Person

Steve Levitt’s book recommendations in 2023

76 books · 46 episodes · Steve Levitt’s most recommended books, all years →

Every episode from 2023, newest first

570. Is Gynecology the Best Innovation Ever?

Freakonomics Radio · 2023-12-28

Eve by Cat Bohannon · recommended · at 2:05
Directory of Officers, Faculty, Students, Departments by University of Pennsylvania · recommended · at 43:20

121. Exploring Physics, from Eggshells to Oceans | People I (Mostly) Admire

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-12-28

Storm in a Teacup by Helen Czerski · discussed · at 2:39
Blue Machine by Helen Czerski · discussed · at 28:11

120. Werner Herzog Thinks His Films Are a Distraction

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-12-09

Every Man for Himself and God Against All by Werner Herzog · discussed · at 0:43
Twilight World by Werner Herzog · discussed · at 20:35
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt · discussed · at 29:42

119. Higher Education Is Broken. Can It Be Fixed?

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-11-25

The Abundant University by Michael D. Smith · discussed · at 0:01

118. “My God, This Is a Transformative Power”

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-11-11

Worlds I See by Fei-Fei Li · discussed · at 2:06

117. Nate Silver Says We're Bad at Making Predictions

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-10-28

The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver · discussed · at 8:58

116. Abraham Verghese Thinks Medicine Can Do Better

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-10-14

The Covenant of Water (Oprah's Book Club) by Abraham Verghese · recommended · at 43:11
My Own Country by Abraham Verghese · recommended · at 43:23

EXTRA: Nobel Laureate Claudia Goldin on "Greedy Work" and the Wage Gap

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-10-09

Career and Family by Claudia Dale Goldin · discussed · at 1:55

114. Is Perfectionism Ruining Your Life?

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-09-16

The Perfection Trap by Thomas Curran · discussed · at 1:14

Avi Loeb: Do We Have Evidence of Alien Life? | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 113

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-09-05

Extraterrestrial by Avi Loeb · discussed · at 21:02
Interstellar by Avi Loeb · discussed · at 21:02

Wendy MacNaughton: Drawing From Life (and Death) | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 110

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-08-11

How to Say Goodbye by Wendy MacNaughton · discussed · at 0:19
Think Like a Freak by Steven D. Levitt · discussed · at 22:47

Peter Singer Isn’t a Saint, But He’s Better Than Steve Levitt | People I (Mostly) Admire | Ep 90

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-07-21

Animal Liberation by Peter Singer · discussed · at 1:32
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith · discussed · at 8:16

109. David Simon Is On Strike. Here’s Why.

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-07-08

Homicide by David Simon · discussed · at 1:53

107. Bringing Data to Life

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-06-10

Power in Numbers by Talithia Williams · discussed · at 45:00

FULL VIDEO | Kevin Kelly: Will A.I. Make Us Smarter? | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 106

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-06-07

Excellent Advice for Living by Kevin Kelly · discussed · at 37:57

104. The Joy of Math With Sarah Hart

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-04-29

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll · discussed · at 25:01
Once upon a Prime by Sarah Hart · discussed · at 41:55

Steven Pinker: “I Manage My Controversy Portfolio Carefully” | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 1

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-04-21

Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker · discussed · at 2:21
The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker · discussed · at 16:51

Rick Rubin on How to Make Something Great | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 103

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-04-18

The Creative Act by Rick Rubin · recommended · at 1:01

John Green's Reluctant Rocket Ship Ride | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 92

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-04-06

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green · discussed · at 0:46
Looking for Alaska by John Green · discussed · at 3:34
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt · discussed · at 7:54
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green · discussed · at 8:23
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green · discussed · at 14:24

Peter Attia: Adding 10 Healthy Years to Your Life | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 102

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-04-03

Outlive by Peter Attia · recommended · at 0:19
Outlive the Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia · discussed · at 1:47

101. Celebrating 100 People I (Mostly) Admire

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-03-18

The Discoverie of Witchcraft by Reginald Scott · discussed · at 12:52
Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker · discussed · at 21:22
Outlive by Peter Attia · recommended · at 48:20

Andrew Yang Is Not Giving Up on Politics — or the U.S. — Yet | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 54

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-02-16

Forward by Andrew Yang · discussed · at 2:55

98. Searching for Our Aquatic Ancestors

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-02-04

Your inner fish by Neil Shubin · discussed · at 25:48

Sendhil Mullainathan Explains How to Generate an Idea a Minute | People I (Mostly) Admire | Ep 38

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-23

Scarcity by Sendhil Mullainathan · discussed · at 0:44

97. How Smart Is a Forest?

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-21

Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard · recommended · at 49:42

