Not sure if these should be in the other categories but each one built on my understanding of the others, so I'll list them together:
Who We Are and How We Got Here by David Reich. Summarises the latest archeo-genetics findings and lays out the origins of the modern races, ethnicities and castes. Also demonstrates that violent population …
Not sure if these should be in the other categories but each one built on my understanding of the others, so I'll list them together:
Who We Are and How We Got Here by David Reich. Summarises the latest archeo-genetics findings and lays out the origins of the modern races, ethnicities and castes. Also demonstrates that violent population replacements were a lot more common in prehistory than the post-war archaeology establishment had previously acknowledged.
War in Human Civilisation by Azar Gat. The definitive account of warfare in human history, with a strong focus on evo-theory and game theory considerations. Argues that group conflict has been the main driver of progress throughout history. Also gives a perspective on 20th century geopolitical conflict and the causes of the current peace that's outside the orthodoxy but persuasive.
Wages of Destruction by Adam Tooze. Fantastically detailed economic account of the Third Reich. Extremely challenging to conventional accounts of WW2, imo.
A Farewell to Alms and the Sun also Rises by Gregory Clark. Details the Malthusian nature of most pre-industrial societies, and the second book argues that those Malthusian pressures have resulted in significant selection effects on some populations.
The Descent of Man by Darwin. Origin of Species is a fun read but wont offer many new ideas to a modern reader. The Descent of Man is stuffed with ideas that were new to me and that I found interesting at least. When I first read it as a teenager a lot of it just seemed weird or ridiculous, but a lot of Darwin's more fringe hypothesis have been supported by the books above, so it's a great read if you already understand some of the context of how pre-war/ late 19th century people understood the world, and the ways it might actually have been more accurate than the common modern perspective.
Not to sound dramatic, but taken together those books outline a world view that'll be very alien, and maybe disturbing, to anyone born in the post-war West, but that used to common before the war and that I at least find persuasive on it's own terms.
Not sure if these should be in the other categories but each one built on my understanding of the others, so I'll list them together:
Who We Are and How We Got Here by David Reich. Summarises the latest archeo-genetics findings and lays out the origins of the modern races, ethnicities and castes. Also demonstrates that violent population replacements were a lot more common in prehistory than the post-war archaeology establishment had previously acknowledged.
War in Human Civilisation by Azar Gat. The definitive account of warfare in human history, with a strong focus on evo-theory and game theory considerations. Argues that group conflict has been the main driver of progress throughout history. Also gives a perspective on 20th century geopolitical conflict and the causes of the current peace that's outside the orthodoxy but persuasive.
Wages of Destruction by Adam Tooze. Fantastically detailed economic account of the Third Reich. Extremely challenging to conventional accounts of WW2, imo.
A Farewell to Alms and the Sun also Rises by Gregory Clark. Details the Malthusian nature of most pre-industrial societies, and the second book argues that those Malthusian pressures have resulted in significant selection effects on some populations.
The Descent of Man by Darwin. Origin of Species is a fun read but wont offer many new ideas to a modern reader. The Descent of Man is stuffed with ideas that were new to me and that I found interesting at least. When I first read it as a teenager a lot of it just seemed weird or ridiculous, but a lot of Darwin's more fringe hypothesis have been supported by the books above, so it's a great read if you already understand some of the context of how pre-war/ late 19th century people understood the world, and the ways it might actually have been more accurate than the common modern perspective.
Not to sound dramatic, but taken together those books outline a world view that'll be very alien, and maybe disturbing, to anyone born in the post-war West, but that used to common before the war and that I at least find persuasive on it's own terms.