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Stephen Dubner books: every book Stephen Dubner wrote and recommended
Across 5 podcasts. Every show Stephen Dubner appears on, in one place — not just one.
Stephen Dubner’s book club picks
Stephen Dubner has picked 6 books for the book club on Freakonomics Radio. The latest is Vienna by Richard Cockett, first picked in May 2024. Every pick, newest first:
Books by Stephen Dubner
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Freakonomics
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Superfreakonomics
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Think Like a Freak
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Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper
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When to Rob a Bank
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The Boy with Two Belly Buttons
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Turbulent Souls
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Choosing My Religion
Stephen Dubner’s most recommended books
- Grit by Angela Duckworth
- Nudge by Richard H. Thaler
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- Triumph of the City by Edward L. Glaeser
- Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu
- MOBY-DICK; or, THE WHALE by Herman Melville
- Peak by Anders Ericsson
- The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
- Influence by Robert B. Cialdini
- Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam
Stephen Joseph Dubner is an American author, journalist, and podcast and radio host. He is co-author of the popular Freakonomics book series: Freakonomics, SuperFreakonomics, Think Like a Freak and When to Rob a Bank. He is the host of Freakonomics Radio. Throughout his podcast episodes, Dubner frequently highlights and discusses various memoirs, biographies, and non-fiction works. He introduced Gary Gulman's memoir Misfit during an opening segment, and he mentioned Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski's Soccernomics as the basis for a podcast segment. Dubner thanked James Gleick for writing his biography of Richard Feynman titled Genius, and he recommended Charles Piller's book Doctored when discussing research progress on Alzheimer's disease. While exploring the history of commodity trader Mark Rich, Dubner recommended Daniel Ammann's biography The King of Oil. He also referenced Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow during a discussion on emotional decision making, and he plugged Dan Wang's book Breakneck during closing remarks on multiple occasions. Through these selections, Dubner connected literature to broader economic, historical, and behavioral themes.
Books recommended by Stephen Dubner
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Freakonomics
Freakonomics by Steven D.
Discussed“Plainly free economics means many things to different people.”
Where to get it
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Grit
Grit by Angela Duckworth explores the psychological importance of passion, perseverance, and delayed gratification in achieving long-term success.
Discussed“The other big thing I learned, this was something big I learned from a psychologist from Angela Duckworth who wrote the book Grit and I did a podcast with Angela for a few years.”
Where to get it
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Nudge
Nudge by Richard H.
Discussed“And you co-wrote a book years ago, a beloved book really, called Nudge. Correct. For anyone who's had the ill fortune to have not read Nudge, how would you describe it?”
Where to get it
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Thinking, Fast and Slow
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman is a seminal exploration of behavioral psychology that examines the two systems of the human mind—intuitive thinking and deliberate reasoning—and how cognitive biases drive systematic errors in judgment.
Discussed“One reason why emotional arousal is so effective is that it overwhelms our slow, deliberate, analytical cognitive processing that we sometimes call type two or system two. And it causes us to process things through system one, which is quick, intuitive, where we often rely on these heuristic shortcuts.”
Where to get it
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Think Like a Freak
Think Like a Freak by Steven D.
Discussed“You know, it reminds me a little bit of the argument that we made in the first Freakonomics book about names. So there's a lot of literature, including some done by Steve Levitt and Roland Fryer, about how influential a person's first name is on their life.”
Where to get it
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Triumph of the City
Triumph of the City by Edward L.
Discussed“Glazer is the author of a book called Triumph of the city how our greatest invention makes us richer smarter Greener healthier and happier”
Where to get it
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Why Nations Fail
Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James A.
Discussed“When I first heard that you won the prize and I read your work about the importance of what you call culture in economic progress, I immediately compared it in my mind to the work of Deron Osamoglu and Jim Robinson who argue that institutions are the main driver of progress.”
Where to get it
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MOBY-DICK; or, THE WHALE
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville is an epic American novel that chronicles the obsessive, self-destructive quest of Captain Ahab to hunt down the giant white whale that maimed him.
Discussed“Have you read Moby Dick? No. I'm not a reader.”
Where to get it
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Peak
Peak by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool is a comprehensive study of expertise and deliberate practice that explores how individuals achieve peak performance through specialized training rather than innate talent alone.
Discussed“But the real guru of deliberate practice is Anders Ericsson, author of the book Peak. And I'm a professor of psychology at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.”
