The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
Sogyal Rinpoche
A profound exploration of life, death, and the transitional states in between, drawing on the ancient wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism. This book offers practical guidance and spiritual insights for understanding the nature of mind, preparing for death, and finding meaning in both life and death.
Unmasking AI
Joy Buolamwini
In 'Unmasking AI,' Joy Buolamwini, a pioneering AI researcher and activist, recounts her journey from an MIT graduate student discovering algorithmic bias to a leading advocate for ethical AI. Through personal anecdotes, scientific exploration, and a call for algorithmic justice, Buolamwini exposes the 'coded gaze'—the embedded prejudices in AI systems—and reveals how these technologies can perpetuate discrimination, from facial recognition failures to harmful decision-making in critical sectors. This book is a powerful and urgent call to action, inviting readers to understand and reshape the future of AI to protect humanity.
The Man I Knew
Jean Becker
An intimate portrait of George H.W. Bush's life after the White House, revealing how he rebuilt his life, forged unexpected friendships, and continued to make a difference in the world. Discover the untold stories of his post-presidency journey filled with determination, courage, generosity, and a zest for life.
Tao Te Ching
Lao Tzu
This edition of Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching" presents a profound exploration of ancient Chinese philosophy, focusing on the core concepts of Tao (the Way) and Te (Integrity). Divided into two main sections, "Tao Ching" and "Te Ching", the text delves into the nature of existence, the ideal characteristics of a sage, and the principles of effective governance through non-action and humility. Readers will encounter recurring themes of presence and absence, the importance of aligning with natural processes, and the power of embodying the Way in personal conduct. Through 81 chapters, the "Tao Te Ching" offers guidance on understanding the world and one's place within it. This edition further enhances comprehension with a dedicated section on Key Terms, outlining Lao Tzu's central philosophical ideas such as Yu (Presence), Wu (Absence), Tzu-jan (Occurrence appearing of itself), and Wu-wei (Nothing's own doing). These definitions provide context and deeper insight into the text's complex concepts. The book also includes illustrations that reflect the themes and imagery discussed in the Introduction.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Richard P. Feynman
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" is an exuberant and iconic memoir that captures the life of Richard P. Feynman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and one of the most colorful minds of the 20th century. Transcribed from taped conversations with Ralph Leighton, this collection of anecdotes reveals a man whose insatiable curiosity extended far beyond the realm of theoretical physics. The book takes readers on a wild ride through Feynman’s eclectic life. We follow him from his childhood experiments fixing radios to his critical work on the atomic bomb at Los Alamos—where he amused himself by cracking top-secret safes. The narrative swings effortlessly between high science (debating with Einstein and Bohr) and eccentric hobbies, such as playing bongo drums for a ballet, learning to draw, and learning Portuguese to lecture in Brazil. Beneath the humor and pranks lies a profound message about intellectual honesty. Feynman rails against "Cargo Cult Science"—pseudo-intellectualism and pretension—and champions the pure joy of "finding things out." It is a celebration of looking at the world with a fresh, unpretentious eye and a reminder that science is an attitude of inquiry, not just a body of knowledge.
Bullshit Jobs
David Graeber
"Bullshit Jobs" is a provocative and sharply funny anthropological examination of the modern workplace, written by the late David Graeber, a prominent leader in the Occupy Wall Street movement. The book expands on his viral 2013 essay, investigating a curious economic paradox: In 1930, John Maynard Keynes predicted that technology would allow us to work fifteen-hour weeks. Instead, we are working more than ever, often in roles that seem to serve no purpose. Graeber defines a "bullshit job" as a form of paid employment that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence—though they must pretend otherwise. He classifies these jobs into five distinct taxonomies, including "Flunkies" (who exist only to make their superiors look important) and "Box Tickers" (who create the illusion that an organization is doing something). The book explores the profound psychological toll this takes on the human soul, describing it as "spiritual violence." Graeber argues that our society has developed an inverse relationship between the social value of work and its compensation—caregivers and teachers are paid the least, while those in "bullshit" corporate sectors are paid the most. It is a searing indictment of managerial capitalism and a call to rethink the very nature of labor.
The Hero With a Thousand Faces
Joseph Campbell
"The Hero With a Thousand Faces" is the seminal work on comparative mythology by Joseph Campbell, a book that forever changed how we understand storytelling and the human experience. Campbell’s central thesis is that despite vast differences in time, culture, and geography, all great human myths share a single, fundamental structure: the Monomyth. Campbell maps this universal narrative—known as the Hero's Journey—through three distinct stages: Separation, Initiation, and Return. The hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder, encounters fabulous forces (the "Road of Trials"), wins a decisive victory, and comes back with the power to bestow boons on their fellow man. Drawing heavily on the depth psychology of Carl Jung, Campbell interprets these myths not merely as adventure stories, but as metaphors for the psychological journey toward self-actualization. Famous for inspiring George Lucas to create Star Wars, this book is a vital guide for writers, artists, and anyone seeking to understand the spiritual potential of their own life. It leaves readers with Campbell's most enduring advice: "Follow your bliss."
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Jared Diamond
"Guns, Germs, and Steel" is a Pulitzer Prize-winning transdisciplinary work by geographer and physiologist Jared Diamond. It dismantles racist theories of history to answer a deceptively simple question posed to the author by a politician in New Guinea: “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?” Diamond’s answer lies not in biology, but in geography. He argues that Eurasian civilizations conquered the world because they were the lucky beneficiaries of the best environment. They had access to the most domesticatable plants (wheat, barley) and animals (cows, pigs, horses), which allowed for food surpluses. This density enabled the rise of specialized classes—soldiers to wield steel weapons and bureaucrats to organize empires. Crucially, close proximity to livestock bred lethal germs (like smallpox and measles) within Eurasian populations, giving them immunity while wiping out indigenous peoples who had never encountered them. Diamond also highlights the East-West axis of Eurasia, which allowed these crops and technologies to spread rapidly across similar climates, unlike the North-South orientation of the Americas and Africa. It is a unified history of the last 13,000 years, arguing that history followed different courses for different peoples because of differences in their environments, not their biology.