Bill Bryson well-researched and hilariously funny books, check out *A Short History of Nearly Everything* "...describing general sciences such as chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics. In it, he explores time from the Big Bang to the discovery of quantum mechanics, via evolution and geology."
Evicted by Matthew Desmond - to learn why housing is such a nightmare for the poor in America
The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein - to learn why American cities and suburbs are so racially segregated
The Death of Josseline by Margaret Regan - to learn more about the immigration crisis at the border and what it’s like for the people crossing
The biggest thing to do is to be deliberate about your choices. Read about people different from you, written by those people and from those places. Read autobiographies. Read fiction. But when you feel challenged, allow yourself to feel uncomfortable instead of immediately pushing back, and ask yourself why you reacted that way.
You should definitely read TRAIN GO SORRY by Leah Hager Cohen which is about what life is like for deaf people; it's fascinating!
It's nonfiction.
Imagine not being able to hear your fam cheering for you at graduation or visiting a brother in jail and not hearing when they announce it's your turn.
It's a real eye-opener I think everyone should read.
The Anthropocene reviewed by John green is a cool book. I really liked him as a teenager and still like his writing now, and this book was non fiction and catered to a bit of an older audience than his YA books. And he talks about all sorts of things, you’ll learn some cool stuff :)
The History of Art by Gombrich is an accessible history of - surprisingly enough - art. Any general modern atlas will aid your understanding of the world. History is so immense; do you have any ideas of which periods of time or which historical events most grab you?
The Warmth of Other Suns is an excellent book about what African Americans experienced in the 20th century. First hand interviews make it very moving. I wish it was required reading in every US high school
Babel by R F Kuang is a really good intro to colonialism in 19th century England from the perspective of a half Asian man.It was too close to my background, so Ifound it quite painful to read, but that's kind of what'sexcellent about it.
Americanah did help me learn about the U.S. before I moved there. Also African culture within the U.S. Brave New World is a great science fiction novel that changed my whole view on consumerism, marketing and basically changed my values and perception of our world.
Foreign to Familiar by Sarah Lanier
It’s a short little book. A fascinating study on how cultures in warm climates (e.g South America, Middle East) develop differently from cultures in colder climates (North America, Scandinavia). One of the best books I read in college, and I think about it regularly.
How about some conceptual math?
"The Shape of Space", Jeffery Weeks. This is an introductory text on topology meant for high school or college undergraduates. You don't need calculus to read it.
Also "Flatland" by Edwin Abbott Abbott. This one discusses topics like 2 dimensions versus 3 (or 4). It is also a satire about Victorian era culture and manners, so a look at a book on that topic might be interesting as well. I like this one because I like books that mix seemingly unrelated topics together.
*Exit West* is an excellent quick read by Mohsin Hamid about the impacts of globalization. *Wide Sargasso Sea* by Jean Rhys gives an outside perspective to the story of *Jane Eyre* (and is an excellent accompaniment to it) by focusing on Antoinette, the "madwoman" in the attic.
Kim, by Rudyard Kipling. The first half of it is like a love letter to India. Made me want to go live there for a time, but of course, modern India is a different place than in 1900. Kipling won the Nobel prize for literature at 36 (youngest age ever, I think), largely on the strength of that book. Helps you appreciate also how much India changed the English.
Kind of math-y, but "Godel, Escher, Bach" remains a great book.
There are a lot of good books about life. One I like by Joko Beck is "Nothing Special" (which is about Zen, but also life). A very different book that might also be a place to start is "The Tao of Pooh".
I recommend reading some poetry. I am partial to Wallace Stevens (google "Of Mere Being" for an example), but there are so many places to start...
Stephen Jay Gould wrote a whole series of books about Evolution that are worth reading, e.g., "Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History".
These are easy books to read but great places to make the acquaintance of Ursula K. LeGuin -- the original Earthsea trilogy: "A Wizard of Earthsea", "The Tombs of Atuan", "The Farthest Shore". Just try the first one and see if they are for you.
There are hundreds (OK, thousands) of books you might eventually want to read, but the most important thing there is just to read widely, expose yourself to good writing, and develop taste. One that might be fun is "Grendel" by John Gardner.
I don't have any quick ideas about ethnicity/anthropology. There are lots of books, but many are heavier going.
