I’ve written about a few of the books I’ve read before in other posts but below I’ve compiled a list for you to browse. All sorts of books are included. The list is in no particular order.
***A note on reading: One thing I’ve enjoyed doing in several of the countries I’ve visited, but especially in my hometown of Winnipeg, is going to the library and picking out a few books to read right then and there. I don’t bother trying to check them out (I won’t be in town for long) but I’ll sit down for a few hours and go through whatever books I can. I do this especially for extensive reading rather than intensive reading. In other words, for broader, “I’m not sure what I’m looking for but I know the topic I’m interested in”, which, in my opinion, is better than sitting at a computer or on a phone and searching “best books to read about …” and then trying to find if you can order it. Save your money, go to the library, pick out a few books, and start reading. At least that’s my approach.
TRAVEL
The Art of Vagabonding – Rolf Potts
Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? – Thomas Kohnstamm
Travels – Marco Polo
Innocents Abroad – Mark Twain
The Great Railway Bazaar – Paul Theroux
Ghost Train to the Eastern Star – Paul Theroux
The Tao of Travel – Paul Theroux
Riding the Iron Rooster – Paul Theroux
Neither Here Nor There – Bill Bryson
A Short Walk in the Woods – Bill Bryson
Getting Stoned with Savages – J. Maarten Troost
The Sex Lives of Cannibals – J. Maarten Troost
Video Night in Kathmandu – Pico Iyer
Country Driving: A Chinese Road Trip – Peter Hessler
Lonely Planet guidebooks
MONEY & FINANCE
A Gift to My Children – Jim Rogers
Investment Biker – Jim Rogers
Adventure Capitalist – Jim Rogers
How To Make Money in Stocks – William J. O’Neal
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator – Edward Lefevre
How to Trade Stocks – Jesse Livermore
Options Made Easy – Guy Cohen
The Battle for Investment Survival – Gerald Loeb
The Ten Roads to Riches – Ken Fisher
Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki
How to be Rich – J.P. Getty
The Stock Traders Almanac – Jeffery Hirsch
Investor’s Guide – Brooke Thackray
Market Masters: Proven Investing Strategies You Can Apply – Robin R. Speziale
Make Sure It’s Deductible – Evelyn Jacks
Straight to Hell: True Tales of Deviance, Debauchery, and Billion-Dollar Deals – John LeFevre
The Wolf of Wall Street – Jordan Belfort
Cold, Hard, Truth – Kevin O’Leary
Cold, Hard Truth on Men, Women, & Money – Kevin O’Leary
Cold, Hard Truth on Family, Kids, & Money – Kevin O’Leary
FICTION
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles – Haruki Murakami
Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
Smoke and Mirrors (short stories) – Neil Gaiman
Neverwhere – Neil Gaiman
Night Shift (short stories)- Stephen King
The Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follett
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
Gates of Fire – Steven Pressfield
The White Tiger – Aravind Andiga
HISTORY
The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious History of Indians in North America – Thomas King
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act – Bob Joseph
The Gates of Europe – Sergiy Plokhy
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – Edward Gibbons
A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
A History of Greece – can’t remember the author’s name! It’s an old book.
SPQR – Mary Beard
The Penguin History of Modern China – Jonathan Fenby
Ancient Greek Music – M.L. West
Greek Musical Writings (2 vols.) – Andrew Barker
ANCIENT WRITERS
Histories – Herodotus
Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome) – Livy
The Bacchae – Euripides
Oedipus Rex – Aeschylus
Apologia – Plato
The Republic – Plato
Ars Poetica – Aristotle
De Bellicum Gallico – Caesar
The Peloponnesian War – Thucydides
Frogs – Aristophanes
NON-FICTION
Factory Girls – Leslie T. Chang
Gang of One – Fan Shen
Physics of the Future – Michio Kaku
Physics of the Impossible – Michio Kaku
The Future of Humanity – Michio Kaku
Guns, Germs, and Steel – Jared Diamond
On Writing – Stephen King
What I Think About When Running – Haruki Murakami
BUSINESS
The 4-Hour Work Week – Tim Ferriss
The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future – Chris Guillebeau
Elon Musk – Ashley Vance
Screw It, Let’s Do It – Richard Branson
Business Stripped Bare – Richard Branson
MOVIE-MAKING
Raindance Producer’s Lab Lo-to-No Budget Filmmaking Book – Elliot Grove
Raindance Writer’s Lab, 2nd Edition: Write + Sell the Hot Screenplay – Elliot Grove
Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting – Syd Field
From Reel to Deal: Everything You Need to Create a Successful Independent Film – Dov S-S Simens
Rebel Without a Crew – Robert Rodriguez
Making Movies – Sidney Lumet
Directing Actors – Judith Weston
Film Directing Shot by Shot – Steven D. Katz
Cinematography: Theory and Practice – Blain Brown
Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting – Robert McKee
Producing and Directing the Short Film and Video – Peter W. Rea
Acting for the Camera – Tony Barr
American Cinematographer (magazine)
Cinefex (magazine)
Creative Screenwriting (magazine)
Variety (trade paper)
MUSIC
Modern Drummer (magazine)
DRUM! (magazine)
Rhythm (magazine)
Stick Control for the Snare Drummer – George Lawrence Stone
Progressive Steps to Syncopation for the Modern Drummer – Ted Reed
The New Breed – Gary Chester
West African Rhythms for Drumset – Royal J. Hartigan
African Drumming (DVD) – Babatunde Olatunji
Anatomy of a Drum Solo (DVD) – Neil Peart
In Constant Motion (DVD) – Mike Portnoy
This is Your Brain on Music – Daniel J. Levitine
The Indie Band Bible – Mark Makoway