Person
Every book Jared Diamond recommended on podcasts
Across 2 podcasts. Every show Jared Diamond appears on, in one place — not just one.
Jared Diamond’s most recommended books
- The New Testament: an Introduction for the General Reader by Oscar Cullmann
- The Third Chimpanzee by Jared M. Diamond
- Collapse by Jared M. Diamond
- Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
- The Gospel According to Mark by Mark the Evangelist
- The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
- The Population Bomb by Paul R. Ehrlich
- Why Is Sex Fun? by Jared M Diamond
Jared Diamond is a renowned author and scientist who has written extensively on human history, geography, and social evolution. When appearing on the Huberman Lab podcast, Diamond discussed several of his own influential works, offering deep insights into his research methodology and historical framework. He spoke about his book Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings, noting that it begins with a near-fatal car accident involving Hitler and relies on the method of natural experiments rather than traditional biographies. Diamond contrasted this approach with his earlier, widely known work, Guns, Germs, and Steel, explaining how the latter focused on large-scale historical conditions, environmental factors, and geographic determinism rather than the actions of specific individuals. Throughout the discussion, Diamond elaborated on the overarching themes of his writings, exploring why certain societies developed advanced technologies and how environmental endowments shaped human history. By examining the interplay between geography, leadership, and societal structures, Diamond provided listeners with a comprehensive overview of the research and foundational ideas behind his major publications.
Books recommended by Jared Diamond
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Guns, Germs and Steel
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond is an expansive historical non-fiction work that explores why Eurasian civilizations survived and conquered other societies, attributing these outcomes to geographical and environmental advantages rather than biological differences.
Discussed“But I would say, just as background, people often ask me, Jared, your book about leaders now seems to be the opposite of guns, germs, and steel. Jared, your book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, was about big patterns.”
Where to get it
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Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings
Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings by Jared Diamond is a leadership-focused exploration that uses natural experiments to analyze the profound impact of leaders throughout history.
Discussed“My book begins—the first paragraph of my book is about a car accident in 1930, three years before Hitler became chancellor, when his limousine, driven by a chauffeur, was driving into an intersection in Germany.”
Where to get it
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Swing Kings
Prophets, Coaches, and Kings by Jared Diamond is a sweeping historical exploration that investigates the profound impact of individual leaders during critical moments of natural and historical experiments.
Discussed“My book begins—the first paragraph of my book is about a car accident in 1930, three years before Hitler became chancellor, when his limousine, driven by a chauffeur, was driving into an intersection in Germany.”
Where to get it
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The New Testament: an Introduction for the General Reader
The New Testament: an Introduction for the General Reader by Oscar Cullmann is an introductory scholarly text examining the foundational texts of Christianity.
Discussed“Did Jesus make a difference? Well, if you read the New Testament, it talks about names. Six other messiahs. Jesus was not the only messiah. There were lots of people then who said, I'm the messiah.”
Where to get it
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The Third Chimpanzee
Discussed“This is something that I argued in my book, The Third Chimpanzee.”
Where to get it
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Collapse
Collapse by Jared M.
Discussed“Another chapter of my book, The Third Chimpanzee, got expanded into Collapse.”
Where to get it
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Silent Spring
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson is a landmark 1962 environmental science book that exposed the devastating ecological consequences of synthetic pesticides like DDT, playing a pivotal role in launching the modern environmental movement.
Discussed“Her book, Silent Spring, that book and Darwin’s Origin of Species are probably the two books by scientists that have had the biggest impact in the last century.”
Where to get it
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The Gospel According to Mark
Discussed“We have no contemporary information whatsoever about him. The first information that we have about him is the letters of St. Paul and the gospel according to St. Mark. Both of which follow his death by about 20 years.”
Where to get it
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The Origin of Species
Charles Darwin’s foundational work on evolutionary biology, The Origin of Species, outlines the theory of evolution by natural selection and presents extensive evidence connecting biological and geological phenomena.
Discussed“Her book, Silent Spring, that book and Darwin’s Origin of Species are probably the two books by scientists that have had the biggest impact in the last century.”
Where to get it
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The Population Bomb
The Population Bomb by Paul R.
Critiqued“If you look at his Wikipedia entry, so here's one of the world's great modern scientists, and his goddamn Wikipedia, his Wikipedia entry instead harps on his book, The Population Bomb, and says it didn't prove correct.”
Where to get it
Books Jared Diamond wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| What Makes Great Leaders & How to Live an Extraordinary Life | Dr. Jared Diamond | Huberman Lab | 2026-10-19 | 18 |
| Jared Diamond on Leaders, Luck, and Irreplaceability | Conversations with Tyler | 2026-09-09 | 8 |
Other mentions (3: passing, ad reads, own books)
“Jared Gunstorms and Steel neglects individual people it's about things that happen over the last 10,000 years”
“there were convincing priests and devoted priests but behind these convincing devoted priests were European guns germs and steel”
“so my books get translated into lots of languages the guns German the steel have been translated into into 45 languages”