Things Fall Apart

1. Animal Farm by George Orwell 2. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes [1] 3. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley 4. I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette Mccurdy 5. Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris 6. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe [2] 7. Cosmos by Carl Sagan 8. The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins [3] 9. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson 10. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander [4] 11. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka 12. Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium by Carl Sagan [5][6][7] 13. Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide to Atheism by Richard Dawkins [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50076596 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47452253 [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48326741 [4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49539535 [5] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49751771 [6] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49740712 [7] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49739256

1984 - because it was the first book in English that I read front to cover, with a dictionary by my side, and learned so much recurring essential vocabulary that after that effort I could read anything; by now I have read much more from the much larger pool of writings in English than in my mother language. And, of course, it made me look differently at so many things. Things Fall Appart - because it helped me understand how religions like Christianity and other initially subversive beliefs spread, and the sudden impact of Western culture on other cultures. Anthropology (Marvin Harris) - because it impacted the way I look at humanity, society and history, and also helped me understand that marxism is much more than an arguably failed political doctrine. The Bernstein Tapes about Critique of Pure Reason - I am still working through this, but has already impacted my conception of what knowledge is History of Western Philosophy (Bertrand Russel) - because it made me understand the interwining between ideas and history. A desert island book…

My recent favorites: Jobs, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, High Output Management, Innovator's Dilemma, Lean Startup, On The Shortness Of Life, How Google Works, Zero To One, Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Power of Habit, Things Fall Apart, Stoner

Some favorites: Pale Fire by Nabokov Ulysses by Joyce Et Tu, Babe by Leyner Metamorphosis by Kafka (more a long story) Things Fall Apart by Achebe Hamlet and Coriolanus by Shakespeare The Code of the Woosters by Wodehouse The Doorbell Rang by Stout

Achebe's "Things Fall Apart"

I'm not sure I have two most favored books. But, I'll recommend two: The Life and Death of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe