10 of My All-Time Favorite Books
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Recently the reading bug has caught me again. It usually goes in waves, much like flu season, keeping me awake for hours at night as I devour page after page of whatever I happen to be consuming at the time. I’ve always been a reader.
As a young boy I remember dominating my class in the reading contests in which children were given a free personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut for every x amount of books they read. It was par for the course in my family. Early memories of my parents involved them sitting in their chairs after dinner quietly reading with an old record playing in the background.
A few of my friends, Glenn Packiam and Aaron Stern, recently published posts listing their favorite books. As funny as it may sound, these posts fascinate me more than almost anything they’ve written…and it’s not because they’re poor writers (the opposite is true).
To me, nothing is more telling of how a person thinks and interacts with the world than the books they cherish. Each one reveals a unique angle to their character and perceptions that no amount of direct questioning could uncover.
So in the spirit of promoting great books I thought I would follow suit with my own list of favorite books. The following represent various facets of what I love about books. Not just the information contained within the pages, but the journeys available to anyone who dare enter. Check them out and pick one up for a friend for Christmas if you’re having a hard time thinking of what to give them.
1) The Bible- no other piece of work has influenced so many, caused so much controversy and delved deeper into the meat of life. My favorite description comes from the cover of my TNIV Bible, “How God created the world, watched it turn against his purpose, lived among us, was still rejected because he didn’t fit expectations, turned everything upside down to get things back on track and now invites you to find your place in The Story of God.”
2) The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky - said by many to be the best work of Dostoevsky, his final book explores the lives of a Russian landowner and his three sons, each of whom has an entirely different personality.
As with most classic literature, the tale explores major themes like greed, envy, love, faith and everything that cuts to the core of man. “The Grand Inquisitor” chapter of the book is one of the finest sections of writing I have ever read.
3) The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas L. Friedman – required reading for every 20-something. Globalization has shaped the last several decades more than anyone imagined, but Friedman explains the “why” and “how,” taking a complex world and making it simple again. This Eureka-moment-book will cause you to look at the world around you in a new way and exclaim, “That’s why it is how it is!”
4) Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis – somewhere along the line it became the norm to associate faith with a rejection of the mind. C.S. Lewis begs to differ and offers an incredible treatise as to why one should choose to follow Christ in a logical and well-thought out way. “Mere Christianity” is a defense of traditional Christianity in a world that often rejects it as “old-fashioned.” Quite simply, the best defense of Christianity I have ever read.
5) Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer – I read this book in high school and was so inspired by the life of the main character that I went on a 2-week trip into the Alaskan backcountry upon graduation. Based on a true story, this incredible adventure examines the life and death of college graduate Christopher McCandless who sold all of his life possessions and set off on an journey to Alaska that would give him a new life, but eventually take it. Amazing insight into what keeps the human spirit alive and healthy.
6) From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman – Thomas Friedman’s first book reads much differently than all those after it. Based on his life as a reporter living in Lebanaon in the early 80’s, Friedman discusses the complexities of the Arab/Israeli conflict in storylike fashion. Using the significant events of his personal life during that period as a springboard, he takes the reader through all of the characters and themes that have made this area of the world one of the most volatile in history. If you read any books on the Middle Eastern conflict, this should be it.
7) How Should We Then Live: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture by Francis Schaeffer – A book for anyone that wants to know how our present culture got to where it is today and the people, ideas, and moments that acted as the catalysts. Schaeffer makes history incredibly relevant and interesting. Working forward from the breakdown of ancient Rome, through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, etc. up to our present age, Schaeffer highlights the key players that have shaped how we view our world today as well as the major shift from a Christian world view to a humanistic world view and the consequences of this change. Schaeffer concludes, “The problem is having, and then acting upon, the right world view – the world view which gives men and women the truth of what is.”
8) Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert Putnam – Authentic, relevant community is something that is increasingly sought after by my generation (the 20-somethings, college and career group), but sometimes hard to find or even define. Bowling Alone is a fascinating commentary on community, relationships, social networking and the many ways that people connect with each other in America both past and present. It provides incredible arguments for the benefits of strong community to include trust, altruism, honesty, reciprocity, etc., but at the same time frames the discussion in such a way that you don’t feel like you’re listening to grandpa tell long tales of the “good ole’ days.”
9) Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand – First, don’t be intimidated by it’s thickness (over 1,000 pages). Rand’s writing lends itself to burning through pages quickly. On one level this book is a fictional story of railroad tycoon Dagny Taggart, struggling to manage a railroad company as the world around her pressures her to run it “for the good of everyone,” rather than the way she sees fit. On another level it is an impassioned defense of objectivism, Rand’s radical philosophy of self-interest, as well as capitalism. The product description says it best, “It is a mystery, not about the murder of a man’s body, but about the murder–and rebirth–of man’s spirit.” A huge book in every sense.
