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Where books open worlds.
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Books are more than stories on a page — they are mirrors, maps, challenges, and companions in understanding ourselves and the world we inhabit.

Big Think Books is a space devoted to the writers and ideas that shape culture, knowledge, and the way we think. Through thoughtful recommendations, deep dives, and engaging commentary, this column guides readers toward books that expand curiosity, provoke insight, and deepen understanding across fields like science, history, psychology, literature, and more. Whether you’re exploring the latest releases or rediscovering timeless classics, here you’ll find ideas worth your time and thought.

with

Kevin Dickinson is a staff writer and columnist at Big Think, focusing on the intersection of education, psychology, business, and science. He holds a master’s in English and writing, and his work has appeared in Agenda, RealClearScience, and The Washington Post.

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A man with short gray hair and wearing a plaid shirt is seated at a wooden table in a dimly lit restaurant, smiling at the camera.
Pompeii wasn’t frozen in time. Its lost voices are still speaking to us.
Historian Jess Venner discusses how “critical fabulation” can help reveal the lived experiences of Pompeii’s voiceless residents.

by Tim Brinkhof

Ancient wall fresco depicting a standing human figure, surrounded by red, green, and brown decorative panels—an evocative remnant bearing the marks of history’s lost voices and the passage of time.
Everything Articles
Book cover of "Invisible Illness" by Emily Mendenhall, depicting a person holding a mirror with the title reflected, set against a cloudy sky—capturing the hidden struggles of living with an invisible illness.
Books
The medical myth that still shapes misunderstandings of women’s health
Emily Mendenhall traces the medical myths, gender bias, and neurological truths behind hysteria, one of history’s most damaging diagnoses.
Emily Mendenhall
A woman in a blue dress sits beside a cradle with a baby; two adults are seated at a green table with a closed book, highlighting the enduring importance of books in an age of advancing technology.
Books
The most successful information technology in history is the one we barely notice
Joel Miller, the author of “The Idea Machine,” joins us to explore why books are history’s most successful information technology.
Kevin Dickinson
Book cover with a cream background and red border titled "The Power of Guilt" by Chris Moore, PhD, exploring the power of guilt—why we feel it and its surprising ability to heal.
Books
4 proven steps to an apology that can heal your damaged relationships
Psychologist Chris Moore reveals why guilt and anxiety lead us to the compassion necessary to earn forgiveness.
Chris Moore
Illustration of a person holding a cup while selecting a book from a shelf filled with various colorful book spines.
Books
10 of Big Think’s favorite books in 2025
Revisiting the year’s noteworthy nonfiction.
Kevin Dickinson
A man wearing glasses and a jacket looks at the camera, seated in front of a light background with a green rectangular frame and gray squiggle lines.
Books
Great stories share the revelations in life’s quiet undertakings
Bryan Washington, author of “Palaver,” reflects on how moving to Japan and learning a new language shaped his writing.
Tim Brinkhof
Book cover titled "The End of Driving: Automated Cars, Robotaxis, Sharing vs Owning, and the Future of Mobility" by Bern Grush, John S. Niles, and Andrew Miller, Second Edition.
Books
Robotaxis offer a path toward smarter and fairer urban mobility
Robotaxis can transform cities by improving mobile efficiency, equity, and safety — if cities adopt policies that prioritize the public good.
Bern Grush , John Niles & Andrew Miller
A hand holds a small, round black device with a circular light, while a purple scribble curving around both hints at rewiring democracy.
Books
AI is a power amplifier. The future depends on who turns the dials.
In “Rewiring Democracy,” Bruce Schneier and Nathan Sanders explore how AI could strengthen democracy or undermine it.
Kevin Dickinson
Digital artwork of a humanoid figure with a distorted, glitch-like effect and swirling, contour-like lines against a dark, pixelated background, reminiscent of the innovative AI art explorations by Blaise Agüera y Arcas.
Books
Google fellow: AI doesn’t pretend to be intelligent. It is.
Researcher and Google CTO Blaise Agüera y Arcas joins us to discuss his new book, "What Is Intelligence?"
Tim Brinkhof
