[scotch_drinker]

Blech. Nothing here that's obscure or likely to alter the path of some one's knowledge. No philosophy, no history, and the list includes Gladwell. Actually, the inclusion of Gladwell probably distinctly colors my thinking on the subject.

Maybe "How to read a book" or "The Alchemist" or I don't know, something that's not just so totally typical.

[madhadron]

Yeah, I use Gladwell as a negative control on book lists as well, along with Jared Diamond.

[gen220]

Harari would be upset to be excluded from this list.

:)

[diehunde]

You went too far with Coelho. Might as well throw some osho's books in there too.

[m11a]

I personally don't like philosophy books. I think there's more to be learned about philosophy by reading about specific topics, rather than actually reading about philosophy. Some exceptions like Plato, etc.

Absolutely agree with history being useful, though. Any particular periods of history you think are essential to know about, and any particular great books on them?

[gen220]

I'm not the OP, but I agree that history's an essential subject.

History has many themes. These appear in every time and place, sometimes in the forefront, sometimes in the background. I believe the most "essential" period is the one that answers your questions.

So, I'd recommend picking any period that you have a vague curiosity for. I'd go a half step further and recommend avoiding recent periods (late 20th Century).

IMO, it's too recent for there to be consensus on what constitutes good scholarship. There are obviously exceptions to this, but if you're new to history reading, it's difficult to disambiguate the good from the bad.

Examples of periods and geographies that are particularly well-studied, with good accessible literature:

- Late antiquity in the mediterranean (fall of the roman empire)

- Inter-war period in continental europe (Weimar, etc)

- Revolutionary period in France, United States

- Antebellum period in the United States

- Early Russian Revolution (there aren't many good syntheses imo, because this period was incredibly complicated)

- Europe during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715)

- Napoleonic wars and aftermath

This list is pretty euro-centric. IMO, these are the safest place to start, as the plurality of english-language scholarship is in these places and periods. After developing a good nose here, you'll feel comfortable reading in areas where the scholarship isn't as deep.

[jnurmine]

At the risk of sounding pretentious, I very much enjoyed Herodotus' "The Histories" (Sélincourt translation). It reads like a Game of Thrones season with all its twists and turns.

(Side-note: I usually multitask a number of books and many months can pass until reading resumes. Yes, it's weird, and yes, if someone has a nice trick for this, please help, I'm running out of bookmarks)

[crease]

I'm genuinely curious why Gladwell is a negative control. The name sounds familiar but I don't know much about him

[ardy42]

> I'm genuinely curious why Gladwell is a negative control. The name sounds familiar but I don't know much about him

He's written a lot of bestselling pop social science books. IIRC, he's a good storyteller, but is criticized for cherry-picking stuff to create the impression that you've just learned something profound and counter-intuitive when maybe you actually haven't.

Here's a review of one that makes that point: https://www.newstatesman.com/2013/10/malcolm-gladwell-backla...

Disclaimer, I actually enjoy his books.