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Johann Hari books: every book Johann Hari wrote and recommended
Across 6 podcasts. Every show Johann Hari appears on, in one place — not just one.
Books by Johann Hari
Johann Hari’s most recommended books
- Willpower by Roy F. Baumeister, John Tierney
- Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith
- Strangers to Ourselves by Timothy D. Wilson
- The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff
- The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
- The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq
- The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
- Working by Robert A. Caro
- David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
- Hooked by Nir Eyal
Johann Hari is a British writer and journalist. Until 2011, Hari wrote for The Independent, among other outlets, before resigning after admitting to plagiarism and fabrications dating back to 2001 and making malicious edits to the Wikipedia pages of journalists who had criticised his conduct. He has since written books on the topics of depression, the war on drugs, the effect of technology on attention span, and anti-obesity medication. Across various podcast appearances, Hari recommended several influential books. On How I Write, he recommended Annie Dillard's The Writing Life for its research and writing analogies, Robert A. Caro's Working for its insights into interviewing methods, Timothy D. Wilson's Strangers to Ourselves regarding self-awareness and human motives, and Michel Houellebecq's novel The Map and the Territory. On Modern Wisdom, he recommended Jonathan Haidt's The Anxious Generation for insights into mental health and eating disorders among young people. On The Jordan Harbinger Show, he referenced Shoshana Zuboff's The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, and on The Diary Of A CEO, he recommended Peter Godfrey-Smith's Other Minds while discussing expert-authored books.
Books recommended by Johann Hari
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Willpower
Willpower by Roy F.
Discussed“So I go to interview him and I said, 'Oh, you know, I'm thinking of writing a book about attention. I'm just thinking about it.' And he said, 'Oh, it's it's interesting you should say that because I've noticed that I can't really pay attention very much anymore.' ... He wrote a book called Willpower, right?”
Where to get it
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Magic Pill
Magic Pill by Johann Hari explores the science, extraordinary benefits, and potential risks surrounding modern weight-loss medications like Ozempic, alongside an analysis of ultra-processed foods.
Discussed“And I go through loads of evidence for this in my book, and there are many different ways in which processed food has this effect on us. But you allude to an experiment that, to me, just totally nailed the effect. I nicknamed it Cheesecake Park.”
Where to get it
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Chasing the Scream
Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari is a compelling exploration of the war on drugs and the true nature and roots of addiction.
Discussed“or chasing the screen my but before that um i had a kind of core question which was you know we had a lot of addiction in my family one of my earliest memories is of trying to wake up one of my relatives and not being able to um and i wanted to understand what causes addiction”
Where to get it
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Other Minds
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith is a non-fiction book that explores the evolution and unique nature of cephalopod intelligence.
Recommended“so if you've been an expert for 30 years on uh just read a fantastic book about octopuses right if you guys spent 30 years studying octopuses he knows a [ __ ] ton of octopuses i'm very happy for him to stand above me and say let me tell you a little crazy [ __ ] about octopuses that”
Where to get it
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Strangers to Ourselves
Strangers to Ourselves by Timothy D.
Recommended“There's a fantastic book I recommend everyone read called Strangers to Ourselves by Timothy Wilson, a guy I interviewed and you should definitely talk to him.”
Where to get it
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The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff is a profound economic and sociological study examining how major technology corporations harvest human experience as behavioral data for profit and control.
Recommended“this is a term that comes from professor shashar zubov at harvard”
Where to get it
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The Anxious Generation
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt is a contemporary psychological study examining how the rise of smartphones, social media, and a shift toward safetyism have devastated adolescent mental health and created a severe youth loneliness crisis.
Recommended“people should read my friend Jonathan Height's excellent book The anxious generation for more insight on that”
Where to get it
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The Map and the Territory
The Map and the Territory is a compelling novel by French author Michel Houellebecq that explores themes of art, commerce, and human relationships against the backdrop of a changing modern Europe.
Recommended“By the way, people who want to think about that analogy more, there's an amazing novel by Michelle Wbeck, the French novelist called the map and the territory.”
Where to get it
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The Writing Life
The Writing Life by Annie Dillard is a lyrical collection of essays offering reflections, advice, and philosophical insights on the creative struggles and discipline of writing.
Recommended“There's an analogy in an amazing book about writing that I really recommend called the writing life by Annie Dillard um where she uses analogy from from thorough.”
Where to get it
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Working
Working by Robert A.
Recommended“I mean, I literally use that question because I've read Robert Car's brilliant book, Working, where he talks about his methods, but that I recommend to people.”
