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Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - i no longer takes my problem too seriously after reading this

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The End of Procrastination - it really helps to put your life in order

In a life time of reading... A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry.

I am a constant reader/listener. In my 71 years, I have never been so engaged and moved by a book. Another reader commented 'when I finished... I couldn't move for what seemed hours."

The link is to the audiobook. In part because John Lee's narration is superb and if you don't already have an Audible subscription, the first book is free.

Maybe this book on colorism would help. Just introducing the idea of colorism and how it affects people, if nothing else.

" She loves a good story, life lessons, and something that may give her some insight. "

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I would suggest "The Twilight of American Culture" by Morris Berman. It is full of vignettes and wisdom and hope for the average American who is dissatisfied with life and empty consumerism.

I don't know if this will help, but I just finished reading Invisible Women. It is an excellent read and it's absolutely appalling and infuriating to see all the places where women are just...not considered, and what the fallout of that is on a societal level. I don't think the word "feminism" occurs in the book, but it is very much a strong feminist statement with an absolute shitload of data to back it up.

Or just throw the whole boyfriend out, up to you.

The biggest reason is Christianity, which forcibly suppressed and destroyed many ancient religions.

A great book about it is The Darkening Age on Amazon. Here's a link: The Darkening Age

My dads book! He’s been working damn hard on it and I wish him all the best of luck! :)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Steel-Shadows-John-Thrillers/dp/191256307X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=stuart+field+steel+and+shadows&qid=1571962056&sprefix=stuart+fiel&sr=8-1

Cat's Cradle is my personal favourite because it combines everything I love in a book: biting social commentary, general hilarity, and sci-fi. Honestly, I preferred it to the much-lauded Slaughterhouse-Five.

Hey, no problem: Here's a couple I really enjoyed that helped me learn how to really articulate what I think and understand what others were saying about politics in those sorts of discussions:

1. The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. This contrasts how liberals and conservatives think about politics in a way that I think makes sense of what can often be really frustrating arguments.
2. Justice by Michael Sandel. This walks you through different ways you can reason about politics so that you can develop sharper and more consistent opinions.

I started Dialectical Behavior Therapy when my PTSD got unmanageable and it really helped. I like this workbook because it lets me do work to get better even when I am between therapists.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1684034582/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_cKDgFbXXCR9A6

If you're a native English speaker then you should probably go with the KJV. It will take an adjustment period if you're not used to reading 17th century English, but once you get used to it, it's the most aesthetically pleasing version of the Bible that exists in English. I just finished reading it a few months ago, and I read it in a manner similar to what you're looking for (picked it up after rereading both Iliad and Odyssey), and I quite enjoyed the experience. There are some really entertaining books just from a non-Christian, mythological perspective. Personally, I loved the imagery present in Revelation, which I did not expect at all. Judith, Esther were also pretty entertaining.

I used this Oxford Classics edition with copious endnotes and discussions on historicity. I'm not a Christian but I found it quite enlightening. Portions of the Old Testament are a real slog (lengthy discussions on genealogy, or detailed instructions on how to worship, etc), so be prepared to skim/grind through some of the early books of the Torah if you're looking to read it cover-to-cover.

In my opinion, the KJV is something everyone with an interest in mythology, religion, or English literature should read once in their life imo. It was such a momentous, impactful book on the history of the English language and it strongly influenced much of the greatest and most influential pieces of English literature that came in the centuries following its production.

For more adulty dystopian fiction try:
This Perfect Day- Ira Levin

Fahrenheit 451-Ray Bradbury

I am Legend-Richard Matheson

Brave New World- Aldous Huxley

Ready Player One- Ernest Cline

Robocalypse- Daniel H. Wilson

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card (could try the sequels but they're a lot less story and a lot more philosophocal, i liked them but they were different types of book than Ender's game)

1984- George Orwell

Day of the Triffids- John Wyndham

Try here and here for other options :)

I don’t know about reading things like clothes and marks, but this book is supposed to be good for body language.

What Every Body Is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People

The first book I can think of is Nicomachean Ethics. Within the realm of philosophy, it's not the most complex or cerebral, but - in my limited experience - it is the most true. I think that makes it intelligent. To be so accurate about one of the most complex things, human nature, especially with such little work preceding yours, is tremendous.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling I didn't know anything about her before reading her book, but I am defiantly a fan now. It was a fun, relate-able read.

