My top books

This is my list of the most important books for me, that inspired or formed many of the mental models of the world. They contain mostly non-fiction, since fiction might be fun, but the real world is usually a better teacher, and more bizarre than most authors can ever imagine. These books provide mental tools to better understand the world, but none of them should be used literally in any topic but the actual topic of the book.

All models are wrong, but some are useful

(George Box)

Major influences

Behave. The Biology of humans at our best and worst

by Robert M Sapolsky

Robert Sapolsky dissects the engine of our thoughts and behaviors into four categories of influence:

• Genetics and development - what builds our body and our brain, what we inherit from generations
• Nurture, education, experience - what we learn from parents, friends, school, life, and how it forms our mental models and even brains
• Hormones - the chemical status quo in our bodies at the moment of action
• Nerve impulses - what's actually happening in our brains in that very second

This book, alone, has rewritten the way I look at how and why we act. It completely demolishes the idea of truly independent thought, proving that our behaviors are pretty much deterministic, and even with our current, limited understanding, we can effectively treat a lot of behaviors.

I had some discussions with a friend who is actually a scholar in neuroscience, and with a few scoffs, dismissals and corrections, I kinda figured out how to interpret this book. While it does make it seem like "that part of the brain is the center for this and that", it's a lot more nuanced in real life, but as a simplified model it does serve a purpose.

We do have understanding, and a lot of science (fMRI studies) that shows how much of the "rational" decision making (versus emotional) is taking place in the vmPFC - the emotional regulator, that doesn't develop fully until the mid-20s, and that gets completely impaired by heavy alcohol use. This hints that most of our behavior impulse is actually emotional, and it requires great effort to control it into the right direction, and that effort is done by our most advanced top-of-the-line hardware - the prefrontal cortex. Though the book actually quotes the dlPFC to be the decision calculator, my later independent assessment is that it's a combination of the two.

This book taught me to look a bit more clinically at upset situations around me, and at my own decisions. It doesn't mean that I can suddenly control everything - not even close, but it makes me more aware of how much I am actually in control, and sometimes that makes me pull the emergency brakes whereas otherwise I would have continued to act impulsively.

Thinking, Fast and slow

by Daniel Kahneman

I actually got inspired to read this based on Michael Lewis's book on the biography of these 2 fellas. It was, seemingly, a very interesting life and experience, with hardship and success.

Even though in 2026 behavioral psychology is almost a slur, given how much science was faked, and how little can be replicated, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky have tackled it with higher fidelity, with simpler experiments, that can be replicated, and that reach a very simple conclusion: we tend to (a lot) use heuristics instead of real thought. We take mental shortcuts, and we resist hard to do the difficult part - learn, unlearn, analytically determine.

One of the young scientists that I was following on some social media wrote something that stuck: "If your head isn't hurting, you aren't learning", or something along those lines. Learning, thinking, and especially un-learning, is hard. It's so hard that we will cheat, lie to ourselves, just to not do it. So much of the world can be explained just with this alone.

Can you act on it? Well, if it's you, and you learn to gain awareness, you can at least attempt to stop lying to yourself. Then, the "Never fool yourself, and remember that you're the easiest person to fool" advice is actually attainable.

The Selfish Gene

by Richard Dawkins

This is a classic at this point. If you haven't read this one, there's no excuse for putting it off.

While the book goes thoroughly through biology, sex, evolution, in a language tailored for the lay person, the key take-aways for a non-biologist are:

• Incentives rule the world. Simple feedback mechanisms that reward success with propagation, are what build any self-perpetuating system. In the lay world, that basically translates to "follow the money".
• You can never truly understand a complex system by analyzing the macro level and making intuitive observed laws like "group selection". The true way to get at it, is to look at the individual processes that happen.

It's also nice to see analytical rigor, and the use of game theory to mathematically model populations based on incentives, and compare with the observation and see them match (the case of bee sex distribution). That just tickles me pleasantly.

Crucial Conversations

This is a classic self-help book. It even advertises seminars and other things. But the book is free, and for that low low price I've actually gotten amazing good advice.

Unlike other self-help books, like the famous, but abysmally bad, "The subtle art of not giving a f*ck", this one actually has actionable things you can do, and exercise yourself in doing, that are constructive and better for everyone.

It's been a while, but the most important 2 lessons I practice every day since then are:

• Determine and remember what you, or they really want. Navigate through the BS, through the declarations, through the proxies, and determine what's the actual goal of this entire thing that's going on. Remember that, and don't let the discussion diverge too far from it, because it often wants to.
• If emotions are high, and de-escalation doesn't immediately work, and the previous point is not feasible in achieving - leave the conversation. Come back later. Let it cool down, simmer. Escalating it further is counter-productive.

That is, if you really want a positive outcome. Pushing your emotions back is hard. Sometimes, if you know you have nothing to gain or lose anyway, you can indulge yourself in dumb escalations.

Why Zebras don't get ulcers

by Robert M Sapolsky

Unlike the other books above, that teach thought models, this one is much simpler - it just teaches me why I feel the way I do, and how to better live in a world where stress is "just another wednesday".