Where to get it
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David Copperfield
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens is a classic 1850 semi-autobiographical novel that follows the emotional and professional maturation of its titular hero from an impoverished childhood to adulthood.
Discussed“i remember reading um the charles dickens novel david copperfield and being like okay come on come on”
Where to get it
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Hooked
Hooked by Nir Eyal is a practical framework for product designers and entrepreneurs on how to build habit-forming technology by understanding user psychology and engagement loops.
Discussed“And when I spoke to Nir Eyal, what I was trying to draw out was the disjunction between these two books, right? You've got Indistractable which says, 'This is a Push the [ __ ] button, it's an easy thing. You can do it.' And then you've got Hooked which is saying, 'Let's drive them crazy.'”
Where to get it
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Lost Connections
Lost Connections by Johann Hari is a profound exploration of the underlying social and psychological causes of depression and anxiety, arguing that modern distress stems largely from a loss of meaningful human connections.
Discussed“so i guess i should just say what the book is about and then just just very briefly which is really the book was the thing that empowered me to write the book was that there were these two mysteries that i was thinking about a lot of the time”
Where to get it
Appearances
Other mentions (53: passing, ad reads, own books), the 30 most recent
“You know, my book is called Magic Pill because there's three ways these drugs can be magic, right? The first is the most obvious, it could just solve the problem, right? And there are days when it feels like that, I've got to be honest with you,”
“we've got to deal with the wider forces that have got us into this shitty situation in the first place and then parents have to make that agonising choice I hope my book will help them make a more informed choice but I really empathise with them because that is the hardest of the hard questions that are brought up”
“So my first book, Chasing the Scream, yeah, we had a lot of addiction in my family.”
“um with stolen focus my book about attention I wanted to understand why our attention was getting so much worse.”
“um with my book loss connections you know I was about to turn 40 every year that I've been alive depression and anxiety had increased in the US and Britain”
“and and with the magic pill book about the new weight loss drugs, I like I was like, well, wait a minute.”
“So let's think about um my my book about um addiction and the war on drugs, chasing the scream.”
“I remember someone who's a key part of my book lost connections an amazing woman called Nuria Changis um who began a protest movement that transformed Berlin”
“So you can just get overwhelmed by, you know, I generally have like a a wardrobe full of transcripts like longer than War and Peace, right?”
“So, for example, I open my book Lost Connections with this moment.”
“I think is missing the much more important nuance and complex point which is you know the subtitle of my but magic pill is the extraordinary benefits and disturbing risks of the new weight loss drugs”
“my book is called Magic pill because there's three way these drugs could be magic right the first is the most obvious it could just solve the problem”
“my book is called Magic pill if you think about the classic stories of magic that we grew up with you find the lamp you rub it you get the genie you make the wish and your wish comes true”
“and this is something I thought about really deeply for my book magic pill because you know the worst moment for me in the whole writing of the book was it was a while into working on the book and obviously taking the drug I got a”
“my book is called Magic pill because there's three ways these drugs could be magic right the first way is the most obvious they could just solve the problem right”
“yeah the book is called Magic Pilker”
“So, yeah, if we were talking in 2007, when the day Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, I don't think we could have gained out, you know, 1/10 of what was about to hit us.”
“the reason the book is called stolen focus is because your attention didn't collapse your attention has been stolen from you by some very big forces”
“so i think it's really worth thinking about one of the 12 factors that i write about in stolen focus that's harming our attention and focus which is playing out at both these levels individually and collectively”
“So, I wrote a book called Chasing The Scream and I gave a Ted Talk about this.”
“It's why in a way I think Stolen Focus needs to be put together with my previous book Lost Connections, and the one before that Chasing The Scream.”
“It's why in a way I think Stolen Focus needs to be put together with my previous book Lost Connections, and the one before that Chasing The Scream.”
“It's why in a way I think Stolen Focus needs to be put together with my previous book Lost Connections, and the one before that Chasing The Scream.”
“So, at the start of this journey for my book Stolen Focus, I thought the problem I basically had two stories about why I couldn't pay attention.”
“obviously i talk about this a lot in the book stolen focus about this there are changes we can all make in our lives”
“that really ”
“the first group let's say you could do it with my book you give one group of people my book on the ipad like your ipad there”
“i think there are obvious and i know you know this much better than i do ”
“So, yeah, the the the although I stressed my goal is not that we not be on the internet it's that we have an internet that is not designed to maximally invade or ruin our attention. Um and essentially I'm sure um some people are going to describe my book as anti-tech and it I am not anti-tech at all.”
“for me personally i think i i wrote the book because there were these two mysteries that were really important to me and every book i've ever written is because there's something i actually wanted to know for myself”