# EconTalk book recommendations

> Every book mentioned on EconTalk, most mentioned first, with the strongest quote for each. Compiled by Podshelf from episode transcripts.

- Show page: https://podshelf.io/podcasts/econtalk
- Hosted by Russ Roberts
- 385 books, 505 mentions and 22 top picks across 250 episodes since 2022-01-03

## Books

- [The Theory of Moral Sentiments](https://podshelf.io/books/9780143105923) by Adam Smith: 14 mentions, 1 top pick
  > “By the time I got done reading Smith, the entire book was essentially highlighted. And I had to buy another copy so I could read it... reading this book really starting to read him 10 years ago or so, had a very positive effect on my own approach to life more generally.” — Adam Smith's Warning About Wealth, Fame, and Status (with Ross Levine) (2026-04-20)
- [Wild Problems: A Guide to the Decisions That Define Us](https://podshelf.io/books/9780593418253) by Russ Roberts: 8 mentions, the host's own book
  > “I have, when I moved here three years ago, and I may have told this story before, I apologize to listeners, but in my book, Wild Problems, I write about the decision I made to come here.” — Terrorism, Israel, and Dreams of Peace (with Haviv Rettig Gur) (2024-11-18)
- [The Iliad](https://podshelf.io/books/9780140275360) by Homer: 7 mentions, 2 top picks
  > “if you're reading the book now and you're in the middle of it and say chapter 14 or chapter 16 or chapter 8, the last – keep going. The last six chapters are – seven chapters are – it's as moving as anything you'll ever read. It's extraordinary. And it's only – as you alluded to earlier, Dwayne, that On the Surfaces is a dark, bleak book about death and violence. But that's not what it's really about. It's about pride. And it's about ego. And it's about destiny.” — Dwayne Betts on the Iliad (2026-07-20)
- [The Wealth of Nations](https://podshelf.io/books/9780679783367) by Adam Smith: 7 mentions
  > “So just a footnote, it's Adam Smith is not comparative advantage. That's his successor, David Ricardo, which is important compared to advantage. But in this case, it's really Adam Smith's insight that's more important, which is that the divisional labor is limited by the extent of the market. So if you're producing a small amount of something, you just can't use very effective techniques to do it. And if you can't ship it and sell it outside your hometown, you're basically you're in the Middle Ages, as I like to say, when buy local was the rule of the day and it was really poor.” — The Hidden Cause of the Industrial Revolution (with Ben Southwood) (2026-08-17)
- [The Odyssey](https://podshelf.io/books/9780140268867) by Homer: 6 mentions
  > “And yet, I think when our students deal with, say, the Iliad or the Odyssey or Plato or Aristotle, they don't read them in the original languages. They usually read them in translation, but they learn some, actually, some of the Greek. I think they get good at understanding things and they get good at reading and they get good at raising questions, interpreting text, and those are useful skills and they do transfer to other things.” — Meritocracy, Exams, and the Knowledge That Matters (with Daisy Christodoulou) (2026-09-07)
- [Life and Fate](https://podshelf.io/books/9781590172018) by Vasily Grossman: 5 mentions, 1 top pick
  > “I want to remind listeners, by the way, that we're going to be reading Life and Fate Together by Vasily Grossman... it's a 872-page book. And there's not a lot of happiness in it, but it's bittersweet. It's an amazing book. Really a masterpiece.” — Susan Cain on Bittersweet and the Happiness of Melancholy (2024-10-28)
- [War and Peace](https://podshelf.io/books/9780140955408) by Leo Tolstoy: 4 mentions
  > “And of course, there's an extraordinary literature from war. Everything from War and Peace, Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, many novels by Mark Halperin. These are fictional attempts to understand the human condition using the laboratory, the crucible of war, as a way to see human beings under the most intense conditions.” — EconTalk Book Club on the Iliad (with Ido Hevroni) (2026-07-06)
- [Mathematica: A Secret World of Intuition and Curiosity](https://podshelf.io/books/9780300270884) by David Bessis: 4 mentions
  > “Much of this book is consonant with the recent episode with David Bessis on his book, Mathematica.” — Primal Intelligence (with Angus Fletcher) (2025-11-03)
- [Range](https://podshelf.io/books/9780735214484) by David Epstein: 4 mentions
  > “Yeah I think I first read it in David Epstein's book where he talks about NASA which by the way is another government agency that very much prioritized skill particular skills of astrophysics and mathematics wisely to keep people alive but fails from time to time as we know. And David writes I think it's where I saw it on the wall it says in God we trust everyone else bring data.” — Meritocracy, Exams, and the Knowledge That Matters (with Daisy Christodoulou) (2026-09-07)
- [Curious](https://podshelf.io/books/9781467686242) by Ian Leslie: 4 mentions
  > “my guest is author Ian Leslie. This is his third appearance on EconTalk. He was last here in May 2022 talking about his book Curious.” — Ian Leslie on Being Human in the Age of AI (2023-01-09)
