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Michael Shermer's book recommendations
Across 4 podcasts. Every show Michael Shermer appears on, in one place — not just one.
Michael Shermer’s most recommended books
- The sacred mushroom and the cross by John Marco Allegro
- On Liberty by John Stuart Mill
- Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
- Case Closed by Gerald Posner
- The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper
- The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
- Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright
- DMT: The Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassman
- A Savage Order by Rachel Kleinfeld
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Michael Brant Shermer is an American science writer, historian of science, executive director of The Skeptics Society, and founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, a publication focused on investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The author of over a dozen books, Shermer is known for engaging in debates on pseudoscience and religion in which he emphasizes scientific skepticism. He mentioned Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan's The Demon-Haunted World while discussing social experiments and comparative methods, and discussed Rick Strassman's DMT: The Spirit Molecule in relation to federally approved clinical trials on dimethyltryptamine. Shermer also touched on John Marco Allegro's The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint approach to diet, and recommended Paul Bloom's Just Babies to support the argument that infants possess an innate sense of morality. Additionally, he praised Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven when discussing the origins of polygamy in the Mormon church, and reflected on his own bibliography, citing Why People Believe Weird Things.
Books recommended by Michael Shermer
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The sacred mushroom and the cross
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross by John Marco Allegro is a controversial scholarly study that posits early Christianity originated from ancient fertility cults centered around the sacramental use of psychedelic mushrooms.
Discussed“well you know that is also John Marco allegro's thoughts oh right The Sacred Mushroom in the cross”
Where to get it
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On Liberty
On Liberty by John Stuart Mill is a foundational 19th-century philosophical essay that defends the liberty of the individual against the absolute power of the state and societal conformity.
Discussed“I do think if you apply the principles of free speech as originally laid out by John Stuart Mill in 1859 his book on Liberty where he said okay look you might be completely right”
Where to get it
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Under the Banner of Heaven
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer is a compelling non-fiction investigation into fundamentalist Mormonism, religious extremism, and a brutal double murder rooted in the history of the Latter-day Saint movement.
Discussed“I don't know if you ever read John Jon Krakauer's book under the banner of heaven this is the guy the the mountain climber that did into thin air”
Where to get it
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Case Closed
"Case Closed" by Gerald Posner is a comprehensive investigative exploration of the assassination of President John F.
Discussed“and then i read gerald posner's book the case closed about the life of lee harvey oswald and why all the evidence points to him”
Where to get it
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The Open Society and Its Enemies
The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper is a renowned philosophical defense of liberal democracy and critical rationalism against totalitarian ideologies.
Discussed“I'm a big pro free speech idea and tolerance, is Carl Poppers "Open Society."”
Where to get it
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The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is a prominent popular science book exploring evolution through a gene-centric view of natural selection.
Discussed“so this is Dawkins argument in The Selfish Gene that that the gene is the is this is the thing we should be focused on not the body”
Where to get it
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Why Buddhism is True
Why Buddhism is True by Robert Wright is an exploration of evolutionary psychology and ancient Buddhist philosophy that examines how the human mind creates suffering and how mindfulness can alter our perception of reality.
Discussed“you know there's other people like sam harris at bob right has a new book out called why buddhism is true”
Where to get it
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DMT: The Spirit Molecule
DMT: The Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassman is a scientific and clinical investigation into the effects of dimethyltryptamine, chronicling the first FDA-approved human clinical studies on psychedelics in decades.
Recommended“dr. rich Rick Strassman who was the guy who wrote the book DMT two-spirit male and it's an amazing book really really fascinating”
Where to get it
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A Savage Order
A Savage Order by Rachel Kleinfeld is a political science book that investigates the root causes of extreme violence in failed states, examining how countries successfully escape cycles of lawlessness through civic mobilization, judicial reform, and targeted state intervention.
Discussed“she has this a new book called a savage order and it's about failed states and what happens to them”
Where to get it
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Atlas Shrugged
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is a sweeping philosophical novel that champions objectivism, laissez-faire capitalism, and individual achievement while depicting a dystopian society collapsing under the weight of excessive government controls.
Discussed“Gerald Ford came to speak and Edward Teller came and gave his mutual assured destruction speech, and everyone was, Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged" and all that, pretty much what you'd expect.”
Where to get it
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God Is Not Great
God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens is a prominent polemical manifesto of the New Atheism movement that argues organized religion poisons everything, undermines moral responsibility, and distorts human understanding.
