some-mind-expanding-books-to-read

 

Last updated: 31 July 2013 from answers with 100+ upvotes

History

• From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present: Jacques Barzun.
• 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 Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World: Steven Johnson.
• Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
• Why the West Rules--for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future by Ian Morris (thanks to Kaiser Kuo for recommendation)
• A Farewell to Alms by Gregory Clark

Design

• A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction: Christopher Alexander.

Politics

• The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion: Jonathan Haidt

Evolution

• Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives: David Sloan Wilson.

Philosophy and Psychology

• The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch
• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
• Ecological Rationality by Gerd Gigerenzer
• 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 Relationships: Christopher Ryan, Cacilda Jetha.

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
• 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
• 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 Brainby      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
• 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. al.
• 100 Startup Chris Guillebeau
• The Thank You Economy Gary Vaynerchuk
• Mindstorms - Seymour Papert
• Outsmarting IQ: The Emerging Science of Learnable Intelligence by David Perkins
• Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge by Edward O. Wilson
• The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary Edition--with a new Introduction by the Author by Richard Dawkins
• Heaven in a Chip: Fuzzy Visions of Society and Science in the Digital Age by Bart Kosko
• The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker
• The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom by Yochai Benkler
• DARWIN'S DANGEROUS IDEA: EVOLUTION AND THE MEANINGS OF LIFE by Daniel C. Dennett
• The Executive Brain: Frontal Lobes and the Civilized Mind by Elkhonon Goldberg
• Curious Minds: How a Child Becomes a Scientist by John Brockman
• Why Smart People Can Be So Stupid by Robert J. Sternberg
• The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex by Murray Gell-Man
• Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics by Eric D. Beinhocker
• The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies by Bryan Douglas Caplan
• The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature by Steven Pinker
• The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard W. Wrangham
• Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World by Tyler Cowen
• Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe by Peter Douglas Ward
• Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business by Jeff Howe
• Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart by Ian Ayres
• Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
• The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic by Dan Ariely
• Teaching As a Subversive Activity by Neil Postman
• Origins of Genius by Dean Simonton
• Mind wars: brain research and national defense‎ by Jonathan Moreno
• Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior‎ by Geoffrey Miller
• Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life‎ by Winifred Gallagher
• Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You‎ by Sam Gosling
• Figments of reality: the evolution of the curious mind‎ by Ian Stewart
• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn
• The 10,000 Year Explosion by Gregory Cochran
• The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman