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Jonathan Haidt's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Jonathan Haidt recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Jonathan Haidt's favorite book recommendations of all time.

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From the bestselling social commentator and cultural historian comes Barbara Ehrenreich's fascinating exploration of one of humanity's oldest traditions: the celebration of communal joy

In the acclaimed Blood Rites, Barbara Ehrenreich delved into the origins of our species' attraction to war. Here, she explores the opposite impulse, one that has been so effectively suppressed that we lack even a term for it: the desire for collective joy, historically expressed in ecstatic revels of feasting, costuming, and dancing.

Ehrenreich uncovers the origins of...
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Recommended by Jonathan Haidt, and 1 others.

Jonathan HaidtThis is one of the most original and interesting books I’ve read in the last five years. Barbara Ehrenreich had written a book on war and got intrigued by the rituals and the group cohesion that results from war. So she wrote her next book on this human capacity and even need for group cohesion. What she found is that just about every society, at the time of Western contact, had some way of... (Source)

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Learn how to achieve the happiness you deserve

"A guide to sustaining your newfound contentment."--Psychology Today

You see here a different kind of happiness book. The How of Happiness is a comprehensive guide to understanding the elemetns of happiness based on years of groundbreaking scientific research. It is also a practical, empowering, and easy-to-follow workbook, incorporating happiness strategies, excercises in new ways of thinking, and quizzes for understanding our individuality, all in an effort to help us realize our innate potential for...
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Recommended by Jonathan Haidt, Paul Thagard, and 2 others.

Jonathan HaidtSonja Lyubomirsky has done the best studies on how simple interventions, simple things you can do, on a daily or weekly basis, have measurable effects on your happiness. (Source)

Paul ThagardWhat makes Sonja Lyubomirsky’s book different is that it’s actually based on scientific research on what makes people happy. (Source)

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Recommended by Jonathan Haidt, and 1 others.

Jonathan HaidtGilbert Brim is possibly the wisest person I’ve ever met face to face. I interviewed him for a report I did for the MacArthur Foundation in 1994. He was running a research network on midlife, on the psychology of people in their 40s, 50s and 60s, and he had written this wonderful book called Ambition – How We Manage Success and Failure Throughout our Lives. In it, he brought together research as... (Source)

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The Dhammapada

The Dhammapada (Pāli; Prakrit: धम्मपद Dhammapada; Sanskrit: धर्मपद Dharmapada) is a collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form and one of the most widely read and best known Buddhist scriptures. The original version of the Dhammapada is in the Khuddaka Nikaya, a division of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism.
The Buddhist scholar and commentator Buddhaghosa explains that each saying recorded in the collection was made on a different occasion in response to a unique situation that had arisen in the life of the Buddha and his monastic community. His commentary, the Dhammapada...
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Recommended by Jonathan Haidt, Dr. Gabor Maté, and 2 others.

Jonathan HaidtThe Dhammapada is one of the greatest psychological works ever written, and certainly one of the greatest before 1900. It is masterful in its understanding of the nature of consciousness, and in particular the way we are always striving and never satisfied. You can turn to it – and people have turned to it throughout the ages – at times of trouble, at times of disappointment, at times of loss,... (Source)

Dr. Gabor MatéThe Buddhist collection of sayings. And it begins with, basically, the idea that we create the world with our minds. (Source)

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5

Stumbling on Happiness

• Why are lovers quicker to forgive their partners for infidelity than for leaving dirty dishes in the sink? • Why will sighted people pay more to avoid going blind than blind people will pay to regain their sight? • Why do dining companions insist on ordering different meals instead of getting what they really want? • Why do pigeons seem to have such excellent aim; why can’t we remember one song while listening to another; and why does the line at the grocery store always slow down the moment we join it? In this brilliant, witty, and accessible book, renowned Harvard psychologist Daniel... more

Jonathan HaidtHe’s one of the funniest people, certainly in psychology – he’s just endlessly witty, and reading it is like strapping yourself into a roller coaster. (Source)

Maria PopovaDan Gilbert "Stumbling Unhappiness" should be required reading for every human being. (Source)

Lisa Feldman BarrettOne of the ideas in this book is that minds are predictive, not reactive. It feels to us like we just react to the things that are happening to us, but in fact our brains are constantly guessing what’s going to happen in the next moment. Dan’s book was one of the first books that really took on this idea of prediction – which is, I would say, one of the great innovations in the last decade or two... (Source)

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"The most important book at the borderland of psychology and politics that I have ever read."--Martin E. P. Seligman, Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology at that University of Pennsylvania and author of Learned Optimism

Why are we devastated by a word of criticism even when it's mixed with lavish praise? Because our brains are wired to focus on the bad. This negativity effect explains things great and small: why countries blunder into disastrous wars, why couples divorce, why people flub job interviews, how schools fail students, why football coaches stupidly...
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Recommended by Jonathan Haidt, and 1 others.

Jonathan Haidt@thomaschattwill I'm drawing here on an amazing book I read a draft of: The Power of Bad, by @JohnTierneyNYC and Roy Baumeister. Lots of advice for taking advantage of the bad things in your life. By amazing coincidence, this book comes out TODAY: https://t.co/vLMWrIRiVX (Source)

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You sit down at your desk to work on an important project, but a notification on your phone interrupts your morning. Later, as you're about to get back to work, a colleague taps you on the shoulder to chat. At home, screens get in the way of quality time with your family. Another day goes by, and once again, your most important personal and professional goals are put on hold.  

What would be possible if you followed through on your best intentions? What could you accomplish if you could stay focused and overcome distractions? What if you had the power to become...
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Cal NewportIndistractable is a master class in understanding the root cause of distraction. Recommended for anyone looking to do more deep work. (Source)

Arianna HuffingtonThis is such an important book. Indistractable is the best guide I’ve read for reclaiming our attention, our focus, and our lives. (Source)

Mark MansonIndistractable is the most practical and realistic approach to balancing technology with well-being. A must-read for anyone with a smartphone. (Source)

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