Person
Every book Steven Pinker recommended on podcasts
Steven Pinker's appearance on the Lex Fridman Podcast and The Rubin Report reflects his identity as a cognitive scientist, linguist, and public intellectual dedicated to the empirical defense of reason, science, and human progress. Pinker's intellectual framework is deeply informed by evolutionary biology, the philosophy of knowledge, and the historical decline of violence. Among the foundational texts that shaped his thinking, he has highlighted Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker as immensely influential for both their rigorous abstract concepts and their exceptional writing style. He has similarly praised Stephen Jay Gould's Ever Since Darwin as a masterclass in lively scientific communication. In linguistics and cognitive science, Pinker recalled Noam Chomsky's Reflections on Language as a vital early inspiration from his college years. His own scholarly work on societal progress and the amelioration of human suffering is tied to historical inspirations such as James Payne's self-published research on the historical decline of violence—which directly influenced Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature—and David Deutsch's The Beginning of Infinity. Furthermore, Pinker's personal and intellectual life intersects with philosophy and fiction, reflected in his discussions of his wife Rebecca Goldstein's novel 36 Arguments for the Existence of God alongside his own Enlightenment Now.
Books recommended by Steven Pinker
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The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is a landmark popular science book that presents a gene-centric view of evolution and introduced the concept of the meme.
Discussed“Richard Dawkins two books the blind watchmaker and The Selfish Gene or enormous Li influential partly for mainly for the content but also for the writing style”
Where to get it
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Enlightenment Now
Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker is a data-driven defense of reason, science, humanism, and human progress, arguing that global living standards have steadily improved.
Recommended“well I'd the short answer would be to read the sections that I wrote an Enlightenment”
Where to get it
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36 Arguments for the Existence of God
Discussed“when she talked about her novel 36 arguments for the existence of God a work of fiction which is kind of a great”
Where to get it
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Ever Since Darwin
Discussed“Stephen Jay Gould first collection ever since Darwin also excellent example of lively writing”
Where to get it
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Reflections on Language
Discussed“it was one of the things I would say the I read as a college student the book reflections on language by Noam Chomsky spent most of his career here at MIT”
Where to get it
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The beginning of infinity
The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch is a sweeping philosophical and scientific work that champions a deeply optimistic worldview, arguing that all problems are soluble given the right knowledge.
Discussed“certainly this book enlightenment now is influenced by David Deutsch as the beginning of infinity a rather deep reflection on knowledge and the power of knowledge to improve the human condition”
Where to get it
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The Blind Watchmaker
The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins is a seminal science book that presents a rigorous defense of evolutionary biology and explains how complex organisms arise through natural selection rather than conscious design.
Discussed“Richard Dawkins two books the blind watchmaker and The Selfish Gene or enormous Li influential partly for mainly for the content but also for the writing style”
Where to get it
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The History, Civil, Political and Military, of the Southern Rebellion
Discussed“I read a book called the history of force self-published by a political scientist named James Payne on the historical decline of violence and that was one of the inspirations for the better angels of our nature”
Where to get it
Books Steven Pinker wrote
- The Better Angels of Our Nature
- The Blank Slate
- The Sense of Style
- Enlightenment Now
- How the Mind Works
- The Language Instinct
- The Stuff of Thought
- Rationality
- When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows...
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steven Pinker: AI in the Age of Reason | Lex Fridman Podcast | 2018-10-17 | 7 |
| The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress | Steven Pinker | ACADEMIA | Rubin Report | The Rubin Report | 2018-03-23 | 1 |
| #1073 - Steven Pinker | The Joe Rogan Experience | 2018-02-04 | 1 |
Other mentions (9: passing, ad reads, own books)
“I read a book called the history of force self-published by a political scientist named James Payne on the historical decline of violence and that was one of the inspirations for the better angels of our nature”
“and then it is was a topic of my book the blank slate in the modern denial of human nature”
“and then it is was a topic of my book the blank slate in the modern denial of human nature”
“so the the blank slate the modern denial of human nature just was released in 2016 with an afterword was about the idea that that there is no such thing as human nature that we are blank slates written on by our parents by by the culture by education”
“and of course that was what led to my more recent book the better angels of our nature”
“and of course that was what led to my more recent book the better angels of our nature”
“absolutely so I second to last book the one just before my current book enlightenment now but the previous book was called the sense of style it was a writing manual where I began to began”
“absolutely so I second to last book the one just before my current book enlightenment now”
“he wrote the foreword to the french translation of the better angels of our nature”