# The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt

4 Hacker News commenters recommended The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for its analysis of why different people think about ethics quite differently, and for being readable rather than dry.

## Why people recommend it

- Explains why people think differently about ethics (1 comments): "This has a nice analysis of why different people think about ethics quite differently." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49230571))
- Argues reasoning evolved to persuade, not find truth (1 comments): "Haidt, in his great book "The Righteous Mind," has been arguing that reasoning evolved not to discover truth" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48748421))
- Written by a moral psychologist (1 comments): "Can recommend "The Righteous Mind" by moral psychologist Jonathan Haidt who discusses this in a book." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48688622))
- Easy to read, not boring (1 comments): "From any technical analysis (like grammar, sentence structure etc), it's not difficult at all. It wasn't boring to me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45970132))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cuckoo-s-egg.md): 40 recommend
- [Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amusing-ourselves-to-death.md): 36 recommend
- [The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt](https://hackerapproved.com/p/anxious-generation.md): 24 recommend
- [Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bullshit-jobs.md): 20 recommend
- [Enshittification by Cory Doctorow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enshittification.md): 19 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0141039167?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780141039169) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt", https://hackerapproved.com/p/righteous-mind/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).