Where to get it
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The Wealth of Nations
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith is a foundational 1776 text by the Scottish thinker often regarded as the father of modern economics, exploring free markets, capitalism, and the mechanics of national wealth.
Discussed“At the end of March, the composer David Lang debuted a modern piece of music set to a 250-year-old book, Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations.”
Where to get it
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Influence
Influence by Robert B.
Discussed“and it's so interesting if you've read his book which I know you have and I know I have and I'm guessing many other people have it's called influence he's written few”
Where to get it
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Bowling Alone
Bowling Alone by Robert D.
Discussed“and I think Robert Putnam the sociologist who well before the pandemic worried about this as a trend in the United States most famous book bowling alone”
Where to get it
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Inside of a Dog
Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know by Alexandra Horowitz is an illuminating cognitive science book that explores the sensory world and mental processes of domestic dogs, written by the head of the dog cognition lab at Barnard College.
Discussed“So, here's the story the way I remember it. Maybe a year and a half ago, we had you on Freakonomics Radio in an episode of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club, and we talked about your first book, Inside of a Dog, which I had read years ago and loved, and then reread it and loved it even more.”
Where to get it
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Outliers
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell is an examination of the external factors, cultural legacies, and massive amounts of practice that contribute to extraordinary success.
Discussed“You may have heard of the 10,000-hour rule, the idea that you need to practice for 10,000 hours to become great at something.”
Where to get it
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The Food Lab
The Food Lab by J.
Discussed“He had just published his first cookbook, a massive thing, called The Food Lab, which went on to win a James Beard Award.”
Where to get it
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The Biggest Bluff
The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konnikova is a captivating memoir detailing the author's immersive journey from complete novice to professional poker player while exploring the intersections of human psychology, attention, and control.
Discussed“it's not exaggerated for the book that is Maria kekova her new book is called the biggest Bluff how I learned to pay attention master myself and Win It Chronicles her journey from poker novice to Poker professional”
Where to get it
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Doughnut Economics
Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth is a conceptual framework for human prosperity that balances the needs of people with the boundaries of the planet.
Discussed“and then there are people like I think of Kate rayworth who's I believe a British Economist who wrote a book called donut economics”
Where to get it
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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“after she had passed away the some of the passages might be interpreted as reducing the religious context while he was able to make meaningful revisions to theory of moral sentiments and Wealth of Nations during his time at panmure”
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Adam Smith’s America
Adam Smith’s America by Glory M.
Discussed“When we published a Freakonomics Radio series on Adam Smith a few years ago, we interviewed Glory Liu, a political scientist at Georgetown and author of a book called Adam Smith's America: How a Scottish philosopher became an icon of American capitalism.”
Where to get it
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Amusing Ourselves to Death
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman is a media critique arguing that the shift from a print-based culture to a television-dominated society has degraded public discourse by reducing serious political and intellectual ideas into mere entertainment.
Discussed“If you want to be depressed about our ability to succumb to that, I think of a book from maybe 30 years ago by Neil Postman called Amusing Ourselves to Death, which wasn't about binge watching because it didn't exist”
Where to get it
- Superfreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt
- The Truth About Immigration by Zeke Hernandez
- Going Infinite by Michael Lewis
- Modernist cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold
- Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella
- Soccernomics by Simon Kuper
- Moneyball by Michael Lewis
- The Index Card by Helaine Olen
- The Wizard and the Prophet by Charles C. Mann
- Unfinished business by Anne-Marie Slaughter
- Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
- A tree grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
- Bible by Bible
- Competitive Strategy by Michael E. Porter
- Expert Political Judgment by Philip E. Tetlock
- On Competition by Michael E. Porter
- The Case against Education by Bryan Caplan
- The Population Bomb by Paul R. Ehrlich
- The Protestant ethic and the "spirit" of capitalism and other writings by Max Weber
- The Secret of Our Success by Joseph Henrich
- The war on normal people by Andrew Yang
- The WEIRDest People in the World by Joseph Henrich
- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
- Plunder by Brendan Ballou
- Compassionomics by Stephen Trzeciak
- How to Win Games and Beat People by Tom Whipple
- Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg
- The Rise and Fall of American Growth by Robert J. Gordon
- The Licensing Racket by Rebecca Haw Allensworth
- Age of Revolutions by Fareed Zakaria
Stephen Dubner’s latest episodes with books
Stephen Dubner’s book recommendations by year
All 439 books Stephen Dubner recommended or discussed across 425 episodes, filed by the year each episode came out. Each year goes episode by episode, with the minute every book came up.