Books recommended on Freakonomics Radio
Stephen J. Dubner and guests brought up 41 books across 18 recent episodes, 3 of them explicit recommendations — each with the episode, the minute, and what was said.
Stephen J. Dubner · US · YouTube · Jump to episode by episode ↓
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Books mentioned on this show
- 1 Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi's Story of Faith, Identity, and BelongingAngela BookdollAmazon 1 episode · 1 recommended
- 2 MisfitGary GulmanAmazon 1 episode · 1 recommended
- 3 The Da Vinci CodeDan BrownAmazon 1 episode · 1 recommended
- 4 A Visit from the Goon SquadJennifer EganAmazon 1 episode
- 5 AllergicTheresa MacPhailAmazon 1 episode
- 6 AmatzaHillary SterlingAmazon 1 episode
- 7 Brutish MuseumsDan HicksAmazon 1 episode
- 8 Edison's conquest of MarsGarrett Putman ServissAmazon 1 episode
- 9 FreakonomicsSteven D. LevittAmazon 1 episode
- 10 Gone before goodbyeReese WitherspoonAmazon 1 episode
- 11 Good DeathSuzanne B. O'BrienAmazon 1 episode
- 12 HamletWilliam ShakespeareAmazon 1 episode
- 13 Here is New YorkE. B. WhiteAmazon 1 episode
- 14 Holy Blood Holy GrailKonstantine OnapolousAmazon 1 episode
- 15 How to Change Your MindMichael PollanAmazon 1 episode
- 16 In the Game Until the EndRobert WachtelAmazon 1 episode
- 17 Let me die before I wakeDerek HumphryAmazon 1 episode
- 18 Long Walk to FreedomNelson MandelaAmazon 1 episode
- 19 MacbethWilliam ShakespeareAmazon 1 episode
- 20 Manhattan BeachJennifer EganAmazon 1 episode
- 21 Moral EconomicsAmazon 1 episode
- 22 NudgeRichard H. ThalerAmazon 1 episode
- 23 Pictures from homeLarry SultanAmazon 1 episode
- 24 Raised by wolvesJim GoldbergAmazon 1 episode
- 25 Run AwayHarlan CobenAmazon 1 episode
- 26 Safe Enough SpacesMichael S. RothAmazon 1 episode
- 27 Self-relianceRalph Waldo EmersonAmazon 1 episode
- 28 Tell No OneHarlan CobenAmazon 1 episode
- 29 The Backgammon Chronicles, A Prose Adventure on Tour, Volume 1Bob Woolsey TelAmazon 1 episode
- 30 The Candy HouseJennifer EganAmazon 1 episode
- 31 The InnocentHarlan CobenAmazon 1 episode
- 32 The Lord of the RingsJ.R.R. TolkienAmazon 1 episode
- 33 The Most Good You Can DoPeter SingerAmazon 1 episode
- 34 The New Jim CrowMichelle AlexanderAmazon 1 episode
- 35 The prisoner of sexNorman MailerAmazon 1 episode
- 36 The SabbathAbraham Joshua HeschelAmazon 1 episode
- 37 The War of the WorldsH. G. WellsAmazon 1 episode
- 38 Thinking, fast and slowDaniel KahnemanAmazon 1 episode
- 39 This Time is DifferentCarmen ReinhartAmazon 1 episode
- 40 What Is Intelligence?Blaise Aguera y ArcasAmazon 1 episode
- 41 Yes Is MoreBjarke Ingels GroupAmazon 1 episode
Episode by episode
How to Return Stolen Art (Update) | Freakonomics Radio · 2026-08-28
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“They are disjointed because it's like taking William Shakespeare's Hamlet. You go to first act, tear the page off, then go to the last act and tear it off. Then paste it on the wall and call it William Shakespeare.”
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“They are disjointed because it's like taking William Shakespeare's Macbeth. You go to first act, tear the page off, then go to the last act and tear it off. Then paste it on the wall and call it William Shakespeare.”
Anne Pasternak and Michael Roth on Why Institutions Still Matter | Better in Person · 2026-08-25
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“He wrote a book called Safe Enough Spaces and in 2012 Wesleyan hosted the Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.”
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“This is from her book called Raised by Wolves, which is a story of kids living on the streets in San Francisco.”
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“And then he did a book from which this is taken called Pictures from Home.”
Is a Museum Just a Trophy Case? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio · 2026-08-21
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“Consider the book he published in 2020. It's called The Brutish Museums: The Beninian Bronzes:es Colonial Violence and Cultural Rest.”
Why Jennifer Egan Trusts Anyone More Than Herself | Better in Person · 2026-08-18
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“A Visit from the Goon Squad, a kaleidoscope of a book about music, and ambition, and the nature of time and memory.”
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“with Manhattan Beach, I initially thought, 'Oh, I'm going to use some tricky narrative strategies. I'm going to try to do something that isn't just straight-up historical fiction.'”
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“I dedicated The Candy House to them. I mean I couldn't do what I do without feedback.”
