30 books you should read by age 30
Stolen from some thing over here. I have been looking for more books to read, so why now? I just keep rereading the same ones over and over, and when I look at my unread shelf, it's full of depressing books.
- Siddhartha
by Hermann Hesse - A powerful story about the importance of life experiences as they relate to approaching an understanding of reality and attaining enlightenment. - 1984
by George Orwell - 1984 still holds chief significance nearly 60 years after it was written in 1949. It is widely acclaimed for its haunting vision of an all-knowing government which uses pervasive, 24/7 surveillance tactics to manipulate all citizens of the populace. Read in high school - To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee - The story surveys the controversial issues of race and economic class in the 1930’s Deep South via a court case of a black man charged with the rape and abuse of a young white girl. It’s a moving tale that delivers a profound message about fighting for justice and against prejudice. Read in high school - A Clockwork Orange
by Anthony Burgess - A nightmarish vision of insane youth culture that depicts heart wrenching insight into the life of a disturbed adolescent. This novel will blow you away… leaving you breathless, livid, thrilled, and concerned. Read at age 20 and again at 24 - For Whom the Bell Tolls
by Ernest Hemingway - A short, powerful contemplation on death, ideology and the incredible brutality of war. - War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy - This masterpiece is so enormous even Tolstoy said it couldn’t be described as a standard novel. The storyline takes place in Russian society during the Napoleonic Era, following the characters of Andrei, Pierre and Natasha… and the tragic and unanticipated way in which their lives interconnect. - The Rights of Man
by Tom Paine - Written during the era of the French Revolution, this book was one of the first to introduce the concept of human rights from the standpoint of democracy. - The Social Contract
by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - A famous quote from the book states that “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” This accurately summarizes the book’s prime position on the importance of individual human rights within society. - One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel García Márquez - This novel does not have a plot in the conventional sense, but instead uses various narratives to portray a clear message about the general importance of remembering our cultural history. Read in Utila. Rented it from the Funkytown Library and read it when I blew my sinus and couldn't dive - The Origin of Species
by Charles Darwin - Few books have had as significant an impact on the way society views the natural world and the genesis of humankind. Read in high school - The Wisdom of the Desert
by Thomas Merton - A collection of thoughts, meditations and reflections that give insight into what life is like to live simply and purely, dedicated to a greater power than ourselves. - The Tipping Point
by Malcolm Gladwell - Gladwell looks at how a small idea, or product concept, can spread like a virus and spark global sociological changes. Specifically, he analyzes “the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable.” (This was actually already on my wish list) - The Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Graham - Arguably one of the best children’s books ever written; this short novel will help you appreciate the simple pleasures in life. It’s most notable for its playful mixture of mysticism, adventure, morality, and camaraderie. - The Art of War
by Sun Tzu - One of the oldest books on military strategy in the world. It’s easily the most successful written work on the mechanics of general strategy and business tactics. - The Lord of the Rings
by J.R.R. Tolkien - One of the greatest fictional stories ever told, and by far one of the most popular and influential written works in 20th-century literature. Once you pick up the first book, you’ll read them all. - David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens - This is a tale that lingers on the topic of attaining and maintaining a disciplined heart as it relates to one’s emotional and moral life. Dickens states that we must learn to go against “the first mistaken impulse of the undisciplined heart.” - Four Quartets
by T.S. Eliot - Probably the wisest poetic prose of modern times. It was written during World War II, and is still entirely relevant today… here’s an excerpt: “The dove descending breaks the air/With flame of incandescent terror/Of which the tongues declare/The only discharge from sin and error/The only hope, or the despair/Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre-/To be redeemed from fire by fire./Who then devised this torment?/Love/Love is the unfamiliar Name/Behind the hands that wave/The intolerable shirt of flame/Which human power cannot remove./We only live, only suspire/Consumed by either fire or fire.” Reread in high school when I was obsessed with T.S., I should reread it - Catch-22
by Joseph Heller - This book coined the self-titled term “catch-22” that is widely used in modern-day dialogue. As for the story, its message is clear: What’s commonly held to be good, may be bad… what is sensible, is nonsense. Its one of the greatest literary works of the 20th century. Read it. - The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Set in the Jazz Age of the roaring 20’s, this book unravels a cautionary tale of the American dream. Specifically, the reader learns that a few good friends are far more important that a zillion acquaintances, and the drive created from the desire to have something is more valuable than actually having it. Read in a hammock on a tiny coral sand island 90 miles off the coast of Belize - The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger - This novel firmly stands as an icon for accurately representing the ups and downs of teen angst, defiance and rebellion. If nothing else, it serves as a reminder of the unpredictable teenage mindset. Required reading in high school and read again later, always liked it - Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - A smooth-flowing, captivating novel of a young man living in poverty who criminally succumbs to the desire for money, and the hefty phychological impact this has on him and the people closest to him. - The Prince
by Niccolo Machiavelli - This book does a great job at describing situations of power and statesmanship. From political and corporate power struggles to attaining advancement, influence and authority over others, Machiavelli’s observations apply. - Walden
by Henry David Thoreau - Thoreau spent two years, two months and two days writing this book in a secluded cabin near the banks of Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. This is a story about being truly free from the pressures of society. The book can speak for itself: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Read excerpts in high school, and fully in Costa Rica on a permaculture farm in the rain forest - The Republic
by Plato - A gripping and enduring work of philosophy on how life should be lived, justice should be served, and leaders should lead. It also gives the reader a fundamental understanding of western political theory. - Lolita
- This is the kind of book that blows your mind wide open to conflicting feelings of life, love and corruption… and at times makes you deeply question your own perceptions of each. The story is as devious as it is beautiful. - Getting Things Done
by David Allen - The quintessential guide to organizing your life and getting things done. Nuff said. - How To Win Friends and Influence People
by Dale Carnegie - This is the granddaddy of all self-improvement books. It is a comprehensive, easy to read guide for winning people over to your way of thinking in both business and personal relationships. - Lord of the Flies
by William Golding - A powerful and alarming look at the possibilities for savagery in a lawless environment, where compassionate human reasoning is replaced by anarchistic, animal instinct. Required reading in high school - The Grapes of Wrath
by John Steinbeck - Steinbeck’s deeply touching tale about the survival of displaced families desperately searching for work in a nation stuck by depression will never cease to be relevant. Read by choice in high school and several times as an adult - The Master and Margarita
by Mikhail Bulgakov - This anticommunist masterpiece is a multifaceted novel about the clash between good and evil. It dives head first into the topics of greed, corruption and deception as they relate to human nature.