He's known for his novels, which tend to be huuuuge. But I think his short fiction is so much better. He has a number of collections, most all of which are excellent, and you'll get a lot more variety if it turns out you don't like something. Some of my faves in no particular order. . .

{Everything's Eventual} {Nightmares & Dreamscapes} {Skeleton Crew} {Night Shift}

This website lists all his collections in chronological order.

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, one of the all-time greats.

There is also an excellent short story by E.M. Forster called The Machine Stops which you can read for free as it's in the public domain. Don't lat the age of the story put you off, it's a great story.

11/22/63

When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanithi

no book has made me step back a re-evaluate my life like this; half autobiography, When Breath Becomes Air is a story of how Paul became an amazing neurosurgeon, all while loving the ideas and concepts of death as existentialism, and learning how different it is when faced with death himself.

There is currently a paperback on Amazon & Kindle! False Heroes

hope and help for your nerves by Dr.Claire Weekes

An oldie but goodie. I will never stop recommending this book because of how amazing it is. It helped me get through my own intense period of anxiety/depression and even after a relapse of it i feel much better prepared to face my anxiety and depression. Plus meditation, music and no caffeine /limiting sugar

Edit: fixed link

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I'd recommended this book to someone here earlier. Very similar setting to Downton Abbey. War-time reminiscences of a butler.

Also, A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh.

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.

Well written and a fascinating perspective. 4.5 stars with over 5,000 reviews.

"New York Times Bestseller

A Summer Reading Pick for President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg

From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”

One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?

Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.

Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become?

Featuring 27 photographs, 6 maps, and 25 illustrations/diagrams, this provocative and insightful work is sure to spark debate and is essential reading for aficionados of Jared Diamond, James Gleick, Matt Ridley, Robert Wright, and Sharon Moalem."

Bill Bryson - A Brief History of Nearly Everything

Bill Bryson - At Home

Tim Hartford - The Undercover Economist

Michael Lewis - The Big Short

Michael Lewis - Moneyball

Dan Ariely - Predictably Irrational

Robert Hare - Without Conscience

In "Brief History,"Bill Bryson gives us an informal journey through the history of science, including scientists and specific theories. In "At Home," he talks about the history of houses and the items that occupy them. Both books are rather Eurocentric.

"The Undercover Economist" is really quite similar to Freakonomics, and a great read.

"The Big Short" is an easy to read explanation of the 2008 financial crisis. Entertaining and informative.

"Moneyball" is a fantastic read about the influence of statistics and math in baseball, and how everyone was doing it wrong until Billy Beane came along. In both of his books that I recommend, Lewis gives us a narrative with good guys and bad guys, so we end up rooting for one side.

"Predictably Irrational" is like reading a fantastic group of Ted Talks. He examines certain ways people make decisions, and how you can set up scenarios that cause people to predictably make certain irrational choices.

"Without Conscience" is a book about psychopaths from someone who has devoted his entire life studying them.

All these books make you feel like an expert on the topic at hand.

Lastly, the topics of these books are great, but the way that they authors convey them is the best part. They are all presented in a simple and informative way, and reading them is just plain fun. The entire time you are reading, you just can't wait to discuss the things you have just learned.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501173219/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_19XR9CHKH89JPDYHR6RK

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize A New York Times Book Review Top Ten Book* A National Book Award finalist *

From Anthony Doerr, the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning author of Cloud Cuckoo Land, the beautiful, stunningly ambitious instant New York Times bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” ( San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Ten years in the writing, a National Book Award finalist, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” ( Los Angeles Times).

Alive: the story of a plane crash in the Andes, where the survivors had to resort to eating each other. This is one of the greatest books, and stories of survival you will ever read.

https://www.amazon.com/Alive-Survivors-Piers-Paul-Read/dp/038000321X

One that is very popular is Solving the Procrastination Puzzle

I bought it a year or two ago, and true to my habits I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

Consider Philip Pullman. His "His Dark Materials" series is fine Fantasy with Steam Punk style.

