Reading Series
The Social Code
The rules people learn without anyone writing them down.
Love, imagination, heroes, intelligence, censorship, antisemitism, and circumcision. They don’t look related at first; the common thread is what a culture teaches people to treat as normal.
8 booksThere’s no required order. Start wherever you want.
In this series
Browse all books- 01This Is a RockA witty history of how humans invented language, from grunts and pointing to grammar rules and linguistic science.38 min read
- 02LOVEA provocative history of how love transformed from a wild, unpredictable force into a regulated social institution with scripts, schedules, and checkboxes.23 min read
- 03IMAGINATIONA sweeping exploration of how human imagination created everything from money and time to kingdoms and memory itself—none of it real, all of it powerful.22 min read
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Heroes and VillainsA philosophical examination of why societies fear heroes who act outside institutional control, exploring power, trauma, and the blurred line between saviors and threats.3 hr 16 min read - 05
BANNEDA global tour of censorship, blasphemy laws, and the many ways governments silence their citizens—from North Korea's total control to democracies that smile while they restrict.55 min read - 06
ANTISEMITISMA history of antisemitism from ancient Egypt to Hitler, tracing how a single hatred survived millennia to fuel the Holocaust.31 min read - 07
ForesakenA comprehensive history of male circumcision across civilizations, religions, and medical practice—and the modern movement questioning this ancient ritual.24 min read - 08
IntelligenceA critical history of how IQ tests were invented, weaponized through eugenics, and used to sort people—and why emotional intelligence finally challenged the tyranny of a single score.33 min read