Dive into the classics. John Cowper Powys may help you to plan a great journey : http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12914/pg12914.html (Despite a few bizarre choices. Paul Bourget, seriously ?) If I had to choose myself : Homer (The Iliad and the Odyssey), the Bible (David's psalms and Job's book), Augustine, Dante, Saint Simon, Shakespeare, Rousseau, Dostoievsky, Proust, Céline. Aparté : If you like ambitious history with economic insights, I would strongly suggest to read Fernand Braudel works. He wrote three fantastic triptychs : - The Mediterranean: And the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (his thesis) - Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century (the best history books I've ever read) - The Identity of France
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