Understand why you crave sweet and savory greasy snacks when you're stressed, and maybe what to do about it. Understand how prolonged stress, and depression, can affect the brain physically, and how it affects memories.

If anything, maybe this book will invite you to take better care of yourself, and go to a brain doctor if you must.

Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction

(by Philip E. Tetlock, Dan Gardner)

This is the ultimate amateur's guide to epistemology.

90% of the people I interact with would benefit from taking a few crucial lessons from this book. From my mom asking for the forecast to certainly predict the rain, to literally everyone online chasing false dichotomies "It's either A or Z".

This book focuses on the predictive capabilities of intelligence services, how they succeed, how they fail, and how they learn from failures. This brings a scientific rigor into the uncertain world of politics and macroeconomics. It vehemently rejects certainty, and teaches to embrace informed uncertainty.

If you ever wanted to understand how being wrong can be a virtue, this is the book for you.

I can't stress enough how frustrating it is when everyone around flaunts so much certainty. We live in a world of lies, that causes divides, resentment, all kinds of cults and destructive ideologies. Yet learning only one simple lesson from this book could have prevented all of this: be honest about uncertainty, and keep track of it as you build your tree of conclusions.

“Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”: Adventures of a Curious Character

by Richard Feynman

This isn't a pop-science book, and it doesn't seek out to teach a lesson. It's an interesting, fun autobiographical book by one of the smartest overachieving people of the time.

The lessons it does implicitly teach, are by example:

• Be inquisitive and approachable. Ask, talk, try. No matter who you are and who you're talking to - talk. You're not above it, unless you're being actively shunned or prevented. You're never too smart or too rich to enjoy music with people who can't afford new clothes. You're never too educated to have dinner with sex workers and talk about literally any subject.
• Be humble. Let only your immediate actions dictate how you're perceived, and don't put too much weight on people's past, whether it's good or bad.
• Be aware, forthcoming and clear about what you like - you'll get more of it.
• Put shame inside a box and leave it in a hidden corner in the attic. There's no shame in sexuality, or in failing in new activities. As long as your intentions are good, there's nothing to be ashamed of.

It just feels like a good antidote to the false values propagated by the internet's virtue signalling and performative activism crowds.

Debt: The first 5000 years

by David Graeber

This is the second book I've read by this author. The first one being "Bullshit Jobs", which I gotta say, I agree with as much as I disagree with.

But "Debt" is a whole other situation. Having been educated in economics, "Debt" puts a different perspective in social relationships across time, that eventually transitioned into money.

This book goes amazingly well with "The Selfish Gene". They describe a lot of similar mental models, but at different scales and from completely different fields of study.

World War Z

by Max Brooks

This is one of the few (or the only) fiction book in the list. Even though it's fiction, it describes real world models, and is an economics book in disguise. Though it is important to remember that it's a parable and not an actual picture of reality. It offers an inspiration to new understanding, rather than the models themselves. For the models, we will have to look closely at reality.

It has a good sci-fi / horror premise, and is quite vivid in its imagery. A classic zombie apocalypse, but described from multiple perspectives, at multiple times. The mechanics of different aspects are well thought out, and it seems almost real.

Where it gives lessons about the real world, is in today's clashes between 2 types of civilizations:

• one which treasures every human life, and finds it inconceivable to lose someone prematurely. You know the one, you're probably living in it.
• another one, in which humans are disposable resources in order to achieve a goal. In a war, they're referred to as cannon fodder, martyrs, or in some circles - zombies.

The book defines (or borrows) the concept of a "pain threshold". The first kind of civilization has a very low pain threshold. It pulls back when their taxes hike by 1% or they face the loss of 5 good people. The second kind of civilization has a very high or non-existent pain threshold. Some indicators show that losing their own is actually good for them. Death is trivialized, loss is easily replaceable. Russians even used an excuse like "бабы нарожают" (women will breed enough of us), to justify sending cannon fodder.

It brings the reader into a reality where such waves of zombies take special considerations to efficiently counter. Economics around the cost and complexity of equipment fundamentally change.

I know that these paragraphs are a grim change from the rest of the short reviews, but such models are important in order to not fall victim to psychological projection, and become better equipped with the adequate models to understand the current world.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb

by Richard Rhodes

I've read it a while back. It's quite technical in its narration, but it provides a very detailed history of the lives of people, the science and the political landscape between the discovery of radioactivity to the deployment of the atomic bombs.

If you liked the movie "Oppenheimer" - a wonderful and accurate historical movie, you will find this book a lot more dramatic and detailed. You will find out about the science, psychology, economics and logistics of the biggest project ever built until that time.

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany

by William Shirer

William Shirer is a journalist. He happened to be witnessing the rise of one of the most infamous, and one of the most misunderstood states in history.

From the early life of A. Hitler, to the people that he used, strategies and lack thereof, falling to emotions and stupid decisions.

Some things from the book are disputed by other historians, like who his parents are, their last names were, etc.

But what's really important about it is how this horror was allowed to fester in the heart of Europe, and how Europe's noble protectors not only did nothing to tackle it, but actively helped and pressured. What happened to Czechoslovakia at that time is an important lesson that today's politicians are ignoring completely.

It also goes over the darkest parts of human nature, and will leave most readers deeply shocked.