- [Pumpkin Flowers](https://podshelf.io/books/9781699095966) by Matti Friedman: 3 mentions, 1 top pick
  > “I'll just put in a plug for your book, Pumpkin Flowers, which is about your personal experience in the Lebanese war, which is one of the best books on war I've ever read.” — The Challenge of Covering the Most Important Story on Earth (with Matti Friedman) (2024-01-08)
- [Superintelligence](https://podshelf.io/books/9780198739838) by Nick Bostrom: 3 mentions
  > “He was first here in December of 2014 talking about his book, Superintelligence, about the dangers of artificial intelligence of AI. And he was way early in worrying about that.” — Purpose, Pleasure, and Meaning in a World Without Work (with Nicholas Bostrom) (2024-05-20)
- [Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking](https://podshelf.io/books/9780307352156) by Susan Cain: 3 mentions
  > “Our topic for today is her 2012 book, Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking.” — The Power of Introverts (with Susan Cain) (2026-03-02)
- [Thinking, Fast and Slow](https://podshelf.io/books/9780374275631) by Daniel Kahneman: 3 mentions
  > “what Kahneman wrote about it and I salute his honesty... he said my position when I wrote Thinking Fast and Slow was that if a large body of evidence published in reputable journals supports an initially implausible conclusion” — Adam Mastroianni on Peer Review and the Academic Kitchen (2023-02-13)
- [Make to Know](https://podshelf.io/books/9780500776957) by Lauren Buckman: 3 mentions
  > “Today is December 19, 2021 and my guest is author and educator, Lorne Buchman. He is the president of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and the author of Make to Know from Spaces of Uncertainty to Creative Discovery.” — Lorne Buchman on Creativity, Leadership, and Art (2022-01-03)
- [The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self](https://podshelf.io/books/9780593138762) by Michael Easter: 3 mentions
  > “It reminds me of Michael Easter. He's got this idea. It's a Japanese word of misogi... that taking those on makes life both vivid and meaningful.” — Thinking Inside the Box (with David Epstein) (2026-05-11)
- [Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance](https://podshelf.io/books/9781501111105) by Angela Duckworth: 3 mentions
  > “I have since writing that book, of course, which I did before I wrote the book, that grit's not the only thing that should be encouraged or taught or developed.” — Angela Duckworth on Character (2022-03-07)
- [A Time to Build](https://podshelf.io/books/9781541604414) by Yuval Levin: 3 mentions
  > “Quote, a healthy community is not a fountain, but a forge. What do you mean by that? Institutions today seem to act more like platforms more than molds. This is Yuval Levin's idea. And communities are and institutions are meant to form us, right? They're meant to be a forge and not just something that we take from.” — The Self, the Crowd, and Social Contagion (with Luke Burgis) (2026-06-08)
- [How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness](https://podshelf.io/books/9781591847953) by Russ Roberts: 3 mentions, the host's own book
  > “And one decision I just made was, um, Adam Smith can save your life. I put that in the freedom library and I've heard you talk about it as a self-help book. I think it's, I think it's a sophisticated self-help book, but I would agree that it's a book that's giving you real practical ways for how to live.” — Dwayne Betts on the Iliad (2026-07-20)
- [Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain](https://podshelf.io/books/9780874774245) by Betty Edwards: 2 mentions, 1 top pick
  > “he told me to get drawn on the right side of the brain. And I recommend it to listeners. It changes the way you see the world. It does teach you how to draw. It's a beautiful book.” — How Do You Capture the Tragedy of War? (with Sabin Howard) (2024-08-12)
- [If A Place Can Make You Cry: Dispatches from an Anxious State](https://podshelf.io/books/9781400049547) by Daniel Gordis: 2 mentions, 1 top pick
  > “You published a remarkable book, a very powerful book titled If A Place Can Make You Cry, Dispatches from an Anxious State. I strongly recommend it.” — From the Second Intifada to October 7th (with Daniel Gordis) (2024-01-01)
- [Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging](https://podshelf.io/books/9780008168186) by Sebastian Junger: 2 mentions
  > “He was last here in June of 2021, talking about his book Freedom. Before that, in 2018, we talked about his book Tribe. I loved both those books. Our topic for today and his latest book is In My Time of Dying, How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife. And I want to say before we start that I like this book even more than the other two, which is saying something.” — Facing Death (with Sebastian Junger) (2026-05-25)
- [The Innovator's Dilemma](https://podshelf.io/books/9780062060242) by Clayton Christensen: 2 mentions
