Wiser Than Yesterday: Book club

Book geeks Sam Harris & Nicolas Vereecke•wiserpod.com

Wiser than Yesterday hosts open-ended discussions, breakdowns, and summaries of the world's most thought-provoking and inspiring books.

Our hosts, Nicolas Vereecke and Sam Harris digest non-fiction books from all centuries and genres. They discuss the biggest philosophical insights and practical lessons for health, wealth, wisdom, and happiness.

This podcast is here to help listeners become smarter. To learn about new ideas and to gain more perspectives on the books and ideas they are familiar with.

Each season we tackle a new field and read the best books on a given topic such as racism, startups, stoicism, or personal finance. We cast a wide net to summarise all sides of opinions in an area to come to a wider understanding of the topic at large as well as help listeners navigate the different opinions and ideas they haven't heard of.

We dive into topics such as philosophy, business, equality, psychology, politics, economics, and who knows what else. Our goal is to simply explore the best ideas and learn new things. You're most welcome to join us for the ride.

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Last refreshed: July 11th, 2025 at 12:38 AM ⓘ

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Episodes

Discrimination and Disparities - Thomas Sowell

A searching re-examination of the assumptions, and the evidence for and against, current approaches to issues of economic and other disparitiesDiscrimination and Disparities challenges believers in such one-factor explanations of economic outcome differences as discrimination, exploitation or genetics. It is readable enough for people with no prior knowledge of economics. Yet the empirical evidence with which it backs up its analysis spans the globe and challenges beliefs across the ideological ...

Aug 21, 2020•34 min

How to be an antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi

How to Be an Antiracist is a 2019 non-fiction book by American author and historian Ibram X. Kendi. The book discusses concepts of racism and Kendi's proposals for anti-racist individual actions and systemic changes. AuthorAt the time of authorship, Ibram X. Kendi was an assistant professor of African-American History at the University of Florida. He previously worked at the American University, where he founded the Antiracist Research and Policy Center. He wrote a 2016 book titled Stamped from ...

Aug 10, 2020•37 min

White fragility - Robin DiAngelo

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism A 2018 book written by Robin DiAngelo about race relations in the United States. An academic with experience in diversity training, DiAngelo coined the term "white fragility" in 2011 to describe any defensive instincts or reactions that a white person experiences when questioned about race or made to consider their own race. In White Fragility, DiAngelo views racism in the United States as systemic and often perpetuated unco...

Aug 05, 2020•44 min

Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race - Rene Eddo-Lodge

The moment you've all been waiting for.Two white guys read the most talked about book on race and attempt to understand our amazing foolishness in a humble manner. Yes we probably mess things up. But it's better to try, make mistakes, learn, and improve, than to just runaway from our own fragilities.About'Every voice raised against racism chips away at its power. We can't afford to stay silent. This book is an attempt to speak'The book that sparked a national conversation. Exploring everything f...

Jul 03, 2020•38 min

Hope in the Dark - Rebecca Solnit

Hope in the Dark was written to counter the despair of radicals at a moment when they were focused on their losses and had turned their back to the victories behind them--and the unimaginable changes soon to come. In it, she makes a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable.Drawing on her decades of activism and a wide reading of environmental, cultural, and political history, Solnit argued that radicals have a long, neglected history o...

Jun 19, 2020•37 min

12. Skin in the Game - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life, is a 2018 nonfiction book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a former options trader with a background in the mathematics of probability and statistics.Taleb's thesis is that skin in the game -- i.e., having a measurable risk when taking a major decision -- is necessary for fairness, commercial efficiency, and risk management, as well as being necessary to understand the world. The book is the last part of Taleb's multi-volume philosophical essay on unc...

Jun 07, 2020•36 min

11. Antifragile - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Nassim Nicholas Taleb present a blueprint of how to live in a 'Black Swan' world.He begins the book:"Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty. Yet, in spite of the ubiquity of the phenomenon, there is no word for the exact opposite of fragile. Let us call it antifragile. Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifr...

May 20, 2020•58 min

10. The Bed of Procrustes - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Nassim Nicholas Taleb wrote some of his favourite maxims and ways to think in life into a book.This is a great hand book for nuggets of wisdom to ponder upon. Thus ponder we do on some of our favourites.Some examples include* What fools call “wasting time” is most often the best investment.* A man without a heroic bent starts dying at the age of thirty.* The difference between slaves in Roman and Ottoman days and today’s employees is that slaves did not need to flatter their boss.* You are rich ...

