Maciamo's book selection

[Maciamo]

I am interested in nearly all the domain of human knowledge. That makes a generalist rather than a specialist, which is also the nature of the philosopher always craving to understand better the world around us.

There is too much information out there to waste time reading uninteresting or badly written books. I have selected here the works which I think are the best at summarising the knowledge in their field while being well written enough to be comprehensible and enjoyable for lay people. I have intentionally left out books that were too heavy or too technical.

History of Philosophy

Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder


History of the Universe, Earth, Life and Sciences

A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson


History of Society, Lifestyle and Technologies

At Home: A short history of private life, by Bill Bryson


Neurology & Psychology

The Human Mind: And How to Make the Most of It, by Robert Winston


Gender Psychology

Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps, by Allan & Barbara Pease


Population History & Anthropology

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, by Jared Diamond


Genetics & Evolution

The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution, by Gregory Cochran & Henry Harpending


Genetics & Biology

Genome, by Matt Ridley


Linguistics

The Story of English, by Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil & William Cran


Language history

Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World, by Nicholas Ostler



Economics & History

Seeds of Change : Six plants that transformed mankind, by Henry Hobhouse



Evolutionary Biology & Genetics

The Ancestor's Tale, by Richard Dawkins

[Maciamo]

Other great books but requiring a bit more knowledge in the field to be properly enjoyed :

Evolutionary Genetics

The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins


Human Genetics

The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture , by Matt Ridley

[Maciamo]

Here are something travelogues, which I enjoy for their writing style and the writer's personal insight into the hidden facets of the countries visited.

I am a big fan of Bill Bryson. I have read almost all his books now. Here are my three favourite ones (besides A Short History of Everything), respectively about the USA, England and Australia :

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America


Notes from a Small Island


Down Under


Jan Morris is also a favourite travel writer :

A Writer's World: Travels 1950-2000



About Japan

The Roads to Sata: A 2000-mile Walk Through Japan, by Alan Booth


Looking for the Lost: Journeys Through a Vanishing Japan, by Alan Booth


Lost Japan, by Alex Kerr

[Maciamo]

Anyone interested in the Indo-Europeans and the migrations that took place in Europe during the Neolithic and Bronze Age should read these books :


The Horse, The Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World , by David W. Anthony


(Let me say that I disagree a bit with chapter 14 though. Anthony doesn't think that a massive invasion of IE steppe people took place toward the Corded-Ware culture. I do because nothing else would explain the strong presence of R1a exactly within the boundaries of the Corded-Ware culture. The problem is that Anthony never mentions once Y-DNA studies, even though his book is from 2007.)

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The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley, 5000-3500 BC, by David W. Anthony


This is a big-format, hard-cover book printed on glossy paper and contain a lot of colour pictures (archaeological remains) and maps. It deals with the Neolithic period in south-east Europe.

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Encyclopedia of Prehistory: Europe (volume 4)


This is the most complete and detailed work on European prehistory with which I am familiar. It is among the very best, but is quite expensive.

[Maciamo]

A few books about Atheism, and especially the New Atheism movement based on modern science (genetics, evolutionary biology, neuroscience and so on).

The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins


Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Non-Believer, by Christopher Hitchens


God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, by Christopher Hitchens


New Atheism, by Victor J. Stenger


God the Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist, by Victor J. Stenger


Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, by Daniel D. Dennett


The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, by Sam Harris


Letter To A Christian Nation, by Sam Harris


Why I am Not a Christian: And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects, by Bertrand Russell