Books Recommended by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Which books should be read by every single intelligent person on planet? [...] The Art of War (Sun Tsu) [to learn that the act of killing fellow humans can be raised to an art]. If you read all of the above works you will glean profound insight into most of what has driven the history of the western world.

Delighted to learn that, in spite of the violence duly reported in this world, over the centuries we have actually become a kinder and gentler species.

Which books should be read by every single intelligent person on planet? [...] The Wealth of Nations (Smith) [to learn that capitalism is an economy of greed, a force of nature unto itself]. If you read all of the above works you will glean profound insight into most of what has driven the history of the western world.

One, Two, Three, Infinity by George Gamow. Highly influential on my joy of learning math and science.

Richard Dawkins is one of my intellectual heroes. Why wouldn’t I want to know his origin story?

Edwin Abbott’s Flatland (1884). Read it in middle school. It’s an entertaining journey into higher-dimensional thinking, in which creatures who live only in two dimensions get a glimpse of those who live in three dimensions, and how it basically freaks them out.

Which books should be read by every single intelligent person on planet? [...] Gulliver's Travels (Swift) [to learn, among other satirical lessons, that most of the time humans are Yahoos]. If you read all of the above works you will glean profound insight into most of what has driven the history of the western world.

Which books should be read by every single intelligent person on planet? [...] On the Origin of Species (Darwin) [to learn of our kinship with all other life on Earth]. If you read all of the above works you will glean profound insight into most of what has driven the history of the western world.

Which books should be read by every single intelligent person on planet? [...] The Age of Reason (Paine) [to learn how the power of rational thought is the primary source of freedom in the world]. If you read all of the above works you will glean profound insight into most of what has driven the history of the western world.

Always good to read up on the cultural influences of scientists whose work I’ve only known from their research publications.

if I were to recommend a book that everyone in modern society should read, it’s Stephen Jay Gould’s The Mismeasure of Man (1981).

Which books should be read by every single intelligent person on planet? [...] The System of the World (Newton) [to learn that the universe is a knowable place]. If you read all of the above works you will glean profound insight into most of what has driven the history of the western world.