100 Best Thought Books of All Time

We've ranked the best thought books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.

Man's Search for Meaning book cover1

Man's Search for Meaning

Viktor E. Frankl

5.0
Man's Search for Meaning has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 psychiatrist Viktor Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the stories of his many patients, Frankl argues that we can
Thinking, Fast and Slow book cover2

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Kahneman

4.9
Major New York Times bestseller
Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award in 2012
Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of 2011
A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 Title
One of The Economist's 2011 Books of the Year
One of The Wall Street Journal's Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 2011
2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient

In the internatio
Outliers: The Story of Success book cover3

Outliers: The Story of Success

Malcolm Gladwell

4.7
In this stunning new book, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?

His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are from: that is, their culture, their
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference book cover4

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Malcolm Gladwell

4.7
An alternate cover edition exists here.

The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller,
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind book cover5

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Yuval Noah Harari

4.6
100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens.

How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables and consumerism?
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything book cover6

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Steven D. Levitt

4.6
Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime? Freakonomics will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.

These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom book cover7

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

Don Miguel Ruiz, Janet Mills

4.6
In The Four Agreements, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, the Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love. The Four Agreements are: Be Impeccable With Your Word, Don't Take Anything Personally,
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future book cover8

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future

Peter Thiel

4.6
If you want to build a better future, you must believe in secrets.

The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.

Thiel begins with the contrarian premise that we live in an age of technological stagnation,
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't book cover9

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

Jim Collins

4.5
To find the keys to greatness, Collins's 21-person research team read and coded 6,000 articles, generated more than 2,000 pages of interview transcripts and created 384 megabytes of computer data in a five-year project. The findings will surprise many readers and, quite frankly, upset others.

The Challenge
Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies trium
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking book cover10

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell

4.5
Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology and displaying all of the brilliance that made The Tipping Point a classic, Blink changes the way you'll understand every decision you make. Never again will you think about thinking the same way.

Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. Now, in Blink, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. Blink is a bo
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking book cover11

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Susan Cain

4.5
The book that started the Quiet Revolution

At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak—that we owe many of the great contributions to society.

In Quiet, Susan Cain a
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change book cover12

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

Stephen R. Covey

4.5
When Stephen Covey first released The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, the book became an instant rage because people suddenly got up and took notice that their lives were headed off in the wrong direction; and more than that, they realized that there were so many simple things they could do in order to navigate their life correctly. This book was wonderful education for people, education
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion book cover13

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Robert B. Cialdini

4.5
Influence, the classic book on persuasion, explains the psychology of why people say "yes"—and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion. His thirty-five years of rigorous, evidence-based research along with a three-year program of study on what moves people to change behavior has resulted in this highly
The Art of War book cover14
For more than two thousand years, The Art of War has stood as a cornerstone of Chinese culture-a lucid epigrammatic text that reveals as much about human psychology, politics, and economics as it does about battlefield strategy. The influence of Sun-tzu's text has grown tremendously in the West in recent years, with military leaders, politicians, and corporate executives alike finding valuable ins
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable book cover15

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

4.5
A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was.

The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9/11. For Nassim Nicholas Taleb, black swans underlie almost everything about our world, from t
A Brief History of Time book cover16

A Brief History of Time

Stephen Hawking

4.5
In the ten years since its publication in 1988, Stephen Hawking's classic work has become a landmark volume in scientific writing, with more than nine million copies in forty languages sold worldwide. That edition was on the cutting edge of what was then known about the origins and nature of the universe. But the intervening years have seen extraordinary advances in the technology of observing bot
Educated book cover17
Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag". In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard.

Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara nev
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values book cover18

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Robert M Pirsig

4.4
This lyrical, evocative, thought-provoking journal of a man's quest for truth - and for himself - has touched and changed an entire generation, and is ready to reach out to a new one. At its heart, the story is all too simple: a man and his son take a motorcycle trip across America. But this is not a simple trip at all, for around every corner, through mountain and desert, wind and rain, and seari
When Breath Becomes Air book cover19

When Breath Becomes Air

Paul Kalanithi

4.4
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve me
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think book cover20

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think

Hans Rosling

4.4
Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts.

