Person
Every book Sheldon Solomon recommended on podcasts
Across 2 podcasts. Every show Sheldon Solomon appears on, in one place — not just one.
Sheldon Solomon’s most recommended books
- The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
- Birth and Death of Meaning by Ernest Becker
- escape from evil by Ernest Becker
- Consciousness Regained by Nicholas Humphrey
- The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
- Second Treatise of Government by John Locke
- Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
- Existence and being by Martin Heidegger
- The concept of time by Martin Heidegger
- Clock Without Hands by Carson McCullers
Sheldon Solomon is an academic and researcher known for his work on the psychology of human mortality and behavior. Appearing on programs such as Modern Wisdom and the Lex Fridman Podcast, Solomon recommended several foundational texts that influenced his ideas. He highlighted Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death, The Birth and Death of Meaning, and Escape from Evil, describing all three of Becker's books as profound works, though noting that readers sometimes find them challenging. In addition to Becker's psychological and sociological explorations, Solomon discussed literature on the Lex Fridman Podcast. He expressed his admiration for Carson McCullers's 1953 novel Clock Without Hands, praising it as a work he is deeply enamored with. He also recommended Albert Camus's novel The Plague, sharing and appreciating its concluding line about finding more to admire in humans than to despise during times of pestilence. Through these podcast appearances, Solomon directed listeners toward works of literature and psychological philosophy that examine human meaning, mortality, and historical responses to crisis.
Books recommended by Sheldon Solomon
-
The Denial of Death
The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker is a Pulitzer Prize-winning philosophical and psychological study that argues human behavior is fundamentally driven by an unconscious terror of mortality and the subsequent cultural mechanisms created to deny it.
Discussed“cultural anthropologist ernest becker who in the 1970s uh won a pulitzer prize for a book called the denial of death”
Where to get it
-
Birth and Death of Meaning
Birth and Death of Meaning by Ernest Becker is an exploration of human psychology and culture framed primarily through an evolutionary and psychoanalytic lens.
Recommended“i would say uh that ernest becker's the denial of death or another book called the birth and death of meaning are where we got our ideas from uh but a lot of folks uh find that to be difficult”
Where to get it
-
escape from evil
Escape from Evil by Ernest Becker is a profound philosophical and anthropological work that examines how human cultures, economic systems, and historical atrocities are driven by a universal terror of death and a quest for immortality.
Discussed“so that's point number one i point number two in a book called escape from evil which is after the denial of death uh becker says here's the other problem”
Where to get it
-
Consciousness Regained
Consciousness Regained by Nicholas Humphrey is a thought-provoking exploration of the origins of human consciousness, proposing that subjective experience evolved primarily to help individuals navigate complex social environments.
Discussed“nicholas humphrey who's a british guy he wrote a book called consciousness regained i think in the 1980s and um i favor his view which is that consciousness may have evolved”
Where to get it
-
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“and even folks uh like um oh selfish gene richard dawkins he writes in the 1970s that he finds it inconceivable that consciousness uh has no functional value”
Where to get it
-
Second Treatise of Government
Second Treatise of Government by John Locke is a foundational work of classical political philosophy published in 1689 that articulates natural rights theory, arguing that legitimate government authority derives from the consent of the governed and that individuals possess inherent rights to life, liberty, and property.
Discussed“in fact uh who's it john locke in his second treatise on government that was at 1690 he said look anything that really matters anything that is real there's an upper limit to how much you can want”
Where to get it
-
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt is a foundational historical and political analysis examining the origins, mechanisms, and societal conditions that give rise to authoritarian regimes and totalitarian control.
Discussed“because it is well known a woman i like hannah arendt in a book called the origin of totalitarianism uh after written in the 1950s she just points out that um you know it's pretty much the same playbook”
Where to get it
-
Existence and being
Existence and Being by Martin Heidegger is a foundational text in twentieth-century philosophy that explores the nature of the self, human existence, and time.
Discussed“a year or two ago i i started reading smartin heidegger si'm reading being in time”
Where to get it
-
The concept of time
The Concept of Time by Martin Heidegger is a profound philosophical work examining how human beings experience temporality and existence.
Discussed“a year or two ago i i started reading smartin heidegger si'm reading being in time”
Where to get it
-
Clock Without Hands
Clock Without Hands is a historical and character-driven novel by Carson McCullers that explores deep existential themes, racial tensions, and human isolation in the American South.
