Who recommended Blueprint?

8 people have recommended Blueprint in the interviews, articles and reading lists we track, including Bill Gates, Adam Grant, Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Eric Schmidt. Each name links to their full reading list.

Is Blueprint worth reading?

8 people we track recommend it. It is best for: public-health graduate student building a case for community-based interventions who needs an accessible, biologically-inflected narrative to persuade non-specialist stakeholders; high-school or college civics teacher planning a unit on social cooperation who wants readable stories and examples to spark classroom discussion; product manager at a social platform arguing for features that encourage positive interaction and looking for an approachable framing about why social ties matter. It may not suit: you'll likely put it down when the same examples and upbeat conclusions repeat — midbook repetition is the common drop-off point; annoying if you prefer tight methodological detail or sustained engagement with counterarguments; the book favors broad synthesis over technical nuance; not useful if you want hands-on exercises or practical step-by-step guidance — lacks hands-on exercises and implementation playbooks.

What books are like Blueprint?

Readers of Blueprint also turn to Outliers, The Tipping Point and The WEIRDest People in the World, based on the lists and recommenders these books share.

Blueprint by Nicholas A. Christakis: Recommended by 8 People

Name: Blueprint
Author: Nicholas A. Christakis

For too long, scientists have focused on the dark side of our biological heritage: our capacity for aggression, cruelty, prejudice, and selfinterest. But natural selection has given us a suite of beneficial social features, including our capacity for love, friendship, cooperation, and learning. Beneath all of our inventions our tools, farms, ma...