This is a list of books that I want to make sure my son reads. They all provided me some deep insight into how the world works and knowledge that is generally useful to navigate life. In most cases I’ve read more by the author than the one or two books listed. In some cases I’ve read everything they have written. These are the books I think someone should start with.
The links go to Amazon because the I like the reviews and ease of ordering. I’ll make 40 cents or so for every book ordered, but I rather you check them out from the library or buy used.
Christopher Alexander
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From The Next Whole Earth Catalog:
The most important book in architecture and planning for many decades, a landmark whose clarity and humanity give hope that our private and public spaces can yet be made gracefully habitable.
The book has also been extremely influential in computer programming. Alexander unexpectedly became one of the fathers of object oriented coding when programmers saw the parallels between what he was saying about architecture and what they were doing with code.
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Alexander argues that there is a quality without a name present in things that have life. It is present in natural things, but it is not present in all man-made things. If we can understand it’s components we have the ability to make great things. Here’s how the books starts:
There is one timeless way of building. It is thousands of years old, and the same today as it has always been. The great traditional buildings of the past, the villages and tents and temples in which man feels at home, have always been made by people who were very close to the center of this way. It is not possible to make great buildings, or great towns, beautiful places, places where you feel yourself, places where you feel alive, except by following this way. And, as you will see, this way will lead anyone who looks for it to buildings which are themselves as ancient in their for, as the trees and hills, and as our faces are.
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Stephen Batchelor
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From Amazon’s Review:
As in all the major religions, there is a wisdom behind the theology of Buddhism that informs the believer in daily life. Stephen Batchelor would argue that the difference with Buddhism is that the wisdom is in fact independent of the theology and is not informative to believers only, but to everyone. In Buddhism Without Beliefs Batchelor lays out the major tenets of Buddhist wisdom, commenting on their relevance to modern life. The Buddha said that seekers must find the Truth for themselves, and Batchelor offers this book as a roadmap.
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Wendell Berry
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From Library Journal:
Even Berry’s polemics reveal an underlying grace–and a most graceful prose–as he tries to heal the split between us and our work, our localities, and our communities. A poet and a farmer, Berry is a seasoned voice for the Whole Earth Vision–for a retrieval of household economies from a monstrous national economy. Yet while he has been pressing for a revived rural culture for many years, this ideal has been moving ever further out of reach. His grounding in literature eases a large burden of frustration.
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From Kirkus Reviews:
Eight exhortatory essays (some of which appeared previously in the Atlantic Monthly, The Progressive, and elsewhere) by the Kentuckian fiction writer (Fidelity, 1992, etc.) and moral critic (What are People For?, 1990, etc.). Berry once again carves out a unique position in American social debate: not liberal (he hates big government), not conservative (he hates big corporations), not libertarian (he would balance individual rights with those of the commonweal), but always sharp-tongued and aglow with common sense…
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Daniel Boorstin
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From Publishers Weekly
In Boorstin’s 1983 bestseller The Discoverers , the achievements of Galileo, Columbus, Darwin, Gutenberg and Freud emerged as upwellings of creativity and courage, ingenious acts of revolt against ingrained habit. This richly illustrated two-volume edition reveals the world as known to the discovers themselves. We see the tools of discovery–Egyptian obelisks, early clocks, Leeuwenhoek’s microscope, Mercator’s maps, botanical drawings from James Cook’s voyages–and glimpse the social, cultural and political background, made concrete in 550 pictures including paintings, sculpture, engravings and architecture. A photograph of 15th-century cast bronze type from Korea underscores an Eastern invention that could have changed the course of printing, perhaps of science and culture. In a feast for the mind and eye, itself a delightful adventure in discovery.
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Dale Carnegie
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All about human nature and what motivates people.
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Lawrence Cohen
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Useful strategies to connect with kids and help them deal with life by playing with them. Cohen has a children’s therapy practice and kids of his own. This is stuff he’s learned by doing it.
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Benjamin Graham
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This was written in 1949. When Warren Buffett read it, he traveled to meet Graham and became his apprentice. Buffett recommends this book as the first book anyone should read about investing. When the best investor that’s ever lived says something like that you should listen.
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Paul Graham
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A collection of essays focused specifically on starting a software business, but the wisdom is applicable to anyone’s situation. Most are also available at paulgraham.com.
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Maria Montessori
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This is a small book explaining the basics of Montessori education written by the founder herself. It’s a good place to start exploring what I think is a revolution in education. I would have thrived in this kind of environment. My son goes to a Montessori school, and my wife is a Montessori teacher.
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Parker Palmer
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Palmer writes an honest account of his life and career including a bought with deep depression.
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The most profound insight I got from this book is his model of the classroom. Instead of a teacher in front telling the students what she knows, imagine a circle of people around the subject. The circle consists of students and the teacher. They explore the subject together with the teacher acting as a more experienced guide.
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William Sears
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We have used Dr. Sears’ attachment parenting philosophy with our son. Western culture isn’t set up for it, and therefore it requires some extraordinary effort sometimes. However, I believe it has had a profound impact on his life, and I don’t think anyone who knows him would say it hasn’t been successful. No one should have a kid until they read this book.
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Charles Wheelan
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From Library Journal
Though he admits that many of us are “economically illiterate,” his book is “not economics for dummies, it is economics for smart people who have never studied economics (or have only a vague recollection of doing so).” Eschewing jargon, charts, and equations, Wheelan gives us the essentials. He clearly defines terms like GDP and inflation, explaining how they work and what the short- and long-term impact might be. He makes a convincing argument that there is a role for “good” governmental regulation, using the Federal Reserve as a model. He also examines the pros and cons of taxation. Topics like productivity, trade, and globalization are insightfully covered as well. This is a thoughtful, well-written introduction to economics, with the author projecting a genuine excitement for his material…
He also publishes essays on-line.
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attachment parenting, benjamin graham, books, buddhism without beliefs, charles wheelan, christopher alexander, dale carnegie, daniel boorstin, education, how to win friends and influence people, lawrence cohen, maria montessori, montessori, parker palmer, pattern language, paul graham, reading, recommendations, stephen batchelor, the courage to teach, wendell berry, william sears