  > “And it's, I think an incredibly deep insight for business. It relates to Clayton Christensen and the innovator's dilemma, which you've talked about recently on the program. It relates to development, development economics. It's the quote from Henry Ford, which is, you know, people didn't know they wanted cars.” — Can a Phone Be a Cow? (with Philip Auerswald) (2026-06-22)
- [The Sweet Spot](https://podshelf.io/books/9780062910578) by Paul Bloom: 2 mentions
  > “I wrote a book called Sweet Spot, which was all about that theme. But I also, and I think you do too, say the pleasure also matters.” — Seeking Immortality (with Paul Bloom) (2024-04-22)
- [Psych: The Story of the Human Mind](https://podshelf.io/books/9780063096370) by Paul Bloom: 2 mentions
  > “Our topic for today is his latest book, Psych... This book is a review of all of psychology... meant to be the sort of thing people could pick up” — Paul Bloom on Psych, Psychology, and the Human Mind (2023-02-27)
- [Impossible Takes Longer](https://podshelf.io/books/9780063239456) by Daniel Gordis: 2 mentions
  > “His latest book and the subject of today's conversation is Impossible Takes Longer. 75 Years After Its Creation Has Israel Fulfilled Its Founder's Dreams.” — Daniel Gordis on Israel and Impossible Takes Longer (2023-04-10)
- [Uncle Tom's Cabin](https://podshelf.io/books/9780140390032) by Harriet Beecher Stowe: 2 mentions
  > “Thomas Paine gets a lot of credit for influencing the American Revolution. We could think of many, many books, Uncle Tom's Cabin, that electrified the public and led to important movements, although it's hard to know whether those claims are true. But it's certainly... There's a plausibility to it.” — The Death of Reading (with James Marriott) (2026-09-21)
- [The Master and Margarita](https://podshelf.io/books/9780143108276) by Mikhail Bulgakov: 2 mentions
  > “Mick Jagger was pooh-poohing the existence of God and making fun of belief and faith and suddenly this suave gentleman shows up and we come to realize they think he's crazy at first but we come to realize it's Satan it's the devil and he knows some things they don't know and they have a come up and it's a brilliant opening of the book but that's the opening of Sympathy for the Devil.” — The Death of Reading (with James Marriott) (2026-09-21)
- [Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious](https://podshelf.io/books/9780143113768) by Gerd Gigerenzer: 2 mentions
  > “Gerd was last here in December of 2019 talking about his book, Gut Feelings.” — Gerd Gigerenzer on How to Stay Smart in a Smart World (2022-08-01)
- [After Babel](https://podshelf.io/books/9780195020489) by George Steiner: 2 mentions
  > “George Steiner, the essayist and author from the last half of the 19th of the 20th century. Fascinating writer is a book called After Babel, which talks about translation.” — Patrick House on Consciousness (2022-12-05)
- [Democracy in America](https://podshelf.io/books/9780226805368) by Alexis de Tocqueville: 2 mentions
  > “This little local rural religious college is such a Tocquevillian, grass-top sense of what community looks like that I just have always loved Tocqueville. But I feel like when he talks about going from D.C., which isn't the center of the world to Tocqueville, to the—I think there are 25 states at that time. He goes to 17 state capitals and finds that not only is the center of American life not politics in D.C., it's also not even politics locally. It's entrepreneurial projects.” — Ben Sasse on Faith, Family, and Facing Death (2026-08-10)
- [Bittersweet](https://podshelf.io/books/9780241300664) by Susan Cain: 2 mentions
  > “Her most recent book and the subject of today's conversation is Bittersweet, How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole.” — Susan Cain on Bittersweet and the Happiness of Melancholy (2024-10-28)
- [Order Without Design: How Markets Shape Cities](https://podshelf.io/books/9780262550970) by Alain Bertaud: 2 mentions
  > “some of you may have enjoyed Alan Berthaud's episode on EconTalk, one of my favorites, and her podcast is named After His Book, Order Without Design.” — Devon Zuegel on Inflation, Argentina, and Crypto (2022-10-17)
- [Errata](https://podshelf.io/books/9780300075038) by George Steiner, G. Steiner: 2 mentions
  > “He says, come, friend. You too must die. Why moan about it so? So he calls him friend. Inside I got from George Steiner when he writes about this book – this passage in his book, Errata, E-R-R-A-T-A. So he addresses him as friend. By what right does he have to call this man? He's about to slaughter his friend.” — Dwayne Betts on the Iliad (2026-07-20)
- [The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World](https://podshelf.io/books/9780300245929) by Iain McGilchrist: 2 mentions
  > “the conversation I did with Ian McGillcrest, which is also his book, the master and his emissary or the master and its emissary, i think it's the master and his emissary is trying to explain this historically” — Erik Hoel on Consciousness, Free Will, and the Limits of Science (2023-07-24)
- [Blink](https://podshelf.io/books/9780316010665) by Malcolm Gladwell: 2 mentions
