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the best philosophy books

The philosophy books most often recommended by the founders, scientists, podcasters, and writers we track. Ranked by how many notable readers have publicly endorsed each title.

60 books, ranked by how many of the 4,800 notable readers in our index have publicly recommended each one.

  1. Finite and Infinite Games
    18 people

    Finite and Infinite Games

    James P. Carse · 1987

    18 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  2. Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
    17 people

    Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

    Douglas R. Hofstadter · 1999

    17 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  3. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: 50th Anniversary Edition
    16 people

    The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: 50th Anniversary Edition

    Thomas S. Kuhn · 1996

    16 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  4. The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
    16 people

    The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World

    David Deutsch · 2011

    16 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  5. A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
    15 people

    A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy

    William B. Irvine · 2009

    15 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  6. The Bhagavad Gita
    11 people

    The Bhagavad Gita

    Eknath Easwaran · 2003

    11 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  7. Infinite Powers: The Story of Calculus
    10 people

    Infinite Powers: The Story of Calculus

    Steven Strogatz · 2019

    10 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  8. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice (Shambhala Library)
    9 people

    Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice (Shambhala Library)

    Shunryu Suzuki · 1970

    9 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  9. The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity
    9 people

    The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity

    Toby Ord · 2020

    9 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  10. On Tyranny
    8 people

    On Tyranny

    Timothy Snyder · 2017

    8 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  11. How Not to Be Wrong
    8 people

    How Not to Be Wrong

    Jordan Ellenberg · 2014

    8 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  12. Beyond Good And Evil
    8 people

    Beyond Good And Evil

    Friedrich Nietzsche · 2003

    8 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  13. The Theory of Moral Sentiments
    7 people

    The Theory of Moral Sentiments

    Adam Smith · 2006

    7 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  14. The Gay Science
    7 people

    The Gay Science

    Friedrich Nietzsche · 1974

    7 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  15. Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos
    6 people

    Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos

    M. Mitchell Waldrop · 1992

    6 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  16. Critique of Pure Reason
    6 people

    Critique of Pure Reason

    Immanuel Kant · 1999

    6 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  17. Reasons and Persons
    6 people

    Reasons and Persons

    Derek Parfit · 1986

    6 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  18. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
    6 people

    Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

    Ludwig Wittgenstein · 2001

    6 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  19. On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo
    5 people

    On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo

    Friedrich Nietzsche · 2010

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  20. The Muqaddimah
    5 people

    The Muqaddimah

    Ibn Ibn Khaldûn · 2015

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  21. The Enchiridion
    5 people

    The Enchiridion

    Epictetus · 2017

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  22. Meditations on First Philosophy
    5 people

    Meditations on First Philosophy

    René Descartes · 1993

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  23. The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values
    5 people

    The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values

    Brian Christian · 2020

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  24. The Ascent of Man
    5 people

    The Ascent of Man

    n by Jacob Bronowski · 2011

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  25. The World as Will and Representation
    5 people

    The World as Will and Representation

    Arthur Schopenhauer · 1966

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  26. The Shallows
    5 people

    The Shallows

    Nicholas Carr · 2011

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  27. Dialogues and Natural History of Religion
    5 people

    Dialogues and Natural History of Religion

    David Hume · 1993

    5 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  28. The Moral Landscape
    4 people

    The Moral Landscape

    Sam Harris · 2010

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  29. Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming
    4 people

    Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming

    Naomi Oreskes & Erik M. Conway · 2010

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  30. A Theory of Justice: Revised Edition (Belknap)
    4 people

    A Theory of Justice: Revised Edition (Belknap)

    John Rawls · 2005

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  31. Montaigne
    4 people

    Montaigne

    Michel de Montaigne · 1993

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  32. The Half-life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date
    4 people

    The Half-life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date

    Samuel Arbesman · 2012

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  33. The Sleepwalkers
    4 people

    The Sleepwalkers

    Arthur Koestler · 1990

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  34. Mortal Questions
    4 people

    Mortal Questions

    Thomas Nagel · 1991

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  35. Consciousness Explained
    4 people

    Consciousness Explained

    Daniel C. Dennett · 1991

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  36. A Mathematician's Apology
    4 people

    A Mathematician's Apology

    G. H. Hardy · 1992

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  37. This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom
    4 people

    This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom

    Martin Hägglund · 2019

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  38. Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients
    4 people

    Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients

    Ben Goldacre · 2014

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  39. The Discourses of Epictetus
    4 people

    The Discourses of Epictetus

    Epictetus · 1800

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  40. Philosophy as a Way of Life
    4 people

    Philosophy as a Way of Life

    Pierre Hadot · 1995

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  41. Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100
    4 people

    Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100

    Michio Kaku · 2011

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  42. The Art of Happiness
    4 people

    The Art of Happiness

    Epicurus · 2012

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  43. Phenomenology of Spirit
    4 people

    Phenomenology of Spirit

    A. V. Miller & G. W. F. Hegel · 1977

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  44. The Language Instinct
    4 people

    The Language Instinct

    Steven Pinker · 2007

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  45. Cynical Theories
    4 people

    Cynical Theories

    Helen Pluckrose · 2020

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  46. Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth
    4 people

    Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth

    Stuart Ritchie · 2020

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  47. Mengzi: With Selections from Traditional Commentaries
    4 people

    Mengzi: With Selections from Traditional Commentaries

    Mengzi · 2008

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  48. Darwin's Dangerous Idea
    4 people

    Darwin's Dangerous Idea

    Daniel C. Dennett · 1996

    4 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  49. God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
    3 people

    God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

    Christopher Hitchens · 2007

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  50. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
    3 people

    An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

    David Hume · 1998

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  51. On the Genealogy of Morality
    3 people

    On the Genealogy of Morality

    Friedrich Nietzsche, introduction and notes by Maudemarie Clark & Alan Swensen · 1998

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  52. The Clock of the Long Now
    3 people

    The Clock of the Long Now

    Stewart Brand · 2000

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  53. The Outsider
    3 people

    The Outsider

    Colin Wilson · 2001

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  54. How Nature Works: The Science of Self-organized Criticality
    3 people

    How Nature Works: The Science of Self-organized Criticality

    Per Bak · 1996

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  55. Hacking Darwin
    3 people

    Hacking Darwin

    Jamie Metzl · 2019

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  56. Phantoms in the Brain
    3 people

    Phantoms in the Brain

    V. S. Ramachandran, Sandra Blakeslee · 1999

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  57. Out of Your Mind
    3 people

    Out of Your Mind

    Alan Watts · 2004

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  58. A History of Western Philosophy (English)(Hardcover)
    3 people

    A History of Western Philosophy (English)(Hardcover)

    Bertrand Russell · 1986

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  59. The Ancestor’s Tale
    3 people

    The Ancestor’s Tale

    Richard Dawkins · 2005

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop
  60. Our Mathematical Universe
    3 people

    Our Mathematical Universe

    Max Tegmark · 2015

    3 recommenders

    AmazonBookshop

other topic hubs

Methodology: each book is ranked by the number of recommenders in our index who have publicly endorsed it. Curated topics use a hand-picked book list; year-stamped pages query our index by publication year. More on methodology →