Looking for something to read?

This is a list of books I’ve read and recommended, organized by genre. (Scroll to the bottom for the CSV version.)

Last updated 2021-07-07.

Computer Science

  • “High-Performance Browser Networking”, Ilya Grigorik
  • “The Elements of Computing Systems”, Noam Nisan et al.
  • “Domain Driven Design”, Eric Evans
  • “Designing Data-Intensive Applications”, Martin Kleppmann
  • “Growing Object-Oriented Software, Guided by Tests”, Steve Freeman, Nat Pryce
  • “Elements of Clojure”, Zachary Tellman
  • “The Phoenix Project”, Gene Kim et al.
  • “Site Reliability Engineering”, Niall Richard Murphy et al.
  • “The Mythical Man-Month”, Frederick P Brooks Jr.
  • “Release It!”, Michael T. Nygard
  • “The Elements of Scrum”, Chris Sims, Hillary Louise Johnson
  • “The Principles of Product Development Flow”, Donald G. Reinertsen
  • “TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols”, W Richard Stevens (1st ed. - published 1994)
  • “A discipline of programming”, Edsger W. Dijkstra
  • “Javascript: The Good Parts”, Douglas Crockford

Philosophy

  • “Letters on Ethics”, Seneca (trans. Margaret Graver, A.A. Long)
  • “Meditations”, Marcus Aurelius (trans. Gregory Hays)
  • “Discourses, Fragments, Handbook”, Epictetus (trans. Robin Hard, Oxford World Classics ed.)
  • “Tao te Ching”, Lao Tzu (multiple translations)
  • “The Heart Sutra”, N/A (trans. Red Pine)
  • “The Platform Sutra”, N/A (trans. Red Pine)
  • “The Diamond Sutra”, N/A (trans. Red Pine)
  • “The Lankavatara Sutra”, N/A (trans. Red Pine)
  • “The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma”, Bodhidharma (trans. Red Pine)
  • “The Yoga Sutras”, Patanjali (trans. Nicholas Sutton)
  • “Voltaire’s Bastards”, John Ralston Saul
  • “Story of Philosophy”, Will Durant
  • “Man’s Search for Meaning”, Victor Frankl
  • “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind”, Shunryu Suzuki
  • “Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger”, Peter Bevelin
  • “Baghavad Gita”, N/A (trans. Stephen Mitchell)

Fiction

  • “Anna Karenina”, Leo Tolstoy
  • “War and Peace”, Leo Tolstoy
  • “The Brothers Karamazov”, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  • “Crime and Punishment”, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  • “The Idiot”, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  • “The Count of Monte Cristo”, Alexandre Dumas
  • “East of Eden”, John Steinbeck
  • “Grapes of Wrath”, John Steinbeck
  • “Franny and Zooey”, J.D. Salinger
  • “Mother Night”, Kurt Vonnegut
  • “Cat’s Cradle”, Kurt Vonnegut
  • “The Sirens of Titan”, Kurt Vonnegut
  • “Slaughterhouse Five”, Kurt Vonnegut
  • “White Noise”, Don DeLillo
  • “Lord Jim”, Joseph Conrad
  • “Stoner”, John Williams
  • “Never let me go”, Kazuo Ishiguro
  • “The remains of the day”, Kazuo Ishiguro
  • “Shogun trilogy”, James Clavell
  • “19Q4”, Haruki Murakami
  • “Gravity’s Rainbow”, Thomas Pynchon
  • “The Road”, Cormac McCarthy
  • “Kokoro”, Natsume Soseki
  • “If on a winter’s night a traveler”, Italo Calvino
  • “Infinite Jest”, David Foster Wallace
  • “The Plague”, Albert Camus
  • “The Mysterious Island”, Jules Verne
  • “The Martian”, Andy Weir
  • “Project Hail Mary”, Andy Weir
  • “Frankenstein”, Mary Shelley
  • “Lost Horizon”, James Hilton

