A List of My Favorite Books


1. Notes
* indicates more favorite books.

2. Literature

2.1. Fiction

2.1.1. Serious

• *Markham, Beryl. The Splendid Outcast
  West with the Night
• *Harrison, Jim. Dalva P
  Woman Lit by Fireflies P
• Twain, Mark. (the essays, and Life on the Mississippi)
• Garcia-Marquez, Gabriel. 100 Years of Solitude
  Love in the Time of Cholera
• Esquival, Laura Like Water for Chocolate
• Hemingway, Ernest. A Moveable Feast* P
• Garden of Eden P
  (any)
• Fitzgerld, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby
• Heller, Paul. Catch 22.
• Barth, John. Giles Goat-Boy
  The Sot-Weed Factor.
  Borges, Jorge Luis. Labyrinths.
• Hesse, Herman. The Glass Bead Game.
• *Stoppard, Tom. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
  Arcadia
• *Kinsella, William Shoeless Joe
  Red Wolf, Red Wolf
• *MacLean, Norman A River Runs Through It
  Young Men and Fire
• Morrison, Toni The Bluest Eye
  Jazz
• Salzman, Mark Iron and Silk
  The Laughing Sutra
  The Soloist
  Lost in Place
• Ondaatije, Michael. The English Patient

2.1.2. Not so Serious

• John LeCarre (any)
• Asimov, The Foundation Triology
  (and most anything else)
• Heinlein, Robert. Stranger in a Strange Land
  (and most anything else)
• Delaney, Samuel. Babel-17
• Brunner, John. Stand on Zanzibar.
  The Sheep Look Up
• Mayle, Peter A Year in Provence
  Toujour Provence
  Anything Considered
• Thompson, Jim Pop. 1250
  (and any others)

2.2. Non Fiction

• McPhee, John. (any, as the mood suits you)
• Terkel, Studs. Working*
  American Dreams: Lost and Found*
  Talking to Myself
  Division Street
• Rybczynski, Witold. Home: A Short History of an Idea.*.
• Chatwin, Bruce. (Whatever strikes your fancy).
• Brooks, Kenneth. Run to the Lee
• Randolph, Vance. Pissing in the Snow.
• Lovell, Mary. Straight on Til Morning. (Bio of Beryl Markham)
• Jacobs, Jane. Cities and the Wealth of Nations
  Systems of Survival

3. Science/Engineering

• Florman, Samuel. The Existential Pleasure of Engineering.
• *Abbott, E. Flatland.
• Saks, Oliver. The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat.
  Awakenings
  Seeing Voices
• Edelman, Gerald. Bright Air, Brilliant Fire (read this and then seeing voices)
• *Kuhn, Thomas. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
• *Fleck, Ludwig. The Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact.
  *Maturana and Varela. The Tree of Knowledge.
• McCullough, Warren. Embodiments of Mind.
• *Gould, Stephen Jay. Ever Since Darwin
  The Panda's Thumb
  Hen's Teeth and Horse'sToes
  The Flamingo's Smile
  Wonderful Life
• Nagel and Newman, Godel's Proof.
• Von Forester, et. al. Cybernetics of Cybernetics.

4. Philosophy

• Russell, Bertrand. The Autobiography
  Why I Am Not a Christian.
  In Praise of Idleness
  (much of the rest)
• Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Tractatus Logico Philosophicus
  (with the exception of the pre-Socratic philosophers, much of Western Philosophy before
  Wittgenstein is a waste of time.)
• Lao Tzu, Tao de Ching
• Mencius.

5. History

• Luttwack, Edward. Coup d'Etat, A Practical Handbook
  Strategy (the first three chapters)
• Machiavelli, Nicolo. The Discourses
  The Prince
• Jefferson, Thomas.
• Morgan, Dan. The Merchants of Grain.
• Darrow, Clarence.
• Tuchman, Barbara. Stilwell and the American Experience in China.
• Wills, Gary. Lincoln at Gettysburg
• de Grazi Machivelli in Hell
• Fischer, Hacket Paul Revere's Ride
• Kissinger, Henry. Diplomacy
• Norwich, John Julius A History of Venice
• van Wolfram, Karl. The Enigma of Japanese Power.
• Kates, George. The Years that Were Fat