An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth

Non-Fiction: - Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman | book on human rationality and irrationality - An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield Fiction: - Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality | Petunia married a professor, and Harry grew up reading science and science fiction. http://www.hpmor.com/ - Off to Be the Wizard (Magic 2.0 Book 1) by Scott Meyer | Reality is defined in a text file, making the protagonist a wizard when he discovers it while hacking a company. - The Magicians (series) by Lev Grossman

An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Col. Chris Hadfield Hadfield's description of the massive preparation that astronauts must go through to be cleared for space flight really shows how seemingly insurmountable tasks can be accomplished by determined individuals. I think it's valuable to understand that becoming an astronaut (or any other high skill profession) isn't through some magic process but is the result of years of keeping your nose to the grindstone. It's full of many pragmatic life lessons (visualize failure, aim to be a zero) that are contrary to what many 'life gurus' espouse. A wonderful sigh of realism.