Person
Every book Rory Sutherland recommended on podcasts
Key facts
- Rory Sutherland has recommended or discussed 24 books on podcasts, as of July 27, 2026.
- Rory Sutherland has talked about books on 5 podcasts, as of July 27, 2026.
- Those books came up in 9 episodes, as of July 27, 2026.
- The 3 books Rory Sutherland has mentioned in the most episodes, not counting Rory Sutherland's own, as of July 27, 2026: THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST, Unreasonable Hospitality and Branding That Means Business.
- The latest episode with a book mention from Rory Sutherland aired on July 27, 2026.
Updated
Across 5 podcasts. Every show Rory Sutherland appears on, in one place — not just one.
Rory Sutherland’s most recommended books
- THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST by Robert H. Frank
- Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara
- Branding That Means Business by Matt Johnson
- Factfulness by Hans Rosling
- How To Become An Advertising Man by James Webb Young
- Influence by Robert B. Cialdini
- Inheritocracy by Eliza Filby
- Obvious Adams by Robert R. Updegraff
- Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
- Slowdown by Danny Dorling
Rory Sutherland is an advertising executive and author who has appeared as a guest on podcasts such as My First Million and Modern Wisdom to discuss marketing, human psychology, and behavioral science. During his appearance on My First Million, he recommended several foundational advertising and business books, beginning with Will Guidara's Unreasonable Hospitality, which he also mentioned on Modern Wisdom to illustrate the concept of reverse benchmarking and food innovation at 11 Madison Park. He recommended Robert R. Updegraff's Obvious Adams as a quick, valuable read on problem-solving in business and Claude Hopkins's Scientific Advertising as a core advertising text. Furthermore, he recommended James Webb Young's How to Become An Advertising Man to help listeners learn copywriting, and he highlighted Richard Shotton's The Choice Factory and The Illusion of Choice for understanding human psychology and counterintuitive decision-making. Finally, while discussing wealth inequality and inheritance on Modern Wisdom, Rory recommended Eliza Filby's book The Inheritocracy, suggesting the host invite the author onto the show.
Books recommended by Rory Sutherland
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THE ECONOMIC NATURALIST
The Economic Naturalist by Robert H.
Recommended“Robert H Frank at Cornell who wrote who's written various books for example the Darwin economy and the economic naturalist I think is one of his as well”
Where to get it
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Unreasonable Hospitality
Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara is a bestselling memoir and guide that details how exceptional, customer-focused service can transform businesses and leadership.
Recommended“Now, I first came across this in Will Guidara's fantastic book Unreasonable Hospitality.”
Where to get it
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Alchemy
Alchemy by Rory Sutherland is an insightful exploration of behavioral economics, psychology, and the hidden irrational forces that drive consumer behavior in business and everyday life.
Discussed“I know his name I've been told to interview but he crops up in the book because I'd always have this vague hunch that things like son cost bias and indeed loss aversion under certain circumstances couldn't really be described as a bias”
Where to get it
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Branding That Means Business
Branding That Means Business by Matt Johnson and Tessa Misiaszek is a business book that examines the psychological and strategic foundations of successful brand building.
Recommended“I think it's Matt Johnson who's just written a book called um uh brands that mean business and his wonderful line is having a great brand means you get to play the game of capital m in Easy Mode”
Where to get it
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Factfulness
Factfulness by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, and Anna Rosling Rönnlund is a nonfiction book that uses global data to challenge common human misconceptions and pessimism about the state of the world.
Recommended“two good books i'll recommend to your listeners factfulness by hans rosling”
Where to get it
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How To Become An Advertising Man
How To Become An Advertising Man by James Webb Young is a classic guide on the principles of copywriting and the advertising industry written by a veteran of the agency J.
Recommended“There's a book called How to Become an Advertising Man by James Webb Young, who was at J. Walter Thompson in Chicago for many years.”
Where to get it
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Influence
Influence by Robert B.
Recommended“didn't if you've read his great book influence he's in many ways the sort of godfather he's at the University of Arizona he's kind of the Godfather of a virile science in many ways”
Where to get it
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Inheritocracy
Inheritocracy by Eliza Filby is a book that examines the growing social and economic implications of wealth inheritance and generational inequality in modern society.
Recommended“So, there's this great book, you must get her on called The Inheritocracy. ”
Where to get it
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Obvious Adams
Obvious Adams by Robert R.
Recommended“Obvious Adams, Robert Updegraff, published in 1960.”
