Read by Jordan Peterson, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Ben Shapiro and 4 others
What books does Yuval Noah Harari recommend?
Historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens and Nexus, has spent his career tracing the long arc of humankind and the future of technology, and his book recommendations reflect that same wide lens. This collection assembles 30 titles he has endorsed through his official website, forewords and blurbs he has written, and interviews on the Tim Ferriss Show and elsewhere. The reading runs through society and politics, science and technology, history, psychology, and philosophy, favoring big-picture works that reframe how we understand our species. His top choice is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, which he calls the most prophetic book of the 20th century and says that if you have time for just one book, this would be his top choice. Nearby sit Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, which he says turned him from a historian of medieval warfare into a student of humankind, and Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow.
Last updated March 2026 · Every recommendation cited to its original source.
byAldous Huxley
2006288 Pages“The most prophetic book of the 20th century... Today many people would easily mistake it for a utopia. If you have time for just one book, this would be my top choice.”
— Yuval Noah Harari
Source: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
Read by Charlie Munger, Jamie Dimon, Daniel Ek and 6 others
Guns, Germs, and Steel
The Fates of Human Societies
byJared Diamond
1997480 Pages“A book of big questions, and big answers. It turned me from a historian of medieval warfare into a student of humankind.”
— Yuval Noah Harari
Source: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
Chimpanzee Politics
Power and Sex among Apes
byFrans de Waal
1982256 Pages“Probably the most funny science book I have ever read. A must-read for politicians of all species!”
— Yuval Noah Harari
Source: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
Read by Barack Obama, Sam Altman, Ray Dalio and 14 others
byDaniel Kahneman
2011498 Pages“Do you want to understand how humans think? Read this book. It is one of the best starting points for exploring the tangled web of the human mind.”
— Yuval Noah Harari
Source: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
Enlightenment Now
The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
bySteven Pinker
2018576 Pages“It is the most optimistic book I’ve read in a long time. There is of course much to argue about, but that’s what makes this book so interesting.”
— Yuval Noah Harari
Source: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
byBenjamín Labatut
2023368 PagesSource: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
The Chaos Machine
The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World
byMax Fisher
2022400 PagesSource: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint
A Biography
byPeter Sarris
2023544 PagesSource: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
Discourse on the Method
of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences
byRené Descartes
1637160 Pages(185,000)
“It changed my life.”
— Yuval Noah Harari
Source: Thrive Global interview, March 2017
Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows
An Introduction to Carnism
byMelanie Joy
2009204 Pages“An important and groundbreaking contribution to the struggle for the welfare of animals.”
— Yuval Noah Harari
Source: Book Foreword written by Yuval Noah Harari
Read by Barack Obama, Mark Zuckerberg, Tobias Lütke and 3 others
byCixin Liu
2014400 PagesSource: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
The Road to Unfreedom
Russia, Europe, America
byTimothy Snyder
2018368 Pages“A brilliant and disturbing analysis of the rise of authoritarianism in Russia, Europe and the USA... Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the political crisis currently engulfing the world.”
— Yuval Noah Harari
Source: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
Our Inner Ape
A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are
byFrans de Waal
2005288 Pages“Humans are animals. That’s the first thing to know about us. This book will change your views of all apes, including Homo sapiens.”
— Yuval Noah Harari
Source: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
The Escape Artist
The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World
byJonathan Freedland
2022416 Pages“A brilliant and heart-wrenching book, with universal and timely lessons about the power of information — and misinformation.”
— Yuval Noah Harari
Source: Yuval Noah Harari's official blurb for the book
Affluence Without Abundance
The Disappearing World of the Bushmen
byJames Suzman
2017320 Pages“Insightful and well-written... describes the hard transition of foraging communities in Namibia from relative affluence during the Stone Age to contemporary poverty and misery.”
— Yuval Noah Harari
Source: Yuval Noah Harari's official blurb for the book
Weapons of Math Destruction
How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy
byCathy O'Neil
2016259 PagesSource: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
The Sixth Extinction
An Unnatural History
byElizabeth Kolbert
2014319 Pages“We are now the single most important agent of change in the global ecology, and we are in the process of rewriting the most basic rules of the game of life.”
— Yuval Noah Harari
Source: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
How to Change Your Mind
What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
byMichael Pollan
2018480 PagesSource: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
Read by Peter Thiel, Satya Nadella, Arianna Huffington and 4 others
AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
byKai-Fu Lee
2018272 PagesSource: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
Mama's Last Hug
Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves
byFrans de Waal
2019352 PagesSource: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
Gangster Warlords
Drug Dollars, Killing Fields, and the New Politics of Latin America
byIoan Grillo
2016384 PagesSource: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
byDavid Van Reybrouck
2014656 Pages(8,457)
Source: Yuval Noah Harari's official website
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Frequently asked questions
What books does Yuval Noah Harari recommend?
His 30 recommendations include Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, Chimpanzee Politics by Frans de Waal, Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, and Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker.
What is Yuval Noah Harari's most recommended book?
His top pick is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, which he calls "the most prophetic book of the 20th century." He adds, "If you have time for just one book, this would be my top choice."
Where do Yuval Noah Harari's book recommendations come from?
They are sourced from his official website's reading lists, forewords and blurbs he has written for other authors, and interviews, including the Tim Ferriss Show and a Thrive Global conversation.
Has Yuval Noah Harari written any books?
Yes, he has authored 12 books listed here, including Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus, Nexus, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, along with the Sapiens graphic history series.
What subjects does Yuval Noah Harari read most?
His recommendations concentrate on society and politics, science and technology, and history, with strong threads of psychology and philosophy, reflecting his interest in macro-historical processes and the future of artificial intelligence.
All 30 Books Yuval Noah Harari Has Recommended
- Brave New World · Aldous Huxley
- Guns, Germs, and Steel · Jared Diamond
- Chimpanzee Politics · Frans de Waal
- Thinking, Fast and Slow · Daniel Kahneman
- Enlightenment Now · Steven Pinker
- The MANIAC · Benjamín Labatut
- The Chaos Machine · Max Fisher
- The Corrections · Jonathan Franzen
- Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint · Peter Sarris
- Discourse on the Method · René Descartes
- Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows · Melanie Joy
- The Three-Body Problem · Cixin Liu
- The Road to Unfreedom · Timothy Snyder
- Our Inner Ape · Frans de Waal
- The Escape Artist · Jonathan Freedland
- Affluence Without Abundance · James Suzman
- Weapons of Math Destruction · Cathy O'Neil
- The Sixth Extinction · Elizabeth Kolbert
- How to Change Your Mind · Michael Pollan
- AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order · Kai-Fu Lee
- Mama's Last Hug · Frans de Waal
- Black Flags · Joby Warrick
- Gangster Warlords · Ioan Grillo
- Congo: The Epic History of a People · David Van Reybrouck
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy · Douglas Adams
- Sources of the Self · Charles Taylor
- The Attention Merchants · Tim Wu
- On Tyranny · Timothy Snyder
- God, Human, Animal, Machine · Meghan O'Gieblyn
- Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China · Evan Osnos