  > “Malcolm Gladwell famously wrote a book, Blinks, making a similar claim that the gut, the intuition is fast, but there's a million anecdotes in favor of it. But I don't know” — Paul Bloom on Psych, Psychology, and the Human Mind (2023-02-27)
- [The Road](https://podshelf.io/books/9780330469487) by Cormac McCarthy: 2 mentions
  > “I would really recommend The Road, the book The Road. And this is the shorter collection of essays and short stories and the biographical material that you've written.” — Translating Life and Fate (with Robert Chandler) (2024-12-02)
- [The Brothers Karamazov](https://podshelf.io/books/9780374528379) by Fyodor Dostoevsky: 2 mentions
  > “And you reference, you know, the Brothers Karamazov, which has an extraordinary immortal scene of the dilemma or distinction between organized religion and true faith, right? And it's always an issue. It's an issue in every religion. It's an issue in Judaism. It's an issue in Christianity.” — Addiction, Faith, and the Limits of Willpower (with Meghan O'Gieblyn) (2026-10-05)
- [The Heart Aroused](https://podshelf.io/books/9780385484183) by David Whyte: 2 mentions
  > “David White w h y t e wrote a wonderful book a while back called the heart aroused and the heart aroused is an attempt very ambitious attempt to use poetry to deal with corporate life... it's a wonderful book” — Zach Weinersmith on Beowulf and Bea Wolf (2023-03-13)
- [Guns, Germs, and Steel](https://podshelf.io/books/9780393317558) by Jared Diamond: 2 mentions
  > “Jared Diamond is a famous author who wrote many famous books, but Guns, Germs and Steel made a huge impression... it's a great book.” — How We Tamed Ourselves and Invented Good and Evil (with Hanno Sauer) (2026-03-09)
- [Malignant](https://podshelf.io/books/9780405024412) by Vinay Prasad: 2 mentions
  > “This is essentially the theme of my book Malignant, which has specific recommendations for how to incentivize what works.” — Vinay Prasad on Pharmaceuticals, the FDA, and the Death of Duty (2023-01-30)
- [Law, Legislation and Liberty](https://podshelf.io/books/9780415522298) by F.A. Hayek: 2 mentions
  > “it's also the same idea behind the common law tradition of England or Hayek's in law legislation liberty, where he basically says... it's a crazy, crazy idea. I've only read that book once.” — Moshe Koppel on Norms, Tradition, and Resilient Societies (2022-01-31)
- [The Noble Lie](https://podshelf.io/books/9780470072776) by Greenberg, Gary: 2 mentions
  > “There's a book by Gary Greenberg, which I love. I've interviewed Gary a couple of times... It's called The Noble Lie. And it's a different perspective on the human proclivity to take a strong position sometimes in the face of evidence.” — The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Covid Vaccine (with Vinay Prasad) (2024-05-27)
- [The Jewish State](https://podshelf.io/books/9780486258492) by Theodor Herzl: 2 mentions
  > “people like Fyodor Herzl, who is considered kind of the father of modern political Zionism because his book, The Jewish State came out in 1896.” — Daniel Gordis on Israel and Impossible Takes Longer (2023-04-10)
- [The Name of the Rose](https://podshelf.io/books/9780544176560) by Umberto Eco: 2 mentions
  > “that hilarious line by Emberto Eco and Name of the Road in the Post Script to the Name of the Rose. Spoiler alert for the readers who ha” — Lorne Buchman on Creativity, Leadership, and Art (2022-01-03)
- [The Puzzler](https://podshelf.io/books/9780593136737) by A.J. Jacobs: 2 mentions
  > “His latest book is The Puzzler, One Man's Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life.” — A.J. Jacobs on Solving Life's Puzzles (2022-06-27)
- [Excellent Advice for Living](https://podshelf.io/books/9780593654521) by Kevin Kelly: 2 mentions
  > “I had Kevin Kelly on the program recently he wrote a book called Excellent Advice for Living Wisdom I wish I'd known earlier I really enjoyed that book it's a set of aphorisms” — Adam Mastroianni on the Brain, the Ears, and How We Learn (2023-08-14)
- [Primal Intelligence: You Are Smarter Than You Know](https://podshelf.io/books/9780593715307) by Angus Fletcher: 2 mentions
  > “I interviewed Angus Fletcher recently. His book, Primal Intelligence, is very much a defense of intuition.” — In Defense of Intuition (with Gerd Gigerenzer) (2025-12-29)
- [Stalingrad](https://podshelf.io/books/9780670870950) by Antony Beevor: 2 mentions
  > “I'm looking forward to reading Stalingrad. I encourage people to read Everything Flows, the novel shorter one we mentioned, and certainly the shorter pieces in The Road.” — Translating Life and Fate (with Robert Chandler) (2024-12-02)
- [The World of Yesterday](https://podshelf.io/books/9780803226616) by Stefan Zweig: 2 mentions
  > “You and I have corresponded via email about The World of Yesterday, which is Stefan Zweig's memoir. His autobiography, it's really remarkable. I recommend that everyone read it for 100 reasons.” — Sam Harris on Jew-Hatred, Radical Islam, and the West (2024-07-29)
- [The Intelligence of Intuition](https://podshelf.io/books/9781009304894) by Gerd Gigerenzer: 2 mentions
  > “I've got an interview coming up soon with Gerd Gigerenzer, who has a book called The Intelligence of Intuition.” — The Wonder of the Emergent Mind (with Gaurav Suri) (2025-11-17)