Where to get it
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Scientific Advertising
Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins is a foundational business and marketing text from the early twentieth century that outlines fundamental principles of direct-response marketing, consumer psychology, and accountability in advertising.
Recommended“Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins, for example.”
Where to get it
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Slowdown
Slowdown by Danny Dorling is a thought-provoking nonfiction book that examines contemporary global population trends, economic growth, and the deceleration of societal expansion across the modern world.
Recommended“and there's another book called the great slowdown by danny dawling who's an oxford professor of geography who makes the point that actually most things in the world are either shrinking or the speed at which they're growing is shrinking”
Where to get it
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The choice factory
The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton is a compelling exploration of behavioral science that examines twenty-five cognitive biases and how advertisers manipulate consumer decision-making.
Recommended“Richard Shotton has written some superb books called, for example, The Choice Factory or The Illusion of Choice.”
Where to get it
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The Darwin Economy
The Darwin Economy by Robert H.
Recommended“Robert H Frank at Cornell who wrote who's written various books for example the Darwin economy and the economic naturalist I think is one of his as well”
Where to get it
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The Illusion of Choice
The Illusion of Choice by Richard Shotton is a fascinating look at behavioral psychology, exploring the subtle cognitive biases and marketing tricks that major global businesses utilize to influence consumer behavior.
Recommended“Richard Shotton has written some superb books called, for example, The Choice Factory or The Illusion of Choice.”
Where to get it
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The Silo Effect
The Silo Effect is a sociological and economic exploration by Gillian Tett that investigates how specialized compartments within organizations and institutions create blind spots and groupthink.
Recommended“and it's very similar to you know the the phenomenon that Jillian T spotted um I don't know if you read the silo effect have you had Jillian on the show”
Where to get it
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Blood, brains & beer
Critiqued“if you read his books one of his books is terrible weirdly which I think it's called blood brains and beer it's his autobiography”
Where to get it
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Microserfs
Discussed“it was interesting that given the fact that the whole promise of the internet really I mean I think this is in a Douglas Copeland book called microserfs where one of the Geeks features in this Douglas Copeland book it was written in the '90s I think but he makes a very interesting comment which is the whole purpose of”
Where to get it
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The Corporation in the Twenty-First Century
Discussed“it's only a small passage in John K's book The Corporation of the 21st century which is his attack largely the whole book is an attack on the idea of the shareholder value movement”
Where to get it
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The Game
The Game by Neil Strauss is a non-fiction book that investigates the secretive subculture of pickup artists and dating strategy.
Discussed“I don't know if you've read The Rules by um I think I think it's called The Game by Neil Strauss, actually, about the pickup artist community. It's quite an interesting book.”
Where to get it
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The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie is a celebrated and deeply influential work of detective fiction renowned for its groundbreaking narrative structure.
Discussed“I suppose I'm wearing in that there is the um you know the the really defining works of literature and of creation comes from a completely unexpected place so uh you know for example the murder of Roger Aykroyd where you know made Angus and Christie's reputation was where the narrator was the murderer which I didn't think had happened”
Where to get it
The other 4 books Rory Sutherland recommended or discussed, ranked
- The Naked Jape by Jimmy Carr
- The Status Game by Will Storr
- The Trading Game by Gary Stevenson
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Books Rory Sutherland wrote
Appearances
Other mentions (10: passing, ad reads, own books)
“Alchemy I call my book because you can turn lead into gold.”
“There's a wonderful story I always tell, which is Richard Thaler, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and behavioral economist, the author of Nudge.”
“if you think the reason I wrote the book Alchemy is partly to elevate the status and centrality of marketing in business success that actually what you are is effectively a product of how you make people feel”
“and this is why you know I wrote the book Alchemy partly saying we have a kind of culture in business particularly in the finance function of business which does which refuses to believe in magic”
“okay so the book's coming out on thursday it's being launched on on thursday and it's called a transport for humans”
“it's called transport for humans it's pete dyson and rory sutherland are the authors the subtitle is um are we nearly there yet”
“but the one i don't understand is why is the ghosts of biggin hill by bob ogle who's a local seven oaks historian by the way”
“you had films like The Manchurian Candidate you had books like the hidden persuaders and there was a widespread paranoia about manipulation”
“you had films like The Manchurian Candidate you had books like the hidden persuaders and there was a widespread paranoia about manipulation”
“it's called alchemy the surprising power of ideas that don't make sense and it's basically a plea for the world to abandon this need that everything needs a rational justification before we try it in the real world”