When asked simple questions about global trends—what percentage of the world’s population live in poverty; why the world’s population is increasing; how many girls finish school—we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently o
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business book cover21

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Charles Duhigg

4.4
A young woman walks into a laboratory. Over the past two years, she has transformed almost every aspect of her life. She has quit smoking, run a marathon, and been promoted at work. The patterns inside her brain, neurologists discover, have fundamentally changed.

Marketers at Procter & Gamble study videos of people making their beds. They are desperately trying to figure out how to sell a new produ
The War of Art book cover22

The War of Art

Steven Pressfield

4.4
The Art of War meets "The Artist's Way" in this no-nonsense, profoundly inspiring guide to overcoming creative blocks of every kind.
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life book cover23

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

Mark Manson

4.4
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780062457738

In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people.

For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "Fk positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is fked and w
Meditations book cover24

Meditations

Marcus Aurelius

4.4
One measure, perhaps, of a book's worth, is its intergenerational pliancy: do new readers acquire it and interpret it afresh down through the ages? The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, translated and introduced by Gregory Hays, by that standard, is very worthwhile, indeed. Hays suggests that its most recent incarnation--as a self-help book--is not only valid, but may be close to the author's intent
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions book cover25

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

Dan Ariely

4.4
Why do our headaches persist after taking a one-cent aspirin but disappear when we take a 50-cent aspirin?

Why does recalling the Ten Commandments reduce our tendency to lie, even when we couldn't possibly be caught?

Why do we splurge on a lavish meal but cut coupons to save twenty-five cents on a can of soup?

Why do we go back for second helpings at the unlimited buffet, even when our stomachs are a
The Richest Man in Babylon book cover26

The Richest Man in Babylon

George S Clason

4.4
This hardcover edition is cleanly formatted for easy reading. 12 point Garamond, 1.25 spacing. The Richest Man in Babylon is a timeless classic, revealing the secrets to making money and keeping it. This inspirational book is hailed as the greatest of books on finances. It unveils the secrets to wealth, providing priceless suggestions, advice, unforgettable parables, financial problem-solving tool
Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies book cover27

Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

Jared Diamond

4.3
Explaining what William McNeill called The Rise of the West has become the central problem in the study of global history. In Guns, Germs, and Steel Jared Diamond presents the biologist's answer: geography, demography, and ecological happenstance. Diamond evenhandedly reviews human history on every continent since the Ice Age at a rate that emphasizes only the broadest movements of peoples and ide
1984 book cover28

1984

George Orwell

4.3
A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick

With extraordinary relevance and renewed popularity, George Orwell’s 1984 takes on new life in this hardcover edition.

“Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power.”—The New Yorker

In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos book cover29

12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

Jordan B. Peterson

4.3
What does everyone in the modern world need to know? Renowned psychologist Jordan B. Peterson's answer to this most difficult of questions uniquely combines the hard-won truths of ancient tradition with the stunning revelations of cutting-edge scientific research.

Humorous, surprising, and informative, Dr. Peterson tells us why skateboarding boys and girls must be left alone, what terrible fate awa
Atlas Shrugged book cover30

Atlas Shrugged

Ayn Rand

4.3
This is the story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world and did. Was he a destroyer or the greatest of liberators?

Why did he have to fight his battle, not against his enemies, but against those who needed him most, and his hardest battle against the woman he loved? What is the world’s motor — and the motive power of every man? You will know the answer to these questions when
The Alchemist book cover31

The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho

4.3
Paulo Coelho's enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world. This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. What starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treas
The Last Lecture book cover32

The Last Lecture

Randy Pausch

4.3
A lot of professors give talks titled 'The Last Lecture'. Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't
The Tao of Pooh book cover33

The Tao of Pooh

Benjamin Hoff

4.3
"Thought-provoking and charming."-- "Library Journal" Not all Great Masters of Wisdom are venerable graybeards. One is as familiar to us as that beloved teddy bear Winnie the Pooh. From the "how" of Pooh to the Tao of Pooh is a simple, effortless, joyous step...a delicious journey to Pooh Corner illuminated by the timeless teachings of the Taoist immortals.
Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ book cover34

Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ

Daniel Goleman

4.3
Everyone knows that high IQ is no guarantee of success, happiness, or virtue, but until Emotional Intelligence, we could only guess why. Daniel Goleman's brilliant report from the frontiers of psychology and neuroscience offers startling new insight into our "two minds"—the rational and the emotional—and how they together shape our destiny.

