Browse Books
The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Genre: Fiction
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Scribner
Year: 1925
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $10.99
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 3 hours
Awards: Pulitzer Prize Finalist
A story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for Daisy.
Cultural Notes: Reflects the Jazz Age and American social stratification.
1984
by George Orwell
Genre: Dystopian
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: Secker & Warburg
Year: 1949
Format: eBook
Audience: Adult
Price: $8.99
Rating: 4.8/5
Reading Time: 5 hours
Awards: Prometheus Hall of Fame
A chilling tale of surveillance and totalitarianism.
Cultural Notes: Critiques post-WWII political ideologies in the UK.
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
Genre: Romance
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Year: 1813
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Young Adult
Price: $14.99
Rating: 4.3/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
A classic romance novel about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy.
Cultural Notes: Explores gender and class in 19th-century England.
Dune
by Frank Herbert
Genre: Science Fiction
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Ace Books
Year: 1965
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Series: Dune Series
Price: $19.99
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 14 hours
Awards: Hugo Award, Nebula Award
A saga of politics and power on the desert planet Arrakis.
Cultural Notes: Inspired by Middle Eastern and ecological themes.
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
Genre: Fiction
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: J.B. Lippincott & Co.
Year: 1960
Format: Paperback
Audience: Young Adult
Price: $12.99
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 4 hours
Awards: Pulitzer Prize
A story of racial injustice and the loss of innocence in a small Southern town.
Cultural Notes: Addresses racial tensions in the American South.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel García Márquez
Genre: Magical Realism
Language: Spanish
Country: Colombia
Publisher: Harper & Row
Year: 1967
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $15.99
Rating: 4.9/5
Reading Time: 6 hours
Awards: Nobel Prize in Literature (author)
The multi-generational story of the Buendía family in the fictional town of Macondo.
Cultural Notes: Embodies Latin American magical realism and Colombian history.
The Hobbit
by J.R.R. Tolkien
Genre: Fantasy
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Year: 1937
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Young Adult
Series: Middle-earth
Price: $18.99
Rating: 4.8/5
Reading Time: 6 hours
Awards: International Fantasy Award
A hobbit's adventure to win a share of a dragon's treasure.
Cultural Notes: Foundational work of high fantasy literature.
The Catcher in the Rye
by J.D. Salinger
Genre: Literary Fiction
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Year: 1951
Format: Paperback
Audience: Young Adult
Price: $9.99
Rating: 4.0/5
Reading Time: 4 hours
A teenager's coming-of-age story in New York City.
Cultural Notes: Iconic representation of teenage angst in post-WWII America.
The Alchemist
by Paulo Coelho
Genre: Philosophical Fiction
Language: Portuguese
Country: Brazil
Publisher: HarperOne
Year: 1988
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $11.99
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 3 hours
Awards: Guinness World Record for most translated book by a living author
A shepherd's journey to find worldly treasure turns into a discovery of riches within.
Cultural Notes: Blends Western and Eastern philosophical traditions.
Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Genre: Psychological Fiction
Language: Russian
Country: Russia
Publisher: The Russian Messenger
Year: 1866
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $12.95
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 8 hours
A former student's descent into guilt after committing murder.
Cultural Notes: Examines 19th-century Russian society and morality.
The Lord of the Rings
by J.R.R. Tolkien
Genre: Fantasy
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Year: 1954
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Series: Middle-earth
Price: $29.99
Rating: 4.9/5
Reading Time: 20 hours
Awards: International Fantasy Award
An epic quest to destroy a powerful ring and defeat the Dark Lord Sauron.
Cultural Notes: Defined modern high fantasy genre.
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
Genre: Historical Fiction
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Year: 2003
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $14.00
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 5 hours
A story of friendship, betrayal, and redemption in Afghanistan.
Cultural Notes: Provides insight into Afghan culture and history.
