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Best Books To Frame Thinking
Books from various genres that help shape and contour how to conceive reality in the 21st Century.
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A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.
1 |
1984
by
4.20 avg rating — 5,286,996 ratings
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2 |
Animal Farm
by
4.01 avg rating — 4,405,650 ratings
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3 |
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by
4.04 avg rating — 448,132 ratings
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4 |
Brave New World
by
3.88 avg rating — 1,262,069 ratings
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5 |
Man's Search for Meaning
by
4.37 avg rating — 843,269 ratings
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6 |
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
by
4.34 avg rating — 1,217,246 ratings
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7 |
Thinking, Fast and Slow
by
4.17 avg rating — 570,745 ratings
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8 |
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by
4.01 avg rating — 888,921 ratings
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9 |
Outliers: The Story of Success
by
4.19 avg rating — 851,061 ratings
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10 |
The Selfish Gene
by
Richard Dawkins (Goodreads Author)
4.16 avg rating — 189,965 ratings
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11 |
A People’s History of the United States: 1492 - Present
by
4.08 avg rating — 261,329 ratings
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12 |
Siddhartha
by
4.08 avg rating — 854,794 ratings
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13 |
Crime and Punishment
by
4.28 avg rating — 1,038,779 ratings
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14 |
A Short History of Nearly Everything
by
4.22 avg rating — 415,208 ratings
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15 |
The Prince
by
3.84 avg rating — 374,575 ratings
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16 |
The Origin of Species
by
4.01 avg rating — 120,648 ratings
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17 |
Lord of the Flies
by
3.70 avg rating — 3,138,142 ratings
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18 |
Walden & Civil Disobedience
by
3.94 avg rating — 38,723 ratings
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19 |
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
by
3.65 avg rating — 194,772 ratings
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20 |
Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow
by
4.19 avg rating — 281,336 ratings
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21 |
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
by
4.20 avg rating — 64,045 ratings
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22 |
The Picture of Dorian Gray
by
4.13 avg rating — 1,806,602 ratings
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23 |
Plato: Complete Works
by
4.37 avg rating — 11,969 ratings
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24 |
L'Étranger
by
4.03 avg rating — 1,336,977 ratings
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25 |
Fahrenheit 451
by
3.97 avg rating — 2,748,563 ratings
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26 |
The Trial
by
3.94 avg rating — 380,995 ratings
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27 |
Holy Bible: The Authorized King James Version
by
4.44 avg rating — 310,965 ratings
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28 |
Being and Time
by
4.05 avg rating — 27,263 ratings
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29 |
Debt: The First 5,000 Years
by
4.21 avg rating — 25,980 ratings
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30 |
Faust, First Part
by
3.83 avg rating — 84,592 ratings
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31 |
Steppenwolf
by
4.13 avg rating — 209,048 ratings
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32 |
Frankenstein
by
3.89 avg rating — 1,788,733 ratings
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33 |
The Brothers Karamazov
by
4.39 avg rating — 374,146 ratings
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34 |
Walden or, Life in the Woods
by
3.77 avg rating — 201,823 ratings
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35 |
Mere Christianity
by
4.36 avg rating — 449,252 ratings
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36 |
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
by
Steven Pinker (Goodreads Author)
4.16 avg rating — 29,347 ratings
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37 |
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
by
4.29 avg rating — 78,946 ratings
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38 |
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
by
4.12 avg rating — 129,886 ratings
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39 |
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
by
4.03 avg rating — 29,349 ratings
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40 |
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
by
Michael Pollan (Goodreads Author)
4.19 avg rating — 209,304 ratings
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41 |
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
by
4.29 avg rating — 51,884 ratings
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42 |
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
by
3.93 avg rating — 74,090 ratings
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43 |
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
by
4.29 avg rating — 52,420 ratings
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44 |
SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes And Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 133,842 ratings
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45 |
The God Delusion
by
Richard Dawkins (Goodreads Author)
3.90 avg rating — 280,398 ratings
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46 |
The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays
by
4.22 avg rating — 64,097 ratings
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47 |
A Clockwork Orange
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 757,628 ratings
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48 |
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
by
3.75 avg rating — 206,339 ratings
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49 |
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
by
3.81 avg rating — 76,178 ratings
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50 |
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
by
Robert B. Cialdini (Goodreads Author)
4.22 avg rating — 172,419 ratings
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51 |
How the Mind Works
by
Steven Pinker (Goodreads Author)
3.99 avg rating — 20,930 ratings
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52 |
Gandhi: An Autobiography
by
4.10 avg rating — 74,150 ratings
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53 |
War and Peace
by
4.17 avg rating — 359,189 ratings
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54 |
Orientalism
by
4.13 avg rating — 28,812 ratings
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55 |
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
by
4.16 avg rating — 806,792 ratings
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56 |
The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth
by
4.08 avg rating — 101,620 ratings
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56 |
The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
by
Richard Dawkins (Goodreads Author)
4.09 avg rating — 41,303 ratings
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58 |
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