- [19 Ways of Looking at Consciousness](https://podshelf.io/books/9781035400058) by Patrick House: 2 mentions
  > “The first is author and neuroscientist Patrick House. He was here on the program in December of 2022, talking about his book 19 ways of looking at consciousness.” — Patrick House and Itzhak Fried on the Brain's Mysteries (2023-05-01)
- [Talent](https://podshelf.io/books/9781250275813) by Tyler Cowen: 2 mentions
  > “when I interviewed Tyler Cowan about his book Talent, he suggested as an interview question, which I found surprising and still do somewhat, you should ask people, what do they practice?” — Ryan Holiday on Discipline Is Destiny (2022-10-24)
- [Super Intelligence](https://podshelf.io/books/9781393952602) by Nick Bostrom: 2 mentions, 1 critical
  > “I interviewed Nick Boster, I'm going to on his book Super Intelligence, which I found unconvincing. That was a doomsday book about the threat we're under.” — Kevin Kelly on Advice, AI, and Technology (2023-03-27)
- [Medical Reversal](https://podshelf.io/books/9781421429045) by Vinay Prasad: 2 mentions
  > “Adam Seafoo had written a book with Vinay Prasad. And the book was ending medical reversal. And basically the idea of that book, which fascinated me and still does, is that many of the most common and implemented...” — The Top EconTalk Conversations of 2023 (with Russ Roberts) (2024-04-29)
- [The Brothers](https://podshelf.io/books/9781429953528) by Stephen Kinzer: 2 mentions
  > “…town knows that the joy and delight and prosperity of the town depends on the existence of a small child who's kept in the basement of a building under horrific conditions and who has a miserable time of it. It's an example that comes from the brothers. Some people suggest she took it from there. Some say it was just independent. Maybe she's influenced unconsciously. But the point is very simple. It says that if you live in this town, you have a glorious time, except there's this side co…” — Incentives Are for Losers (with Adam Mastroianni) (2026-09-14)
- [We Were the Future](https://podshelf.io/books/9781468315585) by Yael Neeman: 2 mentions
  > “I also want to recommend the book We Were the Future by Yael Neeman. It's a memoir about growing up on a very egalitarian Kibbutz and how strange it was.” — Roosevelt Montás on Rescuing Socrates (2022-06-20)
- [In the First Circle](https://podshelf.io/books/9781473571174) by Александр Исаевич Солженицын: 2 mentions
  > “In the First Circle, the full version, not the original censored one that he self-censored. The passages about Stalin, especially the long chapter about Stalin is quite, well, it's bittersweet.” — Translating Life and Fate (with Robert Chandler) (2024-12-02)
- [quit: the power of knowing when to walk away](https://podshelf.io/books/9781529146158) by Annie Duke: 2 mentions
  > “Her latest book and the subject of today's conversation is Quit, The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away.” — Annie Duke on the Power of Quitting (2022-11-28)
- [80,000 Hours: How to Have a Fulfilling Career That Does Good](https://podshelf.io/books/9781537324005) by Benjamin Todd: 2 mentions
  > “He is the founder of 80,000 Hours, a nonprofit that helps people find careers that effectively tackle the world's most pressing problems. And he is the author of the book, 80,000 Hours, How to Have a Fulfilling Career That Does Good, which is our subject for today. Ben, welcome to EconTalk.” — Making Your 80,000 Hours Count (with Benjamin Todd) (2026-06-01)
- [The Emergent Mind: How Intelligence Arises in People and Machines](https://podshelf.io/books/9781541605268) by Gaurav Suri, Jay McClelland: 2 mentions
  > “He's the co-author with Jay McClelland of The Emergent Mind, How Intelligence Arises in People and Machines.” — The Wonder of the Emergent Mind (with Gaurav Suri) (2025-11-17)
- [Truffle Hound](https://podshelf.io/books/9781639730469) by Rowan Jacobsen: 2 mentions
  > “Today is May 18th, 2026, and my guest is author Rowan Jacobsen. He was last here in October of 2021 talking about his book Truffle Hound. That episode tied for first place in our annual poll of favorite episodes of the year. His latest book is In Defense of Sunlight, The Surprising Science of Sun Exposure.” — The Case for Sunshine (with Rowan Jacobsen) (2026-06-15)
- [The Radetzky March](https://podshelf.io/books/9781847086150) by Joseph Roth: 2 mentions
  > “So a recent episode hasn't aired yet, so you would not have heard it. I mentioned reading The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth. And it's hard to read that book and maintain much romance about the state. It's a portrait of Austria-Hungary and the emperor, Franz Josef. They're in the background. It's actually about the lives of a family. But in the background, ever-present, is the state... What that book is about, I'm just realizing it now to some extent, is the loss of romance, the inevitable loss of romance when the illusions that the people have about the state have been shattered.” — Public Choice and Politics Without Romance (with Mike Munger) (2026-09-28)
- [Who By Fire?](https://podshelf.io/books/9781954118072) by Matti Friedman: 2 mentions