Short Stories

  • “Labyrinths”, Jorge Luis Borges
  • “Luminous”, Greg Egan

History and Biography

  • “A brief history of nearly everything”, Bill Bryson
  • “A piece of the sun”, Daniel Clery
  • “The Grid”, Gretchen Bakke
  • “Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography”, Benjamin Franklin
  • “Empire of Cotton”, Sven Beckert
  • “Naples ‘44”, Norman Lewis
  • “Working”, Studs Terkel
  • “The Discovery of France”, Graham Robb
  • “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running”, Haruki Murakami
  • “Why the West Rules - For Now”, Ian Morris
  • “Boyd”, Robert Coram
  • “Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia”, Michael Korda
  • “Gonzo: Life of Hunter S Thompson”, Jann S. Wenner et al.
  • “The Code Book”, Simon Singh
  • “Hell’s Angels”, Hunter S. Thompson
  • “The Party”, Richard McGregor
  • “Seven Pillars of Wisdom”, T. E. Lawrence
  • “Road to Heaven”, Bill Porter
  • “Finding them Gone”, Bill Porter
  • “Zen Baggage”, Bill Porter

General Nonfiction

  • “Cosmosapiens”, John Hands
  • “Economics: The User’s Guide”, Ha-Joon Chang
  • “Economics in One Lesson”, Henry Hazlitt
  • “The Intelligent Investor”, Benjamin Graham
  • “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion”, Robert B. Cialdini (*replication crisis)
  • “Thinking: Fast and Slow”, Daniel Kahneman (*replication crisis)
  • “The Memory Book”, Harry Lorayne, Jerry Lucas
  • “Skin in the Game”, Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  • “Consensus-Building Handbook”, Lawrence E. Susskind et al.
  • “Lateral Thinking”, Edward de Bono
  • “The Art of War”, Sun Tzu
  • “So Good They Can’t Ignore You”, Cal Newport
  • “Linear Algebra Done Right”, Sheldon Axler
  • “How to diagnose and fix anything electronic”, Michael Jay Geier
  • “Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid”, Douglas R. Hofstadter
  • “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, Dale Carnegie
  • “Getting Things Done”, David Allen
  • “The Machinery of Life”, David S. Goodsell
  • “Fun with a Pencil”, Andrew Loomis
  • “Thinking in Systems”, Donella H. Meadows
  • “Becoming a Supple Leopard”, Kelly Starrett
  • “Starting Strength”, Mark Rippetoe
  • “Where there is no doctor”, David Werner et al.
  • “A Pattern Language”, Christopher Alexander
  • “Finite and Infinite Games”, James Carse

Science Fiction

  • “Neuromancer”, William Gibson
  • “Culture series”, Ian M Banks
  • “Anathem”, Neal Stephenson
  • “The Diamond Age”, Neal Stephenson
  • “Zones of Thought series”, Vernor Vinge
  • “Expanse series”, James S. A. Corey
  • “Laundry Files series”, Charles Stross
  • “Singularity series”, Charles Stross

Fantasy

  • “Kingkiller Chronicle series”, Patrick Rothfuss
  • “The Hobbit”, J.R.R. Tolkien
  • “Lord of the Rings series”, J.R.R. Tolkien
  • “Mistborn series”, Brandon Sanderson
  • “Stormlight Archive series”, Brandon Sanderson

Poetry

  • “The clouds should know me by now”, Various (trans. Red Pine et al.)
  • “The Mountain Poems of Stonehouse”, Stonehouse (trans. Red Pine)
  • “The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain”, Cold Mountain (trans. Red Pine)
  • “The flowers of evil”, Charles Baudelaire

CSV Booklist

Here’s the CSV for all the books on this page:

