Markus's Recommended Reading

Some friends and colleagues asked me about books. Here's what I think everyone should read. I'm not including obvious titles like The Lord of the Rings, so don't be surprised if you don't see something you think is too important to miss.

I'll begin with non-fiction, but do scroll down if you're more interested in literature.

Non-fiction

• How to talk so that kids listen, and how to listen so that kids talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. The only actually practical book from my list that can help bring your relationships with kids and adults alike to an entirely new level. The world would be a much prettier place if everyone just read this. Buy a few copies as gifts for friends, their families will thank you later.

The rest of the books in this section mostly have to with my obsession with how things work and why they don't.

• Owning the Earth by Andro Linklater. If, like me, you enjoy thinking about why some systems work, some don't and how come they turned out this way, you will definitely find this book entertaining. A history of the modern world as seen through the lens of land ownership.
• The Information and Chaos by James Gleick. Gleick is not only a talented science writer with an immaculate style. His books are also full of quotes and examples taken from the world's best literature so you'll probably end up with a new reading list once you're done with one of his books. Caution: I've also picked up his Faster and Genius only to find both to be rather dull. His latest on Time Travel is alright.
• Guns, Germs & Steel by Jared Diamond. This one's so popular that it's almost obvious, but I'll add it to this list anyway. A nice account of our civilization's beginnings and a decent attempt to explain why it was the Eurasian continent that spawned humanity's most advanced civilizations before they were all joined in a tightly connected world.
• Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. People respond to incentives. If you are ever tasked with making other people do something, read this book for a few examples of what works, what doesn't, and what backfires in unexpected ways.
• The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs. There once was a time when kids were allowed to play by themselves on the sidewalks. Then came the city planners with their projects and gave birth to a new idealistic system that was fundamentally broken. This book is about a war long lost, and forgotten, and then suddenly won around the time the author died, already in this century. But it also sheds some nice light on how cities can work and why you tend to like some neighborhoods better than others. For even more on cities, see her Economy of Cities that includes my favorite bit on how cities could have predated agriculture No idea on the scientific status of the thing, but sounds convincing.
• The Origins of Political Order by Francis Fukuyama. This book gives an overview of political systems, the challenges they face, and how people have faced and tried to overcome these challenges in different cultures — from pre-human times to the eve of the French Revolution. Read this if you want to learn how we gradually developed safeguards against nepotism and other problems related to power. Note: Fukuyama's second volume, Political Order and Political Decay, is much less readable and noteworthy. I'm not sure I'll ever finish it.
• Power, Inc. by David Rothkopf. Speaking of power, this book offers a nice history of the subject, written from the perspective of the conflict between private companies vs. the state and other power brokers. I think this book's view on the future possible systems and the problems they need to address is a bit narrowish, but you should definitely read it.

Literature

• Everything by Neil Gaiman, and I mean it. Start with The Ocean at the End of the Lane if you're not sure where to begin, or with American Gods if you prefer a US setting (btw, the brand new series does not catch it well, if you wanna watch something, watch Narcos instead). Definitely Stardust, everyone should read Stardust. Gaiman is brilliant and is to me the most important storyteller or our time. Maybe leave his short stories collections for later. And beware of collections of short stories 'edited' by him, they're mostly a marketing trap — okay, but not exactly breathtaking.
• The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. Read these books in publication order, starting with either Shards of Honor (my preferred reading order) or The Warrior's Apprentice. Don't read Falling Free, even though it's marketed as 'book one' — it's book one of nothing (being a distant prequel, not connected to the story in any way) and is altogether a much weaker book; at the very least, don't start with it! The latter applies to Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, Bujold's latest addition to the series. Feel free to skip that one.
• Plays by Tom Stoppard. He's mostly famous for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, but his other pieces are also quite worth checking out. Funny, intelligent, and deep. May be difficult for those whose English is less advanced.
• Ghostwritten or Number9Dream by David Mitchell. Mitchell is best known for his Cloud Atlas, which is a nice thing but seems a bit too heavyweight to me. These two smaller novels offer a more accurate overview of Mitchell's elegant and imaginative writing.
• Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. You may know Gibson as an early visionary of the connected world to come in Neuromancer and the rest, but this work is from the more recent period when he focused on (very keenly) capturing and maybe slightly reimagining the present. I like reading this one whenever I need to cross the Atlantic for some reason, it has that vibe.
• Tao Te Ching, as translated by Stephen Mitchell. A nice and modern rendition. I'm not sure if it's very true to the original and how much of the timeless book is actually in there, but who cares. It sure touched some strings, so I'm OK even if Mitchell is twisting words and wrenching elbows.

And that's probably enough for now. I'll get back to this list if I remember anything else worthy to be included.