Reading list · 10 books
How to disagree better
Psychologists, negotiators and journalists on arguing with someone without writing them off.
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The Righteous Mind (opens Bookshop.org)
Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
Jonathan Haidt · 2012
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt uses moral foundations research to show why liberals and conservatives weigh values such as care, fairness, loyalty and sanctity differently.
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I Never Thought of It That Way (opens Bookshop.org)
How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times
Mónica Guzmán · 2022
Journalist Mónica Guzmán, who has liberal friends and Trump-supporting family, gives practical methods for curious conversation, drawn from her work bringing Seattle-area neighbors together.
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High Conflict (opens Bookshop.org)
Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out
Amanda Ripley · 2021
Journalist Amanda Ripley follows people caught in feuds, gangs and political fights, and shows how conflict becomes self-sustaining and what those who escaped did differently.
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Love Your Enemies (opens Bookshop.org)
How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt
Arthur C. Brooks · 2019
Arthur Brooks, a conservative social scientist and former head of the American Enterprise Institute, argues that political contempt can be reduced and gives habits for treating opponents with warmth.
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Why We're Polarized (opens Bookshop.org)
Ezra Klein · 2020
Ezra Klein argues that identity, media and party sorting have made American politics more polarized, and explains how the system rewards that behavior.
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The Scout Mindset (opens Bookshop.org)
Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't
Julia Galef · 2021
Julia Galef contrasts a soldier mindset that defends beliefs with a scout mindset that tries to see accurately, and offers concrete habits for changing one's mind.
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How Minds Change (opens Bookshop.org)
The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion
David McRaney · 2022
Science writer David McRaney reports on deep canvassing, cult exits and research on persuasion to show how people actually change their views.
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Think Again (opens Bookshop.org)
The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know
Adam Grant · 2021
Wharton psychologist Adam Grant argues that rethinking is a skill, and describes methods such as motivational interviewing for changing minds, including one's own.
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Difficult Conversations (opens Bookshop.org)
How to Discuss What Matters Most
Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen · 1999
Three Harvard Negotiation Project authors break every hard conversation into what happened, feelings and identity, and give a method for talking with someone you disagree with.
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Superforecasting (opens Bookshop.org)
The Art and Science of Prediction
Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner · 2015
Political psychologist Philip Tetlock reports on a multiyear forecasting tournament and shows that the best predictors are open-minded, revise often and are not tied to an ideology.
Chosen by Unbiasable. No publisher pays for a place on this list. Updated September 2026.
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