Book Recommendation Bonanza
Version #1
Well, folks, I asked, and you certainly answered! The following is a list of book recommendations from myself, our readers, and many fellow writers. Highly recommend taking a look. Any pick is sure to be a winner. I’ll be playing around with this list and sending out new recommendations on a sporadic basis. If I didn’t include your submission in this list, I’ll do my best to get it in a future version.
Enjoy and happy browsing!
Non-Fiction
Enlightenment Now: The case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress – Stephen Pinker
A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created – Charles C. Mann
Yes, please — Amy Poehler
Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Fear of Death — Irvin D Yalom
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and The Teachings of Plants
The Denial of Death — Ernest Becker
Outliers — Malcolm Gladwell
The Mind’s I — Dennet and Hoftstadter
The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick — Philip K. Dick
A People’s History of the United States — Howard Zinn
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat — Oliver Sacks
48 Laws of Power — Robert Greene
Mastery — Robert Greene
Less is More — Jason Hickel
The Art of the Common Place — Wendell Berry
Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans — A.J. Baime
Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage — Alfred Lansing
Running with Sherman: The Donkey Heart of a Hero — Christopher McDougall
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster — Jon Krakauer
All Alone in the World: Children of the Incarcerated — Neil Bernstein
A Sea of Words — Dean King
Harbors and High Seas — Dean King
Histories — Herodotus
The Undiscovered Self — Carl Jung
Psychology of the Unconscious — Carl Jung
Social Interest — Alfred Adler
Understanding Human Nature — Alfred Adler
Philosophy
Meditations — Marcus Aurelius
Discourses — Epictetus
Enchiridion — Epictetus
Letters From a Stoic — Seneca
The World as Will and Representation — Arthur Schopenhauer
The Republic — Plato
Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason — Michel Foucault
On the Suffering of the World — Arthur Schopenhauer
Introduction to Metaphysics — Martin Heidegger
Being and Time — Martin Heidegger
Basic Writings — Martin Heidegger
Fear and Trembling — Soren Kierkegaard
The Sickness unto Death — Soren Kierkegaard
The Concept of Anxiety — Soren Kierkegaard
Works of Love — Soren Kierkegaard
Phenomenology of Spirit — Hegel
Fragments — Heraclitus
The Book — Alan Watts
Out of Your Mind — Alan Watts
Become What You Are — Alan Watts
The Way of Tao — Alan Watts
The Way of Zen — Alan Watts
Incerto Series — Nicolas Nassim Taleb
A History of Western Philosophy — Bertrand Russell
Ethics — Baruch Spinoza
Beyond Good and Evil — Friedrich Nietzche
Thus Spok Zarathustra — Friedrich Nietzche
The Will to Power — Friedrich Nietzche
Being and Nothingness — Jean-Paul Sartre
Existentialism is a Humanism — Jean-Paul Sartre
Nausea — Jean-Paul Sartre
The Human Condition — Hannah Arendt
The Origins of Totalitarianism — Hannah Arendt
The Sublime Object of Ideology — Slavoj Zizek
The Fragile Absolute — Slavoj Zizek
Memoirs and Biographies
Kitchen Confidential – Anthony Bourdain
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek – Anne Dillard
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life – William Finnegan
Way of the Peaceful Warrior – Dan Millman
Can't Hurt Me – David Goggins
Never Finished – David Goggins
When Breath Becomes Air — Paul Kalanithi
Self-Inflicted Wounds: Heartwarming Tales of Epic Humilliation
Rat Girl — Kristin Hersh
Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? — Roz Chast
Why Fish Don’t Exist — Lulu Miller
The Autobiography of Malcolm X — Malcolm X
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King — Martin Luther King
Team of Rivals — Doris Kearns Goodwin
William Tecumseh Sherman — James Lee McDonough
Franklin Douglass: Prophet of Freedom — David W. Blight
Self-Development
The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
The Creative Act; A Way of Being – Rick Rubin.
