The Secret of Our Success
The Secret of Our Success by Joseph Henrichby Joseph Patrick Henrich
Shares rank 91 of 152 nonfiction books by recommenders
People recommend it for its examples of how culturally evolved knowledge and practices help survival, sometimes where pure reason fails.
People recommend it for its examples of how culturally evolved knowledge and practices help survival, sometimes where pure reason fails.
3 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 3
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 3 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Examples where pure reason fails survival
“includes many other examples of how pure reason can be counter-productive to survival”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Why is every rationalist blog post way too long?” Culturally evolved knowledge across human societies
“human cultures have a lot of culturally-evolved knowledge”
Comment from 13 Sep 2026 in “Eating Fruit Skins” Recommended to readers who enjoy it
“you may enjoy reading "The Secret of Our Success"”
Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “How we lost communication to entertainment”
Other nonfiction books people recommend
The four most recommended other nonfiction books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cuckoo's Eggby Clifford Stoll | 40 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Amusing Ourselves to Deathby Neil Postman | 36 | 0 | 100% | 9 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| The Anxious Generationby Jonathan Haidt | 24 | 12 | 67% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Bullshit Jobsby David Graeber | 20 | 12 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| The Secret of Our Successby Joseph Patrick HenrichThis page | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 3 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“includes many other examples of how pure reason can be counter-productive to survival”
“human cultures have a lot of culturally-evolved knowledge”
“you may enjoy reading "The Secret of Our Success"”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.