Things I Recommend

Privacy

• Extreme Privacy (5th ed.)One of the best books I’ve ever read. It changed my life.Michael Bazzell
• GrapheneOSPhone operating system
• SignalMessaging
• ProtonEmail, storage, VPN
• Standard NotesNotes
• CapeMobile carrier
• YubiKeySecurity keys
• Privacy.comVirtual cards
• ObsidianNotes

How things work

• CodeHow computers work, built up from nothing. Critical for understanding today’s technology.Charles Petzold
• Chip WarChris Miller
• SandSomething you never think about until you realize how important it is.Michael Welland
• The Singularity Is NearNo explanation needed at this time.Ray Kurzweil

Math and physics

• How to Prove ItThe best book I’ve found on learning to write real proofs.Daniel Velleman
• Excursions in Number TheoryJust a fun math book.C. Stanley Ogilvy and John T. Anderson
• The Elegant UniverseIf this doesn’t get you interested in physics, I don’t know what will.Brian Greene

Minds

• How the Mind WorksI read it in high school. It really helps frame thinking.Steven Pinker
• Why Zebras Don’t Get UlcersAbout far more than ulcers and stress: free will, and how society should be structured.Robert Sapolsky
• DeterminedSapolsky saying outright what he was really saying in Zebras.Robert Sapolsky
• BuzzedFrom an undergrad class on drugs and behavior. Oddly, one of the best introductions to neuroscience.Cynthia Kuhn, Scott Swartzwelder and Wilkie Wilson
• How to Change Your MindMichael Pollan

Facts and feelings

Dealing with other people’s emotions when pseudoscience meets an emotionally charged topic.

• Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s AutismPeter Hotez
• Deadly ChoicesPaul Offit

Work and life

• First Things FirstA pretty good framework for prioritization.Stephen Covey
• Deep WorkCal Newport
• FlowMihaly Csikszentmihalyi
• GritAngela Duckworth
• The Happiness AdvantageShawn Achor
• How to Win Friends and Influence PeopleA classic for a reason.Dale Carnegie
• The Gift of Adult ADDIf you have ADD, an optimistic toolkit.Lara Honos-Webb

Fiction and literature

• Things Fall ApartChinua Achebe
• The Mysteries of PittsburghBook and movie.Michael Chabon
• Wonder BoysBook and movie.Michael Chabon
• The Perks of Being a WallflowerStephen Chbosky
• Stories of Your Life and OthersTed Chiang
• PiranesiSusanna Clarke
• Invisible ManIf writing were jazz, Ellison would be Dizzy Gillespie or Duke Ellington.Ralph Ellison
• Dubliners“The Dead”, “Eveline”James Joyce
• The Dharma BumsJack Kerouac
• Flowers for AlgernonDaniel Keyes
• The Dark Tower seriesStephen King
• 1984George Orwell
• CivilWarLand in Bad DeclineGeorge Saunders
• A Swim in a Pond in the RainGeorge Saunders
• The Plot Against AmericaPhilip Roth
• The Crying of Lot 49Thomas Pynchon
• HamletWilliam Shakespeare
• East of EdenJohn Steinbeck
• The Lord of the RingsJ. R. R. Tolkien
• The HobbitJ. R. R. Tolkien
• Cat’s CradleKurt Vonnegut
• Slaughterhouse-FiveKurt Vonnegut
• Wampeters, Foma & GranfalloonsKurt Vonnegut
• A Man Without a CountryKurt Vonnegut
• Infinite JestDavid Foster Wallace
• The Pale KingDavid Foster Wallace
• OblivionDavid Foster Wallace
• A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do AgainDavid Foster Wallace
• This Is WaterDavid Foster Wallace
• Good Old NeonDavid Foster Wallace
• The MartianAndy Weir
• The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the HillsCharles Bukowski
• Four QuartetsT. S. Eliot
• Under Milk WoodDylan Thomas
• The Silo seriesHugh Howey

