header image for Books Recommended By Yuval Noah Harari​
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By Leafmarks

Israeli historianauthor of the popular science bestsellers Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century.

bookcover for Our Inner Ape

Our Inner Ape

Frans de Waal 

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Paperback

$24.00

"Humans are animals. That’s the first thing to know about us. This book will change your views of all apes, including Homo sapiens."

bookcover for Weapons of Math Destruction

Weapons of Math Destruction

Cathy O'Neil 

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Paperback

$20.00

$18.60

"In this fascinating and deeply disturbing book O’Neil explains how authority is shifting from humans to Big Data algorithms, which decide whether to give you a loan, offer you a job, or even lock you in jail."

bookcover for Mama's Last Hug

Mama's Last Hug

Frans de Waal 

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Paperback

$16.95

$15.76

"Frans de Waal’s Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves transported me to a looking-glass animal world, which is at once very alien and embarrassingly familiar. There is plenty of comedy, tragedy, politics and ethics – but chimpanzee-style."

bookcover for The Three-Body Problem

The Three-Body Problem

Cixin Liu, 

Ken Liu 

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Paperback

$18.99

$17.66

"Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem starts with China’s Cultural Revolution and the Sino-American arms race, but quickly leaves such mundane affairs behind to explore what happens to the universe when you weaponize the laws of physics. If you think atom bombs are scary, wait till you read what a two-dimensional bomb does to our solar system."

bookcover for Guns, Germs, and Steel

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Jared Diamond PH D 

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Paperback

$19.95

$18.55

"A book of big questions, and big answers. It turned me from a historian of medieval warfare into a student of humankind."

bookcover for Chimpanzee Politics

Chimpanzee Politics

Frans de Waal 

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Paperback

$36.80

bookcover for On Tyranny

On Tyranny

Timothy Snyder 

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Paperback

$12.00

$11.16

bookcover for The Road to Unfreedom

The Road to Unfreedom

Timothy Snyder 

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Paperback

$20.00

$18.60

bookcover for Gangster Warlords

Gangster Warlords

Ioan Grillo 

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Hardback

Price Unavailable

"A gripping narrative of Latin America’s new crime wars. It challenges our basic concepts of politics, economics and even religion, recounting how criminality mutates into warfare, how drug cartels mutate into multinational corporations, and how gangsters mutate into politicians and even into religious prophets."

bookcover for Black Flags

Black Flags

Joby Warrick 

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Paperback

$19.00

$17.67

"I picked it up with a heavy heart, dreading it would be a sensationalist lightweight playing up to Western fears and biases. It turned out to be a deep, well-balanced and thought provoking account with a genuine feel for Middle Eastern realities."

bookcover for Congo

Congo

David Van Reybrouck 

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Paperback

$24.00

$22.32

"Humans have different pasts, and perhaps different futures too. Originally, we are all Africans. To understand the world of 21st century, Africa is perhaps still the best place to start. Whenever we talk about algorithms, climate change or globalization, a good question to bear in mind is “what does this mean for Congo?”."

bookcover for How to Change Your Mind

How to Change Your Mind

Michael Pollan 

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Paperback

$19.00

$17.67

"Michael Pollan’s How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics (Allen Lane) changed my mind, or at least some of the ideas held in my mind. Pollan takes a fresh look at the controversial history of psychedelic drugs, highlighting their positive potential without hiding their dangerous side. It is all too easy for a spiritual quest for truth to mutate into a consumerist pursuit of excitement. Whatever one may think of psychedelics, the book reminds us that the mind is the greatest mystery in the universe, that this mystery is always right here, and that we usually dedicate far too little time and energy to exploring it."

bookcover for Enlightenment Now

Enlightenment Now

Steven Pinker 

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Paperback

$19.00

$17.67

"In Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress (Penguin), Steven Pinker extols the amazing achievements of modernity, and demonstrates that humankind has never been so peaceful, healthy and prosperous. It is the most optimistic book I’ve read in a long time. There is, of course, much to disagree with and to argue about, but that’s what makes this book so interesting."

bookcover for The Master Switch

The Master Switch

Tim Wu 

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Paperback

$18.00

$16.74

bookcover for The Attention Merchants

The Attention Merchants

Tim Wu 

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Paperback

$20.00

$18.60

bookcover for Thinking, Fast and Slow

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Daniel Kahneman 

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Paperback

$22.00

$20.46

"Do you want to understand how humans think? Read this book. It is one of the best starting points for exploring the tangled web of the human mind."

bookcover for Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China

Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China

Evan Osnos 

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Paperback

$20.00

$18.60

"China is the new economic giant of the world. Officially China is still a communist country. But do communist ideals really explain the behavior of either the Chinese government or the ordinary Chinese citizen? Unlike many other books about contemporary China that focus on the economic story alone, Evan Osnos tries to uncover the soul of the new China. One of the most hilarious parts of the book tells how Osnos – an American – joins a Chinese group tour of classical Europe. Looking at Rome and Paris through the eyes of a Chinese tourist may be one of the best introductions to the new global order of the 21st century."

bookcover for Brave New World

Brave New World

Aldous Huxley 

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Paperback

$18.99

$17.66

"I think Brave New World is the best science fiction book ever, definitely the most prescient. Huxley was writing in the early 1930’s with Stalin and Hitler around, but what he was envisioning our present. He did not envisage a totalitarian regime with concentration camps and all that. He envisaged a consumerist society whose supreme value is happiness, and one that tries to achieve this by constant biological intervention and monitoring."