Harold Pollack on Why Managing Your Money Is as Easy as Taking Out the Garbage | Episode 40

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-21

The Index Card by Helaine Olen · discussed · at 6:41

Sendhil Mullainathan Thinks Messing Around Is the Best Use of Your Time | Episode 37

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-21

Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust · discussed · at 7:54
Scarcity by Sendhil Mullainathan · discussed · at 9:38
The evolution of cooperation by Robert M. Axelrod · recommended · at 26:52
The strategy of conflict by Thomas C. Schelling · recommended · at 27:30
Nudge by Richard H. Thaler · recommended · at 28:02
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking · discussed · at 31:34

Was Austan Goolsbee’s First Visit to the Oval Office Almost His Last?| People I (Mostly) Admire | 61

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-21

The Difference by Scott E. Page · recommended · at 47:48

What Makes John Doerr Think He Can Save the Planet? | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 57

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-18

Measure what matters by John Doerr · discussed · at 0:20
Speed and Scale by John Doerr · discussed · at 1:06

Annie Duke Thinks You Should Quit | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 93

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-18

Quit by Annie Duke · discussed · at 0:31
Grit by Angela Duckworth · discussed · at 6:50
GRIT The Power of PASSION and PERSEVERANCE by Angela Duckworth · discussed · at 6:50
The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth · discussed · at 6:50

How Rahm Emanuel Would Run the World | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 36

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-18

The Nation City by Rahm Emanuel · discussed · at 2:37

The Price of Doing Business With John List | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 94

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-18

The Voltage Effect by John A. List · discussed · at 23:11

Steven Strogatz Thinks You Don't Know What Math Is | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 96

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-13

Infinite Powers by Steven H. Strogatz · discussed · at 1:15
The Joy of X by Steven Henry Strogatz · discussed · at 40:46

Sam Harris: “Spirituality Is a Loaded Term.” | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 25

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-11

The End of Faith by Sam Harris · discussed · at 0:03
Waking Up by Sam Harris · recommended · at 1:02

Daniel Kahneman on Why Our Judgment is Flawed — and What to Do About It | Episode 27

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-11

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman · discussed · at 0:54
Noise by Daniel Kahneman · discussed · at 3:41
The undoing project by Michael Lewis · discussed · at 26:06

Dambisa Moyo Says Foreign Aid Can’t Solve Problems, but Maybe Corporations Can | Episode 30

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-11

Dead aid by Dambisa Moyo · discussed · at 1:04
How Boards Work by Dambisa Moyo · discussed · at 22:21

Yuval Noah Harari Thinks Life Is Meaningless and Amazing | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 84

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-09

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari · discussed · at 0:04
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond · discussed · at 1:51

Cassandra Quave Thinks the Way Antibiotics Are Developed Might Kill Us | People I (Mostly) Admire 60

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-09

Plant Hunter by Cassandra Leah Quave · recommended · at 1:02

How Larry Miller Went from Prison Valedictorian to Nike Executive | People I (Mostly) Admire | Ep 64

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-09

Jump by Larry Miller, Laila Lacy · discussed · at 16:33

Max Tegmark on Why Superhuman Artificial Intelligence Won’t be Our Slave | Episode 52

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-09

Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark · recommended · at 28:22

Max Tegmark on Why Treating Humanity Like a Child Will Save Us All | People I (Mostly) Admire | 51

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-09

Our Mathematical Universe by Max Tegmark · recommended · at 44:07

Peter Singer Isn’t a Saint, But He’s Better Than Steve Levitt | People I (Mostly) Admire | Ep 90

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-06

Animal Liberation by Peter Singer · discussed · at 0:41
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith · discussed · at 7:22
The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith · discussed · at 8:27

Solar Geoengineering Would Be Radical. It Might Also Be Necessary. | People I (Mostly) Admire | 79

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-06

Superfreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt · discussed · at 1:19
An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore · discussed · at 7:29

Jane Goodall Changed the Way We See Animals. She’s Not Done | People I (Mostly) Admire | Episode 91

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-06

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery · discussed · at 18:06
The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall, Douglas Abrams · discussed · at 32:19

Robert Axelrod: Why Being Nice, Forgiving, and Provokable are the Best Strategies for Life | Ep 47

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-04

The evolution of cooperation by Robert M. Axelrod · discussed · at 0:05
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins · discussed · at 29:43

Jared Diamond on the Downfall of Civilizations — and His Optimism for Ours | Episode 55

People I (Mostly) Admire · 2023-01-04

Collapse by Jared M. Diamond · discussed · at 10:47

Other mentions in 2023 (57: passing, ad reads, own books)