Art

• This Is Not a PipeMichel Foucault

Memoir and biography

• The Work of ArtAdam Moss
• I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren ZevonCrystal Zevon
• The Autobiography of Malcolm XMalcolm X and Alex Haley
• The Rise of Theodore RooseveltEdmund Morris
• Born to RunChristopher McDougall
• Every Love Story Is a Ghost StoryD. T. Max
• Born Standing UpSteve Martin
• Alan Turing: The EnigmaAndrew Hodges
• The Motorcycle DiariesErnesto Che Guevara
• Lucky ManMichael J. Fox
• MeditationsMarcus Aurelius

Science and philosophy

• The Art of ElectronicsA cookbook.Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill
• BehaveRobert Sapolsky
• The Better Angels of Our NatureSteven Pinker
• Madness and CivilizationMichel Foucault
• PanopticismMichel FoucaultEssay
• MultitudeAs a response to Foucault.Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri
• Thank You for ArguingJay Heinrichs
• The Intelligence of EvilJean Baudrillard
• The Most Good You Can DoPeter Singer
• Man’s Search for MeaningViktor Frankl
• Tractatus Logico-PhilosophicusLudwig Wittgenstein
• The Art of WarSun Tzu

History and civics

• Guns, Germs, and SteelJared Diamond
• A Brief History of the Middle EastOne of the best I’ve read on the Middle East.Christopher Catherwood
• The SwerveStephen Greenblatt
• 1491Charles C. Mann
• Two Treatises of GovernmentJohn Locke
• The Federalist PapersAlexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay
• The Human ConditionHannah Arendt
• Public OpinionWalter Lippmann
• A People’s History of the United StatesHoward Zinn
• Presidential Power and the Modern PresidentsRichard Neustadt
• John AdamsHBOSeries
• The WireHBOSeries
• Washington’s Farewell AddressGeorge WashingtonSpeech
• The Emancipation ProclamationAbraham LincolnDocument
• The Gettysburg AddressAbraham LincolnSpeech
• Eisenhower’s Farewell AddressDwight D. EisenhowerSpeech
• Report to the American People on Civil RightsJohn F. KennedySpeech

Economics, policy and law

• Evil GeniusesKurt Andersen
• The Essential Adam SmithRobert Heilbroner
• The Road to SerfdomFriedrich Hayek
• The Communist Manifesto and Other WritingsKarl Marx
• Capital, Vol. 2Karl Marx
• Drastic MeasuresHugh Rockoff
• A Monetary and Fiscal History of the United States, 1961–2021Alan Blinder
• This Time Is DifferentCarmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff
• Capital in the Twenty-First CenturyThomas Piketty
• The World for SaleJavier Blas and Jack Farchy
• Middle OutMichael Tomasky
• Slouching Towards UtopiaJ. Bradford DeLong
• Games of StrategyAvinash Dixit and Susan Skeath
• The Anti-Oligarchy ConstitutionJoseph Fishkin and William Forbath
• Servants of the DamnedDavid Enrich
• The Cycles of Constitutional TimeJack Balkin
• The Second FoundingEric Foner
• Five ChiefsJohn Paul Stevens
• The Supreme CourtWilliam Rehnquist
• Presumed GuiltyErwin Chemerinsky
• A Theory of JusticeHuge for me, especially the veil of ignorance.John Rawls
• Open Source Law, Policy and PracticeExcellent practice guide.Amanda Brock
• Legal Writing in Plain EnglishBryan Garner

Writing, linguistics and typography

• The Writer’s EyeHart Day Leavitt
• The Elements of StyleWilliam Strunk Jr. and E. B. White
• On WritingStephen King
• Introducing LinguisticsFun.R. L. Trask and Stephen Mayblin
• Typography for LawyersShould be on everyone’s desk.Matthew Butterick

Outdoors

• Alaska: Illustrated Guide for the CuriousNikki Mann and Jeff Wohl
• Canyoneering 3Southern Utah.Steve Allen
• The Ultimate Hiker’s Gear GuideAndrew Skurka
• U.S. Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76U.S. Department of the Army

Skills and craft

• Bobby Fischer Teaches ChessBobby Fischer
• Case Interview SecretsVictor Cheng
• WatchmakingGeorge Daniels
• How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play GreatDan Erlewine
• The Advancing GuitaristMick Goodrick