As well, Larry Correia's Grimnoir Chronicles are 'wicked good'.

Or use LibraryThing, which has the same kinds of recommendations, and would let you automatically import the books directly from that spreadsheet without entering them manually. (Add books -> import -> universal import)

Sorry, I have to represent the underdog book tracking website whenever possible.

80,000 hours is about how you can make the world a better place. Most obvious ideas for improving the world are really bad, and you can have >1000x more impact than the average person just by familiarizing yourself with the best options.

I'm assuming your nephew is somewhere between the ages of roughly 17-21-ish, I tried to pick things I would liked to have read at that age.

• History: Don't know much about history by Kenneth Davis (good for overall reference, always manages to surprise and delight)

• Physics: A Brief History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (brilliant science book, everyone feels smarter when they read it.)

• Economics: The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein (demolishes sooo many myths, and shows what the human cost of rigid ideology can be)

• Philosophy: The Last days of Socrates by Plato (surprisingly poignant and humane, the last words of a dying man have power.)

• Politics: Overthrow by Stephen Kinzer (a brilliant, highly readable look at how the U.S. government has intervened in other nations affairs, with often messy results. Surprisingly pragmatic.)

• Astronomy: I don't know any good astronomy books

• Theology: Anything by Thomas Merton

• Fiction: Don Quixote by Cervantes (Yes, it's long. But it has short chapters, is extremely readable, and it's full of poop jokes. Everything you need to know about fiction/novels you can find in Don Quixote)

• Biography: The Rise of Theodor Roosevelt by Edmund Morris (Roosevelt was too much man for one book to handle, you literally won't believe how rich and expansive his life was.)

• Other: Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, (a brilliant, incredibly funny take on what it actually feels like to go to war, also eminently readable)

I freely admit that the list skews more towards a progressive political outlook, but these books are each in their own way, powerful and original.

The Sears and Roebuck catalog from 1897.

Ok, it's not the 1860's, but this book gives a great glimpse into the life of people from 120 years ago. You appear to be more interested in how people lived day-to-day rather than a story, and this details what people were buying, what they were using, what people wanted, what was troubling them, etc.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1510735054/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_i_H4D3DbEZKDT5V

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.

Few American novels written this century have endured in th heart and mind as has this one-Ray Bradbury's incomparable masterwork of the dark fantastic. A carnival rolls in sometime after the midnight hour on a chill Midwestern October eve, ushering in Halloween a week before its time. A calliope's shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. In this season of dying, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. And two inquisitive boys standing precariously on the brink of adulthood will soon discover the secret of the satanic raree-show's smoke, mazes, and mirrors, as they learn all too well the heavy cost of wishes -- and the stuff of nightmare.

You gotta read Midnight Rising It is the story of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry and it is amazing. The whole book is narrative nonfiction, so it's all true and uses real journal entries and interviews as sources but it reads just like fiction.

I swear this story could be an action movie: John Brown assembles a rag tag group of misfits who, besides his sons, included an escaped slave who came back to rescue his wife and family, a rich charismatic playboy and a badass veteran war hero. They travel to Harper's Ferry to lead an uprising and free the slaves.

Adrian R. Bell is one of the leading experts in this field. He has a few books that might appeal to you. Also, there’s A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Tuchman, which covers a lot about warfare but also other cultural topics.

Have you checked out Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand? If you want to edge closer to historical fiction, I would recommend City of Thieves by David Benioff, but that's not American history, just great elements of history with fantastic storytelling.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. There are two versions, one is narrated by just Gaiman, the other is Gaiman plus a full cast for the other characters. The main character is a small boy, he's friends with ghosts. It'd be fun enough for the eight year old to enjoy it (especially the full cast one) without being so young that you tune it out.

If you haven't read 2001: A Space Odyssey, I'd highly recommend that.

Link to book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/70535.2001?ac=1

Link to short review I wrote for it: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/566794193?book_show_action=false

Youth In Revolt by C.D. Payne. (Ignore the movie.)

Is it a classic? Nope. But you're looking to get back into reading, and personally, I would think that the best way to do so would be to read something entertaining. I read it when I was 18 and thought it was funny as hell. Laughed out loud multiple times.

