There’s
nothing better for killing time in a constructive way than reading a good
book. Books expand our horizons, fill us
up with knowledge, make us laugh and cry and sharp our minds.
Here are 10
must-read books of different genres for people whose tastes are eclectic – have
fun on your journey!
As a
disclaimer, the websites chosen for describing the books are merely
illustrative, and I do not endorse, nor am I affiliated with any party.
1 - When
We Were Gods – Falconer, Colin
Cleopatra
VII of Egypt
Colin Falconer
was born in North
London . He is a former journalist and the author of
three previous historical novels, which have been published in many languages
throughout the world. He travels widely
to research his novels but now lives in a small coastal town in Western Australia
The Bourne Identity was named the second best spy novel
of all-time, and the novel was adapted into a 1988 television
movie starring Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith,
and a 2002 movie starring Matt Damon, Franka
Potente and Chris Cooper.
Robert
Ludlum (May 25, 1927 – March 12, 2001) was
an American author of 23 thriller novels. The number of his books in print is estimated
between 290–500 million copies. They have been published in 33 languages
and 40 countries. Ludlum also published
books under the pseudonyms Jonathan Ryder and Michael Shepherd.
3 – East
of Eden – Steinbeck, John
The masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years, East of
Eden is set in the rich farmlands of California's Salinas Valley. Follow the intertwined destinies of two
families – the Trasks and the Hamiltons – whose generations helplessly reenact
the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. (February 27, 1902 – December
20, 1968) was an American writer. He is
widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The
Grapes of Wrath (1939)
and East
of Eden (1952)
and the novella Of Mice and Men (1937). He was an author of twenty-seven books,
including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and five collections of short
stories; Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.
4 – The
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Larsson, Stieg
Larsson's regret of not helping a young girl named Lisbeth,
whom he saw being raped when he was 15, manifested in his character of the same
name, also a rape victim. Larsson writes
within the crime novel, in Chapter 12, "It's actually a fascinating case. What I believe is known as
a locked room mystery, on an island. And nothing in the
investigation seems to follow normal logic. Every question remains unanswered,
every clue leads to a dead end."
Karl
Stig-Erland "Stieg" (15 August 1954 – 9 November
2004 ) was
a Swedish journalist and writer. He is best known
for writing the "Millennium series" of crime novels,
which were published posthumously.
Larsson lived and worked much of his life in Stockholm, in the
field of journalism and as an independent researcher of right-wing extremism. He was the second best-selling author in the
world for 2008.
5 – Sophie’s
World – Gaarder, Jostein
Sophie's World is a novel about philosophy
by Jostein Gaarder, published in 1991. It was originally written in Norwegian, but has since been translated
into English (1995) and many other languages. It sold more than 30 million copies and is one
of the most successful Norwegian novels outside of Norway
Jostein Gaarder is a
Norwegian intellectual and author of several novels, short
stories and children's books. Gaarder often writes from the perspective of
children, exploring their sense of wonder about the world.
6 – Insomnia
– King, Stephen
Old Ralph Roberts hasn't been sleeping well lately. Every
night he wakes just a little bit earlier, and pretty soon, he thinks, he won't
get any sleep at all. It wouldn't be so bad, except for the strange
hallucinations he's been having. Or, at least, he hopes they are hallucinations.
For fans of horror books, this one is a masterpiece.
Stephen Edwin King (born September
21, 1947 )
is an American author of
contemporary horror, suspense, science
fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350
million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television
movies and comic books. Many of his
stories are set in his home state of Maine.
7 – The
Universe in a Nutshell – Hawking, Stephen
If you are
an inquisitive person, that’s a must-read.
Hawking exceeds his teaching abilities in this book, where he explains
with mastery very difficult concepts of theoretical physics to normal-brained
people.
Stephen William Hawking (born January 8,
1942 ) is a
British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author. His key
scientific works to date have included providing, with Roger
Penrose, theorems regarding gravitational singularities in
the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction
that black holes should emit radiation, which is today known
as Hawking radiation (or sometimes as Bekenstein-Hawking
radiation). He is an Honorary
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a lifetime member of the Pontifical
Academy of Sciences, and in 2009 was awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States University of Cambridge
8 – A
Short History of Nearly Everything – Bryson, Bill
Bryson, who’s
best known for his travel writing (the both amazing A Walk in the woods
and Neither
Here, Nor There), entertain and enlighten us through this, sometimes funny,
but surely captivating, popular science book; a highly recommendable good read
that will sure give you smiles.
William McGuire "Bill"
Bryson, (born December
8, 1951 ) is
a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on
the English language and on science. Born
an American, he was a resident of Britain for most of his adult life before
returning to the US in 1995. In 2003
Bryson moved back to Britain, living in the old rectory of Wramplingham,
Norfolk, and was appointed Chancellor of Durham University.
This
thriller is set in Washington , D.C.
Dan Brown (born June
22, 1964 )
is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for the 2003
bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. Brown's novels, which are treasure hunts set
in a 24-hour time period, feature the recurring themes of cryptography,
keys, symbols, codes, and conspiracy theories. His books have been translated into over 40
languages, and as of 2009, sold over 80 million copies. Two of them, The Da Vinci
Code and Angels & Demons, have been adapted into feature films.
10 – The
Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology – Kurzweil, Ray
In the
future of Ray Kuzweil’s prediction, technology will play a role in our lives
much more important than we think: it will enable us to reverse aging, boost
our cerebral power and fix DNA errors.
The next step in our evolutionary process will be the union of human and
machine in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be
combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing ability
of our creations.
Raymond "Ray" Kurzweil (born February
12, 1948 )
is an American author, scientist, inventor and futurist. Aside
from futurology, he is involved in fields such as optical character
recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology,
and electronic keyboard instruments. He is the author of several books on
health, artificial intelligence (AI), transhumanism, technological
singularity, and futurism.
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