Wanting
• Financial Times Business Book of the Month * Next Big Idea Club Nominee * One of Bloomberg's "52 New Books That Top Business Leaders Are Recommending" * Aleo Review of Books 2022 Book of the Year * A groundbreaking exploration of why we want what we want, and a toolkit for freeing ourselves from chasing unfulfilling desires. Gravity affects every aspect of our physical being, but there’s a psychological force just as powerful—yet almost nobody has heard of it. It’s responsible for bringing groups of people together and pulling them apart, making certain goals attractive to some and not to others, and fueling cycles of anxiety and conflict. In Wanting, Luke Burgis draws on the work of French polymath René Girard to bring this hidden force to light and reveals how it shapes our lives and societies. According to Girard, humans don’t desire anything independently. Human desire is mimetic—we imitate what other people want. This affects the way we choose partners, friends, careers, clothes, and vacation destinations. Mimetic desire is responsible for the formation of our very identities. It explains the enduring relevancy of Shakespeare’s plays, why Peter Thiel decided to be the first investor in Facebook, and why our world is growing more divided as it becomes more connected. Wanting also shows that conflict does not arise because of our differences—it comes from our sameness. Because we learn to want what other people want, we often end up competing for the same things.
Stats for nerds
5recommend
11mentions
9people
2021–2023years
55% recommend36% neutral9% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I will go with Wanting by Luke Burgis. It makes the works of Rene Girard accessible. For me, it made me conscious of how much of our nature is simply copying others. Basically, one should make a conscious effort to select who to copy. Also, because we copy it means we would have a desire for the same object in which conflict can arise. We can realize this and take steps to mitigate possible conflict.
A surprising insight of the book is that having hierarchies reduces conflict. I wrote a summary of the book here: https://www.chestergrant.com/summary-wanting-by-luke-burgis
- The road to serfdom and the constitution of liberty by fa hayek. Really nails home why the individual is the moat important organizational block of society and how to protect that. Why nations fail and the narrow corridor by daron acemoglu were also excellent and gave more practical ideas on how to make institutions that work well (and also protect individuals). Wanting by luke burgis was also a really good jntro to rene girards ideas that like drive social interraction.
- Two that I recently completed:
1. "Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire" by Luke Burgis
2. "Four Thousand Weeks: Time and How to Use It" by Oliver Burkeman
and one bonus which definitely made me think: "When Breath Becomes Air" by Paul Kalanithi
- There is an aspect of mimetic contagion to this phenomenon. For a primer on what this means, see: https://www.amazon.com/Wanting-Power-Mimetic-Desire-Everyday...
- There is a strong aspect of mimetic contagion to this phenomenon. For a primer, see this book: https://www.amazon.com/Wanting-Power-Mimetic-Desire-Everyday...
- Wanting: The power of mimetic desire in everyday life by Luke Burgis
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