Discussed“well hitch still dealt with this in his book God is not great”
Where to get it
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Not Born Yesterday
Not Born Yesterday by Hugo Mercier is a cognitive science book that argues humans are far less gullible than commonly assumed, utilizing evolutionary psychology to explain how people evaluate information and trust elites.
Discussed“and nicely summarized in Hugo Mercier's book called not born yesterday”
Where to get it
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Sham
Discussed“and um there was a guy wrote a book called sham s-h-a-m self-help actualization movement and he was the head book guy for rodale press that publishes these self-help books um and so his takeaway on in this book was that the number one predictor of people who will buy self-help books are people who already bought self-help books and”
Where to get it
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The Blank Slate
The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker is a widely read nonfiction book that challenges the traditional sociological doctrine that the human mind is entirely shaped by culture and environment at birth, arguing instead for a nuanced view of innate human nature and genetics.
Discussed“Well, because as Steven Pinker points out in The Blank Slate, the blank slate model that, you know, that culture determines everything and otherwise people are equal, that's more of a left-wing than right-wing view of human nature.”
Where to get it
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Just Babies
Just Babies by Paul Bloom is an insightful exploration of the moral lives of infants, arguing that human beings possess an innate sense of fairness and empathy from a very early age.
Recommended“then also read Paul Bloom's book just babies so they show that like these little things with the infant they can't speak yet”
Where to get it
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Primal Blueprint
Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson is a foundational health and fitness guide that advocates for ancestral nutrition, low-carbohydrate eating, and lifestyle changes to improve overall well-being.
Recommended“or Mark Sisson calls it primal primal blueprint you're essentially just eating vegetables and fish and meat”
Where to get it
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The Demon-Haunted World
The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan is a classic work of science communication that explores the importance of critical thinking, the scientific method, and skepticism in combating pseudoscience.
Recommended“our mutual friend the late great carl sagan has a great chapter in the demon hunter world on these kinds of experiments”
Where to get it
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12 Rules for Life
12 Rules for Life by Jordan B.
Discussed“you know in Jordan has this book here's the 12 things you got to do”
Where to get it
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A Confederacy of Dunces
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole is an absurdist, darkly comedic masterpiece centered on the eccentric and pompous protagonist Ignatius J.
Discussed“I don't think all of this adds up to a conspiracy other than a conspiracy of Dunces that that just screwed up”
Where to get it
- Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
- Black Athena by Martin Bernal
- Culture Of Honor by Richard E Nisbett
- Denying History by Michael Shermer
- Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard
- DOOMSDAY MACHINE by ELLSBERG DANIEL
- Evil by Roy F. Baumeister, Ph.D.
- Final Charade by David Lifton
- Going Clear by Lawrence Wright
- Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
- Heavens on Earth by Michael Shermer
- Hitler by Ian Kershaw
- Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln
- Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
- Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier
- Lord of Flies by William Golding
- Magicians of the Gods by Graham Hancock
- Noah's Flood by William Ryan
- Papers on the War by Daniel Ellsberg
- Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander
- Rationality by Steven Pinker
- Reclaiming History by Vincent Bugliosi
- Rule Makers, Rule Breakers by Michele Gelfand
- Scale by Geoffrey West
- The Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith
- The Constitution of Knowledge by Jonathan Rauch
- The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth by John Marco Allegro
- The doors of perception by Aldous Huxley
- The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
- The Internationalists by Oona A. Hathaway
Books by Michael Shermer
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Why People Believe Weird Things
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How We Believe
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Science friction
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Denying History
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The Science of Good and Evil
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The mind of the market
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The Believing Brain
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Heavens on Earth
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Giving the Devil his Due
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Conspiracy
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Sport cycling
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Cycling
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Teach Your Child Science
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The Borderlands of Science
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Why Darwin Matters
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The soul of science
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The Moral Arc
Michael Shermer’s latest episodes with books
Expert Skeptic on Why Smart People Fall for Conspiracies | Michael Shermer | ACADEMIA | Rubin Report
Jordan Peterson Disagreements & The Mistakes Of The Left | Michael Shermer | ACADEMIA | Rubin Report
Michael Shermer’s book recommendations by year
All 64 books Michael Shermer recommended or discussed across 16 episodes, filed by the year each episode came out. Each year goes episode by episode, with the minute every book came up.