Updated Book List: Top 50 Book Recommendations

 

Much thought has gone into this updated book list. I realized during this update that reaching for 100 was forcing concession on my part. Therefore, I offer here a list of 50 books.

My original list was much more personalized. I included numerous titles from the Adventure/Travel genre for example. This is not something I would consider universal reading – it’s not for everyone. Neither did my first list present particularly easy reading; for example, including Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey makes almost every list of must-read books (which I agree with) but let’s me be honest, how many people are actually going to pick up these books.

My approach this time, I think, is more universal, and the categories reflect such. There are some titles that I left out that I might include in a slightly larger list, such as Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, which is both I think, a necessary reference book and author to be read.

This time around I purposely stayed away from military, leadership and professional titles; Who Moved My Cheese? and Team of Teams, for example. These would (probably will) make the future list of 100 books I recommend.

All that stated, here we go:

Books I consider necessary reference books (if you’ve ever referred to a ‘catch-22,’ wouldn’t it be prudent or appropriate to have read the book from which the reference is derived?)

1. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
3. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank
4. The Prince – Niccolo Machiavelli
5. On the Road – Jack Kerouac
6. A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking

Books that I think are both necessary reference reads, but also authors that need to be read (I’d encourage the exploration of more of these author’s works)

7. Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer
8. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
9. The Old Man and the Sea – Hemingway
10. The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
11. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
12. Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell

Books (and author’s) that Canadians should read (again, I encourage exploring these author’s other works)

13. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
14. Vimy – Pierre Berton
15. A Short History of Canada – Desmond Morton
16. A People’s History of the United States – Howard Zinn

Books where the author is a necessary reference, but also whose views of the world, society, or humanity are critical

17. 1984 – George Orwell
18. Animal Farm – George Orwell
19. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
20. The Road – Cormac McCarthy
21. The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
22. Utopia – Sir Thomas More
23. Lord of the Flies – William Golding

Books that will enlighten or inform or challenge one’s views, perspectives or fears (of our past, present and future)

24. Rule by Secrecy – Jim Marrs
25. Guns, Germs and Steel – Jared Diamond
26. Confessions of an Economic Hitman – John Perkins
27. The Next 100 Years – George Friedman
28. Future Crimes – Marc Goodman
29. Rise of the Warrior Cop – Radley Balko
30. Perfect Weapon – David Sanger
31. A Short History of Progress – Ronald Wright

Books to sate the philosopher in you and thoughts about life, meaning, and purpose (and ethics and values)

32. Touching the Void – Joe Simpson
33. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert Pirsig
34. The Road Less Traveled – M. Scott Peck, M.D.
35. Meditations – Marcus Aurelius
36. Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor Frankl
37. The Republic – Plato
38. Tuesdays with Morrie – Mitch Albom
39. The Art of Racing in the Rain – Garth Stein
40. The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho

Books that bridge the gap between philosophy and religion (and which both challenge and inform convictions, faith and history)

41. The Bible
42. The God Delusion – Richard Dawkins
43. The Heathen’s Guide to World Religions – William Hopper
44. The Source – James A. Michener
45. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

Books to inform and caution some of life’s hard realities

46. Go Ask Alice – Anonymous
47. The Wealthy Barber – David Chilton
48. The Geography of Bliss – Eric Weiner
49. The War of Art – Steven Pressfield

And the book I consider, still, the number one book for everyone, at any stage in life (and probably at least once at every stage of life)

50. The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Bonus: What I’m Reading Right Now

• The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers – Eric Weiner