If you want something with a bit more fantasy, try The Princess Bride by William Goldman. The only time I ever faked sick in high school was because I wanted to keep reading this book.

Let us know what you decide to read next, and what you think of it!

I really liked the non-fiction book The Black Death: A History From Beginning to End. It is very short and mostly discussed how trade routes influenced the spread.

The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis is a great fiction book about a historian who travels back in time to the 1300s and ends up in a village that has just been exposed to the disease.

Trust me this is what your looking for.

I think Bertrand Russell's A History of Western Philosophy is a good starting point. He gives a chronological summary of Western philosophy, devoting each chapter to a thinker. You could then buy philosophical texts based on the chapters that interested you most.

I really, really loved the Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix. It is for young adults, but I'm 22 and I enjoyed it just as well. The first book is called Sabriel. As for other recommendations:

• American Gods by Neil Gaiman
• His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman -- the first book is called The Golden Compass (AKA Northern Lights in some countries)
• The Crucible by Arthur Miller -- It's not fantasy, but it's a really good play based around the Salem witch trials. It's very short as well.
• 1984 by George Orwell
• Maus by Art Spiegelman -- It's a graphic novel, idk if you're into those, but I thought it was fantastic. One of my favorite graphic novels.

If you're into sci-fi, then these too..

• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• Dune by Frank Herbert
• anything by Isaac Asimov

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Deadwood by Pete Dexter

You can get the ebooks for free at Project Gutenberg as they are in public domain now.

The only gripe I had with the books I read so far is that the backstories are a bit too extensive for my taste, especially the one in A Study In Scarlet. But other than that, I really enjoyed them.

Have you read The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley? It's the first book in a high fantasy series recounting the events of Arthurian legend from the perspectives of the major female players. Really interesting re-interpretation and very well written. It's a classic (and pretty dark) so if you're looking for something with a little less cheese it's a good bet.

I recommend biographies of the people you admire. It could be old biographies like Ben Franklin's autobiography, or something more recent like a biography of Steve Jobs or Barack Obama.

There are a lot of self-help books out there, the best way to use them is with a group that follows the same book.

There are some fun books with wide ranging information, like A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson.

You could also read classics like Machiavelli's The Prince or The Art of War, by Sun Tzu.

You could read popular nonfiction like Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point or Moneyball: the Art of Winning and Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis.

"Man's Search for Meaning" Viktor frankl. "Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning" Viktor Frankl Anything pertaining to Kabbalah.. Edward Hoffman is a good author for this. "A Significant Life" by Todd May "The World as I See it" Albert Einstein

I find a lot of psychology books on psychotherapy can be viewed through an existential lens. Such as "The Gift of Therapy" by Yalom.

Anything by Greek philosophers..

You NEED to read The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. It is the first part of a three part biography and its basically the definitive work on TR. The book is amazingly well researched and amazingly well-written. You'll feel like you know everything there is to know about TR by the end. The second two are less exciting reads but are equally rigorous. Overall, you need look no further than Edmund Morris.

I haven't read River of Doubt yet but it's on my list, so I can't speak to that. I have read The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It's great if you'd like a combined history of TR, Taft, and Progressive-era investigative journalism. However, it drags a bit and is pretty nuanced. I got much more out of it having already read the Edmund Morris biographies, which gave me an interest in the relationship between Taft and TR.

Hope this helps, and enjoy!

I have to respectfully disagree with The Dark Tower series as an introduction to Stephen King. I have been a King fan for years, but I finished The Dark Tower books recently and I only enjoyed the first three, and I didn't like them nearly as much as his other stuff.

The Shining was the one that got me hooked on him as an author. It's not super long (many of his novels are much longer) and it's the only King book other than On Writing that I have reread several times.

Jacqueline Carey's three trilogies (Phèdre, Imriel, and Moirin) are a guilty pleasure of mine. Kushiel's Dart is the first book in the Phèdre trilogy.

I recommend this series in every thread where people ask for books similar to ASOIAF/Game Of Thrones.

The similarities are a bit more obvious if you have read the books, but they are both low-magic fantasy worlds with lots of characters, political drama, and there's plenty of "R-rated" language and situations.