Through vivid examples, Goleman delineates the five crucia
The God Delusion book cover35

The God Delusion

Richard Dawkins

4.3
In his sensational international bestseller, the preeminent scientist and outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins delivers a hard-hitting, impassioned, but humorous, rebuttal of religious belief. With rigor and wit, Dawkins eviscerates the arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of the existence of a supreme being. He makes a compelling case that faith is not just irrational bu
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness book cover36

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Richard H. Thaler

4.3
Every day, we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion. Unfortunately, we often choose poorly. The reason, the authors explain, is that, being human, we all are susceptible to various biases that can lead us to blunder. Our mistakes make us poorer and less healthy; we often make bad decisions involving educ
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid book cover37

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Douglas R. Hofstadter

4.3
Douglas Hofstadter's book is concerned directly with the nature of “maps” or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity transcends the system that supports it. If life can grow out of the formal chemical substrate of the cell, if consciousness can emerge out of a formal system of firing neurons, then so too will computers at
Animal Farm book cover38

Animal Farm

George Orwell and Christopher Hitchens

4.3
Animal Farm is one of the most famous warnings ever written. Orwell's immortal satire - 'against Stalin' as he wrote to his French translator - can be read on many levels. With its piercing clarity and deceptively simple style it is no surprise that this novel is required reading for schoolchildren and politicians alike. This fable of the steadfast horses Boxer and Clover, the opportunistic pigs S
Brave New World book cover39

Brave New World

Aldous Huxley

4.3
Now reissued in a gorgeous hardcover edition: "one of the most prophetic dystopian works of the 20th century" (Wall Street Journal) must be read and understood by anyone concerned with preserving the human spirit in the face of our "brave new world." Huxley's masterpiece has become a bestseller once again after the American election.

Aldous Huxley's profoundly important classic of world literature,
The Selfish Gene book cover40

The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins

4.3
Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we see ourselves and the world with the publication of The Selfish Gene. Suppose, instead of thinking about organisms using genes to reproduce themselves, as we had since Mendel's work was rediscovered, we turn it around and imagine that "our" genes build and mainta
The Demon-haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark book cover41

The Demon-haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark

Carl Sagan

4.3
How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutio
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment book cover42

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

Eckhart Tolle

4.3
Eckhart Tolle is emerging as one of today's most inspiring teachers. In The
Power of Now, a #1 national bestseller, the author describes his transition
from despair to self-realization soon after his 29th birthday. Tolle took
another ten years to understand this transformation, during which time he
evolved a philosophy that has parallels in Buddhism, relaxation techniques,
and meditation theory but is
The Republic: The Influential Classic book cover43

The Republic: The Influential Classic

Plato

4.2
The newest deluxe edition in the bestselling Capstone Classics Series This ancient classic has had a make-over. In recent years these Capstone Classic deluxe editions have caught the book buying public's imagination. The volumes of international bestsellers such as Think and Grow Rich and The Art of War have quickly become the market leaders. Now Plato's best known work, one of the most intellectu
The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom book cover44

The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom

Jonathan Haidt

4.2
In his widely praised book, award-winning psychologist Jonathan Haidt examines the world’s philosophical wisdom through the lens of psychological science, showing how a deeper understanding of enduring maxims-like Do unto others as you would have others do unto you, or What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger-can enrich and even transform our lives.
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals book cover45

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

Michael Pollan

4.2
What should we have for dinner? For omnivore's like ourselves, this simple question has always posed a dilemma: When you can eat just about anything nature (or the supermarket) has to offer, deciding what you should eat will inevitably stir anxiety, especially when some of the foods on offer might shorten your life. Today, buffeted by one food fad after another, America is suffering from what can
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character book cover46

"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character

Richard P. Feynman

4.2
A series of anecdotes, such as are included in Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman, shouldn't by rights add up to an autobiography, but that's just one of the many pieces of received wisdom that Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88) cheerfully ignores in this engagingly eccentric book. Fiercely independent (read the chapter entitled "Judging Books by Their Covers"), intolerant of st
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion book cover47

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

Jonathan Haidt

4.2
Why can’t our political leaders work together as threats loom and problems mount? Why do people so readily assume the worst about the motives of their fellow citizens? In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding.

