Updates

  1. Person pages list letters, writing, profiles and links as sortable tables with filters, and show each person's companies as links; Fund letters show each letter's description in its own column.
  2. Experts show a checked job title and a short description of each person; 30 more people have photographs.
  3. Every company, fund, university and publication the experts work for has a page listing the people there.
  4. Fund letters show each letter's thesis and filter by it; 225 person pages list the essays, columns and newsletter issues the person wrote.
  5. Person pages list every essay and newsletter issue a person wrote, and their own books as a table in List view.
  6. Recommends shows the five largest kinds of book and the rest under More; browse pictures load sooner.
  7. Podcasts and talks link the original episode, filter by Audio and video or Press, and list each publisher once.
  8. Pages are wider, Recommends has List and Grid, and a filter clicked again turns off.
  9. Book cards sit in a ruled grid with Open Library and Goodreads links and each book's one-line note.
  10. Funds is now Investors; each investor's styles are buttons that filter the table.
  11. Podcasts and talks on a person's page filter by year and publisher and show as a list or a grid of pictures.
  12. Quotes show only people's own words: 472 summaries written by list sites are gone.
  13. Country pages open from Browse again, and every link on the shelf lands on a page.
  14. Subject and person pages show their sections as tabs, and each book appears once on a person's page.
  15. Book cards show the quote, who said it and the source; grids show five cards to a row.
  16. On a phone, a menu holds the sections, search, Updates, Feedback and dark mode.
  17. Feedback takes a screenshot of the page with no browser prompt, opens a screenshot full size when you click it, and clears itself once sent.
  18. Book cards are centred, search names the topic each book sits in, and any text cut short shows whole on hover.
  19. Search groups its results by kind: people, companies, geographies, subjects, topics, books, funds, fund letters and papers.
  20. The Books table lists who recommended each book by name, and the browser tab names the section you are in.
  21. Feedback can take a screenshot of the page, or one you paste or choose, and opens in the corner beside Updates.
  22. Each rail button reopens its section where you left it, and Browse, Table and People show on every book and subject page.
  23. Filters grey out choices that hold nothing instead of hiding them, and Books › People filters by authors or recommenders.
  24. Feedback takes a subject line and up to three screenshots.
  25. Biographies are grouped by the person they are about: 41 new pages, from Abraham Lincoln to Lee Kuan Yew.
  26. Sport splits into 23 sports, and Religion into one topic per faith.
  27. Book lists show as cards: the cover, one recommendation quote and every recommender by name.
  28. Seventeen subjects that had two or three pages under different names now have one page each.
  29. Every page lists its Experts as authors and recommenders, with a link to them on the Experts tab.
  30. Economics, Financial history, Financial panics and Accounting are subjects of their own, with one page per financial crisis.
  31. Book, person and subject pages open inside the app, so the tabs stay in view.
  32. 996 more book covers, and photographs or logos for 227 more people and companies.
  33. Books › Browse shows every subject as cards, and the rail holds Fund letters, Papers, Experts, Books and Funds.
  34. Every topic over 150 books splits into narrower topics, each with a page of its own.

Send feedback

What is it?
Screenshots, up to 3 (optional)
or paste one with Ctrl+V

We use your email only to reply to you.
AA

Anthropology and human origins

Society and culture

Holds anthropology and long-run accounts of human societies: hunter-gatherers, the evolution of cooperation and sex, myth, ritual, language and the rise of states.

Books 36Recommenders 21

Start here

  1. Seeing Like a StateJames C. Scott, 1998
  2. The Hero with a Thousand FacesJoseph Campbell, 1949
  3. The Migrant Cocoa-Farmers of Southern GhanaPolly Hill, 1963
  4. What Was Socialism, and What Comes Next?Katherine Verdery, 1996
  5. The World We Have LostPeter Laslett, 1965
Seeing Like a StateSeeing Like a State
T1 Seeing Like a State
James C. Scott · 1998
Open LibraryGoodreads

Why large state plans fail when they override local, practical knowledge.

Recommended by: Balaji S. Srinivasan, Nat Eliason

The Hero with a Thousand FacesThe Hero with a Thousand Faces
T2 The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Joseph Campbell · 1949
Open LibraryGoodreads

The one pattern of the hero's journey that runs through myths across cultures.

Recommended by: Nat Eliason, Patrick O'Shaughnessy and 2 others

The Migrant Cocoa-Farmers of Southern GhanaThe Migrant Cocoa-Farmers of Southern Ghana
T2 The Migrant Cocoa-Farmers of Southern Ghana
Polly Hill · 1963
Open LibraryGoodreads

Classic fieldwork proving African farmers were rational capitalist investors.

What Was Socialism, and What Comes Next?What Was Socialism, and What Comes Next?
T2 What Was Socialism, and What Comes Next?
Katherine Verdery · 1996
Open LibraryGoodreads

Written from Romanian fieldwork; how the planned economy behaved in practice.

The World We Have LostThe World We Have Lost
T3 The World We Have Lost
Peter Laslett · 1965
Open LibraryGoodreads

Pre-industrial English society before wage labour and cities

“Laslett, The World We Have Lost” — Paul Graham

Source: Rarely-Asked Questions — paulgraham.com

Recommended by: Paul Graham

The Vanishing HectareThe Vanishing Hectare
T3 The Vanishing Hectare
Katherine Verdery · 2003
Open LibraryGoodreads

How returning land in Transylvania after communism created property rights.

