Reading List
Prior to 2005 I was reading mostly the kind of books that make the Whitcoulls Top 100 list along with the occasional classic by the likes of Dostoevsky, Hardy and others. And, of course, Iain [M] Banks whenever a new book came out.
In early 2005 a friend recommended Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. It was this simple book that, to my great surprise, allowed me to clearly see the fact that my view of reality didn’t match what we can observe of the universe around us. Subconsciously I’d been aware of this fact but had managed to ignore it for 14 years or so. I decided that I would be better off with truth rather than a comforting fantasy and decided to investigate further. I watched a lot of documentaries, visited a lot of websites (and blogs) and talked with a lot of interesting people. I also read a lot of books – here are the ones that have influenced me the most over the last three years:
The Bible – Various Authors
The Mind of God – Paul Davies
A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking
E=mc2 – David Bodanis
Deep Simplicity – John Gribbin
Pale Blue Dot – Carl Sagan
The Selfish Gene – Richard Dawkins
Climbing Mount Improbable – Richard Dawkins
The Origin of Species – Charles Darwin
The Demon-Haunted World – Carl Sagan
The God Delusion – Richard Dawkins
Letter to a Christian Nation – Sam Harris
The Richness of Life – Stephen J Gould
The Creation – E O Wilson
The End of Faith – Sam Harris
Various Writings – Thomas Paine
Breaking the Spell – Daniel Dennett
Why People Believe Weird Things – Michael Shermer
God is not Great – Christopher Hitchens
Infidel – Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Freakonomics – Levitt & Dubner
The Blank Slate – Steven Pinker
Consciousness, An Introduction – Susan Blackmore
And I have the following books waiting to be read:
Guns, Germs and Steel – Jared Diamond
How The Mind Works – Steven Pinker
The Ancestor’s Tale – Richard Dawkins
Freedom Evolves – Daniel Dennett
I’m not sure where I’ll go to from here but I feel I’ve done the topics of religion, superstition and pseudoscience to death. Evolution, cosmology and the workings of the mind still fascinate me so I’ll probably carry on down that path for a while.
Tags: belief, books, Philosophy, reading, Religion, Science, superstition
That’s a GREAT list! I feel I’ve done the religion thing to death too, though I remain on the look-out for any fresh viewpoints on the old topics. I’m still very fascinated by the history of religion though, including supporting topics like archaeology, textual criticism, anthropology, psychology, and the like. Like you, I’m still interested in physics (the lay version, without the hard math), space/time/origins, and evolution, so I read those topics from time to time too.
Since you’re still interested in evolution topics, you won’t want to miss this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trilobite-Eyewitness-Evolution-Richard-Fortey/dp/0006551386. Absolutely riveting! I really enjoyed Guns , Germs and Steel too which I see you are getting to shortly.
Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll keep an eye out for it. I’d never heard of it before but it’s got some pretty good reviews. Cheers.
[...] encouraged to check out, and summarise, what I have been reading by the reading lists blogged by Damian and others. The number of books I have got through (in four years) shocked me – perhaps I’m a [...]
Pretty impressive list, no wonder you’re exhausted! I loved Bryson’s “Short History” too. And I’ve read some of your list, the rest look quite fascinating.
For a completely different theme, how about Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road”, and Exupery’s “The Little Prince” ? They make you think about your place in the world.
I was a bookseller for over ten years and for much of that time my faith in man (and myself) was battered by witnessing (and abetting) a majority of readers who either followed a path in reading which was largely defined not by worth but by prevailing fashions (often generated by interested authorities) or who followed their own inclination, which, on the main, does not lead outwards but, like the tethered animal, remains in orbit around a fixed entity, one which they will defensively describe as their own personal taste.
I am glad to say that often (and the word ‘often’ is used here to describe a passage of time unique to second-hand booksellers – let us round it off to once every six months) I was delighted to discover a reader who had broken free of such restricted habits of reading and had begun to read with some purpose.
These readers always seemed to reinvigorate my own interest in life and in reading. I found their enthusiasm highly contagious. And still do.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
P.S. I just finished watching The Ascent of Man – Marvellous. May I recommend Lord Clark’s series Civilisation?
Hi Bookeboy and thanks for your comment. I’ve been meaning to watch Civilisation ever since seeing The Ascent of Man so thanks for the recommendation.
Also, I had a look at the list of books you recommend on your site. I must admit I’ve only read a handful of them. Have you read The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov? If not, judging by the books you mention, you might quite like it. I read it hot on the heels of Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot and it’s on my list of books for a second (and possibly, third) reading when I get off this non fiction phase.
Thank you for the return recommendation – I have it on my shelf and do intend to read it.