  > “His latest book, which is our subject for today is Who by Fire? Leonard Cohen in the Sinai.” — Matti Friedman on Leonard Cohen and the Yom Kippur War (2022-06-06)
- [Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor](https://podshelf.io/books/9781982528690) by Yossi Klein Halevi: 2 mentions
  > “I interviewed Yossi Klein-Alevi on the program and his book very much put the two different narratives at the center. His book, Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor, didn't get that big a reception in the West Bank and in Gaza.” — Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (with Hillel Cohen) (2024-02-12)
- [Anna Karenina](https://podshelf.io/books/9783734502583) by Leo Tolstoy: 2 mentions
  > “The experience that I have reading sometimes is that where I end and the book begins is almost impossible to say. You feel like you're incorporating this experience into yourself and it's not only that you know a book can tell you about thoughts and an inner monologue in a way that often or almost always looks extremely clunky on film, it's the active process of reading means that we incorporate a book I think into our lives and into our minds in a way that we just can't in a film. And I don't know about you but I just feel like there are many films I love no film feels to me quite part of my life in a way that say reading Anna Karenina has.” — The Death of Reading (with James Marriott) (2026-09-21)
- [The Home Stage](https://podshelf.io/books/9788862083645) by Jessica Todd Harper: 2 mentions
  > “She has published three books of her photographs, Interior Exposure, The Home Stage, and her latest with the title Here. I want to read a quote from the essay that you wrote for your second book home stage.” — Jessica Todd Harper on Beauty, Family, and Photography (2022-11-07)
- [Master and Man](https://podshelf.io/books/9798553201234) by Leo Tolstoy: 2 mentions
  > “And I should reference the other episode we did on a Tolstoy short story, which was Master and Man, which also romanticizes the peasant as the real hero. But it's an incredible masterpiece. We'll link to all those. We'll link to your story, to your essay when it comes out.” — Lives Wasted and Well-Lived: David Wolpe on The Death of Ivan Ilyich (2026-10-19)
- [In My Time of Dying](https://podshelf.io/books/9780008670207) by Sebastian Junger: 1 mention, 1 top pick
  > “And I want to say before we start that I like this book even more than the other two, which is saying something. Listeners, please go buy it. Read it. It's beautifully written and it makes you think. I read it in two settings. It's quite short. It's about 138 pages of text on my Kindle, but I wish it went on forever.” — Facing Death (with Sebastian Junger) (2026-05-25)
- [Civilization and Its Discontents](https://podshelf.io/books/9780141395890) by Sigmund Freud, Coralie Bickford-Smith: 1 mention, 1 top pick
  > “My favorite book for Freud is Civilization and it's Discontents. But I wouldn't recommend anybody waiting into the interpretation of dreams.” — Paul Bloom on Psych, Psychology, and the Human Mind (2023-02-27)
- [The Seven Kinds of Atheism](https://podshelf.io/books/9780241199428) by John Gray: 1 mention, 1 top pick
  > “john graze point in his book the seven kinds of atheism phenomenal book where he argues that most of the religions of the atheists of people who are atheistic whether it's marxis” — Walter Russell Mead on Innovation, Religion, and the State of the World (2023-08-21)
- [The Sovereignty of Good](https://podshelf.io/books/9780415065931) by Iris Murdoch: 1 mention, 1 top pick
  > “And it was really not until I read Murdoch because throughout that book that you quoted, the quote comes from her book, The Sovereignty of Good, which is just a long essay that she wrote in the late 60s. And she was basically trying to interpret and build upon Vey's ideas of intention and will... I just found that to be utterly – like, it felt like one of those moments where you read something that has distilled the truth that you've known for a long time but haven't been able to put into words. And I think that that idea was maybe one of the most transformative things that I encountered in my work on this book.” — Addiction, Faith, and the Limits of Willpower (with Meghan O'Gieblyn) (2026-10-05)
- [The League: How Five Rivals Created the NFL and Launched a Sports Empire](https://podshelf.io/books/9780465048700) by John Eisenberg: 1 mention, 1 top pick
  > “I recommend a book called The League, which is about the economics of the NFL. It's a phenomenal book.” — Twenty Years of Freakonomics (with Stephen Dubner) (2025-10-20)
- [Orbiting the Giant Hairball](https://podshelf.io/books/9780670879830) by Gordon MacKenzie: 1 mention, 1 top pick
  > “It's called Orbiting the Giant Hairball. It's one of my favorite books, and it's a book about culture. The author worked for Hallmark Cards, the green card company, which should reward creativity.” — Reclaiming Tribalism (with Michael Morris) (2024-10-07)
- [The Principles of Psychology](https://podshelf.io/books/9780674706255) by William James: 1 mention, 1 top pick