Moby-Dick
by Herman Melville
Genre: Adventure Fiction
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Harper & Brothers
Year: 1851
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $10.95
Rating: 4.2/5
Reading Time: 10 hours
A sea captain's obsessive quest for revenge against a white whale.
Cultural Notes: Reflects 19th-century American whaling industry.
The Little Prince
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Genre: Children's Literature
Language: French
Country: France
Publisher: Reynal & Hitchcock
Year: 1943
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Children
Price: $12.50
Rating: 4.8/5
Reading Time: 1 hour
A philosophical tale about a pilot who meets a young prince from another planet.
Cultural Notes: Beloved French children's classic with philosophical depth.
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The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood
Genre: Dystopian
Language: English
Country: Canada
Publisher: McClelland and Stewart
Year: 1985
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $13.95
Rating: 4.4/5
Reading Time: 5 hours
Awards: Governor General's Award, Arthur C. Clarke Award
A woman's struggle in a totalitarian society where women are subjugated.
Cultural Notes: Critiques patriarchal structures and religious extremism.
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
Genre: Historical Fiction
Language: English
Country: Australia
Publisher: Picador
Year: 2005
Format: Paperback
Audience: Young Adult
Price: $12.99
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
Awards: Michael L. Printz Honor
A young girl's life in Nazi Germany, narrated by Death.
Cultural Notes: Australian perspective on WWII Germany.
The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Doubleday
Year: 2003
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Series: Robert Langdon
Price: $9.99
Rating: 4.0/5
Reading Time: 6 hours
A symbologist and cryptologist solve a murder mystery involving a religious conspiracy.
Cultural Notes: Controversial for its religious interpretations.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson
Genre: Crime Fiction
Language: Swedish
Country: Sweden
Publisher: Norstedts Förlag
Year: 2005
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Series: Millennium
Price: $14.95
Rating: 4.3/5
Reading Time: 5 hours
Awards: Glass Key Award
A journalist and hacker investigate a wealthy family's dark secrets.
Cultural Notes: Swedish crime fiction with feminist themes.
The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins
Genre: Dystopian
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2008
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Young Adult
Series: The Hunger Games
Price: $17.99
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 5 hours
A dystopian story of survival in a televised battle to the death.
Cultural Notes: Critiques media spectacle and authoritarianism.
The Road
by Cormac McCarthy
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Year: 2006
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $10.99
Rating: 4.2/5
Reading Time: 4 hours
Awards: Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
A father and son journey through a post-apocalyptic America.
Cultural Notes: Bleak vision of post-collapse America.
The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss
Genre: Fantasy
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: DAW Books
Year: 2007
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Series: The Kingkiller Chronicle
Price: $19.99
Rating: 4.8/5
Reading Time: 10 hours
Awards: Quill Award
The story of Kvothe, an adventurer and musician with a legendary reputation.
Cultural Notes: Modern fantasy with intricate world-building.
Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
Genre: Dystopian
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: Chatto & Windus
Year: 1932
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $9.99
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 4 hours
A futuristic society where happiness is mandated and freedom is sacrificed for stability.
Cultural Notes: Critique of consumerism and mass production culture.
The Martian
by Andy Weir
Genre: Science Fiction
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Crown
Year: 2011
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $12.99
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 5 hours
An astronaut stranded on Mars uses his ingenuity to survive.
Cultural Notes: Celebrates scientific problem-solving and human ingenuity.
Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Year: 2012
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $16.00
Rating: 4.2/5
Reading Time: 6 hours
A woman disappears on her fifth wedding anniversary, and her husband becomes the prime suspect.
Cultural Notes: Examines media sensationalism and marital dynamics.
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari
Genre: History
Language: English
Country: Israel
Publisher: Harper
Year: 2011
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $22.99
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
Awards: National Library of China's Wenjin Book Award
Explores the history of humankind from the evolution of archaic human species in the Stone Age up to the twenty-first century.
Cultural Notes: Provides a global perspective on human development.
