communality.
Discussed“David Sloan Wilson who is an evolutionary biologist he's now retired wrote a book called Darwin's Cathedral where he argued that groups that are more religious than groups that are less religious end up outs surviving the less religious groups”
Where to get it
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The Beauty Myth
The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf is a landmark feminist critique arguing that societal standards of physical attractiveness are weaponized against women to undermine their political and social gains.
Discussed“do you remember the book the beauty myth by naomi wolf did you know that book”
Where to get it
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The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is a seminal science book that popularizes a gene-centric view of evolution and explores the biological origins of selfishness and altruism.
Discussed“So think back of Richard Dawkins, uh, when he introduced the concept of the meme in his 1976 book, The Selfish Gene.”
Where to get it
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Homicide
Homicide by Martin Daly and Margo Wilson is a foundational text in evolutionary psychology that examines patterns of criminal violence and human aggression through an evolutionary lens.
Discussed“This is from uh a book called Homicide by uh Martin Daly and Marggo Margot Wilson.”
Where to get it
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Sperm Wars
Sperm Wars by Robin Baker is a controversial evolutionary biology book that examines human reproductive strategies, sexual behavior, and the concept of sperm competition.
Discussed“Now here comes Robin Baker actually a British scientist who wrote a book called Sperm Wars where he argued in his book some have said it's contentious others said that it's tight that the morphology of human sperm”
Where to get it
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The Parasitic Mind
The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad is a provocative critique of modern ideological conformity and intellectual trends that the author argues undermine reason, objective truth, and academic freedom.
Discussed“and so i had tackled that book at my in my first book in 2007 as a bunch of uh gibberish that was part of sort of the victimhood narrative”
Where to get it
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The Name of the Rose (Helen and Kurt Wolff Books)
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco is an intricate historical mystery novel set in a fourteenth-century monastery, blending semiotics, biblical analysis, medieval studies, and philosophical inquiry.
Discussed“- Right, then I referred to a book, well originally a book but then a movie. The Name of the Rose, if you remember The Name of the, did you see it Dave by the way?”
Where to get it
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American Buffalo
American Buffalo by Steven Rinella is a compelling narrative account that chronicles the author's journey to secure a hunting tag in Alaska and harvest an American bison.
Recommended“he has a book on the american buffalo It's a fantastic book”
Where to get it
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Immortality Key
Immortality Key by Brian C.
Recommended“when I was in Greece I was with uh Brian M rescu and he wrote this book about the ucini Mysteries called the immortality key it's an amazing book”
Where to get it
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Naturalist (Pul)
Naturalist by E.O.
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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DMT: The Spirit Molecule
DMT: The Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassman is a scientific and clinical investigation into the effects of dimethyltryptamine, chronicling the first FDA-approved human clinical studies on psychedelics in decades.
Discussed“And he wrote this great book called DMT, the spirit molecule. And he's a professor out of the University of New Mexico and got DEA approved clinical tests on subjects using DMT.”
Where to get it
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Epictetus
Epictetus by Epictetus comprises the surviving teachings and discourses of the ancient Stoic philosopher on self-governance, reason, and personal resilience.
Discussed“and that the fact that i independently thought of something that epictetus thought 2000 years ago connects me with him”
Where to get it
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Irresistible
Irresistible by Adam Alter is an exploration of modern technological addiction, examining the business models and design strategies that corporations use to keep users permanently hooked on screens, applications, and digital games.
Discussed“It's funny because there's a book that I read recently uh by adam alter It's called irresistible and it's about uh addiction to technology”
Where to get it
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Lying
Lying by Sam Harris is a concise and provocative extended essay that serves as a direct treatise on why individuals should avoid telling lies, including white lies, and instead commit fully to a life of honesty.
Critiqued“I'm going to write a book literally called lying where he extols the virtues of not lying and how important it is to live an honest life and so on”
Where to get it
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Nicomachean Ethics
Aristotle's classical treatise on virtue, happiness, and human flourishing remains a cornerstone of philosophical inquiry and ethical discussion.
Discussed“So, I I argue that the most fundamental universal law that is most ubiquitous is something that Aristotle had already talked about in his uh Nicomachean Ethics book, uh the golden mean, right?”
Where to get it
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The beginning of infinity
The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch is a wide-ranging work of non-fiction that explores scientific progress, human knowledge, and the concept that problems are inherently solvable without limit.
Discussed“He wrote two uh best-selling books I think one of them is called the edge of infinity”
Where to get it
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Why Buddhism is True
Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright is an exploration of evolutionary psychology and ancient Buddhist philosophy that examines how the human mind creates suffering and how mindfulness can alter our perception of reality.
Discussed“I read a Robert writes why Buddhism is true and that really helped that was one of the first books that I read that kind of helped to frame it”
Where to get it
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Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers by Robert M.
