This post was first posted on the Scisnack website on December 2023 as The Scisnack Ultimate Book List to Understand the World.
We asked Scisnackers to tell us which book they would read in order to understand the world. Here is what they told us.
1. A brief history of time by Stephen Hawking
Suggested by Andrew Seidl
A landmark volume in science writing by one of the great minds of our time, Stephen Hawking’s book explores such profound questions as: How did the universe begin—and what made its start possible? Does time always flow forward? Is the universe unending—or are there boundaries? Are there other dimensions in space? What will happen when it all ends?
2. The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow
Suggested by Karen O’Toole
A dramatically new understanding of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution—from the development of agriculture and cities to the origins of the state, democracy, and inequality—and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.
3. The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
Suggested by Johannes Lutzmann
Drawing on groundbreaking new discoveries, Wohlleben presents the science behind the secret and previously unknown life of trees and their communication abilities; he describes how these discoveries have informed his own practices in the forest around him.
4. Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun
Suggested by Elena Vallianatou
A grand, sweeping saga of sacrifice and struggle, this epic tale recaptures the world of Norwegian homesteaders at the turn of the 20th century.
5. Industry and Empire: The Birth of the Industrial Revolution by Eric J. Hobsbawm
Suggested by Vana Orfanou
It is impossible to understand the world around us today without understanding the industrial revolution.
In his book E. J. Hobsbawm described and accounts for Britain’s rise as the world’s first industrial power, its decline from its temporary dominance, its rather special relationship with the rest of the world, and some of the effects of all of these on the life of the people of the country.
6. The Source by James A. Michener
Suggested by Sam Reiter
Through the predecessors of four modern men and women, we experience the entire colorful history of the Jews, including the life of the early Hebrews and their persecutions, the impact of Christianity, the Crusades, and the Spanish Inquisition, all the way to the founding of present-day Israel and the Middle-East conflict.
7. Invisible Women by Caloline Criado Perez
Suggested by Fiona Walker-Friedrichs
Caroline Criado Perez investigates the shocking root cause of gender inequality and research in Invisible Women, diving into women’s lives at home, the workplace, the public square, the doctor’s office, and more.
8. Guns, Gems and Steel; The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
Suggested by Anastasia Thamnopoulou
A global account of the rise of civilization that is also a stunning refutation of ideas of human development based on race.
9. If this is a man by Primo Levi
Suggested by Vana Orfanou
Levi’s Holocaust memoirs of his Auschwitz incarceration has become a classic. Levi uses the confessional memoir’s deliberate inconclusiveness to shift among memory, expectation, and unfinished business by shaping containers suited to his public subject and private needs (after Alex Zwerdling).
10. Lord of the Rings (trilogy) by JRR Tolkien
Suggested by Elena Parolovo
The Lord of the Rings is considered one of the greatest fantasy books ever written, and it has helped to create and shape the modern fantasy genre. The Lord of the Rings has had a profound and wide-ranging impact on popular culture. In 2015, the BBC ranked The Lord of the Rings 26th on its list of the 100 greatest British novels (after Wikipedia).
11. Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life by Albert-László Barabási
Suggested by Sam Reiter
Albert-László Barabási takes us on an intellectual adventure to prove that social networks, corporations, and living organisms are more similar than previously thought.
Book descriptions are from Goodreads, unless otherwise stated.