All that said...the ASOIAF books are awesome! read them!

You've probably heard of/read it already, but the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman is brilliant.

If you liked Ender's Game, you'll probably enjoy The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins or the Divergent series by Veronica Roth.

Ready Player One is one of my favourite books that I read last year and I can testify that you don't need to know much about video games to enjoy it.

And finally, I strongly recommend The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy". I'd describe it more as "comic scifi" but it is absolutely brilliant and just really funny and clever.

Happy reading!

1) Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

2) Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

and I wouldn't mind switching those categories either - Good Omens certainly taught me enough that it could fit into both

Orson Scott Card has a great early novel called Treason. I know three people including myself who have read it, and we all like it better than Ender's Game.

If you want something really obscure, Peter Ibbetson by George du Maurier.

Try the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. Also heavily focused on dragons and their relationships with their riders, often compared favorably to Eragon.

Feed by M.T. Anderson. It's both funny and depressing, and the idea is that in the future everyone has the internet beamed straight into their heads, including all the ads, and it makes everyone stupid.

I would suggest trying The Picture of Dorian Gray as a classic you may enjoy. Not much of what you describe above and Oscar Wilde is witty, sarcastic, biting and funny. It's short, and has a lot of quotable bits. One of my favourites.

Both my partner and I love Gaiman too, however I read classics, he doesn't. He finds them boring like you outline above. He loved Dorian Gray though and has devoured all of Wilde's other works too. So maybe give that one a go.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. It's probably more black humour as opposed to wit, but it contains some of the best quips I've come across in any book. Below are a couple of the best insults from the book.

“Is my paranoia getting completely out of hand, or are you mongoloids really talking about me?”

“you can always tell employees of the government by the total vacancy which occupies the space where most other people have faces.”

Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.

It's his new one and a fantastic read - if you read a lot as a child you'll definitely feel him tapping into this nostalgia. Link below but I'd recommend going in blind and just picking it up.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15783514-the-ocean-at-the-end-of-the-lane

Tell us how you got on if you decide to read it.

A few that come to mind:

• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz - Quirky yet poignant and tragic. A beautiful novel.
• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman - It's non-fiction but it's utterly fascinating and will make you see the world differently.
• Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes - One of my favorite war novels. Ever. It's 600 pages but it moves at a fast clip.
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson - A fascinating read by one of the best biographers.

I'm sure you'll get some newer recs (ie Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance), so I'll suggest a few classics!

Erasmus wrote a book called The Praise of Folly, which I think is hilarious! Especially if you've read much philosophy, or spent time in academia. So true it hurts! Plato's Symposium is really entertaining, too, as Plato goes. Read about a bunch of drunk old philosophers hitting on younger men!

Here are some of my favourite natural science books:

• A Brief History of Time (Hawking) (physics)
• The Selfish Gene (Dawkins) (biology)
• A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bryson) (everything science)

...and social science books:

• Thinking, Fast and Slow (Kahneman) (psychology)
• Influence (Cialdini) (psychology)
• Freakonomics (Levitt, Dubner) (economics)
• Guns, Germs and Steel (Diamond) (anthropology)

These are my favorites from the last five years:

• Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson (historical nonfiction)

• Modern Romance: An Investigation by Aziz Ansari (humorous sociology)

• The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert (natural history and ecology)

• The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin (political biography)

• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain (psychology/sociology)

• Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan (medical memoir)

• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg (psychology and business)

• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson (biography)

You're probably looking at the top 10 first, so I can give you some opinions on the first ones.

Daughter of Time: Very unique "detective" story where they're resolving a historic murder retroactively. Not your usual crime story, but I'd call it interesting at least.

The Big Sleep: From my point of view, not an easy read, very hardboiled and with a pretty complex plot.

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold: As good as spy novels get from my point of view. Again, very complex plot. I don't even remember the details anymore, but I remember that it was good.

Roger Ackroyd: The less you know about this one, the better. Definitely needs reading if you like Christie but haven't read this one yet. ABC Murders is another one you could consider if this one doesn't appeal to you immediately.

Rebecca: One of my favourite books, but it's not a crime novel (so I'm not sure it really belongs in this list). It's an eery mystery. But boy do I love this one.