His starting point is moral intuition—the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all ha
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants book cover48

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

Malcolm Gladwell

4.2
In his #1 bestselling books The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell has explored the ways we understand and change our world. Now he looks at the complex and surprising ways the weak can defeat the strong, the small can match up against the giant, and how our goals (often culturally determined) can make a huge difference in our ultimate sense of success. Drawing upon examples from
The Prince book cover49

The Prince

Nicollo Machiavelli, Tim Parks

4.2
Niccolo Machiavelli's "The Prince" is intended to be a treatise on ruling and is considered by many to be a classic of political science. In the book Machiavelli offers many bits of practical advice on how to rule and even though the book was written in the early 16th century its ideas are still very relevant today. Where "The Prince" differs from other political literature before it is in its sep
Who Moved My Cheese? book cover50

Who Moved My Cheese?

Spencer Johnson

4.2
Who Moved My Cheese? is a simple parable that reveals profound truths. It is an amusing and enlightening story of four characters who live in a "Maze" and look for "Cheese" to nourish them and make them happy.

Two are mice named Sniff and Scurry. And two are "Littlepeople"—beings the size of mice who look and act a lot like people. Their names are Hem and Haw.

"Cheese" is a metaphor for what you wan
Think and Grow Rich book cover51

Think and Grow Rich

Napoleon Hill

4.2
One of the most popular personal development and self-improvement books of all time, Think and Grow Rich has sold over 100 million copies worldwide since its first publication during the Great Depression. In this hardcover edition, Napoleon Hill presents a "Philosophy of Achievement" in 13 principles drawn from the success stories of such greats as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and o
Holy Bible: KJV Standard Size Thumb Index Edition: Burgundy (King James Bible) book cover52

Holy Bible: KJV Standard Size Thumb Index Edition: Burgundy (King James Bible)

Thomas Nelson

4.2
My Creative Bible is an exciting new concept in ways to experience the word of God in Scripture. This King James Version Journaling Bible is single-column printed, with two-inch-wide ruled margins for note-taking, scribing your reflections or creative expression. Nearly 400 hand-drawn, Scripture accompanying line-art illustrations are placed throughout the Bible to enhance embracement of The Word.
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal book cover53

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

Eric Schlosser

4.2
Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled American cultural imperialism abroad. That's a lengthy list of charges, but here Eric Schlosser makes them stick with an artful mix of first-rate reportage, wry wit, and careful reasoning.

Schlosser's myth-shattering survey stretches from California's subdivisio
The Five People You Meet in Heaven book cover54

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Mitch Albom

4.2
From the author of the phenomenal #1 New York Times bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie, a novel that explores the unexpected connections of our lives, and the idea that heaven is more than a place; it's an answer.

Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us book cover55

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Daniel H. Pink

4.2
The New York Times bestseller that gives readers a paradigm-shattering new way to think about motivation

Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret t
The Secret (The Secret, #1) book cover56

The Secret (The Secret, #1)

Rhonda Byrne

4.2
The Secret’s 10th Anniversary Edition includes a new foreword by Rhonda Byrne, and 10 of the most life-changing insights she’s had over the last 10 years of practicing and living The Secret every day. The 10 insights alone will accelerate your understanding and mastery of the law of attraction.
A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy book cover57

A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy

William Braxton Irvine

4.2
One of the great fears many of us face is that despite all our effort and striving, we will discover at the end that we have wasted our life. In A Guide to the Good Life, William B. Irvine plumbs the wisdom of Stoic philosophy, one of the most popular and successful schools of thought in ancient Rome, and shows how its insight and advice are still remarkably applicable to modern lives.
In A Guide
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything book cover58

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

Christopher Hitchens

4.2
In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris's recent bestseller The End of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion.

With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos.

With eloqu
Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World book cover59

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

Adam Grant

4.2
In Originals the author addresses the challenge of improving the world from the perspective of becoming original: choosing to champion novel ideas and values that go against the grain, battle conformity, and buck outdated traditions. How can we originate new ideas, policies, and practices without risking it all?