May 14, 2020•37 min

8. Fooled By Randomness - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets is a book that deals with the fallibility of human knowledge.Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains how we delude ourselves into thinking untrue things due to our love of finding a story or reason when none exists.In the episode, we explore the many examples of human behaviour failing us and the isights we can learn form this book. We discuss how the relates to trading and the economy and the wider aspects of being a more logical...

May 03, 2020•33 min

7. Do You Talk Funny? - David Nihil

Public speaking can be terrifying. For David Nihill, the idea of standing in front of an audience was scarier than cliff jumping into a thorny pit of spiders and mothers-in-law. Without a parachute or advanced weaponry. This book is a part story and part manual. It follows David's story to become an engaging public speaker and the lessons he learnt along the way. It shows how anyone can become funny and breaks down the steps to get there.It is a highly motivating book for someone who is nervous ...

Apr 21, 2020•29 min

6. Finite and Infinite Games - James P. Carse

This book is challenging. Some people hate. Many people love it.It has been described as, "Disturbingly good" for it's ability to shake the concepts of what you think about your approaches to life. It is regarded as a book you need to read, re-read and then read again.We blindly dive into it and attempt to distill it's wisdom for listeners in a usable manner, whilst not making too big a fools of ourselves.AboutJames P. Carse is a philosopher and author. He published this book in 1986 and it has ...

Apr 19, 2020•30 min

5. Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez

This book exposes the gender bias that is in the world around us and affects our daily lives. A brilliant look at the data that shows the facts we need to acknowledge and overcome.Caroline presents a very thourough study into the way the world has been built and how it has been unfair on women. This is a revealing book which was a brilliant read for anyone. As two white guys we really had a lot to learn and enjoyed discussing this book and what we can do to improve things.About the AuthorCarolin...

Apr 16, 2020•31 min

4. The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists - Niel Strauss

The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists (also known as The Game: Undercover in the Secret Society of Pickup Artists) is a non-fiction book written by investigative reporter Neil Strauss as a chronicle of his journey and encounters in the seduction community.The book was featured on The New York Times Bestseller List for two months after its release in September 2005, reaching prominence again in 2007 during the broadcast of the VH1 television series The Pickup Artist, which wa...

Apr 10, 2020•25 min

3. Why Buddhism is True - Robert Wright

'Why Buddhism is True' looks at the science and philosophy of meditation and enlightenment. The author is a devout non-meditating anger prone evolutionary psychologist and writer.He dives headlong into the world of meditation with surprising results. He explains why it works from an evolutionary standpoint. Using his wit and intellect the book makes very enjoyable and enlightening reading.This was my favourite book on meditation. I loved it so much that I wrote over 40 pages of notes during read...

Mar 31, 2020•38 min

9. The Black Swan - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The Black Swan focuses on the extreme impact of rare and unpredictable outlier events — and the human tendency to find simplistic explanations for these events, retrospectively. It was published in 2007, by author and former options trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Coronavirus and Pandemics This book is extremely poignant for understanding the Coronavirus pandemic and its effects. In the book, he explains why we would be caught unawares by such an event and why we should build robust systems for ev...

Mar 27, 2020•40 min

2. The Elephant in the Brain - Kevin Simler & Robin Hanson

About the BookThe aim of "Elephant in the Brain" is to confront our hidden motives directly — to track down the darker, unexamined corners of our psyches and blast them with floodlights. Then, once our minds are more clearly visible, we can work to better understand human nature: Why do people laugh? Why are artists sexy? Why do we brag about travel? Why do we prefer to speak rather than listen?Human beings are primates, and primates are political animals. Our brains are therefore designed not j...

Mar 17, 2020•41 min

1. Introduction - The Big Plan

This is a simple episode where we hear about what the plans are for the show.Sam and Nico introduce each other and discuss some of their backgrounds if you want to get to know you lovely show hosts. Don't Forget to leave a comment on this episode See podvine.com/privacy-policy for podcast listener privacy info. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Mar 05, 2020•19 min

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