Bookshelf

I've organized my bookshelf by the importance of the book to me. The years in parantheses are when I read the book.

My pile

What I'm currently reading.

• The Histories by Herodotus, translated by Tom Holland
• Talent by Tyler Cowen
• Apology, Crito and Phaedo of Socrates by Plato
• The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition by Manisha Sinha

So good it hurts

Books that gave me that feeling of regret that I'll never be able to read them for the first time again. I'd suggest these even if you have no interest in the subject.

• 1984 by George Orwell
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare
• The Just City by Jo Walton (2023)
• Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam
• City of Thieves by David Benioff (2021)

I love this book

So good it hurts for me, but I'm not sure it will for you.

• East of Eden by John Steinbeck (2021)
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
• Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
• What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer

This book has stuck with me

Books that have had a major impact on how I think about the world. The quality of writing in this category is less important than the impact of the ideas on my life.

• Range by David Epstein
• Defying Hitler: The Germans Who Resisted Nazi Rule by Gordan Thomas and Greg Lewis
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker
• Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson

Really freaking good.

Great writing, just not quite so good it hurts.

• Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucchi (2021)
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• A Perfect Spy by John le Carré
• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
• The Glory and the Dream by William Manchester

Honorable mentions

Almost but not quite.

• Decisive by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• Hild by Nicola Griffith

Other books I've read:

• Disorder by Helen Thompson (2023) [abandoned]
• Under the Yoke by Ivan Vazov (2023) [abandoned]
• The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell (2023)
• The Symposium by Plato (2023)
• Sea People by Christina Thompson (2023)
• Submission by Michel Houellebecq (2022)
• Dune by Frank Herbert (2022)
• Hero of Two Worlds by Mike Duncan (2022)
• Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (2022)
• The Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar (2022)
• Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam (2022)
• Dominion by Tom Holland (2022)
• A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean (2022)
• But What if We’re Wrong? by Chuck Klosterman (2022)
• Liftoff by Eric Berger (2022)
• Heidi by Johanna Spyri (2022)
• Schellen-Ursli by Selina Chönz (2022)
• Emil und die Detektive by Erich Kästner (2022)
• Where I was from by Joan Didion (2021)
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck (2021)
• California: A History by Kevin Starr (2021)
• Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (2021)
• House of Broken Angels by Luis Alberto Urrea (2021)
• Montessori Toddler by Simone Davies (2021)
• French Kids Don’t Throw Food by Pamela Druckerman (2021)
• How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and How to Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish (2021)
• Pereira Maintains by Antonio Tabucchi (2021)
• High Conflict by Amanda Ripley (2021)
• Why Switzerland by Jonathan Steinberg (2021)
• The Nones by Ryan P. Burge (2021)