Great Books to Read

Patrick Collison
“ I sometimes post book recommendations on Twitter and people often respond asking if I have an overall list of books I think are worth reading. I don't, and end...

“ I sometimes post book recommendations on Twitter and people often respond asking if I have an overall list of books I think are worth reading. I don't, and end up feeling a bit guilty about being so haphazard. So, maybe this will be interesting to some people: below is a fairly complete catalog of the physical books I own. I always enjoy reading others' lists and browsing their bookshelves, so this intended to be a digital version of that. I've only read about half of the books here. (I guess I fall somewhere in the middle in the Umberto Eco theory of the library.)

I flagged a few books that I thought were particularly great in green and those that I thought were substantially above average in light blue. These designations are non-exhaustive, though—it's kinda hard to recommend books in the abstract. And I've no doubt missed some.

Since the stacks and shelves lack any particular order, so too does this list.”

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When Renee Feuer goes to college, one of the first lessons she tries to learn is how to liberate herself from the restrictions of her orthodox Jewish background. As she discovers the pleasures of the body, Renee also learns about the excitements of the mind. <br /><br />She enrolls as a philosophy g
www.amazon.com
1 Recommender
<b>How America's high standard of living came to be and why future growth is under threat</b><br /><br />In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, motor vehicles, air travel
www.amazon.com
2 Recommenders
EXPANDED THIRD EDITION includes Charlie's 2007 USC Law School Commencement address. Edited by Peter D. Kaufman. Brand New.
www.amazon.com
10 Recommenders
As a young man Frank Oppenheimer followed in his famous brother’s footsteps—growing up in a privileged Manhattan household, becoming a physicist, working on the atomic bomb. Tragically, Frank and Robert both had their careers destroyed by the Red Scare. But their paths diverged. While Robert died an
www.amazon.com
1 Recommender
In this updated paperback edition of a "rich, readable, and authoritative" Fortune) book, Wall Street Journal reporter Petzinger tells the dramatic story of how a dozen men, including Robert Crandall of American Airlines, Frank Borman of Eastern, and Richard Ferris of United, battled for control of
www.amazon.com
2 Recommenders
From one of America's most distinguished historians comes this classic analysis of Richard Nixon. By considering some of the president's opinions, Wills comes to the controversial conclusion that Nixon was actually a liberal. Both entertaining and essential, Nixon Agonistes captures a troubled leade
www.amazon.com
1 Recommender
A study of the evolution of the modern computer profiles the work of MIT psychologist J. C. R. Licklider, whose visionary dream of a human-computer symbiosis transformed the course of modern science and led to the development of the personal computer. Reprint.
www.amazon.com
6 Recommenders
From abroad, we often see China as a caricature: a nation of pragmatic plutocrats and ruthlessly dedicated students destined to rule the global economy-or an addled Goliath, riddled with corruption and on the edge of stagnation. What we don't see is how both powerful and ordinary people are remaking
www.amazon.com
3 Recommenders
FROM THE REVIEWS: �Webb offers coherent, understandable, and sometimes humorous coverage of a diverse range of topics. He provides readers with non-trivial insights into research fields they may not have encountered previously . . . I think everyone who has ever considered the possibility that other
www.amazon.com
1 Recommender
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
www.amazon.com
9 Recommenders
How do great writers do it? From James M. Cain's hard-nosed observation that "writing a novel is like working on foreign policy. There are problems to be solved. It's not all inspirational," to Joan Didion's account of how she composes a book--"I constantly retype my own sentences. Every day I go ba
www.amazon.com
1 Recommender
<b>The book that started the computer revolution in schools<br /><br /></b>Computers have completely changed the way we teach children. We have <i>Mindstorms </i>to thank for that. In this book, pioneering computer scientist Seymour Papert uses the invention of LOGO, the first child-friendly program
www.amazon.com
2 Recommenders
From an award-winning journalist for <i>The Washington Post</i> and one of the leading China correspondents of his generation comes an eloquent and vivid chronicle of the world's most successful authoritarian state -- a nation undergoing a remarkable transformation. <br /> <br /> Philip P. Pan's gro
www.amazon.com
1 Recommender
Democracy in America has had the singular honor of being even to this day the work that political commentators of every stripe refer to when they seek to draw large conclusions about the society of the USA. Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat, came to the young nation to investigate the
www.amazon.com
1 Recommender
Hofstadter's collection of quirky essays is unified by its primary concern: to examine the way people perceive and think.
www.amazon.com
1 Recommender
At the heart of Africa is Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, bordering nine other nations, that since 1996 has been wracked by a brutal and unstaunchable war in which millions have died. And yet, despite its epic proportions, it has received little sustained media attention. In this deeply
www.amazon.com
1 Recommender
Highly effective thinking is an art that engineers and scientists can be taught to develop. By presenting actual experiences and analyzing them as they are described, the author conveys the developmental thought processes employed and shows a style of thinking that leads to successful results is som
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4 Recommenders
At the core of <i>A Pattern Language</i> is the philosophy that in designing their environments people always rely on certain ‘languages,’ which, like the languages we speak, allow them to articulate and communicate an infinite variety of designs within a formal system which gives them coherence.<br
www.amazon.com
1 Recommender
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