The Art of War
by Sun Tzu
Genre: Military Strategy
Language: Chinese
Country: China
Publisher: Various
Year: -500
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $8.99
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 3 hours
An ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period.
Cultural Notes: Influential in both Eastern and Western military thinking.
The Joy of Cooking
by Irma S. Rombauer
Genre: Cookbook
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Scribner
Year: 1931
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $35.00
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: Reference
Awards: James Beard Foundation Hall of Fame
One of the most comprehensive cookbooks ever published with over 4,500 recipes.
Cultural Notes: Reflects American home cooking traditions.
The Elements of Style
by William Strunk Jr. & E.B. White
Genre: Writing Guide
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Pearson
Year: 1918
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $9.99
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 2 hours
American English writing style guide with recommendations for improving writing.
Cultural Notes: Standard reference for American English style.
The Origin of Species
by Charles Darwin
Genre: Science
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: John Murray
Year: 1859
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $12.99
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 8 hours
Foundational work of evolutionary biology introducing the scientific theory of natural selection.
Cultural Notes: Revolutionized biological science and remains controversial in some circles.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
by William Shakespeare
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Country: England
Publisher: Modern Library
Year: 1623
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $29.99
Rating: 4.8/5
Reading Time: Extensive
Collection of all 39 plays, 154 sonnets, and other poems by the English playwright.
Cultural Notes: Cornerstone of English literature.
A Brief History of Time
by Stephen Hawking
Genre: Popular Science
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: Bantam Books
Year: 1988
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $14.99
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 4 hours
Explores fundamental questions about the universe including the Big Bang, black holes, and relativity.
Cultural Notes: Made complex scientific concepts accessible to general readers.
The Quran
by Various Authors
Genre: Religious Text
Language: Arabic
Country: Saudi Arabia
Publisher: Various
Year: 632
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $24.99
Rating: 4.9/5
Reading Time: Varies
Central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God.
Cultural Notes: Sacred text for over 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide.
The Bhagavad Gita
by Vyasa
Genre: Religious Text
Language: Sanskrit
Country: India
Publisher: Various
Year: -200
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $12.95
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 3 hours
700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the epic Mahabharata, focusing on duty and devotion.
Cultural Notes: Foundational text of Hindu philosophy and spirituality.
The Tao Te Ching
by Lao Tzu
Genre: Philosophy
Language: Chinese
Country: China
Publisher: Various
Year: -400
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $9.99
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 2 hours
Chinese classic text fundamental to both philosophical and religious Taoism.
Cultural Notes: Influential in both Eastern and Western thought.
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
by Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Mystery
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: Doubleday
Year: 1930
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Series: Sherlock Holmes
Price: $24.99
Rating: 4.8/5
Reading Time: Extensive
Collection of all 4 novels and 56 short stories featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes.
Cultural Notes: Defined the modern detective story genre.
The Divine Comedy
by Dante Alighieri
Genre: Epic Poetry
Language: Italian
Country: Italy
Publisher: Various
Year: 1320
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $16.00
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 10 hours
Italian narrative poem describing Dante's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise.
Cultural Notes: Masterpiece of world literature and Christian allegory.
War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
Genre: Historical Fiction
Language: Russian
Country: Russia
Publisher: The Russian Messenger
Year: 1869
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $22.00
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 25 hours
Chronicles French invasion of Russia and its impact on five aristocratic families.
Cultural Notes: Monument of Russian literature examining history and human nature.
The Interpretation of Dreams
by Sigmund Freud
Genre: Psychology
Language: German
Country: Austria
Publisher: Basic Books
Year: 1899
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $18.99
Rating: 4.3/5
Reading Time: 8 hours
Introduces Freud's theory of the unconscious with respect to dream interpretation.
Cultural Notes: Foundational work of psychoanalysis, though some theories are now disputed.