Homo LudensHomo Ludens
T4 Homo Ludens
Johan Huizinga · 1938
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Stewart Brand

The Loom of LanguageThe Loom of Language
T4 The Loom of Language
Frederick Bodmer · 1943
Open LibraryGoodreads

A guide to learning more than one language, focused on Europe's languages.

Recommended by: Eric Weinstein, Tim Ferriss

The Harmless PeopleThe Harmless People
T4 The Harmless People
Elizabeth Marshall Thomas · 1959
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Paul Graham

Communistic Societies of the United StatesCommunistic Societies of the United States
T4 Communistic Societies of the United States
Charles Nordhoff · 1961
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Balaji S. Srinivasan

Cows, Pigs, Wars & Witches: The Riddles of CCows, Pigs, Wars & Witches: The Riddles of Culture
T4 Cows, Pigs, Wars & Witches: The Riddles of Culture
Marvin Harris · 1974
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai

Sociobiology: The New SynthesisSociobiology: The New Synthesis
T4 Sociobiology: The New Synthesis
Edward O. Wilson · 1975
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai

Cannibals and Kings: The Origins of CulturesCannibals and Kings: The Origins of Cultures
T4 Cannibals and Kings: The Origins of Cultures
Marvin Harris · 1977
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai

The Domestication of the Savage MindThe Domestication of the Savage Mind
T4 The Domestication of the Savage Mind
Jack Goody · 1977
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Bret Victor

The Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San FrancThe Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area
T4 The Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area
Malcolm Margolin · 1978
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Patrick Collison

Orality and LiteracyOrality and Literacy
T4 Orality and Literacy
Walter J. Ong · 1982
Open LibraryGoodreads

How the move from oral cultures to writing changed thought, personality and society.

Recommended by: Patrick Collison

A Lycanthropy Reader
T4 A Lycanthropy Reader
Charlotte F. Otten · 1986
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Tim Ferriss

Why Is Sex Fun?: The Evolution of Human SexuWhy Is Sex Fun?: The Evolution of Human Sexuality (Science Masters Series)
T4 Why Is Sex Fun?: The Evolution of Human Sexuality (Science Masters Series)
Jared Diamond · 1997
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai

The Geography of ThoughtThe Geography of Thought
T4 The Geography of Thought
Richard E. Nisbett · 2003
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Satya Nadella

The Company of Strangers: A Natural History The Company of Strangers: A Natural History of Economic Life
T4 The Company of Strangers: A Natural History of Economic Life
Paul Seabright · 2004
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai, Patrick Collison

War and Peace and WarWar and Peace and War
T4 War and Peace and War
Peter Turchin · 2005
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Balaji S. Srinivasan

The Old WayThe Old Way
T4 The Old Way
Elizabeth Marshall Thomas · 2006
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Patrick Collison, Paul Graham, Sam Altman

Natural Experiments of HistoryNatural Experiments of History
T4 Natural Experiments of History
Jared Diamond, James A. Robinson · 2010
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai

Why the West Rules—for NowWhy the West Rules—for Now
T4 Why the West Rules—for Now
Ian Morris · 2010
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Stewart Brand

Debt: The First 5,000 YearsDebt: The First 5,000 Years
T4 Debt: The First 5,000 Years
David Graeber · 2011
Open LibraryGoodreads

Debt came before money and barter, and its history is one of forgiveness and revolt.

Recommended by: Patrick Collison

The Social Conquest of EarthThe Social Conquest of Earth
T4 The Social Conquest of Earth
Edward O. Wilson · 2012
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai, Patrick Collison

The World Until YesterdayThe World Until Yesterday
T4 The World Until Yesterday
Jared Diamond · 2012
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Bill Gates, Mohnish Pabrai

A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and HA Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History
T4 A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History
Nicholas Wade · 2014
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Mohnish Pabrai

TribeTribe
T4 Tribe
Sebastian Junger · 2016
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Alfred Lin, Morgan Housel, Tim Ferriss

BlueprintBlueprint
T4 Blueprint
Nicholas A. Christakis · 2019
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Bill Gates

Civilized to DeathCivilized to Death
T4 Civilized to Death
Christopher Ryan · 2019
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Andrew Wilkinson, Nat Eliason, Jack Dorsey

The End is Always NearThe End is Always Near
T4 The End is Always Near
Dan Carlin · 2019
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Morgan Housel

The WEIRDest People In The WorldThe WEIRDest People In The World
T4 The WEIRDest People In The World
Joseph Henrich · 2020
Open LibraryGoodreads

Recommended by: Marc Andreessen

Imagined CommunitiesImagined Communities
T4 Imagined Communities
Goodreads

Recommended by: Balaji S. Srinivasan

Legal Systems Very Different From Ours
T4 Legal Systems Very Different From Ours
David Friedman
Goodreads

Recommended by: Emmett Shear

The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters iThe Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World (CBC Massey Lectures)
T4 The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World (CBC Massey Lectures)
Wade Davis
Goodreads

Recommended by: Patrick O'Shaughnessy

More society and culture

← Work, labour and industrial societyCities and urban life →All society and culture