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“I think a lot of us reread that E.B. White essay, Here is New York.”
684. He Helped Clean Up the Last Crash. Does He See Another One Coming? | Freakonomics Radio · 2026-08-07
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“their book was called this time is different eight centuries of financial folly they were talking about that financial crash”
What If Being a Stranger Is Actually Your Superpower? | Better in Person · 2026-08-04
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Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi's Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging — Angela BookdollRecommended
“Her memoir is called Heart of a Stranger, an unlikely rabbi's story of faith, identity, and belonging.”
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“I remember there's a book by Abraham Joshua Hessel called the Sabbath.”
683. In the New Space Race, Who Makes the Rules? | Freakonomics Radio · 2026-07-31
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“He read The War of the Worlds and he read the unauthorized sequel to The War of the Worlds called Edison's Conquest of Mars. He read that as a teenager and he wrote in his diary about”
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“and he read the unauthorized sequel to The War of the Worlds called Edison's Conquest of Mars. He read that as a teenager and he wrote in his diary about”
Harlan Coben Turned His Books Into 12 Netflix Series | Better in Person · 2026-07-28
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“Runaway is one of my most devastating endings.”
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“I just finished writing a book with Reese Witherspoon that just came out called Before Collaboration.”
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“When I wrote Tell No One, there was a huge bidding war in Hollywood. Tell no one was my breakout book.”
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“I was the first person to actually blurb that book way back when.”
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“I had read a non-fiction book called Holy Blood Holy Grail and I kind of loved that theory.”
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“I wrote one book, I don't remember what I think it's the innocent and I named the lead character Jeff.”
682. Should A.I. Move to Space? | Freakonomics Radio · 2026-07-24
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“kind of like Gollum versus Smeagol in Lord of the Rings”
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“you published a book last year based in part on the work that you and your team are doing at the Paradigms of Intelligence Team. It's called What Is Intelligence? Lessons from AI about evolution, computing, and minds.”
How Gary Gulman Turned Depression Into Comedy Gold | Better in Person · 2026-07-21
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“He wrote a really nice memoir called Misfit: Growing Up Awkward in the 80s.”
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“I'm reading the autobiography of Nelson Mandela right now. One reason because I admire him, but also this has to be one of the most forgiving men in history.”
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“I read this book by Peter Singer, the most good you can do where if you live within certain means and give away a certain amount, you can save lives.”
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“Michael Pollan wrote that book How to Change Your Mind and it was very influential.”
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“Emerson in self-reliance said that the specific is universal which seems impossible but I have found that the more specific an art is the more it resonates with me.”
Are You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio · 2026-07-17
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“McFale recently published a book called Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World. She writes that roughly half a billion people suffer from food allergies alone.”
How a Great Architect Thinks ft. Bjarke Ingels | Better in Person · 2026-07-14
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“I really enjoyed freconomics because uh it it is saturated and because of your co-author's ability to sort of collect all of these incredible data sets, getting them from drug dealers and prostitutes and dating games”
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“our first book in the form of a of a graphic novel about architecture is called Yes Is More”
Why Chef Hillary Sterling Trusts Her Senses Over Science | Better in Person · 2026-07-14
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“Hillary has just published her first cookbook called Amatza, and it has a recipe for garlic confi.”
681. How to Host a Talk Show, with Dick Cavett | Freakonomics Radio · 2026-07-10
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“Mailer had recently published a provocative book on the women's liberation movement called The Prisoner of Sex, and Vidal had given it a negative review.”
679. Why Does Vanderbilt Keep Winning? | Freakonomics Radio · 2026-06-26
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“the example that they picked was this book The New Jim Crow, which makes the argument that mass incarceration after the war on drugs was intended and had the consequence of suppressing African-American communities”
The World Is (Still) Drowning in Sludge | Freakonomics Radio · 2026-06-24
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“And you co-wrote a book years ago, a beloved book really, called Nudge.”
678. Who Gets to Choose a “Good Death”? | Freakonomics Radio · 2026-06-19
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“In 2011 he published a popular book called Thinking Fast and Slow. His primary topic was human decision-making especially how we make decisions under uncertainty.”
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Moral EconomicsDiscussed
“He's just published a book called Moral Economics: From Prostitution to Organ Sales, What Controversial Transactions Reveal About How Markets Work.”
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“There was an organization called the Hemlock Society that published a book of how-to. It was called Let Me Die Before I Wake.”
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“I'm also the author of The Good Death, A Guide Supporting Your Loved One Through The End of Life.”
677. Can Backgammon Save Us from Ourselves? | Freakonomics Radio · 2026-06-12
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“At the Mayfair Club in New York, the marks or pigeons, when they got in these positions, would say, 'At least I'm in the game until the end.'”
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“Backgammon has evolved from soccer, basketball, or tennis, where the fantastic inspired shot is the object of awe, to gymnastics or diving, where the goal is a flawless routine, a perfect 10, zero error rating.”