Discussed“so uh sapolsky uh wrote a book many years ago called uh why zebras don't get ulcers”
Where to get it
Questions about Gad Saad’s book recommendations
What book does Gad Saad recommend most?
Consilience by E. O. Wilson. Gad Saad recommended it in 4 episodes.
How many books has Gad Saad recommended on podcasts?
We have found 20 books Gad Saad recommended or discussed, across 15 episodes of 6 podcasts. Ad reads and passing mentions are not counted.
What books are on Gad Saad's reading list?
The books Gad Saad has recommended most on podcasts are Consilience by E. O. Wilson, Born to Rebel by Frank J. Sulloway, Darwin's Cathedral by David Wilson, The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf and The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. The full book list below has all 20.
What books has Gad Saad written?
The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption (2007), The Consuming Instinct (2011), The Parasitic Mind (2020), The Saad Truth about Happiness (2023) and Suicidal Empathy (2026).
What did Gad Saad recommend on The Joe Rogan Experience?
Consilience, Born to Rebel and Darwin's Cathedral, among 12 books in all.
What is the latest book Gad Saad recommended?
Born to Rebel, discussed on The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast (2025-06-05).
People who recommend the same books
Appearances
Other mentions (70: passing, ad reads, own books), the 30 most recent
“Yeah, so you may or may not know this, but I actually mentioned suicidal empathy in The Parasitic Mind. Uh so, it's been many many years.”
“So, for example, I tell the story in chapter one of The Parasitic Mind where we're at the the synagogue in Beirut and you know, there's a prayer where you get up, you get you sit down, you go there.”
“So, I I thought maybe I'd give you because I I know that you know The Parasitic Mind really well. And so, I wanted to kind of contextualize this book in relation to that book.”
“Well, The Parasitic Mind was the story of what I need to do to hijack your cognitive system, your your your ability to think rationally. And hence, there were all these parasitic ideas that destroyed your capacity to think.”
“And so what I argue in the book and then we we can drill down to endless examples if you want. I'm not saying that empathy is a bad thing”
“So, in the Parasitic Mind, I talk about social constructivism. Everything is a social construction.”
“Cultural relativism is a parasitic idea that I discuss in The Parasitic Mind. It basically says, "Who are you to judge the beliefs and the practices of another culture? Shut up, racist."”
“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.”
“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”
“The one prior to that was called The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense.”
“uh and so he has an amazing quote which I use in one of my earlier books uh in the parasitic mind where he basically says the types of mental machinations that the average human being will engage in”
“It's in my first book, by the way. The evolutionary basis of consumption.”
“July 25th is the release of my latest book right here's a copy for you sir thank you very much the sad truth about happiness eight secrets for leading the good life”
“so I actually I I wrote maybe it was Shameless plugging of my book but I I responded to Rob R I said let me send you a copy of my book”
“so for example I think someone had retweeted you know promotional thing about my book and someone said you know why are you promoting the Jew”
“I mean I don't remember exactly although I quoted in the book on happiness because I'm basically arguing don't don't live your life”
“so that here perfect segue into one of the chapters of the book I talk about everything in moderation which of course Aristotle already talked about the golden mean”
“well in in my first book ever 2007 evolutionary basic consumption I talk about studies”
“speaking of Blake Lively I actually have her in the current book that came out today as a a manifestation of a truly beautiful woman”
“in in the consuming Instinct one of my earlier books 2011 I have a whole analysis of certain kosher laws from an evolutionary biological perspective”
“so in in my last book in the parastic mind I talk about two ethical systems deontological ethics and consequentialist ethics”
“I mean that's I mean and that's why I wrote the parasitic mind the last book right because I am I was really literally arguing that human Minds can be parasitized by ideological worms in the way that you can be parasitized by actual brain worms”
“and I discuss it actually in in my current book on happiness talking about gratitude”
“and hence that's why in in the parasitic mind if you might remember in chapter 6 I have a whole chapter on ostrich parasitic syndrome”
“so in in the consuming instinct which was my 2011 book in the first chapter I go through all of the key uh points that the detractors have”
“but as I explained the paric mind you can can't in the pursuit of some Noble goal murder and rape truth”
“In the last chapter of my happiness book, I quote Victor Frankl, who says that pursuing success should not be the primary aim, but rather a consequence of making the right decisions. I suggest swapping 'success' with 'happiness' in that quote, as that's exactly my perspective.”
“I discuss how choosing the right spouse and profession can lead to immense happiness or misery in my book. There's much detail involved in making those choices, but I also talk about approaching life with a playful mindset.”
“I talk about mindset shifts that can help prevent these types of regrets in my book. The divide today reflects a broader societal mindset: between those who feel victimized versus those who are empowered to take action with purpose.”
“In contrast, the stories I’ve shared about those two men in my book have energized students, showing them that it’s possible to achieve incredible things, no matter your age. Biden’s attitude is the exact opposite; he’s telling a generation that they’re victims stuck in an oppressive system, and that’s nauseating.”