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Books about Intellectual
Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography
by David Michaelis
A comprehensive biography of Charles Schulz, the creator of the beloved comic strip Peanuts, exploring his life and creative process.
Charles M. Schulz, the most widely syndicated and beloved cartoonist of all time, is also one of the least understood figures in American culture. Now, acclaimed biographer David Michaelis gives us ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Oresteia: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides
by Aeschylus
Tragedy of a cursed family and their struggle to find the truth and justice.
Alternate cover edition can be found, here,, here,, here,, here, In the Oresteia—the only trilogy in Greek drama which survives from antiquity—Aeschylus took as his subject the bloody chain of murder ... (Goodreads)
Plato: Complete Works
by Plato
Collection of ancient Greek philosopher Plato's dialogues, discussing morality, knowledge and truth.
Outstanding translations by leading contemporary scholars–many commissioned especially for this volume--are presented here in the first single edition to include the entire surviving corpus of works ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Wall
by Jean-Paul Sartre
A soldier's fight for survival in a World War II concentration camp.
'The Wall', the lead story in this collection, introduces three political prisoners on the night prior to their execution. Through the gaze of an impartial doctor–seemingly there for the men's ... (Goodreads)
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
by Joseph J. Ellis
Examines the lives of key figures of the American Revolution and their political disputes.
Informs our understanding of American politics–then and now--and gives us a new perspective on the unpredictable forces that shape history. An illuminating study of the intertwined lives of the ... (Goodreads)
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
by Salman Rushdie
A modern retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, exploring themes of fame and adoration.
Salman Rushdie's most ambitious and accomplished novel, sure to be hailed as his masterpiece. At the beginning of this stunning novel, Vina Apsara, a famous and much-loved singer, is caught up in a ... (Goodreads)
The Name of the Rose
by Umberto Eco
A Franciscan friar investigates a series of murders in a medieval monastery, uncovering a sinister plot.
In 1327, Franciscan friar William of Baskerville and Adso of Melk , a Benedictine novice travelling under his protection, arrive at a Benedictine monastery in Northern Italy to attend a theological ... (Wikipedia)
The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom
by Jonathan Haidt
Drawing on philosophy, religion, and science, a guide to finding greater satisfaction in life.
In his widely praised book, award-winning psychologist Jonathan Haidt examines the world’s philosophical wisdom through the lens of psychological science, showing how a deeper understanding of ... (Goodreads)
A Brief History of Time
by Stephen Hawking
Exploring the depths of time and space and the emergence of the universe.
In the ten years since its publication in 1988, Stephen Hawking's classic work has become a landmark volume in scientific writing, with more than nine million copies in forty languages sold ... (Goodreads)
How to Read Literature Like a Professor
by Thomas C. Foster
A guide to exploring literature’s hidden meanings and uncovering the underlying themes.
While many books can be enjoyed for their basic stories, there are often deeper meanings interwoven in these literary texts... How to Read Literature Like a Professor helps us to discover those ... (Goodreads)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
by Muriel Barbery
A story of two unlikely outcasts who find solace and comfort in each other's company.
The story revolves mainly around the characters of Renée Michel and Paloma Josse, residents of an upper-middle class Left Bank apartment building at 7 Rue de Grenelle – one of the most elegant ... (Wikipedia)
The Republic
by Plato
A philosophical discourse on justice, examining morality, politics, and virtue.
Presented in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and three different interlocutors, this classic text is an enquiry into the notion of a perfect community and the ideal individual within it. ... (Goodreads)
The Portrait of a Lady
by Henry James
A young woman's journey of self-discovery, standing up to society's expectations.
Isabel Archer, from Albany, New York , is invited by her maternal aunt, Lydia Touchett, to visit Lydia's rich husband, Daniel, at his estate near London, following the death of Isabel's father. ... (Wikipedia)
The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy
by Stanisław Lem
A satirical sci-fi journey of a man struggling to make sense of a world of surrealism and absurdity.
Ijon Tichy is sent to the Eighth World Futurological Congress in Costa Rica , by professor Tarantoga . The conference is set to focus on the world's overpopulation crisis and ways of dealing with it. ... (Wikipedia)
How the Mind Works
by Steven Pinker
Exploration of the human mind, understanding the elements that make us think and act.