  > “The best book in psychology is The Principles of Psychology by William James in 1890... James had a lot of insights and in his great book” — Paul Bloom on Psych, Psychology, and the Human Mind (2023-02-27)
- [The Passions and the Interests](https://podshelf.io/books/9780691042145) by Albert Otto Hirschman: 1 mention, 1 top pick
  > “My favorite book about Smith is actually Albert Hirschman's The Passions and the Interests, which is barely about Smith at all, but is about the, you know, couple of centuries of economic thinking that led up to Smith. And for anybody who has not read that book, I would say that is one of my top five favorite books in economics.” — Can a Phone Be a Cow? (with Philip Auerswald) (2026-06-22)
- [The Microtheory of Innovative Entrepreneurship](https://podshelf.io/books/9780691145846) by William J. Baumol: 1 mention, 1 top pick
  > “I have a collection of books that inspired me and Bommel really was a very significant figure. This is Bommel's micro theory of entrepreneurship, recommended to everybody.” — Can a Phone Be a Cow? (with Philip Auerswald) (2026-06-22)
- [What Is Art?](https://podshelf.io/books/9780872202962) by Лев Толстой: 1 mention, 1 top pick
  > “I found myself reading the other day a book by Tolstoy called What is Art? And it's a remarkable book.” — How Do You Capture the Tragedy of War? (with Sabin Howard) (2024-08-12)
- [Do No Harm](https://podshelf.io/books/9781250090133) by Marsh, Henry, Henry Marsh: 1 mention, 1 top pick
  > “Henry Marsh wrote an amazing book a few years ago called Do No Harm where he really spent an entire book each chapter going in in quite detail to patients who he feels like he harmed during his career” — What's Happening Inside Your Doctor's Head and Heart (with Adam Cifu) (2024-08-19)
- [The Storyteller](https://podshelf.io/books/9781494835699) by Saki: 1 mention, 1 top pick
  > “for an earlier antidote to moralizing I recommend the storyteller by sake it's a masterpiece” — Zach Weinersmith on Beowulf and Bea Wolf (2023-03-13)
- [The Rule of Saint Benedict](https://podshelf.io/books/9781612611211) by St. Benedict of Nursia: 1 mention, 1 top pick
  > “Not just for monastic communities or religious communities, but like is there something that we can learn from that? So I went back and I read the rule of Benedict from front to back. It's not very long, sort of 73 rules of life. You know, this is how you accept people that knock on the door of the monastery and say they want to enter.” — The Self, the Crowd, and Social Contagion (with Luke Burgis) (2026-06-08)
- [Walden](https://podshelf.io/books/9781722500030) by Henry David Thoreau: 1 mention, 1 top pick
  > “My favorite author in high school was Henry David Thoreau and Walden and marching to a different drum. That he was my hero.” — Kevin Kelly on Advice, AI, and Technology (2023-03-27)
- [Stubborn Attachments](https://podshelf.io/books/9781732265134) by Tyler Cowen: 1 mention, 1 top pick
  > “You wrote a book a while back we talked about called Stubborn Attachments, which is one of my favorite books of yours, maybe my favorite book. It's a defense o” — AI, Employment, and Education (with Tyler Cowen) (2026-03-30)
- [Paula](https://podshelf.io/books/9780007205257) by Isabel Allende: 1 mention
  > “She writes this searing memoir, Paula, about it. That's just incredible to read.” — Thinking Inside the Box (with David Epstein) (2026-05-11)
- [Thicker Than Water](https://podshelf.io/books/9780008126612) by Cal Flyn: 1 mention
  > “One thing I've been slowly learning over the course of my entire career, really, especially while I've been writing books, is this way that people are sewn up together with their landscape. I came across this when I wrote my first book, Thicker Than Water, which is a book about violence on the Australian frontier. So I was writing about an episode in the 19th century, something I've got a family link to. And I discovered that when people first, when Europeans, and particularly British people, first landed on the coast of New South Wales in Australia, they got off the ships and they said things like, oh, it's just like a country park.” — Savage Landscapes (with Cal Flyn) (2026-07-27)
- [Islands of Abandonment](https://podshelf.io/books/9780008329778) by Cal Flyn: 1 mention
  > “I've written quite a bit about it. Previously, I've written a bit about exclusion zones. I wrote about abandoned books in my last book. Sorry, abandoned places in my last book. Islands of Abandonment. So I went to Chernobyl and I went to quite a few places that had been sort of fenced off. And so I've got a little bit of form for this. I'm really fascinated about what happens when you feel like you don't have permission to be somewhere.” — Savage Landscapes (with Cal Flyn) (2026-07-27)
- [The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It](https://podshelf.io/books/9780008354671) by Will Storr: 1 mention
  > “Our topic for today is his book, The Status Game.” — The Status Game (with Will Storr) (2025-11-24)
- [Freedom](https://podshelf.io/books/9780008421816) by Sebastian Junger: 1 mention
