9/13/2014 What are some mind-expanding books to read? - Quora SHARE QUESTION ★ Book Recommendations: What are some mind- SIGN IN TO READ ALL OF QUORA. expanding books to read? Like 249 Continue with Google Tweet 2 Please also add some details on the book and why you think it's mind- expanding. QUESTION TOPICS Follow Question 8.3k Comments 64+ Continue with Facebook Learning English By continuing you indicate that you have read and agree to the Terms of Service. Book ANSWER WIKI Recommendations Sign Up with Email Books Last updated: 31 July 2013 from answers with 100+ upvotes BEST QUESTIONS IN BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS History From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the ★ What books does Balaji Viswanathan tell Present: Jacques Barzun . 16-20 year olds to read? The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires: Tim Wu . The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It ★ What are the top 10 books that you have read? Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World: Steven Johnson . Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond ★ What are the best books written on Why the West Rules--for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal design? About the Future by Ian Morris (thanks to Quora User for recommendation) ★ A Farewell to Alms by Gregory Clark What should a self-taught programmer read and learn? Design ★ What is the one book you have read that A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction: Christopher Alexander . changed your life? Why or how did it change it? Politics ★ Which books are like A Short History of The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion: Nearly Everything? Jonathan Haidt ★ What are the must-read classic books of Evolution great literature? Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think ★ What are some good books on machine About Our Lives: David Sloan Wilson . learning? Philosophy and Psychology ★ Which book has changed your life and The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch how? Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman ★ What is your favorite book by an Indian Ecological Rationality by Gerd Gigerenzer author? The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker This Will Make You Smarter by John Brockman Intuition Pumps And Other Tools for Thinking by Daniel Dennett Just the Arguments byMichael Bruce and Steven Barbone How to Win Every Argument by Madsen Pirie History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell The Truth About Everything by Matthew Stewart Everything Must Go by James Ladyman and Don Ross Antifragile by Nassim Taleb Metamagical Themas by Douglas Hofstadter. Games People Play: The Basic Handbook of Transactional Analysis: Eric Berne . Metaphors We Live By: George Lakoff, Mark Johnson . The Hero with a Thousand Faces: Joseph Campbell . Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini Education and Significance of Life by Jiddu Krishnamurti Problem Solving How to Solve It: G. Polya . Puzzle Books What Is the Name of This Book?: The Riddle of Dracula and Other Logical Puzzles: Raymond M. Smullyan . Sexuality Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern http://www.quora.com/Book-Recommendations/What-are-some-mind-expanding-books-to-read 1/63 9/13/2014 What are some mind-expanding books to read? - Quora Relationships: Christopher Ryan, Cacilda Jetha . For balance: Sex at Dusk: Lifting the Shiny Wrapping from Sex at Dawn: Lynn Saxon: 9781477697283: Amazon.com: Books Education How Children Fail: John Holt . Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to Old School Culture: Kirsten Olson . Summerhill School: A New View of Childhood: A. S. Neill, Albert Lamb . Mindstorms: Children, Computers, And Powerful Ideas: Seymour A. Papert . Writing Hat Box: The Collected Lyrics of Stephen Sondheim: Stephen Sondheim . Clear and Simple as the Truth: Francis-Noël Thomas, Mark Turner . Theatre A Practical Handbook for the Actor: Melissa Bruder, Lee Michael Cohn, Madeleine Olnek, Nathaniel Pollack, Robert Previtio, Scott Zigler, David Mamet . The Actor and the Target: Declan Donnellan . How to Stop Acting: Harold Guskin . Different Every Night: Putting the play on stage and keeping it fresh: Mike Alfreds . Notes on Directing: 130 Lessons in Leadership from the Director's Chair: Frank Hauser, Russell Reich . Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre: Keith Johnstone . Shakespeare Thinking Shakespeare: A How-to Guide for Student Actors, Directors, and Anyone Else Who Wants to Feel More Comfortable With the Bard: Barry Edelstein . Hamlet in Purgatory: Stephen Greenblatt . Hamlet and Revenge: Eleanor Prosser . Shakespeare's Metrical Art: George T. Wright . Fiction If on a winter's night, a traveller by Italo Calvino Sense and Sensibility The Brothers Karamazov Pride and Prejudice Emma Wuthering Heights House of Mirth One Hundred Years of Solitude One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest Watership Down Cat's Eye Bleak House Lonesome Dove Catcher in the Rye The Queen's Gambit 1Q84: Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin, Philip ​Gabriel . War and Peace: Leo Tolstoy . The Great