Dan Ariely's Book Recommendations (Updated for 2026)

1

Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success

Adam Grant

4.3

Give and Take highlights what effective networking, collaboration, influence, negotiation, and leadership skills have in common.

For generations, we have focused on the individual drivers of success: passion, hard work, talent, and luck. But today, success is increasingly dependent on how we interact with others. It turns out that at work, most people operate as either takers, matchers, or givers.

Recommended by Arianna Huffington, Dan Ariely, David Allen, and 17 others.

Arianna Huffington

Founder/The Huffington Post

“I love this book, which shows that givers get ahead and nice guys don’t finish last. [source]

Simon Sinek

Author

Gotta say, I'm pretty flattered every time asks me if I've read @AdamMGrant book Give and Take. Good guy. Good book [source]

Susan Cain

Author

As brilliant as it is wise, this is not just a book—it’s a new and shining worldview. [source]

2

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Robert B. Cialdini

4.4

Preview Summary

Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say "yes"—and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion. His thirty-five years of rigorous, evidence-based research along with a three-year program of study on what moves people to change behavior has resulted in this highly

Recommended by Charles T. Munger, Dan Ariely, Jim Collins, and 40 others.

Dan Ariely

Author

It covers a range of ways in which we end up doing things, and how we don’t understand why we’re doing them. [source]

Charles T. Munger

Vice Chairman/Berkshire Hathaway

Robert Cialdini has had a greater impact on my thinking on this topic than any other scientist. [source]

Max Levchin

Co-founder/PayPal, CEO/Affirm, Investor

Max Levchin recommended this book as an answer to "What business books would you advise young entrepreneurs read?" [source]

3

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Richard H. Thaler

4.1

Preview Summary

Every day, we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. The reason, the authors explain, is that, being human, we all are susceptible to various biases that can lead us to blunder. Our mistakes make us poorer and less healthy; we often make bad decisions involving educ

Recommended by Dan Ariely, Vinod Khosla, Vinod Khosla, and 18 others.

Dan Ariely

Author

Nudge is a very important book. One of the reasons Nudge is so important is because it’s taking these ideas and applying them to the policy domain. Here are the mistakes we make. Here are the ways marketers are trying to influence us. Here’s the way we might be able to fight back. If policymakers understood these principles, what could they do? The other important thing about the book is that it describes, in detail, small interventions. It’s basically a book about cheap persuasion. [source]

Eric Ries

Founder/Long-Term Stock Exchange

A pioneer in behavioral economics and just recently awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics, his classic book on how to make better decisions. [source]

Ryan Holiday

Author

This might feel like a weird book to include, but I think it presents another side of strategy that is too often forgotten. It’s not always about bold actors and strategic thrusts. Sometimes strategy is about subtle influence. Sometimes it is framing and small tweaks that change behavior. We can have big aims, but get there with little moves. This book has excellent examples of that kind of thinking and how it is changing politics, government and business. My favorite example is about the bumblebee that they started putting on urinals–which drastically reduced the amount of spray and spillage because it changed where men aimed when they peed. It’s not exactly the coolest strategy but it solved a problem. So we can learn from it. [source]

4

Abby Carnelia's One & Only Magical Power

David Pogue, Antonio Javier Caparo

4.3

SILLY MAGICAL POWERS, KIDS ON THE RUN.

One day, Abby Carnelia, ordinary sixth grader, realizes she has a magical power. Okay, it's not a fancy one (she can make a hard-boiled egg spin by tugging on her ears). But it's the only one she has, and it's enough to launch her into an adventure where she meets a host of kids with similarly silly powers, becomes a potential guinea pig for a drug company, a

Recommended by Dan Ariely.

5

A Visit from the Goon Squad

Jennifer Egan

3.6

Jennifer Egan’s spellbinding interlocking narratives circle the lives of Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Although Bennie and Sasha never discover each other’s pasts, the reader does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs, over many

Recommended by Dan Ariely, Adam Roberts, Adam Roberts, and 1 others.

Adam Roberts

I love this novel. It is wonderfully written, brilliantly imaginative and engaging, funny and sad and smart. I also love it because of what it says about SF. That in a genre often caricatured (by those who don’t know it very well) as being about the wish-fulfillment fantasies of adolescent boys – huge space weapons, scantily clad astro-girls and so on – some of the very best work is being written by women. [source]

Adam Roberts

I love this novel. It is wonderfully written, brilliantly imaginative and engaging, funny and sad and smart. I also love it because of what it says about SF. That in a genre often caricatured (by those who don’t know it very well) as being about the wish-fulfillment fantasies of adolescent boys – huge space weapons, scantily clad astro-girls and so on – some of the very best work is being written by women. [source]

Lee Pace

@Egangoonsquad @EW I loved this book. Great pick. [source]

Cover unavailable

6

Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind

David Livingstone Smith

3.9

Deceit, lying, and falsehoods lie at the very heart of our cultural heritage. Even the founding myth of the Judeo-Christian tradition, the story of Adam and Eve, revolves around a lie. We have been talking, writing and singing about deception ever since Eve told God, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." Our seemingly insatiable appetite for stories of deception spans the extremes of culture from

Recommended by Dan Ariely.

7

Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think

Brian Wansink

4.2

This book will literally change the way you think about your next meal. Food psychologist Brian Wansink revolutionizes our awareness of how much, what, and why we’re eating—often without realizing it. His findings will astound you.

• Can the size of your plate really influence your appetite?
• Why do you eat more when you dine with friends?
• What “hidden persuaders” are used by restaurants and super

Recommended by Dan Ariely and Noah Kagan.

Dan Ariely

Author

As obesity becomes a bigger issue, the book has a lot of practical things to say about the obesity epidemic. [source]

Noah Kagan

Founder/Sumo

A few months ago, I was drinking a Noah’s Mill whiskey (cute) with my good buddy Brian Balfour and talking about life... During the conversation, we got on the topic of books that changed our lives. I want to share them with you. I judge a book's success if a year later I'm still using at least 1 thing from the book. [source]

8

Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength

Roy F. Baumeister, John Tierney

4.2

One of the world's most esteemed and influential psychologists, Roy F. Baumeister, teams with New York Times science writer John Tierney to reveal the secrets of self-control and how to master it. In Willpower, the pioneering researcher Roy F. Baumeister collaborates with renowned New York Times science writer John Tierney to revolutionize our understanding of the most coveted human virtue: self-

Recommended by Dan Ariely, David Allen, Steven Pinker, and 1 others.

Dan Ariely

Author

Willpower affects almost every aspect of our lives. From procrastination, to saving for retirement to exercising, Tierney and Baumeister have given us a wonderful book in which they not only share fascinating research on the subject but also provide simple tricks to help us tap into this important quality. [source]

David Allen

Author

Who knew that a book about such a daunting topic could be as wonderfully entertaining as it is enlightening! Tierney and Baumeister have produced a highly intelligent work full of fascinating information (and great advice) about a core element of modern living. Bravo. [source]

Steven Pinker

Author

The psychologist Roy F. Baumeister has shown that the force metaphor has a kernel of neurobiological reality. In Willpower, he has teamed up with the irreverent New York Timesscience columnist John Tierney to explain this ingenious research and show how it can enhance our lives. . . . Willpower is an immensely rewarding book, filled with ingenious research, wise advice and insightful reflections on the human condition. [source]

9

The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us

Christopher Chabris, Daniel Simons

4.2

Reading this book will make you less sure of yourself—and that’s a good thing. In The Invisible Gorilla, Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, creators of one of psychology’s most famous experiments, use remarkable stories and counterintuitive scientific findings to demonstrate an important truth: Our minds don’t work the way we think they do. We think we see ourselves and the world as they reall

Recommended by Dan Ariely.

Dan Ariely

Author

These guys did one of the most important pieces of research in social science, to show how little we actually see in the world around us. [source]

10

The Person and the Situation: Perspectives of Social Psychology

Lee Ross, Richard Nisbett, Malcolm Gladwell

4.1

How does the situation we're in influence the way we behave and think? Professors Ross and Nisbett eloquently argue that the context we find ourselves in substantially affects our behavior in this timely reissue of one of social psychology's classic textbooks.

Recommended by Dan Ariely.

Dan Ariely

Author

This is an oldie but a goodie. It’s a book that shows how when we make decisions, we think personality plays a big role. [source]