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  • Experts

Anthropology

    The best books on Capitalism and Human Nature, recommended by Robert J Shiller

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    The best books on Capitalism and Human Nature - The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith

    1

    The Theory of Moral Sentiments
    by Adam Smith

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    The best books on Capitalism and Human Nature - The Passions and the Interests by Albert Hirschman

    2

    The Passions and the Interests
    by Albert Hirschman

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    The best books on Capitalism and Human Nature - Nudge by Cass Sunstein & Richard Thaler

    3

    Nudge
    by Cass Sunstein & Richard Thaler

  • Read
    The best books on Capitalism and Human Nature - Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten The World Economy by Raghuram G Rajan

    4

    Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten The World Economy
    by Raghuram G Rajan

  • Read
    The best books on Capitalism and Human Nature - Winner-Take-All Politics by Jacob S Hacker and Paul Pierson

    5

    Winner-Take-All Politics
    by Jacob S Hacker and Paul Pierson

The best books on Capitalism and Human Nature, recommended by Robert J Shiller

“You have to understand people first before you can understand how to devise an economic system for them” argues Robert J Shiller, the Yale economics professor and Nobel laureate. He chooses five books that explore who we fundamentally are, as human beings, and how that will determine the shape of a successful capitalism.

    The best books on Cultural Evolution, recommended by Joe Henrich

  • Read
    The best books on Cultural Evolution - The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

    1

    The Selfish Gene
    by Richard Dawkins

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    The best books on Cultural Evolution - Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution by Peter J. Richerson & Robert Boyd

    2

    Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution
    by Peter J. Richerson & Robert Boyd

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    The best books on Cultural Evolution - Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond

    3

    Guns, Germs and Steel
    by Jared Diamond

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    The best books on Cultural Evolution - The Creation of Inequality: How Our Prehistoric Ancestors Set the Stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire by Joyce Marcus & Kent Flannery

    4

    The Creation of Inequality: How Our Prehistoric Ancestors Set the Stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire
    by Joyce Marcus & Kent Flannery

  • Read
    The best books on Cultural Evolution - The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition by Michael Tomasello

    5

    The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition
    by Michael Tomasello

The best books on Cultural Evolution, recommended by Joe Henrich

What role did culture play in human evolution? Why did human brains get so big so quickly? When and why did inequality first emerge in human society? Harvard professor and author Joe Henrich picks some of the best books for understanding ‘cultural evolution.’

    The best books on Children, recommended by Jo Boyden

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    The best books on Children - Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children by Viviana A Zelizer

    1

    Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children
    by Viviana A Zelizer

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    The best books on Children - Social Development by H. Rudolph Schaffer

    2

    Social Development
    by H. Rudolph Schaffer

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    The best books on Children - The Roads of Chinese Childhood by Charles Stafford

    3

    The Roads of Chinese Childhood
    by Charles Stafford

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    The best books on Children - The Child in the City by Colin Ward

    4

    The Child in the City
    by Colin Ward

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    The best books on Children - The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett

    5

    The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger
    by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett

The best books on Children, recommended by Jo Boyden

We all know how children should be brought up, and rarely question the cultural norms that underly that certainty. But what does that mean for the policies we try to impose on the developing world? Jo Boyden, professor of international development at Oxford University and director of its Young Lives study, picks books that question our assumptions about how to successfully raise a child.

    The best books on Virtual Living, recommended by Aleks Krotoski

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    The best books on Virtual Living - Life on the Screen by Sherry Turkle

    1

    Life on the Screen
    by Sherry Turkle

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    The best books on Virtual Living - My Tiny Life by Julian Dibbell

    2

    My Tiny Life
    by Julian Dibbell

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    The best books on Virtual Living - Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

    3

    Snow Crash
    by Neal Stephenson

  • Read
    The best books on Virtual Living - Neuromancer by William Gibson

    4

    Neuromancer
    by William Gibson

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    The best books on Virtual Living - Six Degrees by Mark Lynas

    5

    Six Degrees
    by Mark Lynas

The best books on Virtual Living, recommended by Aleks Krotoski

‘There was a research study done in the 1960s that identified that people will open themselves up to a stranger on a train and tell them deep personal information they would never tell their closest friends, partially because they have this sense that they can confess.’

    The best books on Evolution and Human Cooperation, recommended by Paul Seabright

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    The best books on Evolution and Human Cooperation - The Origins of Virtue by Matt Ridley

    1

    The Origins of Virtue
    by Matt Ridley

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    The best books on Evolution and Human Cooperation - A Cooperative Species by Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis

    2

    A Cooperative Species
    by Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis

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    The best books on Evolution and Human Cooperation - Hierarchy in the Forest by Christopher Boehm

    3

    Hierarchy in the Forest
    by Christopher Boehm

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    The best books on Evolution and Human Cooperation - Peacemaking Among Primates by Frans de Waal

    4

    Peacemaking Among Primates
    by Frans de Waal

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    The best books on Evolution and Human Cooperation - Mothers and Others by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy

    5

    Mothers and Others
    by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy

The best books on Evolution and Human Cooperation, recommended by Paul Seabright

Think of Darwinian natural selection and you may think of selfish or competitive behaviour, but this is far from the whole story, says economist Paul Seabright.

