Renowned for his astute analysis and thoughtful commentary on global affairs, Indian-American journalist, author, and anchor Fareed Zakaria has been a leading voice in international relations, shaping public discourse and understanding of the issues that define our interconnected world. Born in Mumbai in 1964, he attended Yale and Harvard before becoming an editor and weekly columnist for Newsweek.
Since 2008, Zakaria has hosted the popular CNN show Fareed Zakaria GPS, where he engages with experts and world leaders to offer insights into global politics, economics, and culture. As an author, he’s penned several critically acclaimed books, including The Post-American World, In Defense of a Liberal Education and Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World.
In a reading list for The Week, Zakaria recommended 6 of his favorite books that delve into human history, political philosophy and pop psychology. From Steven Pinker to Daniel Kahneman, check out his selections below, and complement with the bookshelves of Arianna Huffington, Christiane Amanpour, Jake Tapper and Lisa Ling.
Fareed Zakaria’s Reading List
The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker
“A monumental achievement. Pinker, a Harvard psychology professor, draws on 5,000 years of historical evidence to explain in fascinating detail how violence has declined across human history. More broadly, he shows that human beings have learned to treat each other better in general.” -FZ
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (also rec’d by Garry Kasparov, Sam Altman & Yuval Noah Harari)
“Most ‘idea books’ are bloated essays; this one, from a Nobel Prize–winning economist, is worth reading all the way through. Kahneman offers a fascinating set of ideas about how human beings think and reason, for better and worse.” -FZ
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
“A brilliant mixture of political philosophy and sociology. According to Haidt, two reasonable people can find themselves on opposite ends of the political spectrum based on the relative importance each assigns to just six values. The book explains why we embrace certain ideologies better than any other I’ve read.” -FZ
Civilization by Niall Ferguson
“I love big, sweeping history, and this account of the West’s rise to global dominance is one of the best recent examples. As always with Ferguson, you can disagree with him and still admire his work for being smart, provocative, and well written.” -FZ
The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama
“This book grew out of a celebrated 1989 essay, published as the Cold War was ending. Fukuyama’s ideas are often caricatured, mischaracterized, and misunderstood, but his basic point here still holds. We have witnessed the end of a great centuries-old ideological debate over the right way to organize societies, especially economies. We are still living in the world Fukuyama described.” -FZ
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
“Here’s something lighter — ideas you can use! Duhigg’s examination of how people get caught in loops of frequently counterproductive behavior is entertaining and can help you develop good habits. Who doesn’t need that?” -FZ
(via The Week)
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