Here are the ones I'd be willing to recommend, in reverse chronological order of when I read them. I read 59 total. Listen to books on tape while working out has maybe doubled my reading rate. Genghis Khan: His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy - Great book on how the Mongol Empire came to be, who Genghis was, and it put the whole thing in perspective for me in a useful way. The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch - What it says on the tin. Actually a good overview how some important technologies interrelate. Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction - How to be wrong less often. Based on the Good Judgement Project results. The Three-Body Problem - Decent enough science fiction but extra interesting because it's science fiction from a different culture. Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants - A history of things that go boom. Engaging writing and I learned things about chemistry. The Traitor Baru Cormorant - I'm nominating this for a Hugo. It tells you it's going to stab you in the gut but when it does you don't see it coming. Plus high quality scheming and speculation on economics, society, and empire.…
Also recommended in this reply
- The Three-Body Problem
- Seveneves
- Stories of Your Life and Others
- Quantum Computing Since Democritus
- Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
- Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed
- Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
- The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch
- Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life
- Genghis Khan: His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy
- Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants
- Last First Snow
- Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy
- Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life
- The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps
- The Traitor Baru Cormorant