Person
Every book John Vervaeke recommended on podcasts
Across 5 podcasts. Every show John Vervaeke appears on, in one place — not just one.
John Vervaeke’s most recommended books
- Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
- The Republic by Plato
- Educating Intuition by Robin M. Hogarth
- Cognition in the Wild by Edwin Hutchins
- Descartes' Error by Antonio Damasio
- Meaning in Life and Why It Matters by Susan Wolf
- Plato's Critique of Impure Reason by D. C. Schindler
- The Courage to Be by Paul Tillich
- The Enneads by Plotinus
- What is Ancient Philosophy? by Pierre Hadot
John Vervaeke is known from his appearances on podcasts where he discusses wisdom, cognitive science, and the meaning of life. Vervaeke recommended Susan Wolf's Meaning in Life and Why It Matters while discussing the dimension of mattering, and Paul Tillich's The Courage to Be when addressing existential despair and mortality. He credited Pierre Hadot's What Is Ancient Philosophy? as the book that changed his life, and praised Plotinus's The Enneads as an irreplaceable text functioning as both argument and spiritual exercise. To illustrate extended cognition, Vervaeke cited Edwin Hutchins's Cognition in the Wild, and he recommended Antonio Damasio's Descartes' Error when discussing the connection between emotion and cognition. Additionally, he highlighted D.C. Schindler's Plato's Critique of Impure Reason as the best book of his life regarding the nature of good, and mentioned Roger Zelazny's science fiction novel Lord of Light as a work that opened him up to wonder and self-transcendence.
Books recommended by John Vervaeke
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Lord of Light
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny is a science fiction masterpiece that explores themes of religion, technology, and self-transcendence within a richly imagined secondary world.
Discussed“and I read a book by Roger zasi called Lord of Light that introduced me to Buddhism and Hinduism and the power of myth”
Where to get it
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The Republic
The Republic by Plato is a foundational work of ancient Greek philosophy that explores justice, the structure of an ideal state, and the nature of the soul.
Discussed“I took an intro to philosophy course and we read the Republic and I met Socrates”
Where to get it
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Educating Intuition
Educating Intuition by Robin M.
Discussed“So I'm deeply influenced by two things: Csikszentmihalyi's work on Flow and Hogarth's work, Educating Intuition, and he makes a proposal, and I think this is the best proposal I've heard.”
Where to get it
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Cognition in the Wild
Cognition in the Wild by Edwin Hutchins is a seminal classic in cognitive science that explores how human thinking and problem-solving are distributed across social groups, tools, and environments rather than confined solely to individual brains.
Recommended“I guess the classic book by this is Cognition In the Wild by Ed Hutchins, where he talks about the fact that nobody, no person, navigates a ship.”
Where to get it
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Descartes' Error
Descartes' Error by Antonio Damasio is a foundational work in neuroscience that examines how emotions are deeply intertwined with human reasoning and decision-making.
Recommended“And I mean, a good place to point people about this is Damásio's Descartes' Error. Right?”
Where to get it
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Meaning in Life and Why It Matters
Meaning in Life and Why It Matters by Susan Wolf is a philosophical exploration that investigates what makes human lives meaningful and how objective value intersects with subjective engagement.
Recommended“there's a really good book by Susan Wolf called meaning in life and why it matters”
Where to get it
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Plato's Critique of Impure Reason
Plato's Critique of Impure Reason by D.
Recommended“dc schindler's plato's critique of imperial reason the best book hands down my whole life um dc schindler's astonishing”
Where to get it
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The Courage to Be
The Courage to Be by Paul Tillich is a classic work of theology and existential philosophy that examines the anxiety of modern life and the psychological courage required to affirm existence despite despair.
Recommended“and we started it with Tick's book the courage to be which is a really great book”
Where to get it
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The Enneads
The Enneads by Plotinus is a foundational collection of ancient philosophical writings that form the basis of Neoplatonism, exploring themes of beauty, the soul, and the nature of the One.
Recommended“I read Plotinus' Ennead on the nature of beauty or on the nature of One and contemplation, on dialect, any of these great Enneads.”