by
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Goodreads Author)
4.10 avg rating — 56,421 ratings
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59 |
How to Lie with Statistics
by
3.84 avg rating — 17,691 ratings
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60 |
Simulacra and Simulation
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 16,147 ratings
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61 |
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate
by
4.16 avg rating — 27,394 ratings
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62 |
Letters from a Stoic
by
4.33 avg rating — 53,647 ratings
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63 |
Culture and Imperialism
by
4.19 avg rating — 5,692 ratings
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64 |
Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky
by
4.41 avg rating — 9,475 ratings
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65 |
The Society of the Spectacle
by
4.03 avg rating — 22,854 ratings
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66 |
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
by
4.01 avg rating — 846,961 ratings
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67 |
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
by
4.05 avg rating — 93,675 ratings
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68 |
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
by
4.30 avg rating — 38,180 ratings
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69 |
You Are Not So Smart
by
3.86 avg rating — 35,968 ratings
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70 |
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty
by
4.09 avg rating — 60,185 ratings
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71 |
The Tao of Pooh
by
4.01 avg rating — 128,770 ratings
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72 |
Letter from the Birmingham Jail
by
4.72 avg rating — 8,522 ratings
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73 |
Economics in One Lesson
by
4.16 avg rating — 21,248 ratings
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74 |
The Interpretation of Dreams
by
3.84 avg rating — 79,755 ratings
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75 |
Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
by
3.74 avg rating — 8,505 ratings
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76 |
The Man Without Qualities
by
4.19 avg rating — 7,234 ratings
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77 |
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
by
Michael Pollan (Goodreads Author)
4.07 avg rating — 118,873 ratings
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78 |
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
by
3.69 avg rating — 102,386 ratings
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79 |
Civil Disobedience
by
3.94 avg rating — 19,126 ratings
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80 |
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
by
Steven Pinker (Goodreads Author)
4.09 avg rating — 25,139 ratings
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81 |
Profit Over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order
by
4.03 avg rating — 7,247 ratings
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82 |
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
by
3.91 avg rating — 260,415 ratings
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83 |
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
by
3.96 avg rating — 111,455 ratings
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84 |
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
by
3.96 avg rating — 616,712 ratings
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85 |
A Theology of Liberation
by
4.17 avg rating — 2,400 ratings
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86 |
Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief
by
4.03 avg rating — 6,468 ratings
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87 |
The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better
by
4.13 avg rating — 7,095 ratings
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88 |
How to Win Friends & Influence People
by
4.22 avg rating — 1,120,483 ratings
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89 |
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
by
4.52 avg rating — 115,619 ratings
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90 |
The Abolition of Man
by
4.12 avg rating — 39,232 ratings
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91 |
Hopes and Prospects
by
4.04 avg rating — 1,738 ratings
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92 |
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
by
Susan Cain (Goodreads Author)
4.08 avg rating — 468,183 ratings
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93 |
Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution – and How It Can Renew America
by
3.71 avg rating — 13,913 ratings
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94 |
No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies
by
3.89 avg rating — 32,523 ratings
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95 |
The Decline of the West
by
4.06 avg rating — 2,188 ratings
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96 |
The Second Sex
by
4.18 avg rating — 46,291 ratings
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96 |
Sophie’s World
by
3.97 avg rating — 277,100 ratings
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98 |
Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life
by
3.88 avg rating — 7,008 ratings
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99 |
The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life
by
3.60 avg rating — 3,449 ratings
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100 |
Violence: Six Sideways Reflections
by
3.89 avg rating — 5,346 ratings
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art, culture, film, history, literary-fiction, music, philosophy, pop-culture, psychology, sociology, theology
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Charles
26053 books
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Tara
725 books
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Tyler Knowlton
432 books
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Jenny
321 books
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Janet
168 books
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Jacob
1972 books
41 friends
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Joe
663 books
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Steve
323 books
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Comments Showing 1-19 of 19 (19 new)
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So what would it look like for these top titles to actually shape the thinking of leaders?

You are welcome! How are you coming on the reading?


If for some reason you don't want to read European authors, just in the top 100: Jared Diamond, Naomi Klein, Viktor Frankl, Howard Zinn, Daniel Kahneman, Noam Chomsky, Steven Pinker, Sigmund Freud, Christopher Hitchens, Saul Alinsky, Yuval Noah Harari, Franz Kafka, Douglas Hofstadter, Carl Sagan, Thomas Kuhn, Jared Diamond, M. Scott Peck, Dan Ariely, David Graeber, Charles Murray, William Deresiewicz, Steven Levitt, Thomas Friedman, Jonathan Haidt, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Jonathan Safran Foer are Jewish (plus the Bible, obviously), Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Daron Acemoğlu, and Edward Said are also Near Eastern but not Jewish, Malcolm Gladwell, Paulo Freire, and Gustavo Gutierrez are Hispanic, Mohandas Gandhi is Indian, and Martin Luther King, Jr. is African.
It seems like much more of a Judeocentric than a Eurocentric list to me, but I agree that it's totally androcentric.
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~Charles