The Wealth of Nations
by Adam Smith
Genre: Economics
Language: English
Country: Scotland
Publisher: W. Strahan and T. Cadell
Year: 1776
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $19.99
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 15 hours
Foundational work of classical economics discussing division of labor, productivity, and free markets.
Cultural Notes: Foundation of modern economic theory.
On the Origin of Species
by Charles Darwin
Genre: Science
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: John Murray
Year: 1859
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $12.99
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 8 hours
Presents Darwin's scientific theory that populations evolve through natural selection.
Cultural Notes: Revolutionized biological science.
The Second Sex
by Simone de Beauvoir
Genre: Philosophy
Language: French
Country: France
Publisher: Gallimard
Year: 1949
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $16.95
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 10 hours
Detailed analysis of women's oppression and foundational tract of contemporary feminism.
Cultural Notes: Foundational feminist text that remains influential.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
by Thomas S. Kuhn
Genre: Philosophy of Science
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Year: 1962
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $14.00
Rating: 4.4/5
Reading Time: 5 hours
Analysis of the history of science introducing the concept of paradigm shifts.
Cultural Notes: Revolutionized understanding of scientific progress.
The Prince
by Niccolò Machiavelli
Genre: Political Philosophy
Language: Italian
Country: Italy
Publisher: Antonio Blado d'Asola
Year: 1532
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $9.99
Rating: 4.3/5
Reading Time: 3 hours
16th-century political treatise on how to acquire and maintain political power.
Cultural Notes: Controversial work on political realism.
The Histories
by Herodotus
Genre: History
Language: Ancient Greek
Country: Greece
Publisher: Various
Year: -430
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $16.00
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 12 hours
Record of ancient traditions, politics, geography of ancient Near East and Mediterranean.
Cultural Notes: Considered the first work of history in Western literature.
The Republic
by Plato
Genre: Philosophy
Language: Ancient Greek
Country: Greece
Publisher: Various
Year: -380
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $12.00
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
Socratic dialogue concerning justice, order, and character of the just city-state.
Cultural Notes: Foundation of Western political philosophy.
The Complete Maus
by Art Spiegelman
Genre: Graphic Novel
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Pantheon
Year: 1991
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $24.99
Rating: 4.8/5
Reading Time: 4 hours
Awards: Pulitzer Prize Special Award
Graphic novel depicting the author's father's Holocaust experiences with Jews as mice and Nazis as cats.
Cultural Notes: First graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Persepolis
by Marjane Satrapi
Genre: Graphic Novel
Language: French
Country: France
Publisher: Pantheon
Year: 2000
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $16.95
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 5 hours
Autobiographical graphic novel about growing up during the Iranian Revolution.
Cultural Notes: Provides personal insight into Iranian history and culture.
Understanding Comics
by Scott McCloud
Genre: Nonfiction
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Year: 1993
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $22.99
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 4 hours
Explores the definition, history, vocabulary, and methods of comics as an art form.
Cultural Notes: Seminal work on comics as an art form.
Watchmen
by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
Genre: Graphic Novel
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: DC Comics
Year: 1986
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $49.99
Rating: 4.8/5
Reading Time: 6 hours
Awards: Hugo Award
Superhero story exploring moral and philosophical issues in an alternate history where costumed heroes exist.
Cultural Notes: Redefined what superhero comics could be.
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
by Marshall McLuhan
Genre: Media Theory
Language: English
Country: Canada
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Year: 1964
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $22.95
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
Seminal work introducing the concept that the medium is the message and analyzing media effects.
Cultural Notes: Foundational text for media studies.
Manufacturing Consent
by Edward S. Herman & Noam Chomsky
Genre: Political Science
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Pantheon
Year: 1988
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $18.95
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
Propaganda model analyzing how mass communication media shape public opinion to serve elite interests.
Cultural Notes: Influential critique of mass media.
The Medium is the Massage
by Marshall McLuhan & Quentin Fiore
Genre: Media Theory
Language: English
Country: Canada
Publisher: Bantam
Year: 1967
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $16.95
Rating: 4.4/5
Reading Time: 2 hours
Experimental book illustrating McLuhan's media theories through innovative typography and layout.
