Great Books on Human Nature

I've been keeping a Great Books List for over five years now. It's based on the last 12 years of reading — over 500 nonfiction books recommended by thought leaders and exceptional individuals I admire. I've read all of them and compiled the best into categories.

This is the Human Nature, Behavior & Psychology category — the books that answer the question that got me into reading in the first place: why do people do the things they do?

1. The Denial of Death

Ernest Becker · Pulitzer Prize 1974

We all know we're going to die someday — a predicament unique to the human animal. But what kind of psychological implications does that terrible knowledge have?

This book had a profound impact on me. It was quite early in my reading journey and it got me to read Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and a lot of other thinkers that shaped my development. It's not the easiest read, but it's a great book that will add tons of new titles to your reading list.

📖 Read if you want to trigger an existential crisis, love the big questions, and aren't afraid of adding books to your list.

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2. Determined

Robert M. Sapolsky · Named Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post & WSJ

This book is the conclusion of Sapolsky's life work in biology, and it comes to the natural conclusion that free will is just an illusion. He breaks down why it can't possibly be that we humans have any kind of free will.

It's a challenging read — but you should read challenging books because it's like going to the gym for the brain. I love books that combine a lifetime of experiments and research, and we get all the conclusions for 20 bucks.

📖 Read if you're interested in human behavior and don't shy away from books that challenge everything you think you know.

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3. Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl

One of the big classics. It's a thin book and everyone should read it at least once. Frankl was a Holocaust survivor and psychologist, and in this book he describes life in the concentration camps.

It's often at the extremes — the extreme of human suffering and extreme evil — that we can most clearly see what's important in life. The lessons from this book have had an impact on millions of people. If there is one book on this list you should read, even if you're not an experienced reader, pick this one up.

📖 Read if you want a short, gripping book that will change your life — and show you how to stay human in an inhuman situation.

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4. Flow

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

The more time you spend in flow — that state of enough challenge to not be bored, where time ceases to exist, where you feel light and creative — the more fulfilling your life will be. This is the psychology of optimal experience.

Learning how you can get more flow states out of your everyday life — at work, with your family, in your spare time — the better life you will have.

📖 Read if you feel stuck and frustrated in everyday life, want to increase your baseline happiness, or are curious about the ingredients for a good life.

📚 Get on Amazon

5. The Laws of Human Nature

Robert Greene

This is my number one pick if you want to learn about why people act like they do — both the good stuff and the bad stuff. Greene is a master of dark psychology and has written The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, and Mastery.

This book is his magnum opus. Even if you're a new reader and it's thick, it's one of the most accessible ways to look into human psychology. It will also put a lot of new books on your reading list, because he cites so many sources.

📖 Read if you want to know why people act the way they do — and want a library of further reading recommendations.

📚 Get on Amazon

6. Thinking, Fast and Slow

Daniel Kahneman · Nobel Prize in Economics

A landmark book and a great one for anyone who thinks they are a rational person — it will show you that you're probably not. You'll learn about heuristics and cognitive biases in a way that sticks.

Not the easiest book to read, but probably one where you get more value than from reading 10 other books combined.

📖 Read if you think you're rational (spoiler: you're not) and want to understand the shortcuts your brain takes every day.

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7. The True Believer

Eric Hoffer

Thoughts on the nature of mass movements. Eric Hoffer explores the temptation to submission in authoritarian regimes — a landmark book. If you want to understand why people want to escape from freedom and are pulled towards authoritarian systems, this is the one.

It's one of those books I finished and then started reading again immediately. That good.

📖 Read if you want to find out what makes humans tick — even when they tick in a perverse fashion.

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8. The Righteous Mind

Jonathan Haidt

Why good people are divided by politics and religion. The Righteous Mind brings challenging topics to the table about morality, politics, and religion — and shines a light on the miracle that humans are able to cooperate at all, and why we often fail.

If you have a book club, this is the one to read — it will spawn amazing discussion. Most of these books are available as audiobooks too, which is how I manage to plow through so many with small children and a daytime job.

📖 Read if you want to know why politics divides us, want to explore the moral landscape, or are curious about the evolutionary advantage of religion.

📚 Get on Amazon

These are books that made my life more enjoyable, that piqued my interest, that transformed my way of thinking. I hope you found something here you want to pick up and read.

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