The Power of Your Subconscious Mind — Joseph Murphy
Anything you want – Derek Sivers
New Happy – Stephanie Harrison
Steal like an Artist – Austin Kleon
Feel Good Productivity – Ali Abdaal
Conversations on Love — Philippa Perry, et al.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
The Comfort Crisis — Michael Easter
Scarcity Brain — Michael Easter
Living an Examined Life — James Hollis
The Dark Side of Light Chasers — Debbie Ford
True Fit — Jim Beqai
Break the Wheel — Jay Acnuzo
The Artist’s Way — Julia Cameron
The Third Door: The Mindset of Success — Alex Banayan
Stolen Focus — Johann Hari
Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don’t Make Sense — Rory Sutherland
Michael Pollan — How to Change Your Mind
Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism
The Authentic Swing — Steven Pressfield
Fiction
East of Eden — John Steinbeck
The Father’s Tale — Michael D. O’Brien
100 Days of Sunlight — Abbie Emmons
Daniel Deronda — George Elliot
Middle March — George Elliot
The Slave — Isaac Bashevis Singer
Horacio Hornblower — C.S. Forester
The Witch Elm — Tana French
The Sound of Building Coffins — Louis Maistros
No One is Here Except All of Us
Resurrection — Leo Tolstoy
Naive. Super — Erlend Loe
I Am Pilgrim — Terry Hayes
The Covenant — James A. Michener
Aubrey-Maturin — Patrick O’Brian
Rebecca — Daphne Du Maurier
Anna Karennina — Leo Tolstoy
Hunger — Knut Hansen
War and Peace — Leo Tolstoy
Martin Eden – Jack London
The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
The Ocean and the Stars – Mark Helprin
Odd Thomas — Dean Koontz
We Have Always Lived in the Castle — Shirley Jackson
Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
The Last Green Valley – Mark T. Sullivan
A Prayer for Owen Meany — John Irving
A Tiny Ending — Joanna Cannon
The Last One — Alexandra Oliva
The Caine Mutiny — Herman Wouk
The Monkey Wrench Gang — Edward Abbey
The Entire Sky – Joe Wilkins
The Walking Drum – Louis L’amour
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
Forbidden Child – Gwen Newell
The Idiot — Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Brothers Karamazov — Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
A Country Doctor’s Notebook — Mikhail Bu6lgakov
Crime and Punishment — Fyodor Dostoevsky
Witch of Portobello — Paulo Coehlo
The Revolutionist — Robert Littell
If We Were Villains — M.L. Rio
Winne The Pooh — A.A Milne
Crossing to Safety — Wallace Earle Stegner
Crooked Little Vein — Warren Ellis
A Wild Sheep Chase — Haruki Murakami
The Bell Jar — Sylvia Plath
Ask the Dust — John Fante
Greta & Valdin — Rebecca K Reilly
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
The Mountain King — Anders de la Motte
White Noise — Don DeLillo
The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western — Richard Brautigan
Fight Club — Chuck Palahniuk
The Magic Toyshop — Angela Carter
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes — Arthur Conan Doyle
Wide Sargasso Sea — Jean Rhys
The Bookseller of Inverness — S.G MacLean
A Gentleman in Moscow — Amor Towles
Notes From Underground — Fydor Dostoevsky
Stoner — John Williams
Butcher’s Crossing — John Williams
The Chronoliths — Robert Charles Wilson
Bridge of Years — Robert Charles Wilson
The Little Prince — Antoine de Santi Exupery
Night Over Water — Ken Follett
Fantasy
The Crystal Cave – Mary Stewart
The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss
Spin the Dawn — Elizabeth Lim
Unravel the Dusk — Elizabeth Lim
Twin Crowns — Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber
Cursed Crowns — Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber
Burning Crowns — Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber
The Night CIrcus — Erin Morgensten
Malazan Book of the Fallen Series – Steven Erikson
Rivers of London — Ben Aaronovitch
The Last Continent — Terry Pratchett
Wheel of Time Series — Robert Jordan
Red Queen Series — Victoria Aveyard
Sword of Truth Series — Terry Goodkind
A Song of Ice and Fire — George R.R. Martin
The City of Lost Fortunes — Bryan Camp
Gather The Fortunes — Bryan Camp
The Mists of Avalon — Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Compleat Enchanter — L. Sprague de Camp, Fletcher Pratt
The Compleat Werewolf — Anthony Boucher
The Dragonbone Chair — Tad Williams
The Stormlight Archives — Brandon Sanderson
The Will of the Many — James Islington
Swordheart — T Kingfisher
The Lord of the Rings — J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit — J.R.R. Tolkien
Neverwhere — Neil Gaiman
The Ten Thousand Doors of January — Alix E. Harrow
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue — V.E. Schwab
Science Fiction
Children of Time – Adrian Tchaikovsky
Ada’s Children – Larry Hogue
Paradox – Michael Woudenberg
Integration – Michael Woudenberg
The Power — Naomi Alderman
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet — Becky Chambers
Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
The Kraken Wakes – John Wyndham
Out of the Silent Planet – C.S. Lewis
Perelanda – C.S. Lewis
The Midnight Library — Matt Haig
That Hideous Strength – C.S. Lewis
The Flicker Men — Tom Kosmatka
Oryx and Crake — Margaret Atwood
Red Rising — Pierce Brown
Exhalation: Stories — Ted Chiang
Artemis — Andy Weir
Seveneves — Neal Stephenson
Permutation City — Greg Egan
Special thanks to:
John Mitchell
Thanks so much for doing this, Nur. So many amazing recommendations!
Thank you for gathering these wonderful reads into one place and for including mine as well! 💕