Cultural Notes: Groundbreaking in both content and form.
Amusing Ourselves to Death
by Neil Postman
Genre: Media Criticism
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 1985
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $15.00
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 4 hours
Argues television has transformed public discourse into entertainment, undermining serious thought.
Cultural Notes: Prescient critique of media's effect on public discourse.
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
by Nicholas Carr
Genre: Psychology
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Year: 2010
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $16.95
Rating: 4.3/5
Reading Time: 5 hours
Awards: Pulitzer Prize Finalist
Explores how Internet use may be affecting cognition, concentrating on attention and deep thinking.
Cultural Notes: Important examination of digital age cognition.
The Attention Merchants
by Tim Wu
Genre: Media Studies
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Knopf
Year: 2016
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $28.00
Rating: 4.4/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
History of how businesses have competed to capture human attention from print to digital media.
Cultural Notes: Reveals the business behind capturing attention.
The Society of the Spectacle
by Guy Debord
Genre: Philosophy
Language: French
Country: France
Publisher: Zone Books
Year: 1967
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $19.95
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 3 hours
Analysis of consumer capitalism where authentic social life is replaced by its representation.
Cultural Notes: Foundational Situationist text critiquing media society.
Understanding Power
by Noam Chomsky
Genre: Political Science
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: New Press
Year: 2002
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $19.95
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 8 hours
Collection of discussions analyzing power structures in society and media manipulation.
Cultural Notes: Comprehensive introduction to Chomsky's political thought.
The Filter Bubble
by Eli Pariser
Genre: Technology
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2011
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $16.00
Rating: 4.2/5
Reading Time: 5 hours
Explains how personalized search results create informational isolation with algorithmic filtering.
Cultural Notes: Early warning about algorithmic personalization effects.
Algorithms of Oppression
by Safiya Umoja Noble
Genre: Technology
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: NYU Press
Year: 2018
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $18.95
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 5 hours
Examines how search engines reinforce racism and discrimination through biased algorithms.
Cultural Notes: Important critique of supposedly neutral technologies.
Weapons of Math Destruction
by Cathy O'Neil
Genre: Mathematics
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Crown
Year: 2016
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $17.00
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 5 hours
Examines how big data increases inequality and threatens democracy through opaque algorithms.
Cultural Notes: Important critique of algorithmic decision-making.
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
by Shoshana Zuboff
Genre: Technology
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Year: 2018
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $20.00
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 10 hours
Analyzes new economic order claiming human experience as free raw material for commercial practices.
Cultural Notes: Definitive analysis of the digital economy.
The Right to Privacy
by Samuel D. Warren & Louis D. Brandeis
Genre: Law
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Harvard Law Review
Year: 1890
Format: Paperback
Audience: Professional
Price: $9.95
Rating: 4.8/5
Reading Time: 1 hour
Seminal Harvard Law Review article arguing for recognition of privacy rights in American law.
Cultural Notes: Foundation of modern privacy law.
Privacy in Context
by Helen Nissenbaum
Genre: Philosophy
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Year: 2009
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $28.00
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 6 hours
Develops theory of privacy as contextual integrity, arguing privacy is about appropriate information flow.
Cultural Notes: Important philosophical framework for privacy.
The Code Book
by Simon Singh
Genre: Science
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: Doubleday
Year: 1999
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $16.00
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
History of cryptography from ancient times to quantum cryptography, explaining key developments.
Cultural Notes: Accessible introduction to cryptography's history.
The Cuckoo's Egg
by Clifford Stoll
Genre: Technology
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Doubleday
Year: 1989
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $16.00
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 6 hours
First-person account of tracking a hacker who broke into a computer at Lawrence Berkeley Lab.
Cultural Notes: Early account of computer intrusion detection.
