2017 Reading List and Reading Challenge – 100 Books, 2 books each week

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”
-Charles William Eliot

Reading good books is one of the most enriching activities that always stretches us. One of my greatest mistakes has been reading less books or reading books related to only a few fields of knowledge. I decided to change this in March 2016 by reading about 1 book per week but could read only about 30 books.

I’ve decided to challenge myself to read or listen to 2 books/audio books each week in 2017, and round it off to about 100 books.

I’ve selected the following 98 books after thinking a lot on topics I want to read, followed by deliberate search for best books and then reading multiple positive and negative reviews. I’ve left out 2 books for great recommendation I come across.

I also wanted to cover a lot of areas, some directly related to my goals like Philosophy, Computer Science and Genetics, while others less related but are related to people I’m inspired by, causes I care about (Cancer Treatments, Overcoming Depression) or School of Thoughts I follow like Stoicism, Survivalism etc. I also challenged myself to read topics I don’t generally read like Finance, Relationships and Addictions.

I’ve marked books with over 450 pages as L for long and with over 700 pages as VL for Very Long and books demanding exercises or with complex material like text books as C for Complex. I’d probably read them over weeks. The ones I’ve already read are marked as such in green. I’d keep updating.

Here are the books:

Biographies + Autobiographies (7)

• Elon Musk – Ashley Vance Read
• Einstein, His Life and Universe – Walter Isaacson
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin – Benjamin Franklin
• Leonardo da Vinci: Flights of the Mind – Charles Nicholl
• Isaac Newton – James Gleick
• When Breath Becomes Air – Paul Kalanithi
• The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt -Edmund Morris (1st of triology)

Psychology + Self Development (18)

• Deep Work – Cal Newport Read
• Flow – Mihaly Csikszentmihaly
• Power of Habit – Charles Duhigg
• 4 Hour Work Week – Tim Ferris
• The Art of Manliness: Manvotional – Compiled by Brett &  Mckay
• Think and Grow Rich -Napoleon Hill
• The Road Untravelled – M. Scott Peck Reading
• How to Win Friend and Influence People -Dale Carnegie
• Self Control, Its Kingship and Majesty – William George Jordan
• The Crown of Individuality – William George Jordan
• Eat That Frog – Brian Tracy
• Peak: Secrets from New Science of Expertise – K. Enders Ericsson
• Mastery – Robert Greene Reading
• Radical Acceptance – Tara Brach
• The Willpower Instinct (Maximum Willpower) -Kelly McGonigal
• Thinking Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
• As a Man Thinketh – James Allen
• Extreme Ownership –  Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

Suicide, Depression and Mental Illnesses (2)

• The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression – Andrew Solomon
• Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide – Kay Redfield Jamison

Survivalism (Survival Guide + Survival Stories) (4)

• US Army Survival Manual (FM 3-05.70)
• Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand
• Adrift: 76 Days Lost At Sea – Steven Callahan
• Man’s Search for Meaning -Victor E. Frankl

Genetics + Molecular Biology (6)

• The Gene: An Intimate History – Siddhartha Mukherjee
• The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology – Masaharu Tekemura
• Genome: An Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters – Matt Ridley
• Molecular Biology of the Cell – Bruce Alberts
• The Language of Genes – Steve Jones
• DNA: The Secret of Life – James Watson

Food + Recipes (2)

• Eating Animals – Jonathan Safran Foer
• Vegan Recipes Book

Cancer (2)

• The Death of Cancer – Elizabeth and Vincent DeVita
• The Truth in Small Doses – Clifton Leaf

Running + Running Inspiration (2)

• Born to Run -Christopher McDougall
• Faster than Lightning: My Autobiography – Usain Bolt

Procrastination (2)

• The Procrastination Equation – Piers Steel
• Solving the Procrastination Puzzle: Timothy A. Pychyl

Addiction (2)

• Gun, Needle, Spoon – Patrick O’Neil
• Alcoholics Anonymous: Big Book – Bob Smith, Bill W. and others

Philosophy + Spirituality (15)

• Walden -Henry David Thoreau
• The Art of War -San Tzu
• Tao Te Ching (The Way) -Lao Tzu, Translation of Gia Fu Feng
• Vivekchuramani – Adi Shankaracharya
• The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying – Songyal Renpoche
• Freedom From the Known – Jiddu Krishnamurti
• The Analects – Confucius
• The Principle Upanishads – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
• Brahmasutra – Badarayana
• Ethics – Baruch Spinoza
• Thus Spoke Zarathustra – Friedrich Nietzsche
• The Nicomachean Ethics – Aristotle
• Pragmatism: A New Way for Some Old Ways of Thinking – William James
• The Republic – Plato
• Discourse on Method – René Descartes

Health  and Fitness (1)

• Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and Brain – John Ratey

Science (Multiple Disciplines) (3)

• Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid – Douglas Hofstadter
• Cosmos – Carl Sagan
• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions – Thomas S. Kuhn

History (3)

• A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
• Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Socieities – Jared Diamond
• The Price: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power – Daniel Yergin

Biology + Epidemiology + Anthropology (4)

• The Vital Question – Nick Lane
• Eradication: Ridding the World of Diseases Forever? – Nancy Stepan
• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – Yuval Noah Harari
• Your Inner Fish – Neil Shubin

Relationships + Biological, Evolutionary Aspects of Romantic ones (3)

• The Relationship Cure – John M. Gottman
• The Chemistry Between Us – Larry Young
• The Evolution of Desire – David M Buss

Mental Toughness (3)

• The Art of Mental Training – DC Gonzalvez
• Unbeatable Mind – Mark Divine
• 10 Minute Toughness – Jason Selk

Stoicism (3)

• Enchiridion – Epictetus
• Letters from a Stoic – Seneca
• The Obstacle is the Way – Ryan Holiday

Business + Finance (4)

• The Hard Thing About Hard Things – Ben Horowitz
• Zero to One –  Peter Thiel
• Good to Great – James Collins
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosak

Nonfiction Books By Steven Pressfield (4)

• War of Art Read
• Turning Pro Read
• Do the Work Read
• The Warrior Ethos Read

Computer Science + Programming (4)

• Introduction to Algorithms – Thomas H. Cormen et al (VL, VC)
• Cracking the Coding Interview – Gayle Laakmann McDowell (VL, C)
• Peeling Design Patterns – Narasimha Karumanchi (C)
• Elements of Programming Interviews – Adnan Aziz (VL, C)

Mathematics (3)

• Discrete mathematics and its applications – Kenneth H. Rosen (VL, C)
• How to Solve it? – George Pólya (C)
• Statistics – David Freedman (VL, C)

Full Rereads or Part Rereads (1, Full rereads are marked with *)

• Bhagvadgita – Original translation (without commentary) *
• The Emperor of All Maladies – Siddhartha Mukherjee
• Meditations – Marcus Aurelius
• War of Art – Steven Pressfield * (Already counted)
• The Manual of Warrior of Light – Paulo Coelho

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”  – Dr. Seuss

What are your favorite books? Which books would you suggest me to read? Share in the comments!

Till the next time, take care, keep smiling, stay positive and Keep Trailing on Your Untrailed Path.