In this extraordinary bestseller, Steven Pinker, one of the world's leading cognitive scientists, does for the rest of the mind what he did for language in his 1994 book, The Language Instinct . He ... (Goodreads)
4 3 2 1
by Paul Auster
An exploration of alternate realities, tracing the lives of four identical boys who go their own ways.
Nearly two weeks early, on March 3, 1947, in the maternity ward of Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, Archibald Isaac Ferguson, the one and only child of Rose and Stanley Ferguson, is born. ... (Goodreads)
Lolita
by Vladimir Nabokov
A controversial tale of a man's forbidden love for a young girl.
The novel is prefaced by a fictitious foreword by John Ray Jr., an editor of psychology books. Ray states that he is presenting a memoir written by a man using the pseudonym "Humbert Humbert", who ... (Wikipedia)
The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
by Emily Dickinson
A compilation of Dickinson's poetic works, exploring themes of nature, mortality, and love.
THE ONLY ONE-VOLUME EDITION CONTAINING ALL 1,775 OF EMILY DICKINSON’S POEMS Only eleven of Emily Dickinson’s poems were published prior to her death in 1886; the startling originality of her work ... (Goodreads)
Gravity's Rainbow
by Thomas Pynchon
A surreal exploration of war and technology, and their impact on the human spirit.
Winner of the 1973 National Book Award, Gravity's Rainbow is a postmodern epic, a work as exhaustively significant to the second half of the 20th century as Joyce's Ulysses was to the first. Its ... (Goodreads)
A History of Western Philosophy
by Bertrand Russell
A comprehensive overview of the major philosophical thinkers and their ideas.
Since its first publication in 1945 Lord Russell's A History of Western Philosophy has been universally acclaimed as the outstanding one-volume work on the subject—unparalleled in its ... (Goodreads)
Possession
by A.S. Byatt
Two modern academics uncover a hidden romance between two Victorian poets.
Obscure scholar Roland Michell, researching in the London Library , discovers handwritten drafts of a letter by the eminent Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash, which lead him to suspect that the ... (Wikipedia)
Death Comes to Pemberley
by P.D. James
A murder mystery set in the idyllic village of Pemberley, a sequel to Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice".
The novel begins in October, 1803, six years after the events in, Pride and Prejudice, which resulted in the marriage of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennet . The Prologue and Book One ... (Wikipedia)
Einstein: His Life and Universe
by Walter Isaacson
A comprehensive biography of Albert Einstein, exploring his personal life, scientific achievements, and impact on the world.
Einstein was a rebel and nonconformist from boyhood days, and these character traits drove both his life and his science. In this narrative, Walter Isaacson explains how his mind worked and the ... (Goodreads)
The Pale King
by David Foster Wallace
A group of IRS workers battle tedium and boredom in a quest for meaning and purpose in life.
The agents at the IRS Regional Examination Center in Peoria, Illinois, appear ordinary enough to newly arrived trainee David Foster Wallace. But as he immerses himself in a routine so tedious and ... (Goodreads)
Faust, First Part
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A timeless story of a man's struggle between the forces of good and evil.
Goethe’s masterpiece and perhaps the greatest work in German literature, Faust has made the legendary German alchemist one of the central myths of the Western world. Here indeed is a monumental ... (Goodreads)
Foucault's Pendulum
by Umberto Eco
A humorous and wild historical conspiracy thriller set across Europe.
A man named Casaubon , is hiding in the Musée des Arts et Métiers after closing. He believes that a secret society has kidnapped his friend Jacopo Belbo and are now after him, and will meet in the ... (Wikipedia)
The End of Eternity
by Isaac Asimov
A renegade scientist unravels the secrets of time travel, challenging the status quo.
Andrew Harlan is an Eternal, a man whose job it is to range through past and present Centuries, monitoring and, where necessary, altering Time's myriad cause-and-effect relationships. But when Harlan ... (Goodreads)
Homer & Langley
by E.L. Doctorow
Eccentric brothers live in a decaying mansion in New York City, hidden away from the rest of the world.
From Ragtime and Billy Bathgate to The Book of Daniel, World’s Fair, and The March, the novels of E. L. Doctorow comprise one of the most substantive achievements of modern American fiction. Now, ... (Goodreads)
The Rise of Endymion
by Dan Simmons
A perilous adventure in a post-apocalyptic future, with a hero set on fulfilling a mysterious destiny.
