Person
Every book Niall Ferguson recommended on podcasts
Across 8 podcasts. Every show Niall Ferguson appears on, in one place — not just one.
Niall Ferguson appeared on several prominent podcasts, including The Jordan B. Peterson Foundation, Modern Wisdom, and The Tim Ferriss Show, to discuss history, geopolitics, and society. During his discussions, Ferguson recommended and mentioned multiple books that shaped his views or provided essential context for modern issues. He praised Tom Holland's book Dominion on multiple occasions, pointing out how it demonstrates that secular Western society remains fundamentally shaped by Christian ways of thinking. When discussing J. Robert Oppenheimer, Ferguson mentioned reading the biography American Prometheus. He also recommended Geoffrey West's book Scale while talking about history and physics, and advised listeners to explore George Orwell's essays alongside his famous novels Animal Farm and 1984. Furthermore, Ferguson strongly recommended Chris Miller's book Chip War as an exceptional text on why semiconductors matter, and he suggested his wife Ayaan Hirsi Ali's autobiography Infidel as a valuable starting point for understanding her life story.
Books recommended by Niall Ferguson
-
Dominion
Dominion by Tom Holland is a sweeping historical work examining how Christianity shaped Western culture, secular values, and modern moral frameworks.
Recommended“my friend the historian Tom Holland wrote a nice book recently Dominion arguing that Christian ways of thinking about the world have outlived Christianity”
Where to get it
-
Democracy in America
Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville is a foundational socio-political study offering an insightful external perspective on the American political and cultural landscape.
Discussed“And then when we read Democracy in America, it became even clearer what Tocqueville's project was...”
Where to get it
-
On the Road
On the Road by Jack Kerouac is a seminal autobiographical novel that chronicles the cross-country road trips of its protagonist and captures the restless energy of the Beat Generation.
Discussed“one of my earliest literary simulations was to reenact jack kerouac tripping on the road when i was 17 culminating and getting very wasted in the hanging gardens of zochimilco”
Where to get it
-
War and Peace
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy is a sprawling Russian epic novel that chronicles elite society and military conflict during the Napoleonic era.
Discussed“by the way if you've ever read War and Peace the moment when Pierre sees Natasha everything stops uh that's what the French called a kudafuda it happened to me then”
Where to get it
-
1984
George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 1984 presents a chilling vision of a totalitarian society characterized by perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, and the systematic manipulation of historical truth and language.
Recommended“In the same way that if you want to get to Orwell, don't just read Animal Farm and 1984. Read Orwell's amazing essays.”
Where to get it
-
American Prometheus
American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J.
Recommended“I haven't watched the movie but I read the the book American Prometheus I I prefer books to movies and the book”
Where to get it
-
Animal Farm
Animal Farm by George Orwell is a classic allegorical novella that uses a farmyard setting to satirize the corruption of socialist ideals and the rise of totalitarianism following the Russian Revolution.
Recommended“In the same way that if you want to get to Orwell, don't just read Animal Farm and 1984. Read Orwell's amazing essays.”
Where to get it
-
Chip War
Chip War by Chris Miller is a comprehensive exploration of the global semiconductor supply chain and the geopolitical forces shaping the technology industry.
Recommended“Chris Miller's new book, Chip War, which I highly recommend, is just the best book on why semiconductors really matter.”
Where to get it
-
Infidel
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a powerful memoir detailing the author's escape from a oppressive upbringing in Somalia and her eventual journey of self-discovery and political awakening in the West.
Recommended“Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Infidel is a pretty good place to start. That's her life story, her early life story”
Where to get it
-
Life and Fate
Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman is a sweeping masterpiece depicting the brutality and human ramifications of the Eastern Front, the Holocaust, and totalitarianism during World War II.
Recommended“if only if one reads grossman's life and fate”
Where to get it
-
Scale
Scale by Geoffrey West is a scientific exploration of the universal laws governing growth, organization, and lifespan in biology, cities, and corporations.
Recommended“he did a book called scale that everybody should read”
Where to get it
-
Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson's groundbreaking science fiction novel "Snow Crash" blends cyberpunk aesthetics, linguistic theory, and virtual reality, popularizing the concept of the metaverse long before it became a mainstream technological goal.
Recommended“The most plausible is Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. And Stephenson saw really brilliantly that we would end up spending half our lives on the internet...”
Where to get it
-
The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a complex philosophical novel that delves deeply into faith, doubt, free will, and morality through the turbulent relationships of the Karamazov family.