    The best books on Immortality, recommended by Stephen Cave

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    The best books on Immortality - The Epic of Gilgamesh by Anonymous

    1

    The Epic of Gilgamesh
    by Anonymous

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    The best books on Immortality - Life After Death by Alan F Segal

    2

    Life After Death
    by Alan F Segal

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    The best books on Immortality - Escape From Evil by Ernest Becker

    3

    Escape From Evil
    by Ernest Becker

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    The best books on Immortality - The Mortal Coil by David Boyd Haycock

    4

    The Mortal Coil
    by David Boyd Haycock

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    The best books on Immortality - The Immortal by Jorge Luis Borges

    5

    The Immortal
    by Jorge Luis Borges

The best books on Immortality, recommended by Stephen Cave

Will it be possible to live forever? Is there such a thing as the soul, or immortality in one’s legacy? The author of a new book on immortality explores the eternal questions, from elixirs of life to modern-day cryonics

    The best books on Native Americans and Colonisers, recommended by Colin Calloway

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    The best books on Native Americans and Colonisers - 1491 by Charles C Mann

    1

    1491
    by Charles C Mann

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    The best books on Native Americans and Colonisers - The Columbian Exchange by Alfred W Crosby Jr

    2

    The Columbian Exchange
    by Alfred W Crosby Jr

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    The best books on Native Americans and Colonisers - Custer Died for Your Sins by Vine Deloria Jr

    3

    Custer Died for Your Sins
    by Vine Deloria Jr

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    The best books on Native Americans and Colonisers - The Invasion of America by Francis Jennings

    4

    The Invasion of America
    by Francis Jennings

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    The best books on Native Americans and Colonisers - The Middle Ground by Richard White

    5

    The Middle Ground
    by Richard White

The best books on Native Americans and Colonisers, recommended by Colin Calloway

There’s a lot more to the story of colonists and Native Americans than the tale of the first Thanksgiving taught in school, says history professor Colin Calloway.

    The best books on Prehistory, recommended by Tim White

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    The best books on Prehistory - Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin

    1

    Voyage of the Beagle
    by Charles Darwin

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    The best books on Prehistory - On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

    2

    On the Origin of Species
    by Charles Darwin

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    The best books on Prehistory - The Journals of Lewis and Clark by Bernard DeVoto (editor)

    3

    The Journals of Lewis and Clark
    by Bernard DeVoto (editor)

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    The best books on Prehistory - The First Human by Ann Gibbons

    4

    The First Human
    by Ann Gibbons

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    The best books on Prehistory - Missing Links by John Reader

    5

    Missing Links
    by John Reader

The best books on Prehistory, recommended by Tim White

Paleoanthropologist Tim White tells us about his work investigating the origins of homo sapiens and explains what a 4.4 million-year-old skeleton he found in Africa tells us about our common past.

    The best books on Archaeology, recommended by Neal Ascherson

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    The best books on Archaeology - Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie

    1

    Come, Tell Me How You Live
    by Agatha Christie

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    The best books on Archaeology - Progress and Archaeology by Vere Gordon Childe

    2

    Progress and Archaeology
    by Vere Gordon Childe

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    The best books on Archaeology - Method and Theory in American Archaeology by Gordon R. Willey, Philip Phillips

    3

    Method and Theory in American Archaeology
    by Gordon R. Willey, Philip Phillips

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    The best books on Archaeology - Reconstructing Archaeology by Michael Shanks, Christopher Tilley

    4

    Reconstructing Archaeology
    by Michael Shanks, Christopher Tilley

  • Read
    The best books on Archaeology - Academic Freedom and Apartheid by Peter Ucko

    5

    Academic Freedom and Apartheid
    by Peter Ucko

The best books on Archaeology, recommended by Neal Ascherson

The journalist, author and editor of the journal Public Archaeology, explains why the history of archaeology is a surprisingly bloody affair – 80% of the Polish archaeological profession died one way or another during WW2

    The best books on African Religion and Witchcraft, recommended by Jean Fontaine

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    The best books on African Religion and Witchcraft - Divinity and Experience by Godfrey Lienhardt

    1

    Divinity and Experience
    by Godfrey Lienhardt

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    The best books on African Religion and Witchcraft - Lugbara Religion by John Middleton

    2

    Lugbara Religion
    by John Middleton

  • Read
    The best books on African Religion and Witchcraft - Chisungu - A Girl’s Initiation Ceremony Among the Bemba of Zambia. by Audrey Richards

    3

    Chisungu - A Girl’s Initiation Ceremony Among the Bemba of Zambia.
    by Audrey Richards

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    The best books on African Religion and Witchcraft - Witchcraft by Lucy Mair

    4

    Witchcraft
    by Lucy Mair

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    The best books on African Religion and Witchcraft - Kinshasa by Filip de Boeck and Marie-Francoise Plissard

    5

    Kinshasa
    by Filip de Boeck and Marie-Francoise Plissard

The best books on African Religion and Witchcraft, recommended by Jean Fontaine

The emeritus professor of social anthropology at the London School of Economics and author of Speak of the Devil says the Dinka and the Nuer are famous in anthropology for not being preoccupied with misfortune

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