The Rise of Endymion is set more than 275 years after the fall of the Hegemony of Man, an interstellar organization connected by farcaster portals. At the time of this novel, the Roman Catholic ... (Wikipedia)
Nutshell
by Ian McEwan
A unique retelling of Shakespeare's Hamlet, from the perspective of an unborn child.
Nutshell is a classic story of murder and deceit, told by a narrator with a perspective and voice unlike any in recent literature. A bravura performance, it is the finest recent work from a true ... (Goodreads)
Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain
by Maryanne Wolf
A fascinating exploration of the neurological processes involved in reading, and how they shape our understanding of the world.
The act of reading is a miracle. Every new reader's brain possesses the extraordinary capacity to rearrange itself beyond its original abilities in order to understand written symbols. But how does ... (Goodreads)
The Symposium
by Plato
A philosophical dialogue among ancient Greeks about the nature of love.
A fascinating discussion on sex, gender, and human instincts, as relevant today as ever. In the course of a lively drinking party, a group of Athenian intellectuals exchange views on eros, or desire. ... (Goodreads)
Critique of Pure Reason
by Immanuel Kant
Exploration of the limits of human reason and its limitations in understanding nature.
'The purpose of this critique of pure speculative reason consists in the attempt to change the old procedure of metaphysics and to bring about a complete revolution', Kant's Critique of Pure Reason ... (Goodreads)
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
by Kai Bird
Biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, exploring his life and legacy.
American Prometheus is the first full-scale biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, "father of the atomic bomb," the brilliant, charismatic physicist who led the effort to capture the awesome fire of the ... (Goodreads)
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
by Peter Godfrey-Smith
Exploration of the philosophical and scientific questions surrounding the emergence of consciousness in animals other than humans.
Although mammals and birds are widely regarded as the smartest creatures on earth, it has lately become clear that a very distant branch of the tree of life has also sprouted higher intelligence: the ... (Goodreads)
First Family: Abigail and John Adams
by Joseph J. Ellis
A biography of Abigail and John Adams, the first family of the United States, and their contributions to American history.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning, best-selling author of "Founding Brothers" and "His Excellency "brings America's preeminent first couple to life in a moving and illuminating narrative that sweeps through ... (Goodreads)
The Ego and the Id
by Sigmund Freud
A psychoanalytic exploration of the three facets of the human psyche, and how they interact.
The Ego and the Id ranks high among the works of Freud's later years. The heart of his concern is the ego, which he sees battling with three forces: the id, the super-ego, and the outside world. Of ... (Goodreads)
Huis clos: suivi de Les Mouches
by Jean-Paul Sartre
An exploration of the moral implications of choice, the ultimate freedom of human beings.
Three damned souls, Joseph Garcin, Inèz Serrano, and Estelle Rigault, are brought to the same room in Hell and locked inside by a mysterious valet. They had all expected torture devices to punish ... (Wikipedia)
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
by Stephen Greenblatt
Uncovering the history of an ancient philosophical poem, and its impact on the modern world.
One of the world's most celebrated scholars, Stephen Greenblatt has crafted both an innovative work of history and a thrilling story of discovery, in which one manuscript, plucked from a thousand ... (Goodreads)
The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
by H.W. Brands
Biography of the Founding Father, exploring his life and impact on the nation.
Pulitzer Prize Finalist,Benjamin Franklin, perhaps, the, pivotal figure in colonial and revolutionary America, comes vividly to life in this masterly biography. Wit, diplomat, scientist, philosopher, ... (Barnes & Noble)
Dissolution
by C.J. Sansom
A lawyer in Tudor England investigates a suspicious death, uncovering a vast conspiracy.
Henry VIII has ordered the dissolution of the monasteries and England is full of informers. At the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control with the murder of Commissioner Robin ... (Goodreads)
Season of Migration to the North
by Tayeb Salih
A stranger arrives in a small Sudanese village, stirring up dark secrets from the past.
After years of study in Europe, the young narrator of Season of Migration to the North returns to his village along the Nile in the Sudan. It is the 1960s, and he is eager to make a contribution to ... (Goodreads)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
by Tom Stoppard
A humorous exploration of fate and free will, seen through the eyes of two minor characters in Shakespeare's "Hamlet".
Hamlet told from the worm's-eye view of two minor characters, bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Echoes of Waiting for Godot resound, reality and illusion mix, and where fate leads heroes to a ... (Goodreads)
The Divine Comedy, Volume II: Purgatorio, Part 1: Text
by Dante Alighieri
A journey of redemption and spiritual growth in the afterlife, exploring the depths of human nature.
