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Sam Harris's Reading List

Neuroscientist, philosopher, and host of the Making Sense podcast; founder of the Waking Up meditation app, focused on AI safety, ethics, and secular spirituality.

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Narrative Non-Fiction & Society (2026)

Long-form journalism and ethnography Harris recommends as windows into how societies go right or wrong.

Source: www.samharris.org

Cover of In Cold Blood
In Cold Blood
Truman Capote · 1966 · Buy on Amazon
"How narrative non-fiction can be masterfully written."
Cover of Machete Season
Machete Season
Jean Hatzfeld · 2003 · Buy on Amazon
"Chilling account of the Rwandan genocide from the killers' perspective — a study in how society can go as wrong as it can go."
Cover of The Anatomy of Disgust
The Anatomy of Disgust
William Ian Miller · 1997 · Buy on Amazon
"Fun and insightful regarding a core human emotion."

Spirituality & Consciousness (2026)

Texts behind Harris's Waking Up app and his secular approach to contemplative practice.

Source: www.wakingup.com

Cover of The Flight of the Garuda
The Flight of the Garuda
Keith Dowman · 1994 · Buy on Amazon
"A Dzogchen text Harris finds especially beautiful and wise."
Cover of On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious
On Having No Head: Zen and the Rediscovery of the Obvious
Douglas Harding · 1961 · Buy on Amazon
"A short but influential book on the headless way of experiencing consciousness; integrated into Waking Up."
Cover of I Am That
I Am That
Nisargadatta Maharaj · 1973 · Buy on Amazon
"Recommended for its insights into the nature of experience, despite some traditional guru-style claims."

Philosophy & Ethics (2026)

Foundational ethics and personal-identity texts Harris returns to on Making Sense.

Source: www.samharris.org

Cover of Reasons and Persons
Reasons and Persons
Derek Parfit · 1984 · Buy on Amazon
"Brilliant and written as though by an alien intelligence — on the nature of personal identity and morality."
Cover of Mortal Questions
Mortal Questions
Thomas Nagel · 1979 · Buy on Amazon
"Long-time fan of Nagel's defenses of rationality and essays on the philosophical problem of the soul."
Cover of The Last Word
The Last Word
Thomas Nagel · 1997 · Buy on Amazon
"Companion to Mortal Questions — Nagel's defense of objective reason."
Cover of What We Owe the Future
What We Owe the Future
William MacAskill · 2022 · Buy on Amazon
"A central text for Effective Altruism, discussed extensively on the podcast."
Cover of Enlightenment Now: The Case For Reason, Science, Humanism, And Progress
Enlightenment Now: The Case For Reason, Science, Humanism, And Progress
Steven Pinker · 2018 · Buy on Amazon
"First book for his official Book Club — a data-driven defense of reason and humanism."

Science & Neuroscience (2026)

Sam Harris's most-recommended titles on the brain, biology, and the psychology of decision-making.

Source: www.samharris.org

Cover of Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Robert M. Sapolsky · 2017 · Buy on Amazon
"The most accessible discussion of brain science available — why we do the things we do, biologically."
Cover of The Beginning of Infinity
The Beginning of Infinity
David Deutsch · 2011 · Buy on Amazon
"A staple recommendation; expanded his understanding of the potential of human knowledge and progress."
Cover of Stumbling on Happiness
Stumbling on Happiness
Daniel Gilbert · 2006 · Buy on Amazon
"How our brains systematically misjudge what will make us happy in the future."

Favorite books (2023)

Favorite books recommended by Sam Harris, as compiled by radicalreads.com. Source article: https://radicalreads.com/sam-harris-favorite-books/.

Source: radicalreads.com

The History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell (also rec’d by Bruce Springsteen ) · Buy on Amazon
"Bertrand Russell … is one of the great philosophers of his time… a remarkably clear thinker and writer… a great example of how English should be written and just a great voice to have in your head."
Cover of Reasons and Persons
Reasons and Persons
Derek Parfit · 1984 · Buy on Amazon
"Brilliant and written as though by an alien intelligence. A deeply strange book filled with thought experiments that bend your intuitions left and right. A truly strange and unique document, and incredibly insightful about morality and questions of identity."
The Last Word
Thomas Nagel · Buy on Amazon
"I’m a big fan of Thomas Nagel’s earlier work… He is a very fine writer — a very clear writer — and just as a style of communication … he’s worth going to school on."
Superintelligence
Nick Bostrom (also rec’d by Elon Musk ) · Buy on Amazon
"The clearest book I’ve come across that makes the case that the so-called ‘control problem’ — the problem of building human-level and beyond artificial intelligence that we can control, that we can know in advance will converge with our interests — is a truly difficult and important task, because we will end up building this stuff by happenstance if we simply keep going in the direction we’re headed. Unless we can solve this problem in advance and have good reason to believe that the machines..."
Humiliation: And Other Essays on Honor, Social Discomfort, and Violence
William Ian Miller · Buy on Amazon
The Flight of the Garuda: The Dzogchen Tradition of Tibetan Buddhis m
Keith Dowman · Buy on Amazon
I Am Tha t
Nisargadatta Maharaj · Buy on Amazon
Infidel
Ayaan Hirsi Ali · Buy on Amazon
The Year of Magical Thinking
Joan Didion (also rec’d by Sam Harris & St. Vincent ) · Buy on Amazon
The Journalist and the Murderer
Janet Malcolm · Buy on Amazon
Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak
Jean Hatzfeld · Buy on Amazon

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