books I reviewed or recommend to read

non-fiction books are a source of wisdom that fills my intellectual well whenever there is such a drought surrounding me. reading a book requires in particular in our quick paced times a commitment in time and effort, and as for myself, I would rather watch entertaining TV series or smart commercials than bore myself with a mediocre book. this is a list of works that I dearly recommend to read, because the time investment pays off. I felt that reading these books helped me grow.

fiction books on the other hand are to me like a companionship of friends in mind, in times when there are no like minded friends available. Although they require a similar deal of commitment in time and effort, they supply not my mind, but my heart with the sense of being in good company. remember that indescribable feeling when a long novel like Dostoyevskys's Idiot or Irving's Garp comes to an end and the entire story settles as a closed chapter in your memory? It makes me feel sad like the last day of great journey with a good friend across the glaciers of Iceland, the desert of Oman or the mountain ranges of Tibet. But I know that that memory will nurture my soul for the rest of my days.

reviews

Seneca recommended focusing on a limited number of good books, to be read thoroughly and repeatedly. Too much information could be harmful to your mental health. The books I reviewed over the years felt like they contain knowledge or even wisdom which requires deep reading and a substantial confrontation with the author's arguments.

recommendations non-fiction

economics
psychology
anthropology
history
  • David S. Landes: The Wealth and Poverty of Nations - Why Are Some Nations So Poor And Some So Rich
  • Niall Ferguson: Empire
  • Niall Ferguson: Colossus
  • Niall Ferguson: Civilization
  • Stefan Zweig: Die Welt von Gestern [the ultimate autobiographical account on the poisoning power of nationalism in Europe before during and in between WWI and WWII]
  • Yuval N. Harari: Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind

personal development
  • Julia Cameron: The Artist’s Way
  • Daniel S. Sharma: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
  • Eckart Tolle: Now!
  • Eckart Tolle: A New Earth
  • Brigitte Fabian: Kraft durch innere Reinigung
  • The Princeton Language Institute: 10 Days to Faster Reading
  • Shakti Gawain: Creative Visualization
  • Joseph Murphy: The Power of Your Subconscious Mind [explaining the foundations of visualization]
  • Lin Yutang: The Importance of Living
  • Tan Chade-Meng: Search Inside Yourself [personal develompent boiled down to scientific instruction based on neuroscience and Buddhist meditation]

sociology
  • Pierre Bourdieu: Gegenfeuer
  • Erich Fromm: The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness

religion
philosophy
  • Richard Precht: Wer bin ich und wenn ja wie viele?
  • Jostein Gaardner: Sofies Welt
  • Jostein Gaardner: Maya

general sciences
biographies
  • Charles Darwin: Autobiographies [a great portrait of a scientific mind; inspires to admit one's own ignorance and stimulates to follow one's curiousity]
  • Barak Obama: Dreams from my Father
  • Jung Chang and Jon Halliday: Mao - The Unknown Story [compelling psychogram of an visonary leader turned tyrant]
  • Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson [must read about one of the most transformative tech gurus of the 20th/21st century]

china - check out my china blog for more china recommendations
  • Lin Yutang: My Country and my People [the single most important book to understand the Chinese heart, mind and soul]
  • Patricia Buckley Ebrey: The Cambridge Illustrated History of China
  • James Kynge: China shakes the World
  • Carl Crow: 400 Million Customers
  • James McGregor: 1 Billion Customers
  • Ma Jian: Red Dust
  • Adeline Yan Mah: Watching the Tree to Catch a Hare
  • Adeline Yan Mah: Thousand Pieces of Gold
  • Kai Strittmatter: Gebrauchsanweisung für China
  • Zhang Rong: Wild Swans

travel preparation
  • Orhan Pamuk: Istanbul [poetic guide to the great city at the Bosphoros]
  • David Pilling: Bending Adversity [ultimate introduction to Japan]


recommendations fiction

Drama
  • John Irving: Owen Meany
  • John Iring: The World According to GARP
  • Arno Schmidt: Das steinerne Herz
  • John Irving: A Widow for a Year
  • Thomas Bernhard: Auslöschung
  • Franz Kafka: Das Schloss
  • Franz Kafka: Die Verwandlung
  • Franz Kafka: Der Prozess
  • Robert Musil: Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless
  • Robert Musil: Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (1.Band)
  • Heinrich Böll: Ansichten eines Clowns
  • Bret Easton Eills: American Psycho

Thriller
  • John Grisham: The Firm
  • Mary Higgins Clark: All Around the Town
  • George Orwell: Nineteen Eighty-four
  • John Grisham: The Pelican Brief

Spiritual
  • Paulo Coelho: The Alchemist
  • Paulo Coelho: The Walkyries
  • Hermann Hesse: Siddharta
  • Hermann Hesse: Demian
  • Hermann Hesse: Narziß und Goldmund
  • Hermann Hesse: Der Steppenwolf
  • Marlo Morgan: Traumfänger
  • Noah Gordon: Der Medicus
  • Noah Gordon: Der Schamane

Emotional
  • Neil Williams: Four Letters of Love
  • Siri Hustvedt: What I Loved

Non of the above, but nevertheless entertaining and enthralling
  • Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
  • Michael Ende: Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer
  • Douglas Coupland: Generation X