"genre","title","author","notes"
"Computer Science","High-Performance Browser Networking","Ilya Grigorik"
"Computer Science","The Elements of Computing Systems","Noam Nisan et al."
"Computer Science","Domain Driven Design","Eric Evans"
"Computer Science","Designing Data-Intensive Applications","Martin Kleppmann"
"Computer Science","Growing Object-Oriented Software, Guided by Tests","Steve Freeman, Nat Pryce"
"Computer Science","Elements of Clojure","Zachary Tellman"
"Computer Science","The Phoenix Project","Gene Kim et al."
"Computer Science","Site Reliability Engineering","Niall Richard Murphy et al."
"Computer Science","The Mythical Man-Month","Frederick P Brooks Jr."
"Computer Science","Release It!","Michael T. Nygard"
"Computer Science","The Elements of Scrum","Chris Sims, Hillary Louise Johnson"
"Computer Science","The Principles of Product Development Flow","Donald G. Reinertsen"
"Computer Science","TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols","W Richard Stevens","1st ed. - published 1994"
"Computer Science","A discipline of programming","Edsger W. Dijkstra"
"Computer Science","Javascript: The Good Parts","Douglas Crockford"
"Philosophy","Letters on Ethics","Seneca","trans. Margaret Graver, A.A. Long"
"Philosophy","Meditations","Marcus Aurelius","trans. Gregory Hays"
"Philosophy","Discourses, Fragments, Handbook","Epictetus","trans. Robin Hard, Oxford World Classics ed."
"Philosophy","Tao te Ching","Lao Tzu","multiple translations"
"Philosophy","The Heart Sutra","N/A","trans. Red Pine"
"Philosophy","The Platform Sutra","N/A","trans. Red Pine"
"Philosophy","The Diamond Sutra","N/A","trans. Red Pine"
"Philosophy","The Lankavatara Sutra","N/A","trans. Red Pine"
"Philosophy","The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma","Bodhidharma","trans. Red Pine"
"Philosophy","The Yoga Sutras","Patanjali","trans. Nicholas Sutton"
"Philosophy","Voltaire's Bastards","John Ralston Saul"
"Philosophy","Story of Philosophy","Will Durant"
"Philosophy","Man's Search for Meaning","Victor Frankl"
"Philosophy","Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind","Shunryu Suzuki"
"Philosophy","Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger","Peter Bevelin"
"Philosophy","Baghavad Gita","N/A","trans. Stephen Mitchell"
"Fiction","Anna Karenina","Leo Tolstoy"
"Fiction","War and Peace","Leo Tolstoy"
"Fiction","The Brothers Karamazov","Fyodor Dostoyevsky"
"Fiction","Crime and Punishment","Fyodor Dostoyevsky"
"Fiction","The Idiot","Fyodor Dostoyevsky"
"Fiction","The Count of Monte Cristo","Alexandre Dumas"
"Fiction","East of Eden","John Steinbeck"
"Fiction","Grapes of Wrath","John Steinbeck"
"Fiction","Franny and Zooey","J.D. Salinger"
"Fiction","Mother Night","Kurt Vonnegut"
"Fiction","Cat's Cradle","Kurt Vonnegut"
"Fiction","The Sirens of Titan","Kurt Vonnegut"
"Fiction","Slaughterhouse Five","Kurt Vonnegut"
"Fiction","White Noise","Don DeLillo"
"Fiction","Lord Jim","Joseph Conrad"
"Fiction","Stoner","John Williams"
"Fiction","Never let me go","Kazuo Ishiguro"
"Fiction","The remains of the day","Kazuo Ishiguro"
"Fiction","Shogun trilogy","James Clavell"
"Fiction","19Q4","Haruki Murakami"
"Fiction","Gravity's Rainbow","Thomas Pynchon"
"Fiction","The Road","Cormac McCarthy"
"Fiction","Kokoro","Natsume Soseki"
"Fiction","If on a winter's night a traveler","Italo Calvino"
"Fiction","Infinite Jest","David Foster Wallace"
"Fiction","The Plague","Albert Camus"
"Fiction","The Mysterious Island","Jules Verne"
"Fiction","The Martian","Andy Weir"
"Fiction","Project Hail Mary","Andy Weir"
"Fiction","Frankenstein","Mary Shelley"
"Fiction","Lost Horizon","James Hilton"
"Short Stories","Labyrinths","Jorge Luis Borges"
"Short Stories","Luminous","Greg Egan"
"History and Biography","A brief history of nearly everything","Bill Bryson"
"History and Biography","A piece of the sun","Daniel Clery"