Book cover for "The Hypocrisy Trap" by Michael Hallsworth, featuring a blue pattern of interlocking hands forming fists, with a subtitle about improving lives by changing criticism and understanding the influence of hypocrites.
Books
The 4 types of hypocrites (that we actually like)
In this excerpt from "The Hypocrisy Trap," Michael Hallsworth explains why accusations of hypocrisy don’t always damage credibility.
Michael Hallsworth
Silhouettes of two people seated and facing each other with a large smartphone between them, displaying multiple thumbs-up icons amid a swirl of digital psychobabble.
Books
The costs of turning therapy into a pop culture fad
Joe Nucci, author of "Psychobabble," joins us to discuss how the misuse of psychological language risks blurring the lines between everyday problems and clinical diagnoses.
Kevin Dickinson
Book cover of "Strange Stability" by Benjamin Wilson, featuring a green pen vertically centered on a beige background with red and green text—reflecting themes of nuclear deterrence.
Books
How a criminology concept became the backbone of the U.S.’s Cold War strategy
In this excerpt from "Strange Stability," Benjamin Wilson explores how the concept of "deterrence" went from explaining criminal behavior to becoming a nuclear strategy.
Benjamin Wilson
Book cover of "The Great Math War" featuring three black-and-white portraits—one of Georg Cantor—and handwritten math notes, with subtitle about three mathematicians fighting for math’s foundations.
Books
Georg Cantor shocked mathematics by proving that not all infinities are equal
In this excerpt from "The Great Math War," Jason Socrates Bardi explores how Georg Cantor revolutionized mathematics and reshaped how our finite minds conceived of the infinite.
Jason Socrates Bardi
A woman with straight hair and bangs, wearing a dark top and necklace, poses against a light purple background with abstract squiggly lines and a white rectangular frame, reminiscent of an rf kuang book cover.
Books
R.F. Kuang writes through doubt to find her strongest stories
Kuang discusses the rituals, routines, and words of advice that have helped her write six best-selling novels in one decade.
Tim Brinkhof
Book cover of "Crush: Close Encounters with Gravity" by James Riordon, featuring a crushed red soda can with a green leaf.
Books
Einstein’s cryptids: The disputed, but possible, phenomena of the cosmos
From white holes to dark stars and multiverses, James Riordon explores the bizarre exhibits of general relativity's "cryptozoo."
James Riordon
Black and white illustration of a person passing wind amid clouds, with the gas depicted as a sharp burst.
Books
The word for”wind”: How ancient civilizations explained an invisible force
In this excerpt from The Breath of the Gods, Simon Winchester explores how the Sumerians first named the wind and shaped our early understanding of the natural world.
Simon Winchester
A human skull rests on a closed book beside an inkwell, a quill, a candlestick, and an open book—evoking the timeless allure of books that will change your life on a dimly lit tabletop.
Books
5 books that teach you how to die well — by living better
"Our ultimate goal, after all, is not a good death but a good life to the very end."
Scotty Hendricks
Black and white illustration of a 19th-century steam-powered paddleboat, reminiscent of the one commandeered by Robert Smalls, docked by the shore with smoke rising from its central smokestack.
Books
The Civil War hero who stole a Confederate ship — and changed history
In this excerpt from "The First Eight," Congressman Jim Clyburn shares the story of Robert Smalls, the man whose audience with Lincoln may have saved the Union army.
Jim Clyburn
Silhouettes of people walk toward a large stack of books on a barren, monochrome landscape with a pale background.
Books
Plato meets game theory: How Schelling points explain the power of great books
The great books aren’t just classics — they’re cultural Schelling points that give our minds a place to meet up in the world of ideas.
Daniel Greco
Book cover of "The Shortest History of AI" by Toby Walsh, featuring blue and white text on a dark background with a small glowing circle near the center—an apt nod to early AI like Logic Theorist.
Books
Logic Theorist: The program that rewrote the foundations of mathematics
In this excerpt from "The Shortest History of AI," Toby Walsh explores the history of the Logic Theorist, the first AI to prove mathematical theorems.
Toby Walsh
Book cover for "The Devil Is a Southpaw" by Brandon Hobson, featuring two black birds flying over large red and blue text that boldly displays the title on a cream background.
Books
“The Devil Is a Southpaw”: A novel by Brandon Hobson
A preview of the latest novel by the National Book Award finalist Brandon Hobson.
Brandon Hobson
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