Using surprising studies and stories spanning business, politics, sports, and entertai
The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life book cover60

The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life

Charles Darwin

4.2
Darwin's theory of natural selection issued a profound challenge to orthodox thought and belief: no being or species has been specifically created; all are locked into a pitiless struggle for existence, with extinction looming for those not fitted for the task.

Yet The Origin of Species (1859) is also a humane and inspirational vision of ecological interrelatedness, revealing the complex mutual in
The Power of Positive Thinking book cover61

The Power of Positive Thinking

Norman Vincent Peale

4.2
"This book is written with the sole objective of helping the reader achieve a happy, satisfying, and worthwhile life."

-- Norman Vincent Peale

The precursor to The Secret, The Power of Positive Thinking has helped millions of men and women to achieve fulfillment in their lives. In this phenomenal bestseller, Dr. Peale demonstrates the power of faith in action. With the practical techniques outlined

The Little Prince Family Storybook: Unabridged Original Text book cover62

The Little Prince Family Storybook: Unabridged Original Text

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

4.2
Rediscover Antoine de Saint-Exupery's universal masterpiece with original text and magnificent new illustrations created by masters of film animation. This wise and enchanginting fable teaches the secret of what is really important in life.
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow book cover63

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

Yuval Noah Harari

4.1
Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods.

Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to acce
To Kill a Mockingbird book cover64

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee, Sissy Spacek, et al

4.1
The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.

Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mocki
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft book cover65

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Stephen King

4.1
Immensely helpful and illuminating to any aspiring writer, Stephen King’s critically lauded, classic bestseller shares the experiences, habits, and convictions that have shaped him and his work.

"Long live the King" hailed Entertainment Weekly upon publication of Stephen King’s On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealin
Tao Te Ching: By Lao Tzu - Illustrated book cover66

Tao Te Ching: By Lao Tzu - Illustrated

Lao Tse

4.1
A lucid translation of the well-known Taoist classic by a leading scholar-now in a Shambhala Pocket Library edition.
Written more than two thousand years ago, the Tao Teh Ching, or -The Classic of the Way and Its Virtue, - is one of the true classics of the world of spiritual literature. Traditionally attributed to the legendary -Old Master, - Lao Tzu, the Tao Teh Ching teaches that the qualities o
Siddhartha book cover67

Siddhartha

Hermann Hesse

4.1
Herman Hesse's classic novel has delighted, inspired, and influenced generations of readers, writers, and thinkers. In this story of a wealthy Indian Brahmin who casts off a life of privilege to seek spiritual fulfillment. Hesse synthesizes disparate philosophies--Eastern religions, Jungian archetypes, Western individualism--into a unique vision of life as expressed through one man's search for me
A People's History of the United States book cover68

A People's History of the United States

Howard Zinn

4.1
"A wonderful, splendid book--a book that should be ready by every American, student or otherwise, who wants to understand his country, its true history, and its hope for the future." --Howard Fast

With a new introduction by Anthony Arnove, this edition of the classic national bestseller chronicles American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official narrative taught in schools—with its em
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined book cover69

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

Steven Pinker

4.1
Believe it or not, today we may be living in the most peaceful moment in our species' existence. In his gripping and controversial new work, New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows that despite the ceaseless news about war, crime, and terrorism, violence has actually been in decline over long stretches of history. Exploding myths about humankind's inherent violence and the curse of m
Sophie's World book cover70

Sophie's World

Jostein Gaarder, Paulette Moller

4.1
An alternative cover for this ISBN can be found here

One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enr
The Wealth of Nations book cover71

The Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith

4.1
In his book, Smith fervently extolled the simple yet enlightened notion that individuals are fully capable of setting and regulating prices for their own goods and services. He argued passionately in favor of free trade, yet stood up for the little guy. The Wealth of Nations provided the first--and still the most eloquent--integrated description of the workings of a market economy.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull book cover72

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Richard Bach, Russell Munson

4.1
This is a story for people who follow their hearts and make their own rules...people who get special pleasure out of doing something well, even if only for themselves...people who know there's more to this living than meets the eye: they’ll be right there with Jonathan, flying higher and faster than ever they dreamed.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is no ordinary bird. He believes it is every gull's r
The Mastery of Love: A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship, A Toltec Wisdom Book book cover73

The Mastery of Love: A Practical Guide to the Art of Relationship, A Toltec Wisdom Book

Miguel Ruiz

4.1
In The Mastery of Love, don Miguel Ruiz illuminates the fear-based beliefs and assumptions that undermine love and lead to suffering and drama in our relationships. Using insightful stories to bring his message to life, Ruiz shows us how to heal our emotional wounds, recover the freedom and joy that are our birthright, and store the spirit of playfulness that is vital to loving relationships. The
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty book cover74

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

Daron Acemoglu

4.1
Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine?

Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are?

Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how t
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything book cover75

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

Joshua Foer

4.1
The blockbuster phenomenon that charts an amazing journey of the mind while revolutionizing our concept of memory

An instant bestseller that is poised to become a classic, Moonwalking with Einstein recounts Joshua Foer's yearlong quest to improve his memory under the tutelage of top "mental athletes." He draws on cutting-edge research, a surprising cultural history of remembering, and venerable tri
A Short History of Nearly Everything book cover76

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Bill Bryson

4.1
In Bryson's biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the
SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes And Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance book cover77

SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes And Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance

Steven D. Levitt

4.1
The New York Times best-selling Freakonomics was a worldwide sensation, selling over four million copies in thirty-five languages and changing the way we look at the world. Now, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with SuperFreakonomics, and fans and newcomers alike will find that the freakquel is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than the first.

Four years in the making, SuperFre
The Stranger book cover78

The Stranger

Albert Camus, Jonathan Davis, et al

4.1
Through the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach, Camus explored what he termed "the nakedness of man faced with the absurd." First published in English in 1946; now in a new translation by Matthew Ward.
Mere Christianity book cover79

Mere Christianity

C. S. Lewis

4.1
A History of Western Philosophy book cover80

A History of Western Philosophy

Bertrand Russell

4.1
Since its first publication in 1945 Lord Russell's A History of Western Philosophy has been universally acclaimed as the outstanding one-volume work on the subject—unparalleled in its comprehensiveness, its clarity, its erudition, its grace and wit. In seventy-six chapters he traces philosophy from the rise of Greek civilization to the emergence of logical analysis in the twentieth century. Among
As a Man Thinketh book cover81

As a Man Thinketh

Allen

4.1
The mind guides our footsteps as we progress along the pathway of life.

Purity of mind leads inevitably to purity of life, to the precious love and understanding that should control our everyday acts and attitudes towards friends and foes.

But where must one look for guidance? How does one achieve purity of mind that alone brings happiness and confidence?

The author offers his clear answers in this b
Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2) book cover82

Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)

Suzanne Collins

4.1
SPARKS ARE IGNITING.
FLAMES ARE SPREADING.
AND THE CAPITAL WANTS REVENGE.


Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are wh
Lord of the Flies book cover83

Lord of the Flies

William Golding

4.1
At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; this far from civilization the boys can do anything they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror, sin and evil. And as order collapses, as strange howls echo
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions book cover84

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Thomas S. Kuhn

4.0
A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, and we forget how provocative and challenging its ideas once were—and still are. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is that kind of book. When it was first published in 1962, it was a landmark eve
Cosmos book cover85
Cosmos has 13 heavily illustrated chapters, corresponding to the 13 episodes of the Cosmos television series. In the book, Sagan explores 15 billion years of cosmic evolution and the development of science and civilization. Cosmos traces the origins of knowledge and the scientific method, mixing science and philosophy, and speculates to the future of science. The book also discusses the underlying
Catch-22 book cover86

Catch-22

Joseph Heller, Christopher Buckley

4.0
This fiftieth-anniversary edition commemorates Joseph Heller’s masterpiece with a new introduction; critical essays and reviews by Norman Mailer, Alfred Kazin, Anthony Burgess, and others; rare papers and photos; and much more.

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.

