Over at IFLS they have posted a list of books that Neil deGrasse Tyson thinks everyone should read.
“The Bible“: “To learn that it’s easier to be told by others what to think and believe than it is to think for yourself.”
“The System of the World” by Isaac Newton: “To learn that the universe is a knowable place.”
“On the Origins of Species” by Charles Darwin: “To learn of our kinship with all other life on Earth.”
“Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift: “To learn, among other satirical lessons, that most of the time humans are Yahoos.”
“The Age of Reason” by Thomas Paine: “To learn how the power of rational thought is the primary source of freedom in the world.”
“The Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith: “To learn that capitalism is an economy of greed, a force of nature unto itself.”
“The Art of War” by Sun Tzu: “To learn that the act of killing fellow humans can be raised to an art.”
“The Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli: “To learn that people not in power will do all they can to acquire it, and people in power will do all they can to keep it.”
All based off a reddit post from 2011.
Followed by interesting titles by other scientist you may know and love:
Jane Goodall: “Animal Liberation” by Peter Singer
Michio Kaku: “The Foundation Trilogy” by Isaac Asimov
Oliver Sacks: “The Mind of a Mnemonist” by Aleksandr R. Luria
Steven Pinker: “1984” by George Orwell , “The Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins
Sean Carroll: “One, Two, Three…Infinity” by George Gamow
Steve Jones: “Farthest North” by Fridjtof Nansen
Jared Diamond: “Child of the Jungle” by Sabine Kuegler
Max Tegmark: “Permutation City” by Greg Egan
Adam Riess: “Contact” by Carl Sagan , “The Fountains of Paradise” by Arthur C. Clarke
Steven Strogatz: “The Andromeda Strain” by Michael Crichton
Ainissa Ramirez: “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia E. Butler
Sarah Blaffer Hrdy: “The Beak of the Finch” by Jonathan Weiner , “Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters” by Matt Ridley
Melvin Konner: “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers” by Robert M. Sapolsky , “Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain” by Anthony Damasio
Keith Thomson: “The Fly in the Cathedral” by Brian Cathcart
This is great! Since finishing “The Martian,” I’ve been looking for something else to pick up.
(Also, side note, going back and re-reading my former favorite parts of the Bible as a now-former evangelical is a very strange feeling and quite eye-opening, especially reading my old personal copy with all of my markups. For most of my science social circle, folks who didn’t grow up in this culture, I still think the first step to understanding the religious anti-science sentiment in the US is to give certain parts of the Bible a read-through, while keeping in mind that many people do actually 1000% whole-heartedly believe these words are literal.)
1) The Martian was AMAZING
2) Glad you liked the list! I agree whole heartedly I find reading the bible interesting, if only to understand where others are coming from.