Host of Lex Fridman Podcast
1 book recommended · 4 episodes
Books they recommend that someone else wrote.
“Marcus Aurelius in the Roman Empire is an example of that. Reading meditations is also just an insight into the mind of a man who's to himself, because meditations is not supposed to be work that's published. It's just a diary. To himself is deeply humbled.”
Why: It offers an insight into the mind of a humbled, powerful human being.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Host on Lex Fridman PodcastVikings, Ragnar, Berserkers, Valhalla & the Warriors of the Viking Age | Lex Fridman Podcast #495
Their own books, or books they discussed with the author. Not counted as recommendations.
“He has authored many books that I highly recommend, including Madness in Civilization, A Cultural History of Insanity from the Bible to Freud, from the Madhouse to Modern Medicine,…”
Why: Recommended by the host as part of the guest's impressive body of work.
Madness in Civilization by Andrew T. Scull
Host on Lex Fridman PodcastPsychiatry, Insane Asylums, Mental Illness, ECT, Lobotomies, Freud & Jung | Lex Fridman Podcast #502
“Madhouse, a tragic tale of megalomania and modern medicine is the book you're referring to. That reminds me of Flowers of Argonon. That doesn't have a happy ending, and that's not about mental health necessarily, but it's about the journey of the institution in relation to the health of a patient.”
Why: Mentioned as a compelling historical book about institutional care.
Madhouse by Andrew T. Scull
Host on Lex Fridman PodcastPsychiatry, Insane Asylums, Mental Illness, ECT, Lobotomies, Freud & Jung | Lex Fridman Podcast #502
“and Desperate Remedies, Psychiatry's Turbulent Quest to Cure Mental Illness. Andrew Skull has spent decades studying how societies have understood madness, how psychiatry rose to…”
Why: Highly recommended by the host for understanding the turbulent quest of psychiatry.
Desperate Remedies by Andrew T. Scull
Host on Lex Fridman PodcastPsychiatry, Insane Asylums, Mental Illness, ECT, Lobotomies, Freud & Jung | Lex Fridman Podcast #502
“You have written, One of the books is Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood, The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 AD to the First Crusade.”
Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood by Anthony Kaldellis
Host on Lex Fridman PodcastThe Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire | Lex Fridman Podcast #498
“The following is a conversation with Lars Brownworth, a historian and author of many excellent history books, including The Seawolves, A History of the Vikings, and The Normans, From Raiders to Kings.”
The Sea Wolves by Lars Brownworth
Host on Lex Fridman PodcastVikings, Ragnar, Berserkers, Valhalla & the Warriors of the Viking Age | Lex Fridman Podcast #495
Named without an opinion attached.
“And then finally, when ECT doesn't smash him to bits, they lobotomize him, and the film ends obviously with him being smothered to death because Chief can't bear to see him in the state that he's in. So that fixed in the public mind some of the images of these things.”
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Host on Lex Fridman PodcastPsychiatry, Insane Asylums, Mental Illness, ECT, Lobotomies, Freud & Jung | Lex Fridman Podcast #502
“Madhouse, a tragic tale of megalomania and modern medicine is the book you're referring to. That reminds me of Flowers of Argonon. That doesn't have a happy ending, and that's not about mental health necessarily, but it's about the journey of the institution in relation to the health of a patient.”
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Host on Lex Fridman PodcastPsychiatry, Insane Asylums, Mental Illness, ECT, Lobotomies, Freud & Jung | Lex Fridman Podcast #502
“I read this book, The Fourth Turning. You've checked that out. It talks about this notion of history working in cycles.”
The Fourth Turning by William Strauss
Host on Lex Fridman PodcastDHH: Future of Programming, AI, Agentic Engineering, Vibe Coding & Linux | Lex Fridman Podcast #501
“This, by the way, is not a new thesis. David Graeber wrote this wonderful piece, Bullshit Jobs, back in, I think it was maybe early 2010s.”
Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber
Host on Lex Fridman PodcastDHH: Future of Programming, AI, Agentic Engineering, Vibe Coding & Linux | Lex Fridman Podcast #501