Recommended“if you haven't read the brothers karamazov you will not really you're not grown up”
Where to get it
-
“The” History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon is a monumental multi-volume historical work chronicling the trajectory of Western civilization from the height of the Roman Empire through the fall of Byzantium.
Discussed“so Gibbon's great Decline and fall of the Roman Empire covers a millennium”
Where to get it
-
A People's History of the United States
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn is a controversial and influential historical work that retells American history from the perspective of marginalized groups, laborers, and social movements.
Critiqued“But I don't think we should be teaching young Americans, from how it Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, in which the negatives are constantly emphasized over the positives.”
Where to get it
-
A people's tragedy
Discussed“Orlando 5g's wrote an excellent history of the Russian Revolution called a people's tragedy”
Where to get it
-
Capital
Capital by Karl Marx is a foundational theoretical and economic critique of capitalism, analyzing how commodities, labor, and capital interact within industrial economies.
Discussed“I think if one reads Capital it is a a prophetic work about England and about any country that follows England down the the route of of Industrial Revolution and and class society.”
Where to get it
-
Crime and Punishment
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a psychological masterpiece that explores the crushing guilt, moral torment, and eventual redemption of a destitute former student who commits a brutal murder in St.
Discussed“remember raskolnikov's nightmare at the end of crime and punishment in which he imagines in his dream a world in which a terrible virus spreads”
Where to get it
-
Destined for War
Destined for War by Graham T.
Discussed“There is also a geopolitical dimension to this conventional territorial dimension. And this is a point Graham Allison made in his book, Destined for War.”
Where to get it
-
General Theory Of Employment , Interest And Money
John Maynard Keynes's influential 1936 economic treatise reshaped macroeconomic policy and continues to provoke critical debate among modern economists and scholars.
Discussed“So while everybody else was reading Aristotle and uh and Locke, I was reading uh Adam Smith and and then the General Theory. And the General Theory was the hardest thing I'd ever read.”
Where to get it
-
In Search of Lost Time
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust is a monumental, multi-volume modernist novel that explores memory, time, art, and the profound meaning of human existence through an immersive blend of narrative and philosophical essay.
Discussed“i'm currently in the midst of the later stages of of proust's great allah”
Where to get it
-
L'ancien régime
Discussed“I as an undergraduate we were required to read Tocqueville's L'Ancien Régime in French in our first term.”
Where to get it
-
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler and Stephen R.
Discussed“because it's out of the experience of defeat in 1918 as hitler makes clear in mind camp that he becomes radicalized and enters the political realm”
Where to get it
-
The 39 steps
Discussed“These books are of the direct lineal descendants, as you probably know Tyler, of the great Richard Hannay books that John Buchan wrote beginning with The 39 Steps.”
Where to get it
-
The Captive Mind
Czesław Miłosz's The Captive Mind is a profound exploration of intellectual corruption and political conformity under totalitarian regimes.
Discussed“there's a fantastic book that i'm going to misremember milos is the captive soul the captive mind rather which has a fantastic passage here”
Where to get it
-
The constitution of liberty
Friedrich A.
Discussed“this is an argument that haek addresses at the end of the Constitution of Liberty”
Where to get it
-
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon. Vol. 2. [-3-4].
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon is a monumental historical work chronicling the trajectory of Roman civilization from its height to its collapse.
Discussed“so Gibbon's great Decline and fall of the Roman Empire covers a millennium”
Where to get it
-
The Federalist papers
The Federalist papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay, James Madison, John Jay is a foundational collection of essays advocating for the ratification of the United States Constitution.
Discussed“Alexander Hamilton was very explicit about that in the Federalist Papers and elsewhere.”
Where to get it
-
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" imagines a totalitarian society where individual liberties are stripped away and women's bodies are heavily controlled.
Discussed“I keep reflecting on the curious revival of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale which is always taken to be a vision of what happens when right-wing people take over America”
Where to get it
-
The Master of Ballantrae
Discussed“and of course the critical idea which Robert L Stevenson gets at in the master of balant tree and and James hog gets and the Confessions of a Justified sinner is that the elect are the worst people”
Where to get it
-
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
Discussed“and James hog gets and the Confessions of a Justified sinner is that the elect are the worst people”
Where to get it
-
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith is a seminal 1759 work of moral philosophy that examines the psychological foundations of human judgment, empathy, and social order.
