My ten most influential books of 2021
Not everything I read — the books from 2021 that left the deepest mark, counted down from the honorable mentions to number one.
Honorable mentions
Click a cover to turn it over. After the first one, hovering another turns it too.
Philosophy of Science: A Very Short Introduction
Samir Okasha
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves
Frans de Waal
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Letters to a Young Scientist
Edward O. Wilson
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
What Is Populism?
Jan-Werner Müller
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be
Katy Milkman
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Eat to Beat Depression and Anxiety: Nourish Your Way to Better Mental Health in Six Weeks
Drew Ramsey
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time
Alex Korb
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Virtue Signaling: Essays on Darwinian Politics and Free Speech
Geoffrey Miller
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
The Magic of Thinking Big
David J. Schwartz
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA
James D. Watson
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Il pensiero giapponese
Le Yen Mai
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Il maschio è inutile: Un possibile paradosso evoluzionistico
Telmo Pievani
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Eight Dates: Essential Conversations for a Lifetime of Love
John M. Gottman & Julie Schwartz Gottman
One sentence on what this one was — to be written.
Nos. 15–11
The New Mind Readers: What Neuroimaging Can and Cannot Reveal about Our Thoughts
Russell A. Poldrack
Drug Use for Grown-Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear
Carl L. Hart
People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent
Joseph E. Stiglitz
A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market
Edward O. Thorp
Mind Fixers: Psychiatry’s Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness
Anne Harrington
The ten
No.10
Happy Accidents: Serendipity in Major Medical Breakthroughs in the Twentieth Century
Morton A. Meyers
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.9
The Art of Statistics: How to Learn from Data
David Spiegelhalter
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.8
The Depths: The Evolutionary Origins of the Depression Epidemic
Jonathan Rottenberg
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.7
Ten Principles for Doing Effective Couples Therapy
John M. Gottman & Julie Schwartz Gottman
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.6
Happy Ever After: A Radical New Approach to Living Well
Paul Dolan
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.5
The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently… and Why
Richard E. Nisbett
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.4
A Confession
Leo Tolstoy
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.3
Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.2
Good Reasons for Bad Feelings: Insights from the Frontier of Evolutionary Psychiatry
Randolph M. Nesse
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.
No.1
Resonanz: Eine Soziologie der Weltbeziehung (Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World)
Unverfügbarkeit (The Uncontrollability of the World)
Hartmut Rosa
What this one changed — to be written. One or two sentences on the idea that moved something, not a summary of the book.