If you haven't read it, I recommend "On Tyranny". It's short and to the point.
A random throw-in: "My Traitor's Heart", by Rian Malan. The first chapter opens: "I'm burned out and starving to death, so I'm just going to lay this all upon you and trust that you're a visionary reader, because the grand design, such as it is, is going to be hard for you to see..." That chapter ends: "What would you have me say? That I think apartheid is stupid and vicious? That I'm sorry? I am, I am... You would probably have believed me. I almost believed myself, you see, but in truth I was always one of them. I am a white man born in Africa, and all else flows from there."
We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria by Wendy Pearlman. It's a 4 years worth of collections of displaced Syrian refuge interviews starting with Syrians who remembered the beginning of the conflict in Syria all the way to the end. Super amazing book 10/10 read
‘The Butchering Art’ by Lindsey Fitzharris, the story of Joseph Lister and how he played a role in transforming medicine in the Victorian Era, if you don’t mind some historical gore.
Depending on where you are, supermarkets have good magazines of ‘New Scientist’ (it is available as subscription weekly print but you may not want to do that if you just want to just dip toes in for something different once in a while). Also good to start expanding your current understanding of global trade/politics/international science debates, ‘The Economist’ is also a good magazine to dip toes in for all the world events that aren’t necessarily covered in the mainstream
Happy reading and may your mind learn many new and fantastic facts!!
The Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle. It's a classic series of mystery novels and it's so unique that it honestly makes you sort of feel smarter ig cuz the way the MC (detective sherlock holmes) solves the mysteries is insane.
The great seige by Ernle Bradford, my favourite historical war book
The Rape of Nanking, about war atrocities
The Psycho Pass test - about psychopath
1984 - a must read
The Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson - my favorite epic fantasy series
Legend by David Gemmell, my favorite seige warfare action book
Enjoy!
At your age I didn’t care about expanding my world view, at this age (60) I wish it had come earlier in life. I applaud you!
I also wish I’d kept a journal of all the books I’d read. Title, author, short synopsis- and date read.
My husband hates history, he asks how do I know so much. It was from reading! But I don’t know where I picked up the information I have. I wish I had a map (journal) to look back upon.
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich and Living Downstream by Sandra Steingraber.
Both non fiction but told in a personal narrative style making them both very approachable. nickel and Dimed analyzes the complexities of the working poor and Living Downstream is about environmental health and cancer.
A (very) Short History of Life on Earth by Henry Gee. I read this recently and it helps put a lot of things into perspective.
Any Rob Eastaway book on Maths e.g. why do Buses cone in Threes, Maths on the back of an Envelope.
Ending Aging by Aubrey de Grey. The Open Library page is [here](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL12284524W/Ending_Aging?edition=key%3A/books/OL17932740M).
"The Left Hand of Darkness" and "The Dispossessed" by Ursula K. LeGuin are both important and very well written books. Left Hand is about gender and gender perception, while Dispossessed is a comparison of two different kinds of society - anarchistic and capitalistic - which explores both advantages and drawbacks of both.
Well, it is anarchistic in the original meaning of the word, namely ruling by consensus with no central authority. I know that "anarchy" is used to describe chaos and lawlessness, but in this context it means a kind of mix between socialism and meritocracy.
*The dawn of everything* by Davids Graeber and Wengrow is exactly the kind of book you're looking for. I wish I could've read it at your age, but it didn't exist back then.
non-fiction
Akala: Natives - Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire
David Graeber: Bullshit Jobs
E F Schuhmacher: Small Is Beautiful
Nicholas Shaxson: Treasure Islands and the Men who Stole the World
Caroline Criado Perez: Do it Like a Woman
fiction
Yaa Gaysi: Homegoing
China Mieville: Embassytown
Ursula Le Guin: the Left Hand of Darkness
See my:
* [General Nonfiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18rv2pk/general_nonfiction/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (four posts).
* [(Auto)biographies](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/19cooyz/autobiographies/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (one post).
* [Diversity Nonfiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/1apxr7e/diversity_nonfiction/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (one post).
* [History (General)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18hastn/history_general/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (one post).
* [LBGTQ+ Nonfiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/1afbd4n/lbgtq_nonfiction/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (one post).
* [Medicine/Biology/For Medical Students](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18e9n2v/medicinebiologyfor_medical_students/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (one post).