Edition bilingue. ... (Goodreads)
City of Glass
by Paul Karasik
A graphic novel adaptation of Paul Auster's novel, exploring identity, language, and the blurred lines between reality and fiction.
The story follows a man named Daniel Quinn. One night, he receives a call meant for a private detective (strangely enough named Paul Auster , the same name as the author of the story). Quinn is ... (Wikipedia)
A Little History of Philosophy
by Nigel Warburton
A comprehensive overview of major philosophical thinkers and movements from ancient times to the present.
Philosophy begins with questions about the nature of reality and how we should live. These were the concerns of Socrates, who spent his days in the ancient Athenian marketplace asking awkward ... (Goodreads)
Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo
by Plato
Classic dialogues exploring the nature of morality, justice, knowledge, and death.
The second edition of Five Dialogues presents G. M. A. Grube's distinguished translations, as revised by John Cooper for Plato, Complete Works (Hacket, 1997). Cooper has also contributed a number of ... (Goodreads)
Toward a Psychology of Being
by Abraham H. Maslow
Maslow's theory of self-actualization and the hierarchy of needs, exploring the potential for human growth and fulfillment.
"If we wish to help humans to become more fully human, we must realize not only that they try to realize themselves, but that they are also reluctant or afraid or unable to do so. Only by fully ... (Goodreads)
Orthodoxy
by G.K. Chesterton
An exploration of the spiritual and moral foundations of Christianity.
This book is meant to be a companion to "Heretics," and to put the positive side in addition to the negative. Many critics complained of the book because it merely criticised current philosophies ... (Goodreads)
Mere Christianity
by C.S. Lewis
An exploration of Christianity and its implications for believing in God.
Mere Christianity is C.S. Lewis's forceful and accessible doctrine of Christian belief. First heard as informal radio broadcasts and then published as three separate books - The Case for ... (Goodreads)
The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds
by Michael Lewis
A fascinating examination of the two psychologists who changed the way we view the human mind.
Forty years ago, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky wrote a series of breathtakingly original papers that invented the field of behavioral economics. One of the greatest ... (Goodreads)
The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language
by Steven Pinker
An exploration of the origins and development of human language and its implications for cognitive science.
The classic book on the development of human language by the world’s leading expert on language and the mind. In this classic, the world's expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you ... (Goodreads)
The Last Templar
by Raymond Khoury
A quest to uncover the mysteries of the lost Templar Order, set against a backdrop of conspiracy and hidden secrets.
"It has served us well, this myth of Christ." Pope Leo X, 16th Century In a hail of fire and flashing sword, as the burning city of Acre falls from the hands of the West in 1291, The Last Templar ... (Goodreads)
Vineland
by Thomas Pynchon
A comedic journey of a family struggling to find a sense of identity and purpose.
The story is set in California, United States, in 1984, the year of Ronald Reagan 's reelection. , After a scene in which former hippie Zoyd Wheeler dives through a window, something he is required ... (Wikipedia)
Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love
by Dava Sobel
A captivating exploration of Galileo's life and times, told through his daughter's letters.
Dramatically recolors the personality and accomplishment of a mythic figure whose seventeenth-century clash with Catholic doctrine continues to define the schism between science and religion. ... (Goodreads)
The Jefferson Key
by Steve Berry
A thrilling adventure of Cotton Malone as he uncovers a conspiracy to seize the presidency by decoding a hidden message in the Declaration of Independence.
Four United States presidents have been assassinated – in 1865, 1881, 1901, and 1963 -- each murder seemingly unrelated and separated by time. But what if those presidents were all killed for the ... (Goodreads)
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
by Carlo Rovelli
An exploration of the fundamentals of physics, revealing its true beauty.
All the beauty of modern physics in fewer than a hundred pages. This is a book about the joy of discovery. A playful, entertaining, and mind-bending introduction to modern physics, it's already a ... (Goodreads)
Metaphors We Live By
by George Lakoff
A groundbreaking exploration of how metaphors shape our understanding of the world and influence our actions.
The now-classic, Metaphors We Live By, changed our understanding of metaphor and its role in language and the mind. Metaphor, the authors explain, is a fundamental mechanism of mind, one that allows ... (Goodreads)
Earth Is Room Enough
by Isaac Asimov
A collection of science fiction short stories exploring the consequences of technology and humanity's relationship with it.
