Books Recommended by Lex Fridman
Lex Fridman is an American computer scientist and podcaster.
Since 2018, he has hosted the Lex Fridman Podcast, where he interviews notable figures from science, technology, sports, the arts and other fields.
In 2022, he became a research scientist at the MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS).
Reading lists by year: 2026
12 books recommended by Lex Fridman
The Idiot
by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky
Dostoevsky said Beauty will save the world in The Idiot, one of my favorite books of his.
Abundance
And we should say that the book you’ve mentioned, which I’ve gotten a chance to read, and I think it’s incredible, highly recommend, it’s called Abundance.
The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life
by Nick Lane
The following is a conversation with Nick Lane, a biochemist at University College London, and author of some of my favorite books on biology, science, and life ever written, including his two most recent titles, Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death, and The Vital Question: Why Is Life the Way It Is?
Build a Large Language Model (From Scratch)
Sebastian is the author of two books I highly recommend for beginners and experts alike. First is Build a Large Language Model from Scratch, and Build a Reasoning Model from Scratch.
Build a Reasoning Model (From Scratch)
Sebastian is the author of two books I highly recommend for beginners and experts alike. First is Build a Large Language Model from Scratch, and Build a Reasoning Model from Scratch.
Desperate Remedies: Psychiatry’s Turbulent Quest to Cure Mental Illness
by Andrew Scull
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 and Desperate Remedies: Psychiatry’s Turbulent Quest to Cure Mental Illness.
Jungle Keeper
by Paul Rosolie
He has a new book coming out in a few days titled Jungle Keeper that you should definitely go pre-order now. It tells some intense stories about his time in the jungle over the past several years, building up to a few epic recent events,… Read the full quote
He has a new book coming out in a few days titled Jungle Keeper that you should definitely go pre-order now. It tells some intense stories about his time in the jungle over the past several years, building up to a few epic recent events, including a new full-on extended encounter with an uncontacted tribe that we discuss in this podcast. Both the book and audiobook are great. I highly recommend it.
Madness in Civilization: A Cultural History of Insanity from the Bible to Freud, from the Madhouse to Modern Medicine
by Andrew Scull
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 and Desperate Remedies: Psychiatry’s Turbulent Quest to Cure Mental Illness.
The Fighting Soul: On the Road with Bernie Sanders
So Ari Rabin-Havt, who was a former deputy campaign manager, wrote a great book I would say about you called The Fighting Soul: On the Road with Bernie Sanders.
The Plague
by Albert Camus
I’ll say my favorite book now by Camus is probably The Plague, and all of that has evolved.
Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death
by Nick Lane
The following is a conversation with Nick Lane, a biochemist at University College London, and author of some of my favorite books on biology, science, and life ever written, including his two most recent titles, Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death, and The Vital Question: Why Is Life the Way It Is?