Recommended“i'm enamored with a novel by a woman named carson mccullers written in 1953 called clock without hands”
Where to get it
-
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty examines wealth concentration and economic inequality in capitalist economies.
Discussed“that over time would always you know the thomas pickerty guy who writes about capital and just makes the point that return on investment will always be greater than wages”
Where to get it
-
In the Name of Identity
Discussed“and so there's a guy named amin malouf a lebanese guy who writes in french swho in the 1990s i think wrote a book called in the name of identity violence and the need to belong”
Where to get it
-
The Decline of the West
The Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler, Arthur Helps, and Charles Francis Atkinson is a sweeping historical and philosophical work that explores the cyclical rise and fall of civilizations.
Discussed“but there's another lunatic oswald spangler who wrote a book called decline of the west”
Where to get it
-
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes is a provocative 1976 psychological study proposing that ancient humans were not consciously self-aware but instead operated with a bicameral mind that heard divine auditory hallucinations.
Discussed“uh julian james the origin of consciousness and the breakdown of the bicameral mind and so to answer your question and that's one of my favorite books”
Where to get it
-
The True Believer
The True Believer by Eric Hoffer is a classic work of social psychology that examines the nature of mass movements, fanaticism, and the underlying motivations that drive individuals to embrace extreme collective beliefs.
Discussed“Another guy i like a lot eric hoffer wrote a book called the true believer and what all these kind of leaders do”
Where to get it
-
Ulysses
James Joyce's landmark modernist novel Ulysses chronicles an ordinary day in the life of Leopold Bloom in Dublin, mapping human consciousness and daily existence through a revolutionary stream-of-consciousness technique.
Discussed“look it took me 40 years to read ulysses i could not get past the first five pages”
Where to get it
-
THE PLAGUE
The Plague by Albert Camus is a classic existentialist novel that uses the allegorical setting of a city struck by a deadly epidemic to explore profound themes of human suffering, absurdism, collective responsibility, and resilience.
Recommended“i will tell you the last line of the plague we learn in times of pestilence that there's more to admire in men than to despise and i love that”
Where to get it
-
Absalom, Absalom!
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner is a monumental American novel exploring family trauma, ambition, race, and the heavy burdens of the past in the deep South.
Discussed“i like faulkner absalom absalom is is a fine book”
Where to get it
-
An Arabic Zoological Dictionary
Discussed“and so there's a guy named amin malouf a lebanese guy who writes in french who in the 1990s i think wrote a book called in the name of identity violence and the need to belong”
Where to get it
-
Becoming Human
Discussed“there's a book by a famous guy he's a primatologist michael tomasello at the max planck institute in germany it's called becoming human”
Where to get it
The other 22 books Sheldon Solomon recommended or discussed, ranked
- Being and Time by Martin Heidegger
- Blank Slate, the Noble Savage, and the Ghost In the Machine by Stephen Pinker
- Charter Schools and Their Enemies by Thomas Sowell
- Collapse by Jared M. Diamond
- Darwin's Cathedral by David Wilson
- Deer Disassembly by Eric Fromm, Al Cambronne
- Destroying the World to Save It by Robert Jay Lifton
- Dreamthorp by Alexander Smith
- Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm
- False Dawn by John Gray
- Finnegans Wake by James Joyce
- Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw
- Homo aestheticus by Ellen Dissanayake
- How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker
- Maps of Meaning by Jordan B. Peterson
- Moby Dick by Herman Melville
- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
- The Dead by James Joyce
- The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
- The Poetical Works of Alexander Smith by Alexander Smith
- The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills
- The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer
Books Sheldon Solomon wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Does The Fear Of Death Drive Everything We Do? - Sheldon Solomon - #240 | Modern Wisdom | 2020-11-02 | 19 |
| #117 – Sheldon Solomon: Death and Meaning | Lex Fridman Podcast | 2020-08-20 | 68 |
Other mentions (7: passing, ad reads, own books)
“we wrote a book called the worm at the core on the role of death in life and it was our desire uh to uh present these ideas in a conversational manner”
“you know we had just written our book – the worm at the core and he's like you know you you you're missing a big opportunity every time you say something you have to have your phone”
“and then you got the epicureans and then you got the tibetan book of the dead and then you got like the medieval monks that you know worked with like a skull – on their desk”
“he's a novelist that i like about – he wrote a book called winesburg ohio”
“he wrote a book called winesburg ohio”
“and evidently sthoreau sold like 75 copies of walden”
“it's the great gatsby”