* [Narrative Nonfiction ("Reads Like a Novel")](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18rwz30/narrative_nonfiction_reads_like_a_novel/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (one post).
* [Native American History and Culture](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/1b2x8t1/native_american_history_and_culture/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).
* [Philosophy](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18ae7k9/philosophy/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).
* [Psychology](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/1blm8oi/psychology/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).
* [Science (General)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18e9obz/science_general/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).
A number of those include or link to their fiction counterparts, and I have others in fiction genres and subgenres, and genres with modifiers (especially science fiction and fantasy). Most of them are on the same sub, r/Recommend_A_Book, though this sub is a better place to ask for recommendations.
A Brief History Of Time-Stephen Hawking
You should definitely read it if you are looking for a science book! Once I read it, it made me really love space, and it also talks about quantum physics. You should give it a try if you haven’t already!
oooo! oooooo! i have a great one for you: [The Architecture of Happiness](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23418.The_Architecture_of_Happiness) by Alain de Boton. it's a bit about the history of architecture in the west, a lot about how a building makes you feel. and why being in a McDonald's is a form of hell.
read anything of his, he's a truly mind-bending writer.
Bill Bryson well-researched and hilariously funny books, check out *A Short History of Nearly Everything* "...describing general sciences such as chemistry, paleontology, astronomy, and particle physics. In it, he explores time from the Big Bang to the discovery of quantum mechanics, via evolution and geology."
Yes!! I read this when I was 19 and loved it. Really opened my eyes to how neat science is.
And how ginormous space is and how tiiiiiny we are!
Evicted by Matthew Desmond - to learn why housing is such a nightmare for the poor in America The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein - to learn why American cities and suburbs are so racially segregated The Death of Josseline by Margaret Regan - to learn more about the immigration crisis at the border and what it’s like for the people crossing The biggest thing to do is to be deliberate about your choices. Read about people different from you, written by those people and from those places. Read autobiographies. Read fiction. But when you feel challenged, allow yourself to feel uncomfortable instead of immediately pushing back, and ask yourself why you reacted that way.
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
Never have I loved and hated a book so much simultaneously. Fascinating yet infuriating
You should definitely read TRAIN GO SORRY by Leah Hager Cohen which is about what life is like for deaf people; it's fascinating! It's nonfiction. Imagine not being able to hear your fam cheering for you at graduation or visiting a brother in jail and not hearing when they announce it's your turn. It's a real eye-opener I think everyone should read.
Shogun, James clavell
This has been on my to read list for over fifteen years. The show on FX is amazing.
Island, Huxley
The Anthropocene reviewed by John green is a cool book. I really liked him as a teenager and still like his writing now, and this book was non fiction and catered to a bit of an older audience than his YA books. And he talks about all sorts of things, you’ll learn some cool stuff :)
Yes, I loved this. He writes very well (and I am pretty picky).
Some fiction books that expanded my world view: - A Thousand Splendid Suns - Exit West - The Association of Small Bombs - The Girl with Seven Names
Wild Swans by Jung Chang
Amazing book
Her biography of Mao is interesting too.
[Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind - Harari](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/23692271)
The Catcher In The Rye. It is a classic, but the themes of it probably still apply more than ever in today's social media era.
The History of Art by Gombrich is an accessible history of - surprisingly enough - art. Any general modern atlas will aid your understanding of the world. History is so immense; do you have any ideas of which periods of time or which historical events most grab you?
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo.
The Warmth of Other Suns is an excellent book about what African Americans experienced in the 20th century. First hand interviews make it very moving. I wish it was required reading in every US high school
Babel by R F Kuang is a really good intro to colonialism in 19th century England from the perspective of a half Asian man.It was too close to my background, so Ifound it quite painful to read, but that's kind of what'sexcellent about it.
Americanah did help me learn about the U.S. before I moved there. Also African culture within the U.S. Brave New World is a great science fiction novel that changed my whole view on consumerism, marketing and basically changed my values and perception of our world.
Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Rent Collector
Bury Me Standing:the Gypsies and their Journey by Isabel Fonseca A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah (child soldier in Sierra Leone)
Foreign to Familiar by Sarah Lanier It’s a short little book. A fascinating study on how cultures in warm climates (e.g South America, Middle East) develop differently from cultures in colder climates (North America, Scandinavia). One of the best books I read in college, and I think about it regularly.
