Person
Stewart Brand's book recommendations
Across 2 podcasts. Every show Stewart Brand appears on, in one place — not just one.
Stewart Brand’s most recommended books
- Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson
- The beginning of infinity by David Deutsch
- The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
- The Perfectionists by Simon Winchester
- Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Japanese homes and their surroundings by Edward Sylvester Morse
- Odysseus by Nikos Kazantzakis
- The Encyclopædia Britannica by Hugh Chisholm
Stewart Brand is an American project developer and writer, best known as the co-founder and editor of the Whole Earth Catalog. Other organizations he has founded include the WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation. He is the author of several books, most recently Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto and Maintenance: Of Everything. When asked by Ezra Klein for book recommendations on The Ezra Klein Show, Brand enthusiastically recommended David Deutsch's The Beginning of Infinity, praising it for its cosmic-level optimism and its core realization that problems always have infinite solutions, and Simon Winchester's The Perfectionists for its detailed exploration of precision engineering. Later, during an appearance on Conversations with Tyler, Brand recommended Neal Stephenson's Termination Shock as a brilliant exploration of geoengineering schemes and Kim Stanley Robinson's The Ministry for the Future for its realistic research into the severe survival threats posed by high global temperatures and wet-bulb events. Brand also discussed various historical and literary works during these interviews, mentioning the historical legacy of Encyclopædia Britannica, Nikos Kazantzakis's Odysseus: The Modern Sequel as an influential epic read, Robinson's novel Aurora to support his arguments regarding the biological and social impracticality of long-duration space travel, and Edward Sylvester Morse's Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings as his foundational introduction to Japanese architecture.
Books recommended by Stewart Brand
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Termination Shock
Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson is a near-future science fiction novel exploring the drastic consequences of rogue geoengineering and global climate change.
Recommended“yeah i mean uh the the the new steele newtons and neil stephenson um termination shock is brilliant in terms of um really playing out the geo engineering schemes that are out there”
Where to get it
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The beginning of infinity
The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch is a profound work of popular science and philosophy exploring human progress, knowledge creation, and cosmic optimism.
Recommended“What are three books you’d recommend to the audience? I recommend David Deutsch’s "The Beginning of Infinity" It’s basically optimism at a cosmic level, and it’s full of the realization that there are always problems and there are solutions, and that goes on infinitely.”
Where to get it
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The Ministry for the Future
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson is a gripping speculative science fiction novel that chronicles a near-future world grappling with the escalating and devastating consequences of climate change through the efforts of a newly established UN subsidiary.
Recommended“and likewise kim stanley robinson uh with the ministry for the future um again beautiful research on what overheating uh wet bulb high temperatures can mean for for human survival in places like india uh”
Where to get it
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The Perfectionists
The Perfectionists by Simon Winchester is a historical narrative that examines how precision engineering and the pursuit of exact measurements enabled the creation of the modern industrial world.
Recommended“I recommend a book by Simon Winchester called "The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World."”
Where to get it
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Aurora
Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson is a science fiction novel that follows a multi-generational colony ship traveling across space to settle a distant star system.
Discussed“but uh kim stanley robinson recently did a book called i think aurora where basically makes your point in my point that uh even if you get people out that far the wear and tear on the social fabric on the biology on everything you cannot isolate a very complex biological system like humans for that long”
Where to get it
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Japanese homes and their surroundings
Discussed“i first fell in love with japanese architecture through a book written by a japanese home in its surroundings 1896 by a new englander”
Where to get it
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Odysseus
Discussed“right, yes, orbit the greek, and odysseus the modern sequel and so on which i think i'm the only person who read”
Where to get it
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The Encyclopædia Britannica
Discussed“they came up with their own encyclopedia called the "Encyclopedia Britannica," which went from strength to strength for 100 years.”
Where to get it
Books by Stewart Brand
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How Buildings Learn
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Whole earth discipline
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The Clock of the Long Now
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Next Whole Earth Catalog
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II cybernetic frontiers
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Whole Earth Catag 86
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News that stayed news, 1974-1984
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The last Whole Earth catalog
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Whole Earth Epilog
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Whole earth software catalog
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The Media Lab
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Maintenance
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stewart Brand on LSD, A.I. Black Boxes and the Beauty of Care | The Ezra Klein Show | The Ezra Klein Show | 2026-04-24 | 3 |
| Stewart Brand on Starting Things and Staying Curious | Conversations with Tyler | 2022-01-26 | 5 |
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“well i wrote a whole book called how buildings learn um it's probably my best book and certainly most successful”