  > “Today is March 24th, 2026, and my guest is author Sebastian Junger. This is his third appearance on EconTalk. He was last here in June of 2021, talking about his book Freedom. Before that, in 2018, we talked about his book Tribe. I loved both those books. Our topic for today and his latest book is In My Time of Dying, How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife.” — Facing Death (with Sebastian Junger) (2026-05-25)
- [The Savage Landscape: How We Made the Wilderness](https://podshelf.io/books/9780008686536) by Cal Flyn: 1 mention
  > “This book, as I read it, is about a paradox. Wilderness is in some sense, in a world of 7 billion people, an illusion. The experience of wilderness is something of a paradox... This book does its best to do so in many different voices and in many ways. And it's beautifully written. Really, it's a good example of what might be called nature writing as I've written a long, long time. So congratulations. Thank you. Say something about the title, The Savage Landscape, How We Made the Wilderness.” — Savage Landscapes (with Cal Flyn) (2026-07-27)
- [The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements](https://podshelf.io/books/9780060505912) by Eric Hoffer: 1 mention
  > “Eric Hoffer, you know, people often join groups in unhealthy ways. He's talking about populism and mass movements because they're fleeing an unwanted self or a flimsy self that might not have a lot of moral convictions and hasn't spent a lot of time understanding what that self is really, really willing to stand for.” — The Self, the Crowd, and Social Contagion (with Luke Burgis) (2026-06-08)
- [Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything](https://podshelf.io/books/9780060731328) by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner: 1 mention
  > “He is the author with economist Steven Levitt of Freakonomics, now coming out with a 20th anniversary edition.” — Twenty Years of Freakonomics (with Stephen Dubner) (2025-10-20)
- [One Man's Meat](https://podshelf.io/books/9780060910815) by E. B. White: 1 mention
  > “there's a really funny passage in E.B. White's collection of essays called One Man's Meat. And he wrote these when he moved up to Maine from New York and he started raising animals.” — Tamar Haspel on First-Hand Food (2022-02-28)
- [Being Wrong](https://podshelf.io/books/9780061176050) by Kathryn Schulz: 1 mention
  > “I'm reading this book right now called Being Wrong by Catherine Schultz who points out like there is no state, it's like psychological state of like oh I'm wrong” — A User's Guide to Our Emotional Thermostat (with Adam Mastroianni) (2024-04-01)
- [Digital Barbarism](https://podshelf.io/books/9780061733123) by Mark Helprin: 1 mention
  > “Mark was here on June of 2009 talking about his book, Digital Barbarism.” — Reading, Writing, and Fighting (with Mark Helprin) (2024-07-08)
- [All Joy and No Fun](https://podshelf.io/books/9780062072245) by Jennifer Senior: 1 mention
  > “I say happiness is overrated um but I like that all joy no fun is a good way of you know saying that a lot of things that are not necessarily joyful in the moment are important.” — Jessica Todd Harper on Beauty, Family, and Photography (2022-11-07)
- [Israel: A Concise History](https://podshelf.io/books/9780062368751) by Daniel Gordis: 1 mention
  > “If you want more of the history, you can read Danny's earlier book, Israel, Concise History, a Fantastic Read. I recommend it.” — Daniel Gordis on Israel and Impossible Takes Longer (2023-04-10)
- [The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas](https://podshelf.io/books/9780062470973) by Ursula K. Le Guin: 1 mention
  > “I'm going to invoke one of my favorite short stories... It's called The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas... It's by Ursula Le Guin, and it's a magnificent story. It's very short... there's this magnificent village, Omelas, and she describes with great power the pleasantness of living there. And then she just mentions that everyone in the town knows that the joy and delight and prosperity of the town depends on the existence of a small child who's kept in the basement of a building under horrific conditions.” — Incentives Are for Losers (with Adam Mastroianni) (2026-09-14)
- [The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks](https://podshelf.io/books/9780062820723) by Ben Cohen: 1 mention
  > “We had a very nice episode with Ben Cohen on his book, The Hot Hand.” — In Defense of Intuition (with Gerd Gigerenzer) (2025-12-29)
- [The Lost Art of Dying: Reviving Forgotten Wisdom](https://podshelf.io/books/9780062932631) by L. S. Dugdale: 1 mention
  > “Her latest book, which is the subject of today's episode is The Lost Art of Dying, Reviving Forgotten Wisdom.” — Lydia Dugdale on the Lost Art of Dying (2023-07-17)
- [The Man Who Would Be King: Mohammed bin Salman and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia](https://podshelf.io/books/9780063390355) by Karen Elliott House: 1 mention
  > “Her latest book is The Man Who Would Be King, Mohammed Ben Salman and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia.” — The Man Who Would Be King of Saudi Arabia (with Karen Elliott House) (2026-02-23)

These are the 100 most-mentioned of 385 books. The full list is on the show page.