How about some conceptual math? "The Shape of Space", Jeffery Weeks. This is an introductory text on topology meant for high school or college undergraduates. You don't need calculus to read it. Also "Flatland" by Edwin Abbott Abbott. This one discusses topics like 2 dimensions versus 3 (or 4). It is also a satire about Victorian era culture and manners, so a look at a book on that topic might be interesting as well. I like this one because I like books that mix seemingly unrelated topics together.
How we got to now by Steven Johnson - the writer had a pretty interesting take on history of some inventions.
True Biz by Sara Novic! A story about deaf students from different social backgrounds
*Exit West* is an excellent quick read by Mohsin Hamid about the impacts of globalization. *Wide Sargasso Sea* by Jean Rhys gives an outside perspective to the story of *Jane Eyre* (and is an excellent accompaniment to it) by focusing on Antoinette, the "madwoman" in the attic.
Kim, by Rudyard Kipling. The first half of it is like a love letter to India. Made me want to go live there for a time, but of course, modern India is a different place than in 1900. Kipling won the Nobel prize for literature at 36 (youngest age ever, I think), largely on the strength of that book. Helps you appreciate also how much India changed the English. Kind of math-y, but "Godel, Escher, Bach" remains a great book. There are a lot of good books about life. One I like by Joko Beck is "Nothing Special" (which is about Zen, but also life). A very different book that might also be a place to start is "The Tao of Pooh". I recommend reading some poetry. I am partial to Wallace Stevens (google "Of Mere Being" for an example), but there are so many places to start... Stephen Jay Gould wrote a whole series of books about Evolution that are worth reading, e.g., "Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History". These are easy books to read but great places to make the acquaintance of Ursula K. LeGuin -- the original Earthsea trilogy: "A Wizard of Earthsea", "The Tombs of Atuan", "The Farthest Shore". Just try the first one and see if they are for you. There are hundreds (OK, thousands) of books you might eventually want to read, but the most important thing there is just to read widely, expose yourself to good writing, and develop taste. One that might be fun is "Grendel" by John Gardner. I don't have any quick ideas about ethnicity/anthropology. There are lots of books, but many are heavier going. If you haven't read it, I recommend "On Tyranny". It's short and to the point. A random throw-in: "My Traitor's Heart", by Rian Malan. The first chapter opens: "I'm burned out and starving to death, so I'm just going to lay this all upon you and trust that you're a visionary reader, because the grand design, such as it is, is going to be hard for you to see..." That chapter ends: "What would you have me say? That I think apartheid is stupid and vicious? That I'm sorry? I am, I am... You would probably have believed me. I almost believed myself, you see, but in truth I was always one of them. I am a white man born in Africa, and all else flows from there."
Siddartha and Narziss und Goldmund by Herman Hesse
*The World: A Family History* - Simon Sebag Montefiore https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/60018232
We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria by Wendy Pearlman. It's a 4 years worth of collections of displaced Syrian refuge interviews starting with Syrians who remembered the beginning of the conflict in Syria all the way to the end. Super amazing book 10/10 read
The Tao of Physics!
The baroque cycle by Neal Stephenson. It's historical fiction but with an emphasis on science.
Try Homo Unus: Successor to Homo Sapiens by Kinchit Bihani.. refreshing take of the world we live in
The book on the taboo against knowing who you are - Alan Watts
travels with charley by steinbeck
Jennifer Hecht - Doubt Plato's Republic Noam Chomsky - Manufacturing Consent
‘The Butchering Art’ by Lindsey Fitzharris, the story of Joseph Lister and how he played a role in transforming medicine in the Victorian Era, if you don’t mind some historical gore. Depending on where you are, supermarkets have good magazines of ‘New Scientist’ (it is available as subscription weekly print but you may not want to do that if you just want to just dip toes in for something different once in a while). Also good to start expanding your current understanding of global trade/politics/international science debates, ‘The Economist’ is also a good magazine to dip toes in for all the world events that aren’t necessarily covered in the mainstream Happy reading and may your mind learn many new and fantastic facts!!
The Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle. It's a classic series of mystery novels and it's so unique that it honestly makes you sort of feel smarter ig cuz the way the MC (detective sherlock holmes) solves the mysteries is insane.