Gatsby: F. Scott Fitzgerald . Technical How to Find a Habitable Planet by James Kasting (more technical) Scientific Genius by Dean Simonton (more technical) The Extended Phenotype by Richard Dawkins (more technical) Other / Not Yet Categorized Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence: Hans Moravec . In the Blink of an Eye Revised 2nd Edition: Walter Murch . The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present: Eric Kandel . Gödel, Escher, Bach ; Thinking, Fast and Slow Predictably Irrational Darwin's Dangerous Idea http://www.quora.com/Book-Recommendations/What-are-some-mind-expanding-books-to-read 2/63 9/13/2014 What are some mind-expanding books to read? - Quora Intuition Pumps And Other Tools for Thinking Amazon.com: The Selfish Gene The Black Swan Antifragile The Symbolic Species The User Illusion . You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation: Deborah Tannen . The Little Schemer - 4th Edition: Daniel P. Friedman, Matthias Felleisen, Duane Bibby, Gerald J. Sussman . Steppenwolf, and The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse The Wall, by Jean-Paul Sartre The Bone People, by Keri Hulme A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking Godel, Escher, Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter Confessions of a Mask, by Yukio Mishima The City and The City, by China Mieville Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World by Kevin Kelly Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond The Symbolic Species: The Co-Evolution of Language and the Brain by Terrence W. Deacon At Home in the Universe: The Search for Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity by Stuart Kauffman The Discoverers by Daniel J. Boorstin Letters from the Earth: Uncensored Writings by Mark Twain Irrational Man : A Study in Existential Philosophy by William Barrett Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau Personal favorite: Born to Run - Christopher McDougall Best quick read: E-Myth Michael Gerber Best core idea: The Black Swan - Nassim Taleb Best fiction story: Deception Point Dan Brown Most inspiring (entrepreneurial): Losing My Virginity - Richard Branson; Zappos Delivering Happiness - Tony Hsieh Most interesting (behavioral): Why We Make Mistakes - Joseph Hallinan Most interesting (business): Founders at work - Jess Livingston Most interesting (psychological): Mindstorms - Seymour Papert Most dense with information: Economic Facts and Fallacies - Thomas Sowell; Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson Most valuable (entrepreneurial): Rework Jason Fried; Four Steps to Epiphany Steve Blank; Most valuable (growth stage business): Good To Great - Jim Collins Most empowering: 48 laws of Power Robert Greene; The art of war Tsu Most sexual: I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell - Tucker Max Most disappointing: Eight Weeks to Optimum Health Andrew Weil Most useless: How I Made My First Million on the Internet EWEN CHIA Most overrated: Super Freakanomics Levitt & Dubner; The Knack Norm Brodsky 48 Laws of Power Robert Greene The Black Swan Nassim Nicholas Taleb The Power of Full Engagement Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing (5th Edition) Thomas Nagle Leaving Microsoft to Change the World John Wood Losing My Virginity Richard Branson E-Myth Michael Gerber Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind Shunryu Suzuki 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing Al Ries & Jack Trout How I Made My First Million on the Internet EWEN CHIA Strategy for Sustainability Adam Werbach Rich Dad, Poor Dad Robert Kiyosaki Super Freakanomics Levitt & Dubner I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell - Tucker Max Why We Make Mistakes Joseph Hallinan Deception Point Dan Brown Audacity of Hope Barack Obama Vagabonding Rolf Potts Good To Great Jim Collins http://www.quora.com/Book-Recommendations/What-are-some-mind-expanding-books-to-read 3/63 9/13/2014 What are some mind-expanding books to read? - Quora Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson Eight Weeks to Optimum Health Andrew Weil A Whole New Mind Daniel Pink Zappos Delivering Happiness Tony Hsieh Economic Facts and Fallacies Thomas Sowell Game Change James Heilemann Getting Things Done David Allen How to Win Friends and Influence People Dale Carnegie Linchpin Seth Godin Born to Run - Christopher McDougall Outliers Malcolm Gladwell Rework Jason Fried 4 hour work week Tim Ferriss The Knack Norm Brodsky Success Principles Jack Canfield The Talent Code Daniel Coyle 10 Faces of Innovation Tom Kelly The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell Too Big To Fail Andrew Sorkin What the Dog Saw Malcolm Gladwell 4 steps to epiphany Steve Blank 48 laws of Power Robert Greene The art of war Tsu Innovators Dilemma Paypal wars Eric Jackson Who Says elephants can't dance Louis Gerstener Founders at work Jess Livingston The Big Short (2010 Book) by Michael Lewis (author) Cognitive Surplus: Creativity & Generosity in a Connected Age - Clay Shirky The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely (author) The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande The Curse of the Mogul by Jonathan Knee, et.