Contents: · The Dead Past · nv Astounding Apr ’56 · The Foundation of Science Fiction Success · pm F&SF Oct ’54 · Franchise · ss If Aug ’55 · Gimmicks Three [“The Brazen Locked Room”] · ss F&SF Nov ... (Goodreads)
Measuring the World
by Daniel Kehlmann
A humorous exploration of the history of science, revealing the dichotomy between objectivity and creativity.
The young Austrian writer Daniel Kehlmann conjures a brilliant and gently comic novel from the lives of two geniuses of the Enlightenment. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, two young Germans ... (Goodreads)
The Argonauts
by Maggie Nelson
A personal exploration of gender, sexuality, and love, weaving together memoir, criticism, and philosophy.
An intrepid voyage out to the frontiers of the latest thinking about love, language, and family. Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts is a genre-bending memoir, a work of "autotheory" offering fresh, ... (Goodreads)
The Histories
by Herodotus
Exploration into the rise and fall of empires in the ancient world.
One of the masterpieces of classical literature, the "Histories" describes how a small and quarrelsome band of Greek city states united to repel the might of the Persian empire. But while this epic ... (Goodreads)
The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media
by Walter Benjamin
Reflection on the impact of technology on art, culture and society.
Benjamin’s famous 'Work of Art' essay sets out his boldest thoughts–on media and on culture in general--in their most realized form, while retaining an edge that gets under the skin of everyone who ... (Goodreads)
Tau Zero
by Poul Anderson
A spaceship's crew hurtles through space, experiencing time dilation and facing the possibility of never returning home.
Tau Zero follows the crew of the starship, Leonora Christine, , a colonization vessel crewed by 25 men and 25 women aiming to reach the nearby star Beta Virginis . The ship is powered by a Bussard ... (Wikipedia)
Thrones, Dominations
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane solve a murder mystery in 1930s London, while navigating their own relationship.
It is 1936. Lord and Lady Peter Wimsey, returned from a European honeymoon, are settling into their new home in London, where daily life is affected by the illness and then death of the king . The ... (Wikipedia)
Too Like the Lightning
by Ada Palmer
A futuristic tale of utopian society and its secrets, as seen through the eyes of a young outcast.
Set in the year 2454, the novel is a fictional memoir written by Mycroft Canner, a brilliant, infamous, and paroled criminal who often serves the world's most powerful leaders. Mycroft frequents the ... (Wikipedia)
Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography
by Roland Barthes
An exploration of the nature of photography and its power to evoke emotion.
A graceful, contemplative volume, Camera Lucida was first published in 1979. Commenting on artists such as Avedon, Clifford, Mapplethorpe, and Nadar, Roland Barthes presents photography as being ... (Goodreads)
Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle
by Vladimir Nabokov
An epic novel of forbidden love between a brother and sister, set against a backdrop of family secrets.
Ada tells the life story of a man named Van Veen, and his lifelong love affair with his sister Ada. They meet when she is eleven (soon to be twelve) and he is fourteen, believing that they are ... (Wikipedia)
Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist
by Walter Kaufmann
A comprehensive biography of Nietzsche, exploring his philosophy, psychology, and controversial views on religion and morality.
This classic is the benchmark against which all modern books about Nietzsche are measured. When Walter Kaufmann wrote it in the immediate aftermath of World War II, most scholars outside Germany ... (Goodreads)
Escape from Freedom
by Erich Fromm
An examination of the psychological effects of modern freedom, exploring how to find a balance between freedom and security.
If humanity cannot live with the dangers and responsibilities inherent in freedom, it will probably turn to authoritarianism. This is the central idea of Escape from Freedom , a landmark work by one ... (Goodreads)
The Divided Self
by R.D. Laing
A psychological study of the nature of madness and the social constructs that contribute to it.
In The Divided Self (1960), Laing contrasted the experience of the "ontologically secure" person with that of a person who "cannot take the realness, aliveness, autonomy and identity of himself and ... (Goodreads)
Inversions
by Iain M. Banks
A complex political intrigue set in a distant world, exploring the consequences of power.
The book takes place on a fictional planet resembling late- Middle Ages Europe. A large empire broke up in the decade or so preceding the action, apparently from meteor or asteroid strikes that ... (Wikipedia)
Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes
by Thomas Cathcart
A humorous exploration of philosophical concepts through jokes.