Where to get it
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What is Ancient Philosophy?
What is Ancient Philosophy? by Pierre Hadot is an influential exploration of ancient Greco-Roman philosophy, framing it not merely as a set of abstract theories, but as a concrete way of life and a spiritual practice.
Recommended“No, it's Jules Evans on Rebel Wisdom, the book that changed my life. I picked What Is Ancient Philosophy? by Pierre Hadot.”
Where to get it
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A History of the World in Ten and a Half Chapters
Discussed“Julian Barnes wrote a book history of the world in 10 and a half chapter”
Where to get it
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Change in view
Discussed“if you tried to be bayesian right you would you that's computationally intractable you'd be call it combinatorially explosive you can't do it”
Where to get it
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Fifth Business
Fifth Business by Robertson Davies is a celebrated novel that forms the first installment of the author's acclaimed Deptford Trilogy.
Discussed“And so when I was 15, I read a couple of books, The Lord of Light and Siddhartha, Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Fifth Business by Robertson Davies, and it really blew me open.”
Where to get it
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Grt Trials of the 20th Century
Why people recommend it: Grt Trials of the 20th Century by Wayne Anderson, Greg Roensch, Bill Scheppler, Lita Sorenson, Steven Olson, Betty Burnett, Simone Payment, and Kerry Hinton is a compilation exploring significant legal cases.
Discussed“I mean augustine invents the sense of self the interior self that we now think is natural... You can see kerry's book on it is beautiful”
Where to get it
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Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a dark novella detailing a voyage up the Congo River into the African interior, confronting themes of imperialism, moral decay, and human savagery.
Discussed“You know, I did a course on Moby Dick, Heart of Darkness, Notes from Underground, Death in Venice, and The Plague—all one course. Oh yeah, that's fun.”
Where to get it
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La Peste
La Peste by Albert Camus is a profound philosophical novel that depicts a devastating plague sweeping through the Algerian city of Oran, using the sudden catastrophe to explore human suffering, existential dread, collective responsibility, and the quiet heroism of ordinary people facing absurd and insurmountable circumstances.
Discussed“You know, I did a course on Moby Dick, Heart of Darkness, Notes from Underground, Death in Venice, and The Plague—all one course. Oh yeah, that's fun.”
Where to get it
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Moby Dick
Moby Dick by Herman Melville is a classic 19th-century novel exploring the obsessions of Captain Ahab and the dramatic whaling voyage of the Pequod.
Discussed“You know, I did a course on Moby Dick, Heart of Darkness, Notes from Underground, Death in Venice, and The Plague—all one course. Oh yeah, that's fun.”
Where to get it
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Notes from Underground
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a foundational existential novella that explores the depths of human alienation, paradoxical free will, and psychological spite.
Discussed“And maybe we could do that by referring to the Grand Inquisitor in the Brothers Karamazov, as long as we put it together with Notes from Underground, which I just taught for a course. I did a course on literature in the meaning crisis, and so I that you use notes.”
Where to get it
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On Beauty and Being Just
Discussed“scary wrote a really beautiful book called beauty and how it prepares us for truth and justice”
Where to get it
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On Bullshit
On Bullshit by Harry G.
Discussed“Yeah Frankfurt and this is inspired by Frankfurt and other people's work uh based on frankford's work on yeah classic essay it's a pretty good title I think it's one of the best things he wrote”
Where to get it
The other 8 books John Vervaeke recommended or discussed, ranked
- Saving Beauty by Byung-Chul Han
- Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
- The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Eternal Law by John H. Spencer
- The Reasons of Love by Harry G. Frankfurt
- The Symposium by Plato
- Tod in Venedig by Thomas Mann
- Will to Power, Nietzsche's Last Idol by Jean-Etienne Joullié
Books John Vervaeke wrote
Appearances
Other mentions (2: passing, ad reads, own books)
“well the book is only part one there's part two coming out um that'll have even more revisions in it”
“so uh so first big news uh the book form of Awakening from the meaning crisis is coming out uh uh the 29th of this month”