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Every book Gurwinder Bhogal recommended on podcasts
Gurwinder Bhogal discussed and recommended a variety of books across multiple episodes of Modern Wisdom. During his appearance on the podcast, he recommended Julia Galef's book The Scout Mindset, referencing it while explaining the difference between soldier and scout mindsets in debates. In other discussions, Bhogal brought up Paul Bloom's book Against Empathy to explore how empathy can function as in-group loyalty and foster hostility toward out-groups. He also referenced H.G. Wells's novel The Time Machine to draw analogies about how future human populations might split into high-agency and low-agency classes due to artificial intelligence. When talking about internet figures and ideologies, Bhogal mentioned Bronze Age Pervert's book Bronze Age Mindset. Furthermore, he used George Orwell's Animal Farm to provide a literary example of scapegoating and power consolidation, referenced Douglas Murray's books The Strange Death of Europe and The Madness of Crowds to discuss traditional structures and the collapse of grand narratives, and cited Fyodor Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground to illustrate human preferences for freedom over pure reason.
Books recommended by Gurwinder Bhogal
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The Time Machine
The Time Machine by H.
Discussed“I think in we had a conversation in 2021 in which I I spoke about this but basically the analog I use is a novel called the time machine which was written I think at the start of the 20th century and uh it was basically um this story of in the far future humanity has sort of evolved into”
Where to get it
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The Scout Mindset
The Scout Mindset by Julia Galef is a popular book that explores cognitive biases and examines why certain people perceive reality clearly while others fall victim to motivated reasoning.
Recommended“there's a rationalist thinker called Julia gallif who had this great book called um Scout mindset”
Where to get it
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Against Empathy
Against Empathy by Paul Bloom is a psychology book that argues against relying on empathy as a moral guide, suggesting instead that rational compassion leads to better ethical outcomes.
Discussed“Um, and I first learned about this uh from a book called Against Empathy by um by Paul Bloom, who's a psychologist.”
Where to get it
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Animal Farm
Animal Farm by George Orwell is a classic allegorical novella that uses a farmyard setting to satirize the corruption of socialist ideals and the rise of totalitarianism following the Russian Revolution.
Discussed“you see it in the novel Animal Farm as well where um the character of uh Napoleon the pig Napoleon um wants to consolidate his power by sort of um essentially exiling snowball”
Where to get it
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Bronze Age Mindset
Bronze Age Mindset by Bronze Pervert is a controversial political manifesto that critiques modern egalitarian culture and champions a return to heroic, vitalist ideals inspired by antiquity.
Discussed“they used to pass out pass around his book um uh Brian's age mindset and uh he's his whole thing is basically about being strong”
Where to get it
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Notes from the Underground
Discussed“so and he said this in a book called notes it notes in the notes from the underground it's a pretty good book”
Where to get it
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The Madness of Crowds
The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity by Douglas Murray is a provocative contemporary commentary that investigates the cultural, social, and political shifts surrounding modern identity politics, intersectionality, and public discourse.
Discussed“but Douglas's second last book The Madness of crowds was all about the collapse of grand narratives”
Where to get it
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The Strange Death of Europe
The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray is a non-fiction book that examines the cultural and political transformation of Europe through mass migration, open borders, and demographic shifts.
Discussed“Douglas Murray is a great friend but you know he wrote The Strange death of Europe he talked quite heavily about the the problems that occurred there”
Where to get it
