I enjoy the pursuit of truth in general, and love examining the incentives of agents in systems (particularly legal / societal / anthropological systems).<p>I recently stumbled upon a series called "Adam Ruins Everything" on Netflix, and while I haven't actually researched or verified its claims, I do love the motivation behind the show: revealing "what's actually going on" and why.<p>I'd love to hear about media with similar themes and goals (books, blogs, podcasts, shows, etc).
Some random things that come to mind: game theory, Nietzsche, Goffman's <i>Presentation of Self in Everyday Life</i>, Chomsky's political works, GK Chesterton (e.g. <i>Heretics</i>), <i>Freakonomics</i>, Cialdini's <i>Influence</i>, JR Saul (e.g. <i>Voltaire's Bastards, The Doubter's Companion</i>), Bertrand Russell (e.g. <i>Unpopular Essays, Sceptical Essays, Freedom and Organization 1814-1914</i>), Santayana (e.g. <i>Egotism in German Philosophy</i>), Scott Noble[0] and Adam Curtis' documentaries. <i>The Devil's Dictionary</i>, <i>Metaphors We Live By</i>, <i>The Moral Animal</i><p>If I had to pick just one for you - <i>Voltaire's Bastards</i>.<p>edit: Also La Rochefoucauld's <i>Maxims</i> should be very high on a list of exposés - it's a savage exposé of oneself. La Bruyere's <i>Characters</i> is a milder but still at-times-scathing exposé of the world. As is <i>Fable of the Bees</i>..<p>[0] <a href="http://metanoia-films.org/" rel="nofollow">http://metanoia-films.org/</a>