Countdown to Zero Day
by Kim Zetter
Genre: Technology
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Crown
Year: 2014
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $18.00
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
Details discovery of Stuxnet, the first digital weapon used against physical infrastructure.
Cultural Notes: Reveals new era of digital warfare.
The Art of Deception
by Kevin Mitnick
Genre: Technology
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Wiley
Year: 2002
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $22.00
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 6 hours
Explains social engineering techniques used to manipulate people into revealing confidential information.
Cultural Notes: From famous hacker turned security consultant.
The Web Application Hacker's Handbook
by Dafydd Stuttard & Marcus Pinto
Genre: Technology
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: Wiley
Year: 2011
Format: Paperback
Audience: Professional
Price: $45.00
Rating: 4.8/5
Reading Time: Reference
Practical guide to discovering security flaws in web applications through penetration testing.
Cultural Notes: Standard reference for web app security.
The Cathedral and the Bazaar
by Eric S. Raymond
Genre: Technology
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: O'Reilly
Year: 1999
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $24.99
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 4 hours
Essay collection on open source software development models, contrasting cathedral and bazaar approaches.
Cultural Notes: Seminal work on open source philosophy.
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
by Steven Levy
Genre: History
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Anchor
Year: 1984
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $17.00
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
History of hacker culture from 1950s MIT to early homebrew computer clubs.
Cultural Notes: Definitive history of early hacker culture.
The Soul of a New Machine
by Tracy Kidder
Genre: Technology
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Little, Brown
Year: 1981
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $16.99
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 5 hours
Awards: Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer-winning account of engineers racing to build a revolutionary new computer at Data General.
Cultural Notes: Classic account of computer engineering culture.
Where Wizards Stay Up Late
by Katie Hafner & Matthew Lyon
Genre: History
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Year: 1996
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $16.00
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 6 hours
Origins of the Internet from ARPANET's creation to its transformation into global network.
Cultural Notes: Definitive early history of the Internet.
The Innovators
by Walter Isaacson
Genre: History
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Year: 2014
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $20.00
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 9 hours
History of digital revolution from Ada Lovelace to Google, focusing on collaborative innovation.
Cultural Notes: Comprehensive history of digital technology.
The Master Switch
by Tim Wu
Genre: History
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Knopf
Year: 2010
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $17.00
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
Argues information industries alternate between open and closed cycles, with implications for internet.
Cultural Notes: Important framework for understanding tech industry cycles.
The Victorian Internet
by Tom Standage
Genre: History
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: Walker & Company
Year: 1998
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $16.00
Rating: 4.4/5
Reading Time: 5 hours
Parallels between 19th century telegraph and modern internet in transforming communication.
Cultural Notes: Fascinating historical perspective on communication tech.
The Information
by James Gleick
Genre: Science
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Pantheon
Year: 2011
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $20.00
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 9 hours
History of information technologies from African drum languages to modern computing.
Cultural Notes: Comprehensive history of information as a concept.
The Codebreakers
by David Kahn
Genre: History
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Scribner
Year: 1967
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $25.00
Rating: 4.8/5
Reading Time: Extensive
Comprehensive history of cryptography from ancient Egypt to modern computing.
Cultural Notes: Definitive history of cryptography.
The Man Who Knew Infinity
by Robert Kanigel
Genre: Biography
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Year: 1991
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $16.00
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
Biography of Srinivasa Ramanujan, mathematical genius who emerged from poverty in colonial India.
Cultural Notes: Inspirational story of mathematical brilliance.
A Beautiful Mind
by Sylvia Nasar
Genre: Biography
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Year: 1998
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $17.00
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
Awards: National Book Critics Circle Award
Biography of mathematician John Nash, Nobel laureate who struggled with schizophrenia.
Cultural Notes: Humanizes mathematical genius and mental illness.
The Emperor's New Mind
by Roger Penrose
Genre: Science
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 1989
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $22.00
Rating: 4.4/5
Reading Time: 10 hours
Controversial argument that human consciousness transcends algorithmic computation.