"History and Biography","The Grid","Gretchen Bakke"
"History and Biography","Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography","Benjamin Franklin"
"History and Biography","Empire of Cotton","Sven Beckert"
"History and Biography","Naples '44","Norman Lewis"
"History and Biography","Working","Studs Terkel"
"History and Biography","The Discovery of France","Graham Robb"
"History and Biography","What I Talk About When I Talk About Running","Haruki Murakami"
"History and Biography","Why the West Rules - For Now","Ian Morris"
"History and Biography","Boyd","Robert Coram"
"History and Biography","Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia","Michael Korda"
"History and Biography","Gonzo: Life of Hunter S Thompson","Jann S. Wenner et al."
"History and Biography","The Code Book","Simon Singh"
"History and Biography","Hell's Angels","Hunter S. Thompson"
"History and Biography","The Party","Richard McGregor"
"History and Biography","Seven Pillars of Wisdom","T. E. Lawrence"
"History and Biography","Road to Heaven","Bill Porter"
"History and Biography","Finding them Gone","Bill Porter"
"History and Biography","Zen Baggage","Bill Porter"
"General Nonfiction","Cosmosapiens","John Hands"
"General Nonfiction","Economics: The User's Guide","Ha-Joon Chang"
"General Nonfiction","Economics in One Lesson","Henry Hazlitt"
"General Nonfiction","The Intelligent Investor","Benjamin Graham"
"General Nonfiction","Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion","Robert B. Cialdini","*replication crisis"
"General Nonfiction","Thinking: Fast and Slow","Daniel Kahneman","*replication crisis"
"General Nonfiction","The Memory Book","Harry Lorayne, Jerry Lucas"
"General Nonfiction","Skin in the Game","Nassim Nicholas Taleb"
"General Nonfiction","Consensus-Building Handbook","Lawrence E. Susskind et al."
"General Nonfiction","Lateral Thinking","Edward de Bono"
"General Nonfiction","The Art of War","Sun Tzu"
"General Nonfiction","So Good They Can't Ignore You","Cal Newport"
"General Nonfiction","Linear Algebra Done Right","Sheldon Axler"
"General Nonfiction","How to diagnose and fix anything electronic","Michael Jay Geier"
"General Nonfiction","Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid","Douglas R. Hofstadter"
"General Nonfiction","How to Win Friends and Influence People","Dale Carnegie"
"General Nonfiction","Getting Things Done","David Allen"
"General Nonfiction","The Machinery of Life","David S. Goodsell"
"General Nonfiction","Fun with a Pencil","Andrew Loomis"
"General Nonfiction","Thinking in Systems","Donella H. Meadows"
"General Nonfiction","Becoming a Supple Leopard","Kelly Starrett"
"General Nonfiction","Starting Strength","Mark Rippetoe"
"General Nonfiction","Where there is no doctor","David Werner et al."
"General Nonfiction","A Pattern Language","Christopher Alexander"
"General Nonfiction","Finite and Infinite Games","James Carse"
"Science Fiction","Neuromancer","William Gibson"
"Science Fiction","Culture series","Ian M Banks"
"Science Fiction","Anathem","Neal Stephenson"
"Science Fiction","The Diamond Age","Neal Stephenson"
"Science Fiction","Zones of Thought series","Vernor Vinge"
"Science Fiction","Expanse series","James S. A. Corey"
"Science Fiction","Laundry Files series","Charles Stross"
"Science Fiction","Singularity series","Charles Stross"
"Fantasy","Kingkiller Chronicle series","Patrick Rothfuss"
"Fantasy","The Hobbit","J.R.R. Tolkien"
"Fantasy","Lord of the Rings series","J.R.R. Tolkien"
"Fantasy","Mistborn series","Brandon Sanderson"
"Fantasy","Stormlight Archive series","Brandon Sanderson"
"Poetry","The clouds should know me by now","Various","trans. Red Pine et al."
"Poetry","The Mountain Poems of Stonehouse","Stonehouse","trans. Red Pine"
"Poetry","The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain","Cold Mountain","trans. Red Pine"
"Poetry","The flowers of evil","Charles Baudelaire"