Person
Julia Galef's book recommendations
Across 3 podcasts. Every show Julia Galef appears on, in one place — not just one.
Julia Galef is an American writer, speaker and co-founder of the Center for Applied Rationality. From 2010 to 2021, she hosted Rationally Speaking, the official podcast of New York City Skeptics, sharing the show with co-host and philosopher Massimo Pigliucci and produced by Benny Pollak until 2015. Throughout her media appearances, Galef has referenced various works to explore decision-making, survival, and cognitive biases. While appearing on Modern Wisdom, she recommended Adrift, an amazing memoir by Steven Callahan detailing how he survived both logistically and emotionally while alone at sea. On EconTalk, Galef brought up Daniel Kahneman's prominent work Thinking, Fast and Slow, drawing upon Kahneman's door-to-door salesman example to discuss self-deception and happiness coping strategies. Furthermore, during a discussion on The Realignment, she mentioned Bryan Caplan's book The Myth of the Rational Voter while explaining the economic concept of rational irrationality, a phrase originally coined by an economist she deeply admires. Across these podcasts, Galef consistently integrates literature and academic research to illuminate the psychological and economic mechanisms underlying human behavior and reasoning.
Books recommended by Julia Galef
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Adrift
Adrift by Steven Callahan is a harrowing survival memoir detailing the author's grueling seventy-six day ordeal crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a small inflatable raft after his sailboat sank.
Recommended“and now his memoirs are this amazing book called adrift which is a story of how he survived both logistically and emotionally”
Where to get it
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The Myth of the Rational Voter
The Myth of the Rational Voter is an influential critique of democratic political participation and voter behavior by Bryan Caplan.
Discussed“i think the phrase itself rationally irrational was coined by an economist i really like named brian kaplan how many wrote a couple papers uh and discussed this in one of his books”
Where to get it
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Thinking, Fast and Slow
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman is a seminal exploration of behavioral psychology that examines the two systems of the human mind—intuitive thinking and deliberate reasoning—and how cognitive biases drive systematic errors in judgment.
Discussed“There is something that Daniel Kahneman wrote about in Thinking, Fast and Slow. So he gives this example of like a door-to-door salesman who gets the door slammed in his face.”
Where to get it
Books by Julia Galef
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learn To Improve Your Decision Making - Julia Galef - #332 | Modern Wisdom | 2021-06-10 | 1 |
| Julia Galef on the Scout Mindset | EconTalk | 2021-05-17 | 1 |
| 121 | Julia Galef: The Path to Thinking Better with the Scout Mindset | The Realignment | 2021-04-29 | 1 |
Other mentions (4: passing, ad reads, own books)
“and now his memoirs are this amazing book called adrift which is a story of how he survived both logistically and emotionally”
“uh so that was a big part of my motivation in writing the book”
“um so yeah when when jeff bezos uh i bring up jeff bezos in the book as an example of um of scout mindset in a lot of ways”
“and my book is the scout mindset which you can find on my website or on amazon”