Discussed“and the Scottish Enlightenment which after all produced some of the greatest ideas human beings have ever had think of Adam Smith's contribution The Wealth of Nations the theory of moral sentiments that's the kind of intellectual Legacy that I think of myself as being responsible for”
Where to get it
-
The Wealth of Nations
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith is a foundational text in classical economics that explores the nature and causes of national wealth through the division of labor, productivity, and free markets.
Discussed“and the Scottish Enlightenment which after all produced some of the greatest ideas human beings have ever had think of Adam Smith's contribution The Wealth of Nations the theory of moral sentiments that's the kind of intellectual Legacy that I think of myself as being responsible for”
Where to get it
-
Waverley; or, 'Tis sixty years since ...
Discussed“and uh you know Walter Scott writes a great novel perhaps the greatest historical novel Waverly really addressing this question how on Earth does Scotland go from being Afghanistan to being Athens in this really short space of time”
Where to get it
Books Niall Ferguson wrote
- Doom
- Empire
- Virtual History: Alternatives And Counterfactuals
- The Pity of War
- Colossus
- Civilization
- The Ascent of Money
- The Square and the Tower
- Paper and Iron
- Kissinger
- The House of Rothschild
- The great degeneration
Appearances
Other mentions (29: passing, ad reads, own books)
“and that is really the central argument of Doom it's very significant that in our lifetimes governments have got worse at dealing with disasters not better”
“and uh and that will be the next book that I I publish while you're waiting for that you can buy Doom the politics of catastrophe which was the book that I published most recently”
“Donald Trump don't doesn't care about Taiwan he made that explicit to John Bolton you can read it in John Bolton's Memoir we wouldn't be having showdowns over Taiwan if Trump were president because that was never his Focus”
“and the Scottish Enlightenment which after all produced uh some of the greatest ideas human beings have ever had think of Adam Smith's contribution The Wealth of Nations the theory of moral sentiments that's the kind of intellectual Legacy that I think of myself as being uh uh responsible for”
“and the Scottish Enlightenment which after all produced uh some of the greatest ideas human beings have ever had think of Adam Smith's contribution The Wealth of Nations the theory of moral sentiments that's the kind of intellectual Legacy that I think of myself as being uh uh responsible for”
“20 years ago I wrote a book called Empire how Britain made the modern world and in that book I pointed out that the Britain was responsible both for some Dreadful evils”
“well my last book Doom the politics of catastrophe takes this question on uh I love that that feature of American life that we're always predicting American Decline”
“We were doing Hillbilly Elegy before J.D. Vance was even born, I think.”
“I was at Christ's College that had been immortalized in a novel, The Masters, by C.P. Snow in which Cambridge politics provides the drama”
“And I wrote a lot about that in The Pity Of War and in the book Virtual History because I think it's important for people to understand”
“And I wrote a lot about that in The Pity Of War and in the book Virtual History because I think it's important for people to understand”
“My book Doom makes fun of the pattern where the incentives to predict the end of the world are very strong”
“I think the analytical framework of the book Colossus was correct, namely the neo conservative project to build empires in Iraq and Afghanistan will fail.”
“Point two is, and I dedicated the book Civilization to Ayaan for this reason, we take for granted the freedoms that we are given at birth”
“i remember looking at great numbers of these in the british museum when i was writing the ascent of money”
“and this was the point of the ascent of money as an evolutionary story”
“and they illustrate something i should have made more clear of the ascent of money that not everything used in payment needs to be money”
“when it hit me the other day that we actually had this precedent for crypto i got quite excited and thought i wish i had written that in the ascent of money”
“i found that when i was writing doom and so we slightly are biased in favor of the periods when trust prevailed and the system functioned”
“when i updated the ascent of money which was in 2018 10 years after it came out i wrote a new chapter in which i said bitcoin which had just sold off after its 2017 bubble will rise again through adoption”
“when i wrote this under money which was in 2008 you couldn't really solve the problem”
“this argument was central to my book the pity of war”
“in a book called the square in the tower i argued that it would be very costly for the united states to allow the public sphere to continue to be dominated by a handful of big tech companies”
“I got into an argument with the early Keynes in my very earliest book, the the book Paper and Iron, because I encountered Keynes in a new role...”
“Empire is is the book that uh you couldn't write today. I don't think you could publish that book today.”
“In my field, I was writing a lot of financial history, I'd written the history of the Rothschilds.”
“I actually reenacted Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road' with considerable fidelity to the original.”
“that led me to write that the most recent book the square on the tower was actually book number 15”
“one must call it that in the square and the tower”