70 must-read books
Sunday is World Book Day, so to celebrate I’ve put together a list of 70 books that I recommend everyone read. From children’s books to autobiographies, scientific texts to adventure epics, hopefully there’s something to suit all readers. Here they are, in no particular order:
1. Where the Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak
2. Tales of the Unexpected – Roald Dahl
3. George's Marvellous Medicine – Roald Dahl
4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
5. Oh, The Place You’ll Go – Dr Seuss
6. Peter Pan – J. M. Barrie
7. The Jungle Book – Rudyard Kipling
8. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain
9. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
10. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy – Douglas Adams
11. Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stephenson
12. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
13. Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton
14. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne
15. 1984 – George Orwell
16. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
17. The Quiet American – Graham Greene
18. The Dice Man – Luke Rhinehart
19. Shantaram – Gregory Roberts
20. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
21. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World – Tracy Kidder
22. The Outermost House – Henry Beston
23. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China – Jung Chang
24. Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege – Antony Beevor
25. The Right Stuff – Tom Wolfe
26. In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex – Nathaniel Philbrick
27. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
28. Travels with Charley – John Steinbeck
29. Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela – Nelson Mandela
30. Mao: The Unknown Story – Jung Chang
31. A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety – Jimmy Carter
32. No Future Without Forgiveness – Desmond Tutu
33. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time – Dava Sobel
34. Mandela's Way: Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage – Stengel
35. Limitless: Leadership That Endures – Ajaz Ahmed
36. Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World – Adam Grant
37. If I Could Tell You Just One Thing: 50 of the world's most remarkable people pass on their best piece of advice – Richard Reed
38. Remote: Office Not Required – Jason Fried
39. Start With Why – Simon Sinek
40. 101 Reasons to Get Out of Bed – Natasha Milne
41. Letters to a Stranger: A publishing project in aid of MIND – Various
42. Self Belief: The Vision – Jamal Edwards
43. The Meaning of the 21st Century – James Martin
44. Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill – Matthieu Ricard
45. A Time for New Dreams – Ben Okri
46. A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking
47. The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution – Frank White
48. Beyond The Blue – Jim Campbell
49. Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think – Peter Diamandis
50. Ending the War on Drugs – Various
51. The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth – Tim Flannery
52. Big World, Small Planet – Johan Rockström and Mattias Klum
53. An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It – Al Gore
54. Necker: A Virgin Island – Russell James
55. Lost Ocean – Johanna Basford
56. Arctica: The Vanishing North – Sebastian Copeland
57. In Patagonia – Bruce Chatwin
58. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster – Jon Krakauer
59. The World Without Us – Weisman
60. In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules – Stacy Perman
61. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto – Michael Pollan
62. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal – Eric Schlosser
63. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption – Bryan Stevenson
64. Lean In – Sheryl Sandberg
65. Cosmos – Carl Sagan
66. Obama: The Historic Presidency of Barack Obama - 2,920 Days – Mark Greenberg
67. Little Wins, The Huge Power of Thinking Like a Toddler – Paul Lindley
68. Black Box Thinking – Matthew Syed
69. Winners: And How They Succeed – Alastair Campbell
70. Homo Deus - Yuval Noah Harari
What book are you planning to read this World Book Day? And why do you recommend that others read it too?