Wanting
The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life
by Luke Burgis
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More Recommenders
“@egobillot YES!! Some book inform, others entertain. A few books change the way you see yourself. Read "WANTING" by @lukeburgis It changes the way you see yourself and the world. | No, I didn't read Dianetics ;) The book is called ‘Wanting’, by an guy named Luke Burgis. It’s about mimetic desire. An academic theory popularized by Peter Thiel. At face value, it barely sounds worth mentioning: When the people around you want something, we want it too… | Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life by Luke Burgis via @amazon I hope everybody else enjoys this book as much as I did.”
Source →“@egobillot YES!! Some book inform, others entertain. A few books change the way you see yourself. Read "WANTING" by @lukeburgis It changes the way you see yourself and the world. | No, I didn't read Dianetics ;) The book is called ‘Wanting’, by an guy named Luke Burgis. It’s about mimetic desire. An academic theory popularized by Peter Thiel. At face value, it barely sounds worth mentioning: When the people around you want something, we want it too… | Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life by Luke Burgis via @amazon I hope everybody else enjoys this book as much as I did.”
Source →“@egobillot YES!! Some book inform, others entertain. A few books change the way you see yourself. Read "WANTING" by @lukeburgis It changes the way you see yourself and the world. | No, I didn't read Dianetics ;) The book is called ‘Wanting’, by an guy named Luke Burgis. It’s about mimetic desire. An academic theory popularized by Peter Thiel. At face value, it barely sounds worth mentioning: When the people around you want something, we want it too… | Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life by Luke Burgis via @amazon I hope everybody else enjoys this book as much as I did.”
Source →Recommended by 5 notable people, including Andrew Wilkinson and Chamath Palihapitiya
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Recommended by 7 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books.
A groundbreaking exploration of why we want what we want, and a toolkit for freeing ourselves from chasing unfulfilling desiresAs an undergraduate studying philosophy at Stanford, Peter Thiel met French polymath René Girard and was introduced to his theory of ?mimetic desire??the idea that most human wanting comes from imitating what other people d...
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Why recommended
Recommended by 7 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Rory Sutherland
“@egobillot YES!! Some book inform, others entertain. A few books change the way you see yourself. Read "WANTING" by @lukeburgis It changes the way you see yourself and the world. | No, I didn't read Dianetics ;) The book is called ‘Wanting’, by an guy named Luke Burgis. It’s about mimetic desire. An academic theory popularized by Peter Thiel. At face value, it barely sounds worth mentioning: When the people around you want something, we want it too… | Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life by Luke Burgis via @amazon I hope everybody else enjoys this book as much as I did.”
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Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Recommended by 4 sources.
“Starts as a lean, suspenseful time-travel premise that quickly settles into an immersive, character-focused saga. Its chief useful part is the way everyday 1960s small-town life and personal relationships make the historical stakes feel immediate; the novel rewards readers who relish atmosphere and slow moral puzzles. The main limitation is length and digressions—long domestic passages and episodic subplots stretch the middle and can undercut urgency for readers who wanted a tighter thriller.”
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Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.
Wanting
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