Here's a lively, hilarious, not-so-reverent crash course through the great philosophical traditions, schools, concepts, and thinkers. Its Philosophy 101 for everyone who knows not to take all this ... (Goodreads)
Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
by Immanuel Kant
Examination of the foundations of moral philosophy, focusing on the nature of moral obligation.
Immanuel Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals ranks alongside Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics as one of the most profound and influential works in moral philosophy ever ... (Goodreads)
The King of Attolia
by Megan Whalen Turner
A young king's quest to reclaim his throne, aided by a mysterious thief.
Eugenides, the one-handed former Thief of Eddis, has married the Queen of Attolia, bringing peace to the two countries and becoming king. He appears to sleep during important briefings, makes snide ... (Wikipedia)
Relativity: The Special and the General Theory
by Albert Einstein
An exploration of the laws of relativity and their implications on science and philosophy.
An accesible version of Einstein's masterpiece of theory, written by the genius himself According to Einstein himself, this book is intended "to give an exact insight into the theory of Relativity to ... (Goodreads)
English Passengers
by Matthew Kneale
A darkly comic novel about the voyage of a group of Englishmen to Tasmania in search of the Garden of Eden.
In 1857, after their attempts to smuggle contraband goods land them with a heavy fine from the British Customs , Captain Illiam Quillian Kewley and his crew of Manx sailors are forced to offer their ... (Wikipedia)
The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors
by Dan Jones
A detailed account of the Wars of the Roses, a series of bloody conflicts that shaped England's history.
The fifteenth century experienced the longest and bloodiest series of civil wars in British history. The crown of England changed hands violently seven times as the great families of England fought ... (Goodreads)
Diaspora
by Greg Egan
A group of post-human beings, known as "polises," explore the universe and grapple with the meaning of existence.
Diaspora begins with a description of "orphanogenesis", the birthing of a citizen without any ancestors (the majority of citizens descend from fleshers uploaded at some point), and the subsequent ... (Wikipedia)
The Dante Club
by Matthew Pearl
A group of poets, scholars and academics band together to unravel a dark mystery in 19th century Boston.
The Dante Club begins with the murder of fictional Massachusetts Chief Justice Artemus Healey, who had avoided taking a position to stop or support the escaped slaves of the South . Found by his ... (Wikipedia)
The Birth of Tragedy
by Friedrich Nietzsche
A philosophical exploration of the nature of tragedy, and its role in the development of culture & civilization.
A compelling argument for the necessity for art in life, Nietzsche's first book is fuelled by his enthusiasms for Greek tragedy, for the philosophy of Schopenhauer and for the music of Wagner, to ... (Goodreads)
The Evolution of God
by Robert Wright
Traces the evolution of the concept of God from ancient times to modern day, exploring how religion has shaped human history.
In this sweeping narrative that takes us from the Stone Age to the Information Age, Robert Wright unveils an astonishing discovery: there is a hidden pattern that the great monotheistic faiths have ... (Goodreads)
Illuminations: Essays and Reflections
by Walter Benjamin
Collection of philosophical and literary essays on a range of topics.
Essays and reflections from one of the twentieth century’s most original cultural critics, with an introduction by Hannah Arendt . Walter Benjamin was an icon of criticism, renowned for his insight ... (Barnes & Noble)
Being and Nothingness
by Jean-Paul Sartre
Philosophical exploration of the nature of being and consciousness.
Being & Nothingness is without doubt one of the most significant philosophical books of the 20th century. The central work by one of the century's most influential thinkers, it altered the course of ... (Goodreads)
Ecce Homo
by Friedrich Nietzsche
A philosophical treatise on the meaning of life and the power of the individual.
In late 1888, only weeks before his final collapse into madness, Nietzsche (1844-1900) set out to compose his autobiography, and Ecce Homo remains one of the most intriguing yet bizarre examples of ... (Goodreads)
My Own Words
by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Collection of writings and speeches from Justice Ginsburg's long and distinguished career.
The first book from Ruth Bader Ginsburg since becoming a Supreme Court Justice in 1993—a witty, engaging, serious, and playful collection of writings and speeches from the woman who has had a ... (Goodreads)
Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays
by Stephen Hawking
A collection of essays exploring the mysteries of the universe and its implications for humanity.