Now a Hulu limited series starring Christopher Abbott, George Clooney, Kyle Chandler, and Hu
The Brothers Karamazov book cover87

The Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoevsky

4.0
The Brothers Karamasov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploration of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving the “wicked and sentimental” Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his three sons―the impulsive and sensual Dmitri; the coldly rational Ivan; and the healthy, red-cheeked young novice Alyosha. Through the gripping events of their story, Dostoevsky portrays t
The Design of Everyday Things book cover88

The Design of Everyday Things

Don Norman

4.0
Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door. The fault, argues this ingenious—even liberating—book, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. The problems range from ambiguous and hidden controls to arbitrary r
Crime and Punishment: A Russian Realistic Novel book cover89

Crime and Punishment: A Russian Realistic Novel

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

4.0
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the
Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao book cover90

Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao

Wayne W. Dyer

4.0
Five hundred years before the birth of Jesus, a God-realized being named Lao-tzu in ancient China dictated 81 verses, which are regarded by many as the ultimate commentary on the nature of our existence. The classic text of these 81 verses, called the Tao Te Ching or the Great Way, offers advice and guidance that is balanced, moral, spiritual, and always concerned with working for the good.


In this
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World book cover91

The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World

David Deutsch

4.0
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions book cover92

What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

Randall Munroe

4.0
Randall Munroe left NASA in 2005 to start up his hugely popular site XKCD 'a web comic of romance, sarcasm, math and language' which offers a witty take on the world of science and geeks. It now has 600,000 to a million page hits daily. Every now and then, Munroe would get emails asking him to arbitrate a science debate. 'My friend and I were arguing about what would happen if a bullet got struck
On Liberty book cover93

On Liberty

John Stuart Mill

4.0
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780140432077

Published in 1859, John Stuart Mill's On Liberty presented one of the most eloquent defenses of individual freedom in nineteenth-century social and political philosophy and is today perhaps the most widely-read liberal argument in support of the value of liberty. Mill's passionate advocacy of spontaneity, individuality, and diversity, along with his con
The Art of Happiness book cover94

The Art of Happiness

Dalai Lama

4.0
Nearly every time you see him, he's laughing, or at least smiling. And he makes everyone else around him feel like smiling. He's the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, a Nobel Prize winner, and an increasingly popular speaker and statesman. What's more, he'll tell you that happiness is the purpose of life, and that "the very motion of our life is towards happiness." How to get
The Genealogy of Morals (Translated by Horace B. Samuel with an Introduction by Willard Huntington Wright) book cover95

The Genealogy of Morals (Translated by Horace B. Samuel with an Introduction by Willard Huntington Wright)

Friedrich Nietzsche, Horace B. Samuel, Willard Huntington Wright

4.0
German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche was one the most controversial figures of the 19th century. His evocative writings on religion, morality, culture, philosophy, and science were often polemic attacks against the established views of his time. First published in 1887, "The Genealogy of Morals," is a work which follows and expands upon the principles of his previous works, "Thus Spoke Zarathus
The Screwtape Letters book cover96

The Screwtape Letters

C.S. Lewis

4.0
The story takes the form of a series of letters from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew, a junior "tempter" named Wormwood, so as to advise him on methods of securing the damnation of a British man, known only as "the Patient".

Screwtape holds an administrative post in the bureaucracy ("Lowerarchy") of Hell, and acts as a mentor to Wormwood, the inexperienced tempter. In the body of the thirt
Capital in the Twenty-First Century book cover97

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Thomas Piketty

4.0
What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories. In Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piket
Walden book cover98

Walden

Henry David Thoreau

4.0
At Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau reflected on simpler living in the natural world. By removing himself from the distractions of materialism, Thoreau hoped to not only improve his spiritual life but also gain a better understanding of society through solitary introspection.

In Walden, Thoreau condenses his two-year, two-month, two-day stay into a single year, using the four seasons to symbolize h
Memories, Dreams, Reflections book cover99

Memories, Dreams, Reflections

C.G. Jung

4.0
In the spring of 1957, when he was eighty-one years old, C. G. Jung undertook the telling of his life story. At regular intervals he had conversations with his colleague and friend Aniela Jaffé, and collaborated with her in the preparation of the text based on these talks. On occasion, he was moved to write entire chapters of the book in his own hand, and he continued to work on the final stages o
Beyond Good and Evil book cover100

Beyond Good and Evil

Friedrich Nietzsche

4.0
In Beyond Good and Evil Friedrich Nietzsche contends that no human values are absolute; that all value distinctions (such as that between 'good' and 'evil') are artificial, the result of mere traditional prejudices; and that humanity should discard its old, outmoded values (such as 'good' and 'evil').