The Magic Mountain

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. This book somehow stayed with me for a long time after having finished it. For me it encapsulates how we sometimes get stuck in systems which are unhealthy, but safe and feels better than an uncertain alternative. Also how pain and suffering binds people together in interesting, and in other circumstances, unlikely relationships. I enjoyed the humour as well.

* Philosophy Arthur Schopenhauer - The World as Will and Representation. Surprisingly readable and insightful, even if you don't buy his metaphysics. Einstein had Schopenhauer's portrait on his wall and considered him a genius. * Poetry John Milton - Paradise Lost Powerful and beautiful writing. * Fiction Rabelais - Gargantua and Pantagruel. Funny and a real feast of words (the translation is a work of art in itself) Thomas Mann - The Magic Mountain. Haunting and moving Pierre Choderlos de Laclos - Dangerous Liaisons. Scandalous, gripping. Ivan Turgenev - First Love. A masterclass in writing. Short, sensitive and exquisitely told. Marcel Proust - In Search of Lost Time. Exceptionally rich and a beautiful study of love. Reading it is like living another life. PG Wodehouse - the Jeeves series. Hilarious, perfectly frivolous, light and sunny * Non-fiction Stuart Russell - Human Compatible: AI and the Problem of Control. Potential bad outcomes from AI and what we might be able to do about them Noam Chomsky - Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies. How public discourse is shaped and controlled…

VALIS by Philip K. Dick and Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

Such introspection for me began at the end of my college days – Books and essays by Herman Hess, Camus, and Kafka. Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann was a high point. Its interesting that its these books that prepared me for the Bible, to start understanding it an entirely new way. But dont miss reading Steinbeck :-)

Lee's Lieutenants by Douglass Southall Freeman Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor The Magic Mountain Thomas Mann

Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. The first time it was slow read, but I went back the book several times later in life and it has much to tell. The Glass Beads Game by Herman Hess. Several books by Steinbeck - Travels with Charley, Log from the Sea of Cortez. The Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo. A recent penguin translation is superb. Among the saddest and most memorable love stories.

Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain" has always stuck with me. I read it during my lunch break for about 6 months. The book animates the ideas that brought about the modern world.