Person
Sebastian Junger books: every book Sebastian Junger wrote and recommended
Across 4 podcasts. Every show Sebastian Junger appears on, in one place — not just one.
Books by Sebastian Junger
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The Perfect Storm
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A Death in Belmont
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War
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Tribe
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Freedom
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Fire
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Conversations on Conflict Photography
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In My Time of Dying
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Fire CD
Sebastian Junger’s most recommended books
- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
- At Play in the Fields of the Lord by Peter Matthiessen
- Lincoln on the Verge by Ted Widmer
- Insurgent Mexico by John Reed
- Radical Hope by Jonathan Lear
- The Iliad by Homer
- The Odyssey by Homer
- The Raw and the Cooked by Claude Lévi-Strauss
- The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Sebastian Junger is an American journalist, author and filmmaker. During his media appearances, he has shared several notable book recommendations and literary references. On The Tim Ferriss Show, Junger strongly recommended Peter Matthiessen's novel At Play in the Fields of the Lord, noting that he frequently gives it away as a gift. During the same podcast, he praised Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens as a phenomenal work that the world truly needed, mentioning that he intends to gift it repeatedly. When discussing historical leadership and events on The Daily Stoic, Junger recommended Ted Widmer's Lincoln on the Verge, a book chronicling Abraham Lincoln's train journey to Washington. In addition to these recommendations, Junger discussed various works that influenced him over the years. On The Daily Stoic, he recalled bringing Claude Lévi-Strauss's The Raw and the Cooked to a youthful summer job at a highway department, and he examined John Reed's Insurgent Mexico, highlighting a descriptive paragraph that inspired novelist Cormac McCarthy. Furthermore, appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience, Junger referenced the ancient Greek epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, specifically the story of Ajax, to illustrate themes of combat trauma and the psychological burdens carried by soldiers returning from war.
Books recommended by Sebastian Junger
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Sapiens
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari is a sweeping exploration of how Homo sapiens evolved, dominated the planet, and constructed complex imaginary orders like religion, money, and nations.
Recommended“I also recently read sapiens by a guy named Harari which is just phenomenal I'm going to give that thing over and over again to everyone”
Where to get it
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At Play in the Fields of the Lord
At Play in the Fields of the Lord by Peter Matthiessen is an acclaimed novel that explores the spiritual, cultural, and ecological clashes that occur when American mercenaries and missionaries encounter an uncontacted indigenous tribe in the Amazon rainforest.
Recommended“most often as a gift at playing the fields of the Lord by Peter maon”
Where to get it
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Lincoln on the Verge
Lincoln on the Verge by Ted Widmer is a detailed historical account chronicling Abraham Lincoln's dramatic thirteen-day train journey from Springfield, Illinois, to Washington, D.C., ahead of his inauguration.
Recommended“i don't know if i have it here uh called uh oh here it is let me grab it called lincoln on the verge 13 days to washington”
Where to get it
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Insurgent Mexico
Discussed“He wrote a book called Insurgent Mexico and there's a there's a paragraph that the that describes the tropa ponchovia's troop.”
Where to get it
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Radical Hope
Discussed“So, there's an amazing book called Radical Hope. It's not a self-help book, although it sounds like it is. It's a work of philosophy and anthropology, and it's about the life of Plenty Coup.”
Where to get it
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The Iliad
The Iliad by Homer is an ancient Greek epic poem that details the events of the Trojan War and the wrath of Achilles.
Discussed“there is an amazing story not that I know that this was where John was at but it could have been there is an amazing story from The Iliad and the Odyssey of Ajax”
Where to get it
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The Odyssey
Homer's epic poem The Odyssey recounts the arduous ten-year journey of the Greek hero Odysseus as he strives to return home to Ithaca following the Trojan War, facing mythical monsters, divine wrath, and profound personal trials along the way.
Discussed“there is an amazing story not that I know that this was where John was at but it could have been there is an amazing story from The Iliad and the Odyssey of Ajax”
Where to get it
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The Perfect Storm
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger is a gripping non-fiction narrative detailing the harrowing final hours of a commercial fishing crew caught in a historic, destructive maritime tempest off the coast of New England.
Discussed“and that set me on course to write my first book called The Perfect Storm about a huge storm that among other things like a commercial fishing boat at Sea”
Where to get it
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The Raw and the Cooked
Discussed“And I remember I I brought I don't know why they just didn't beat me up right then and there but I brought Cloud Levy Strauss. Yeah. Right. Uh and the raw and the cooked I think it was.”
Where to get it
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The Road
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a harrowing, post-apocalyptic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that follows a father and son walking through a devastated landscape.
Discussed“uh maybe people have brought this up to you but i i i stupidly reread uh cormac mccarthy's the road at the beginning of the pandemic”
Where to get it
Appearances
Other mentions (18: passing, ad reads, own books)
“Yeah, I I wrote a book, Freedom, which I see over there next to you on the table. I just couldn't find Tribe. I love Tribe also.”
“I looked at in in my book Freedom, I looked at a gang in Chicago in the 1960s.”
“As I noted in my book, we might understand reality about as well as a dog understands a TV screen; we have no concept of the mechanisms that produce the images in front of us.”
“if I don't say the name of my book I know you don't want that happen say it now I definitely don't want you get killed especially after what you've been through In My Time of Dying how I came face to face with the idea of an afterlife”
“I will be publicly executed by my publisher if I don't mention my book, *In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife.*”
“you know i mean there's something i write about a little bit in freedom um i mean i will be talking about that later but just to sort of mention it like real leadership”
“and you know my last book was called tribe and we we talked about that and i realized people are willing to die for their community for their tribe for their people”
“and so part of the part of my book freedom is about that trek because it was my own personal experience with being uh physically autonomous and it was hard”
“um uh i'm sure you know empire of the summer moon”
“for those who don't know the basis for searching for Bobby fer but the book and the movie”
“I mean as a journalist I'm very hesitant to actually give advice to people in my book tribe I really I really try not to tell the country what I think we all should do”
“I read a on my previous book called War I saw this study where some Army psychiatrist”
“and um you know most nights as i say in the book my book freedom most like nights we were the only people in the world who knew where we were”
“so in my book freedom what i wanted to figure out was how do humans alone among mammals maintain their their autonomy”
“you know i wrote a book called tribe you know it's hard to define what a tribe is”
“but i have taken two posting sentences from my book freedom on twitter with with photographs”
“uh so my book is divided we can get to it later but my book is divided into run fight and think”
“and and ultimately in societies like that as in a platoon in combat which is another part of my book obviously um you're you're you're primarily valued for your contribution to the group”