One bonus recommendation from me:

The Laughing Policeman: http://www.wikiwand.com/en/The_Laughing_Policeman_(novel).

This is my favourite detective novel. It's set in Sweden and has a great story. It's also written by two authors, which you don't get very often.

Do you have a local library? If so, see if they pay for a service like Overdrive. There are a ton of audiobooks on there, totally free with your library card.

If you don't have a library like that (depending on your location), you can still find some free audiobooks. LibriVox has free audiobooks of works that are in the public domain, read by volunteers. Obviously, the quality on these is hit or miss. And of course there are mainly very old books on here. But hey, it's free.

Like "The Maltese Falcon" by Dashiell Hammett, "The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler, or "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie? Or more like Sherlock Holmes?

Check out this list on Goodreads.

Seconding the earlier suggestion of The Lies of Locke Lamora. I would also recommend the Divergent series by Veronica Roth since this is directly about factions and how people identify themselves in order to function in society. It's YA dystopia in the vein of The Hunger Games but I found it less angsty and interesting from a social perspective. It would also be a quick read.

The Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn is a good gateway series. It's set five years after ROTJ, mostly follows Luke, Leia and Han as they try to set up a new system and clean up the still dangerous elements of the old Empire.

Just a few books that have made a positive impact on me.

• No More Mr. Nice Guy
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
• How to Win Friends & Influence People
• Siddhartha
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
• The Power of Habit
• How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big

I'd also suggest checking out the reading list of /r/BettermentBookClub.

A few not mentioned here, every single one of these books changed the way I saw the world.

Psychology:

• Quiet by Susan Cain
• Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl
• Nudge by Richard H. Thaler
• Psycho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz

Human Sexuality:

• The Red Queen by Matt Ridley
• The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

Success:

• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Politics:

• The Dictator's Handbook by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita

Mythology:

• The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Bruce Campbell
• Man and his Symbols by Carl Jung

If you are looking for ways to select individual stocks, The Intelligent Investor is a must read.

If you are just starting out in investing, spend some time on /r/personalfinance. You are probably better to start with index funds.

Based only on your title, I'd say you and your boss have two values in common: perseverance and individualism. So look for a book about someone achieving (or trying hard to achieve) impressive things, hard work, grit.

I don't have many examples, but some ideas:

• Biography about an inspiring person (Bryan Cranston's seems wildly funny, going by the interview he did with Graham Norton)

• Robert Pirsig - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Road trip on motorcycle x zen philosophy x personal drama/psychological illness

• A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Anti heroes Brison and friend try to do the Appalachian trail (how hard can it be). They fail hilariously and bond a bit but bitch more.

• John Williams - Butcher's Crossing. Men lose their minds hunting for buffalo. Western with a crushing ending. May be a bit too slow-paced.

• Roald Dahl - Solo

• Satire/Fantasy: Good Omens (Pratchett and Gaiman), or The Diaries of Adam and Eve (Twain - these are more a collection of short stories, and you can find many versions/collections of them)

• Biography: Unbroken or if you're in for the long haul, The Bully Pulpit a biography of Teddy Roosevelt, and to a (not very) lesser extent Taft

• Philosophy: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

• Poetry: Paradise Lost (milton), Divine Comedy (dante), or The Prophet (Gibran)

I read Viktor E. Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning" years ago and truly recommend it. The book has two parts and the second part deals more with existential therapy. However, the whole book is lovely. It allowed to begin that thought process as to what I want in life. Good luck, OP.

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. I have never read any book like it. Regarding your comment chain with /u/farang_on_crack I think that this is the exact book that you're searching for. And don't be put off by the first part being set in a concentration camp based on a true story, it's the most optimistic book I've ever read. PM me if you can't find it or want to discuss it.

There's Man's Search for Meaning by Frankl (which isn't as grim as it sounds), and Happiness: A Guide to Life's Most Important Skill, by Matthieu Ricard the gist of which you can get by watching his Google Talk

Ooh … this is a fantastic ask, OP. Alas, I can't think of any examples off the top of my head (I may have a dig around on campus tomorrow …), but I'd certainly be interested in any recommendations people dredge up.

​

**EDIT:** Coincidentally, this came across my Twitter feed just now — although not a book, it might be a viable starting point: http://www.openculture.com/2015/04/the-long-game-of-creativity.html

I'm not familiar with any of the books you named (although I've been adding them to my list!), but I really enjoyed The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin.

Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines series. Hester Shaw is an awesome character, and the only people who are both powerful and beautiful are villains.

Recommending texts on this subject is a fairly vast undertaking, but I'll give you a few starting places.

First, to add to your above list, Marx's "Capital" is, to my mind, a better text for understanding the complexity of Marxist thought. I would go to that next, for communism.

I'll recommend a number of anarchist texts, as well. Emma Goldman's "Anarchism and Other Essays" is a classic that is well loved in the States, but I prefer Kropotkin's "Conquest of Bread" for early anarchist thought. I'll say little more about the subject, as I can point you to The Anarchist Library where you can access these and numerous other volumes for free. Much anarchist thought will also touch on libertarianism, communism, and post-Leftism.

Now, for classical liberalism - "Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith, published in 1776, is a good starting point as well as Locke and Rousseau. I'm not overly fond of Hobbes, but his "Leviathan" is considered a classic, here. You may also want to check out the Federalist Papers.

Mein Kampf is in my opinion not particularly useful in understanding fascism. I would turn to writings by Mussolini and the other Italian fascists if you want to delve into that territory.

Should you want to ask about any system, author, or time period I'd be happy to provide more specific recommendations.

Did she discover them by reading Laurell K Hamilton? If not, she should definitely read the Anita Blake series. It's pretty tame up to Narcissus in Chains, but after that it's a freakfest. Your GF might want to start from the beginning of the series so that she's not lost on the storyline, but it won't take long to get to the meaty bits. Unfortunately it's the meaty bits that made me stop reading the series because storyline got put aside to fit in the kink scenes.

The Merry Gentry series by L.K.Hamilton starts out like that, and they're worth a read too. I like the way the scenes were written into these books better because she at least tries to make the kink fit into these stories.

Edit for: Here's the first book in the Merry Gentry books and here's the first book in the Anita Blake series

Have you read Agatha Christie? Try And Then There Were None, or Death on The Nile.

YA, but the Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud has virtually no romance, and the lead characters are a boy, a girl, and a demon. Interesting magic and world building, and lots of snark from Bartimaeus.

The Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher has great lead and supporting characters, and while there are several realistic and interesting couples involved, the story doesn't really revolve around romance much.

Edit: The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher also doesn't focus much on romance, and has a revolving cast that includes some great supporting characters, both male and female.

Definitely try The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell. It's a wonderful book that delves into the purpose and function of religion, mythology and symbolism across the world.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35519.The_Power_of_Myth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Myth

Took me two afternoons to read and I quite liked it. The writing wasn't amazing, and the characters needed a lot more work... but really, it was the most fun I have had reading in a while. I can't wait for the movie. I wrote a review on goodreads if anyone is interested in my thoughts with a bit more detail.

I used review books for an old job I had and there is one book a publisher sent me that I will remember forever - Rigor Amortis - an anthology of zombie erotica. It's revolting. I mean, to each their own and all that, but it's definitely not my thing lol.

Wow, again....

Just now I was just looking for something completely different and I found this>
https://www.amazon.com/Canterbury-Tales-Retelling-Peter-Ackroyd/dp/0670021229

" The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling

A fresh, modern prose retelling captures the vigorous and bawdy spirit of Chaucer’s classic

Renowned critic, historian, and biographer Peter Ackroyd takes on what is arguably the greatest poem in the English language and presents the work in a prose vernacular that makes it accessible to modern readers while preserving the spirit of the original.

A mirror for medieval society, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales concerns a motley group of pilgrims who meet in a London inn on their way to Canterbury and agree to take part in a storytelling competition. Ranging from comedy to tragedy, pious sermon to ribald farce, heroic adventure to passionate romance, the tales serve not only as a summation of the sensibility of the Middle Ages but as a representation of the drama of the human condition.