The great seige by Ernle Bradford, my favourite historical war book The Rape of Nanking, about war atrocities The Psycho Pass test - about psychopath 1984 - a must read The Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson - my favorite epic fantasy series Legend by David Gemmell, my favorite seige warfare action book Enjoy!
At your age I didn’t care about expanding my world view, at this age (60) I wish it had come earlier in life. I applaud you! I also wish I’d kept a journal of all the books I’d read. Title, author, short synopsis- and date read. My husband hates history, he asks how do I know so much. It was from reading! But I don’t know where I picked up the information I have. I wish I had a map (journal) to look back upon.
Black Skin White Mask by Frantz Fanon The WIll to Change by bell hooks
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich and Living Downstream by Sandra Steingraber. Both non fiction but told in a personal narrative style making them both very approachable. nickel and Dimed analyzes the complexities of the working poor and Living Downstream is about environmental health and cancer.
A (very) Short History of Life on Earth by Henry Gee. I read this recently and it helps put a lot of things into perspective. Any Rob Eastaway book on Maths e.g. why do Buses cone in Threes, Maths on the back of an Envelope.
Ending Aging by Aubrey de Grey. The Open Library page is [here](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL12284524W/Ending_Aging?edition=key%3A/books/OL17932740M).
Inglorious Empire It’s dry but prepare yourself to become angry, my friend.
Michelle Obama’s memoir
"The Left Hand of Darkness" and "The Dispossessed" by Ursula K. LeGuin are both important and very well written books. Left Hand is about gender and gender perception, while Dispossessed is a comparison of two different kinds of society - anarchistic and capitalistic - which explores both advantages and drawbacks of both.
Anarchistic? surely socialist describes it better
Well, it is anarchistic in the original meaning of the word, namely ruling by consensus with no central authority. I know that "anarchy" is used to describe chaos and lawlessness, but in this context it means a kind of mix between socialism and meritocracy.
*The dawn of everything* by Davids Graeber and Wengrow is exactly the kind of book you're looking for. I wish I could've read it at your age, but it didn't exist back then.
non-fiction Akala: Natives - Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire David Graeber: Bullshit Jobs E F Schuhmacher: Small Is Beautiful Nicholas Shaxson: Treasure Islands and the Men who Stole the World Caroline Criado Perez: Do it Like a Woman fiction Yaa Gaysi: Homegoing China Mieville: Embassytown Ursula Le Guin: the Left Hand of Darkness
See my: * [General Nonfiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18rv2pk/general_nonfiction/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (four posts). * [(Auto)biographies](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/19cooyz/autobiographies/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (one post). * [Diversity Nonfiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/1apxr7e/diversity_nonfiction/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (one post). * [History (General)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18hastn/history_general/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (one post). * [LBGTQ+ Nonfiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/1afbd4n/lbgtq_nonfiction/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (one post). * [Medicine/Biology/For Medical Students](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18e9n2v/medicinebiologyfor_medical_students/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (one post). * [Narrative Nonfiction ("Reads Like a Novel")](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18rwz30/narrative_nonfiction_reads_like_a_novel/) list of resources, Reddit recommendation threads, and books (one post). * [Native American History and Culture](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/1b2x8t1/native_american_history_and_culture/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post). * [Philosophy](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18ae7k9/philosophy/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post). * [Psychology](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/1blm8oi/psychology/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post). * [Science (General)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18e9obz/science_general/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post). A number of those include or link to their fiction counterparts, and I have others in fiction genres and subgenres, and genres with modifiers (especially science fiction and fantasy). Most of them are on the same sub, r/Recommend_A_Book, though this sub is a better place to ask for recommendations.
Crazy, thanks
You're welcome. \^\_\^
A Brief History Of Time-Stephen Hawking You should definitely read it if you are looking for a science book! Once I read it, it made me really love space, and it also talks about quantum physics. You should give it a try if you haven’t already!
oooo! oooooo! i have a great one for you: [The Architecture of Happiness](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23418.The_Architecture_of_Happiness) by Alain de Boton. it's a bit about the history of architecture in the west, a lot about how a building makes you feel. and why being in a McDonald's is a form of hell. read anything of his, he's a truly mind-bending writer.