71–76 of 76 posts
I'll also say Ishmael by Daniel Quinn and The Story of B are two of my favourite books.
John Cowper Powys may help you to plan a great journey :
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12914/pg12914.html
(Despite a few bizarre choices. Paul Bourget, seriously ?)
If I had to choose myself : Homer (The Iliad and the Odyssey), the Bible (David's psalms and Job's book), Augustine, Dante, Saint Simon, Shakespeare, Rousseau, Dostoievsky, Proust, Céline.
Aparté :
If you like ambitious history with economic insights, I would strongly suggest to read Fernand Braudel works. He wrote three fantastic triptychs :
- The Mediterranean: And the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II (his thesis)
- Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century (the best history books I've ever read)
- The Identity of France
I would also throw out there Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford, as something to inspire makers & engineers without being a technical book. If you like history, David McCullough's biography John Adams is a masterpiece (also see 1776 by the same author).
I can't think of anything else that hasn't already been mentioned.
* Trainspotting,
* Fight Club
* Anything by Carl Sagan, specially Contact
* Lord of the Rings
* The Hobbit
* And finally:
Anything by Michael Ende:
The Neverending Story,
Momo (one of my faves).