Ackroyd’s contemporary prose emphasizes the humanity of these characters—as well as explicitly rendering the naughty good humor of the writer whose comedy influenced Fielding and Dickens—yet still masterfully evokes the euphonies and harmonies of Chaucer’s verse. This retelling is sure to delight modern readers and bring a new appreciation to those already familiar with the classic tales. "

Sounds like it is what you're looking for.

Furiously Happy from Jenny Lawson. I laughed so hard and reccomend it to anyone who is looking for a good book.

Here's an Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Furiously-Happy-Funny-Horrible-Things-ebook/dp/B00V37BC4C

I have two answers:

1) Brave New World - I prefer this one over 1984, honestly, though they are close. Both deal with a dystopian future in their own way. I think Brave New World was more correct in its predictions, as well.

2) Of Brick Windows and Broken Men - a fictional book that revolves around the injustices facing the working class. There are plenty of moments throughout it that will make your heart sink.

One of my favorites is Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moors by James Reston Jr. Before reading it I had no idea of the scope and brutality of the Spanish Inquisition and nor how it connected with Columbus' voyage.

Tim Ferris’s Tools of Titans is basically an encyclopedia filled with experts in their field and the tools they swear by that bring them success in their field. The tools range from sleeping aids to exercise equipment and so on. Loads of inspiration in that book. I bought it for myself for Christmas last year and have been enjoying it all year long. I highly recommend taking it out at the library or flipping through it before buying it.

I would highly recommend the book "A History of Western Philosophy" by Bertrand Russell.
In it he goes through all the big names in philosophy and both tell you about them, their life, their thoughts, and the reactions from society. Additionally he also talks about what they said that have later been proven incorrect, or any logical fallacies in their reasoning etc (some of what I found to be the most interesting were these analyzes that you would never find in the original works!). It summarizes many works so that you can later pick yourself the ones you want to read more about while at the same time giving you enough context and understanding of previous works to really understand what they are trying to say. Bertrand also received the Nobel Prize in literature for, among other things, this book.

I will say that it is a fairly long read, and can be quite dry at times, but honestly that it just the way philosophy is. Bertrand does sprinkle some humor every here and there but in large or does read more like a school book filled with educational facts than some leisure entertaining fiction (obviously).

These are books that I learned a lot from:

• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (behavioral economics)

• The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert (ecology)

• Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli (physics, obv)

• The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee (medicine)

• Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik (materials science)

The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly. One of my absolute favorite books. Ever.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor.

Sophie's Choice by William Styron.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

Night by Elie Wiesel.

Man's Search for Meaning Viktor Frankl.

As a child; The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen.

I could continue but I feel like I'm rambling somehow.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - would highly suggest the translation by Gregory Hays

Also The Prophet by Khalil Gibran (and if you like that you should check out some of his other works, I'm partial to The Madman)

If you're not filled with compassion after reading these, then I hate you

Though most of these are either art or music focused, I think they can apply to creativity in general:

• The Inner Game of Music
• Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art
• Effortless Mastery
• The War of Art: Break through Your Walls and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
• The Artist's Way
• Steal Like an Artist
• Show Your Work
• The Laws of Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life
• Zen in the Art of Writing
• Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain

I am currently reading Mindfulness in 8 Weeks. I'm only on week one, but I'm enjoying it so far. The book includes downloadable guided meditations (one or more for each week).

Mindfulness in Plain English seems to be the most recommended book by /r/Meditation. The book is free, so it's probably a good place to start if you're new to this.

Don't forget to check-out the side-bar in /r/Meditation as it contains lots of useful links. It is a great sub to learn more about meditation, and to discuss your experiences.

This is going to sound corny, and look a lot like every other self-help book out there, but I have known several psychologists that swear by The Feeling Good Handbook

29 year old checking in who just finished The Book Thief last week. Yep, glad my girlfriend went to bed 20 minutes before I finished the book. It wasn't a pretty site.

Stepping a way a bit from (real world) war type books, one series I read around your age was His Dark Materials The series blew me away and really set the tone of every book I've read since. It was wonderfully written, a fun read, and characters to fall in love with. Actually while reading Book Thief I couldn't help but compare Liesel to the lead character in His Dark Materials, Lyra (Ironically close in name). Both strong, young women set in their ways and having no clue how large the world is around them.