10) A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel – This book was assigned reading for my junior-year Personal Finance and Investing Class at the Air Force Academy. It has become my investing bible. With a few strokes of the pen, Malkiel sizes up the entire investment analysis industry and renders it worthless. Citing years of personal experience and reams of data, Malkiel shows how monthly investing in an simple index-fund has matched, and much of the time exceeded, the returns of other actively managed mutual funds when measured over long time periods. Looking at history as a guide, the book examines several different market bubbles, crashes, etc. and shows how deeply irrational investors can become in pursuit of “the secret.” The number one book I would recommend on investing and personal finance to anyone that asked.
Honorable Mention:
*The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
**What’s So Great About America by Dinesh D’Souza
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11 comments
I freaking love Atlas Shrugged. I’ve never read it, only listened to the unabridged version on tape three times. I did not know what to expect the first time, only that it would occupy me on a road trip. I was pleasantly surprised by the genre bending mystique of the story. I then came to appreciate it’s message as something to be admired in some respects and disgusted by in others. The best way I can describe objectivism is “godless capitalism.”
@ Eric
You’ve hit the nail on the head. It’s very rare for me to love a book which promotes a philosophy I don’t necessarily agree with. After much discussion and thought over the years I have come to look at Atlas Shrugged as a book where there are some great principles to be gleaned – not all, but definitely a great many.
I try to separate some of the points on capitalism and those on objectivism, as I don’t think they are mutually exclusive.
I love your description of objectivism being “godless capitalism.” I would also call it the philosophy of self-interest. Either way, it’s not a philosophy I agree with, but that discussion would take up far too many lines of text.
Great list, one of my faves from a business/entrepreneurship standpoint is also Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Cialdini.
And, this is an interesting one to bring up here, given your background, but the classic anti-war novel, Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo had a powerful effect on me, when I was younger.
Also, The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway was rich in understanding the power of the experience and commitment.
You only picked two of my favorites…I guess we can’t be friends…nor belong to dead bobo book club!
I’ve been chewing through books recently, too. Maybe it’s the change in season. Been thinking about doing a similar list, so your post is very timely.
Friedman’s awesome, isn’t he? I’ll read anything he writes. I’ve been putting off reading Rand books since college, but I think maybe it’s time.
I recently got hopelessly sucked into Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth and World Without End. Fat books both, but completely engrossing. Have you read them (yet)?
@ Jonathan Fields,
I’ve heard that Cialdini has some great books, I’ll have to check him out, as well as the other two. I read sections of “Old Man and the Sea,” for class, but never the whole thing.
@ Justin,
Which would you have added? Which two did I pick that were your favorites?
@ John at Hella Sound,
Friedman is the man, I really enjoy his books. Still need to get “Hot, Flat and Crowded,” although I haven’t heard any reviews.
I have “Pillars of the Earth” on my Amazon wishlist, so hopefully I’ll get it soon.
Pillars of the Earth is great. I just started The World is Flat and can’t really get into it yet. I’ll keep pushing since you speak highly of it. Sitting on my bedside table is Atlas Shrugged so that is next….
Bowling Alone sounds like a gem.
I think A Random Walk Down Wall Street might be where I learned about the distinction between market value and intrinsic value and a castle in the sky vs. sand. Either that or it’s where I learned that monkey throwing darts would do better than my thoughtful analysis. I think it’s how my accountant convinced me I”m better off indexing than trying to play any Reindeer games.
One of my favorite books that surprised me was my Uncle’s Ireland. It’s a story of a boy learning to be a storyteller and you get a rich history of Ireland through a storyteller’s tales along the way.
I read both the Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged on the subway in NYC. Later I recognized how…capitalistic that process was, both in thought and in context. I believe most Americans connect with Rand to begin with, due to our cultural heritage, but in the end it becomes an analogy to what we live, see and breathe every day. I’m always curious about reactions from non-westerners and communal societies. I think they’d find the ideas horrific. To everything there’s the story, the religion and the propaganda.
The World is Flat and Bowling Alone are great picks as well. Beyond that I differ, going off into the realm of Frank Herbert’s “God Emperor of Dune”, and Orson Scott Card’s “Speaker for the Dead”, and definitely Heinlein’s “For Us, the Living”. The ideas in these books did for me what Atlas Shrugged does for capitalistism enthusiasts, echo preexisting ideas in a concrete literate way. They provided quotes and verbiage for the things I had trouble explaining myself. Isn’t that what books do best?
I think this is a great list, but regardless of the fact that both of your Thomas Friedman selections are amazing books, there are simply too many books in the world to have one author appear twice on a Top 10 list. Friedman is a luminary but there are SO MANY amazing texts out there.
@Akshay: I loved how you said that good books provide verbiage for the things one has trouble explaining. That is one of my absolute favorite parts of reading. Now, the trouble is just remembering how the book explains it. Thanks for your insight.
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