[montgomery_r]

For the value of ‘best’ that includes (a) had a deep and long lasting impact on how I think about the world and (b) I consider beautiful pieces of writing in their own right, here are some in no particular order: The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman Naming and Necessity, Saul Kripke Tractatus LogicoPhilosophicus, Ludwig Wittgenstein (These you might want to approach via a gentle introduction if you did not study Philosophy to degree level) The Rediscovery of the Mind, John R Searle Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler The Glass Bead Game, Hermann Hesse A Handful of Dust, Evelyn Waugh Diaries, Samuel Pepys Falling Off the Map, Pico Iyer A Time of Gifts, Patrick Leigh Fermor The Lonely Sea and the Sky, Francis Chichester The Way We Live Now, Anthony Trollope Bevis, Richard Jeffries The Diary of a Nobody, George and Weedon GrossSmith The Inimitable Jeeves, PG Wodehouse

Hitch-22, essaysChristopher Hitchens Collected Essays, William Hazlitt Venice, Martin Gayford

The Ascent of Man, Jacob Bronowski The Fabric of Reality, David Deutsch

Too obvious a list, perhaps, but some gems for all that! Happy reading.

[montgomery_r]

Aargh, Formatting! Try 2 :

For the value of ‘best’ that includes

(a) had a deep and long lasting impact on how I think about the world and

(b) I consider beautiful pieces of writing in their own right,

here are some in no particular order:

The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins

Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman

Naming and Necessity, Saul Kripke

Tractatus LogicoPhilosophicus, Ludwig Wittgenstein

(These you might want to approach via a gentle introduction if you did not study Philosophy to degree level)

The Rediscovery of the Mind, John R Searle

Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler

The Glass Bead Game, Hermann Hesse

A Handful of Dust, Evelyn Waugh

Diaries, Samuel Pepys

Falling Off the Map, Pico Iyer

A Time of Gifts, Patrick Leigh Fermor

The Lonely Sea and the Sky, Francis Chichester

The Way We Live Now, Anthony Trollope

Bevis, Richard Jeffries

The Diary of a Nobody, George and Weedon GrossSmith

The Inimitable Jeeves, PG Wodehouse

Hitch-22, essays, Christopher Hitchens

Collected Essays, William Hazlitt

Venice, Martin Gayford

The Ascent of Man, Jacob Bronowski

The Fabric of Reality, David Deutsch

Too obvious a list, perhaps, but some gems for all that! Happy reading.

[dcminter]

I remember reading The Selfish Gene as a teenager and being struck by how it made evolution seem almost obvious.

Wodehouse is an embarrassment of riches of course.

Good recommendations!

[montgomery_r]

Thanks! Wodehouse is one of those writers who almost never produces a bad sentence. An astonishing talent.