Cultural Notes: Provocative challenge to AI orthodoxy.
Gödel, Escher, Bach
by Douglas Hofstadter
Genre: Science
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Basic Books
Year: 1979
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $24.99
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 15 hours
Awards: Pulitzer Prize
Explores concepts of recursion and self-reference through mathematics, art, and music.
Cultural Notes: Uniquely interdisciplinary exploration of consciousness.
The Selfish Gene
by Richard Dawkins
Genre: Science
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 1976
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $15.99
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 6 hours
Introduces gene-centered view of evolution and concept of memes as cultural replicators.
Cultural Notes: Revolutionary perspective on evolutionary biology.
The Blind Watchmaker
by Richard Dawkins
Genre: Science
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Year: 1986
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $17.95
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
Argument against intelligent design using examples from biology to demonstrate natural selection.
Cultural Notes: Classic defense of evolutionary theory.
The Double Helix
by James D. Watson
Genre: Science
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Atheneum
Year: 1968
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $14.99
Rating: 4.5/5
Reading Time: 4 hours
Personal account of the discovery of DNA's structure, revealing scientific process and rivalries.
Cultural Notes: Controversial but important scientific memoir.
The Gene: An Intimate History
by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Genre: Science
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Scribner
Year: 2016
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $20.00
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 9 hours
History of genetics from Mendel to CRISPR, blending science, history, and personal narrative.
Cultural Notes: Comprehensive and accessible genetics history.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot
Genre: Science
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Crown
Year: 2010
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $18.00
Rating: 4.8/5
Reading Time: 6 hours
Story of Henrietta Lacks, whose cancer cells were cultured without consent, revolutionizing medicine.
Cultural Notes: Important examination of medical ethics and race.
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
by Oliver Sacks
Genre: Psychology
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Touchstone
Year: 1985
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $16.00
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 5 hours
Case studies of patients with unusual neurological disorders, revealing brain mysteries.
Cultural Notes: Classic of popular neuroscience writing.
Phantoms in the Brain
by V.S. Ramachandran
Genre: Science
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: William Morrow
Year: 1998
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $28.00
Rating: 4.7/5
Reading Time: 6 hours
Explores neurological syndromes to understand brain organization and human nature.
Cultural Notes: Groundbreaking popular neuroscience.
The Tell-Tale Brain
by V.S. Ramachandran
Genre: Science
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Year: 2011
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $17.95
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 6 hours
Explores how brain structure creates human uniqueness in art, language, and self-awareness.
Cultural Notes: Explores neuroscience of human uniqueness.
Musicophilia
by Oliver Sacks
Genre: Psychology
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Knopf
Year: 2007
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $27.00
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
Explores music's extraordinary power over the human brain through neurological case studies.
Cultural Notes: Fascinating exploration of music and mind.
This Is Your Brain on Music
by Daniel Levitin
Genre: Science
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: Dutton
Year: 2006
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $28.00
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 6 hours
Explains how the brain processes music, from neurons to emotional responses.
Cultural Notes: Accessible neuroscience of music.
The Language Instinct
by Steven Pinker
Genre: Linguistics
Language: English
Country: United States
Publisher: William Morrow
Year: 1994
Format: Paperback
Audience: Adult
Price: $18.99
Rating: 4.6/5
Reading Time: 7 hours
Argues humans are born with innate capacity for language acquisition and grammatical structure.
Cultural Notes: Classic introduction to psycholinguistics.
The Midnight Library
by Matt Haig
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Language: English
Country: United Kingdom
Publisher: Canongate Books
Year: 2020
Format: Hardcover
Audience: Adult
Price: $15.99
Rating: 4.3/5
Reading Time: 4 hours
Awards: Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction (2020)
A library between life and death that offers books showing different paths one's life could have taken.
Cultural Notes: Explores mental health and life satisfaction themes.