NY Times bestseller. 13 extraordinary essays shed new light on the mysteries of the universe & on one of the most brilliant thinkers of our time. In his phenomenal bestseller A Brief History of Time ... (Goodreads)
The Complete Poems and Plays, 1909-1950
by T.S. Eliot
A collection of T.S. Eliot's poems and plays, showcasing his literary genius and mastery of language.
This omnibus collection includes all of the author’s early poetry as well as the Four Quartets, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and the plays Murder in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion, and The ... (Barnes & Noble)
Genesis
by Bernard Beckett
A young woman's quest to understand the power of free will, told through a captivating game of philosophy.
The entirety of the novel consists of Anaximander, a new candidate for The Academy, participating in a gruelling auditory entrance exam. The Academy consists of the most elite class in society and ... (Wikipedia)
The Moor
by Laurie R. King
A gripping tale of murder, mystery, and suspense set in the English countryside.
The book opens with Mary Russell receiving a telegram to come immediately to Devon and to bring her compass. Initially Mary is reluctant to abandon her academic studies in Oxford to assist Sherlock, ... (Wikipedia)
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
by Vladimir Nabokov
A biographical novel about the life of a Russian writer, told through the eyes of his half-brother.
The narrator, V., is absorbed in the composition of his first literary work, a biography of his half-brother, the Russian-born English novelist Sebastian Knight (1899–1936). In the course of his ... (Wikipedia)
Cosmopolis
by Don DeLillo
A day in the life of a billionaire, revealing the absurdity of a materialistic society.
Cosmopolis is the story of Eric Packer, a 28-year-old multi-billionaire asset manager who makes an odyssey across midtown Manhattan to get a haircut. He drives around in a stretch limo , which is ... (Wikipedia)
The Consolation of Philosophy
by Boethius
A philosophical journey of self-reflection, exploring the true nature of happiness and existential purpose.
Boethius was an eminent public figure under the Gothic emperor Theodoric, and an exceptional Greek scholar. When he became involved in a conspiracy and was imprisoned in Pavia, it was to the Greek ... (Goodreads)
The Inner Circle
by T. Coraghessan Boyle
John Milk, a young man in the 1940s, joins the team of Dr. Alfred Kinsey, a sex researcher, and becomes involved in his controversial work.
Milk's sexual coming of age starts in 1939 when he is a student at Indiana University in Bloomington and attends Kinsey’s “marriage course”, a lecture in which the renowned zoologist propounds his ... (Wikipedia)
The Bookman’s Tale
by Charlie Lovett
A rare book dealer discovers a Victorian painting that leads him on a quest to uncover the truth about Shakespeare's identity.
"What about the most valuable relic in the history of English literature—would that be worth killing for?" Hay-on-Wye, 1995. Peter Byerly isn't sure what drew him into this particular bookshop. Nine ... (Goodreads)
Arthur & George
by Julian Barnes
A gripping tale of justice, following the story of a man falsely accused of a heinous crime.
As boys, George, the son of a Midlands vicar, and Arthur, living in shabby genteel Edinburgh, find themselves in a vast and complex world at the heart of the British Empire. Years later—one ... (Goodreads)
Lying
by Sam Harris
Examination of the morality of deception, exploring its implications in modern society.
As it was in Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, and Othello, so it is in life. Most forms of private vice and public evil are kindled and sustained by lies. Acts of adultery and other personal betrayals, ... (Goodreads)
The Days: His Autobiography in Three Parts
by Taha Hussein
A reflection on the author's life, exploring his identity and sense of belonging.
كتاب "الأيام" أشهر من أن يعرّف، وهو بجانب قيمته الأدبية الرفيعة باعتباره طرازاً فريداً من السير الذاتية لشخصية أدبيه قل أن يجود الزمان بمثلها، وصدق وعذوبة وطلاوة أسلوب، وهى مزايا يكاد يستأثر بها، فإن ... (Goodreads)
Franz Kafka's The Castle
by David Fishelson
A man's struggle against an oppressive bureaucracy in a mysterious castle.
The protagonist, K., arrives in a village governed by a mysterious bureaucracy operating in a nearby castle. When seeking shelter at the town inn, he claims to be a land surveyor summoned by the ... (Wikipedia)
The Sandman Companion
by Hy Bender
A comprehensive guide to Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" comic book series, including interviews, behind-the-scenes stories, and analysis.
The Sandman was a groundbreaking and award-winning series that told the dark and tragic tale of Morpheus, the King of Dreams. A fascinating mythology of horror and consequence, this epic masterfully ... (Goodreads)
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