Books list 2 — Psychology, History, Biographies, Travel

Shivam Duhan
Aug 22, 2017 · 4 min read

Psychology

-The marshmallow test : mastering self-control by Walter Mischel — A classic psychology book on self control. Explains scientific research findings about the benefits of self-control and ways to increase your self control. The things I learned by reading this book help me a lot everyday.

-The distracted mind : ancient brains in a high-tech world by Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen — An amazing book on internet addiction and how to manage it.

-Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman — A spectacular book on how our brain works and how we can identify the biases in our decision making process that lead to bad decisions. Daniel Kahnemann founded the field of behavioral economics and won a Nobel Prize in economics in 2002. The book also shows how humans make decisions and the reasons behind our thought processes.

-Design of Everyday Things, Design of Useful Things, Emotional Design, and Design of Future Things by Donald Norman — One of the most eye-opening books I have read. Talks about the optimal design of things that we interact with everyday. It has allowed me to look at the world around me in a new light and identify bad designs.

-Flow : the psychology of optimal experience / Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

-Social : why our brains are wired to connect / Matthew D. Lieberman

-Nudge : improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness / Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein

-Mindset — the new psychology of success: Dweck, Carol S

-Grit — the power of passion and perseverance: Duckworth, Angela

-Peak — secrets from the new science of expertise : Ericsson, K. Anders.

-Connected : the surprising power of our social networks and how they shape our lives / Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler

History

-The world is flat : a brief history of the twenty-first century / Thomas L. Friedman : A superb book on globalisation.

-Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari — My all time favourite book. Explains the entire human history in a different way, looking at fundamental causes and reasons behind everything rather than focusing on dates and events. Asks the big questions — Why are we here? Why is the world the way it is? What is the meaning of life? and answers them satisfactorily. This book has had more impact on me than any other. It taught me that most of our culture and the things we do are just results of random accidents rather than something that was planned increase the happiness of all living beings. Absolutely amazing book.

-Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru — An incredibly detailed and accurate description of Indian history and culture and the specifics of the British oppression of India written by the 1st Prime Minister of India.

-Guns, germs, and steel : the fates of human societies / Jared Diamond

-The ascent of money : a financial history of the world / Niall Ferguson

-Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari

-The Muqaddimah; an introduction to history, translated from the Arabic by Franz Rosenthal

-Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed / Jared Diamond

-The better angels of our nature : why violence has declined / Steven Pinker

-The rise and fall of the great powers : economic change and military conflict from 1500 to 2000 / by Paul Kennedy

-Why the West rules — for now : the patterns of history, and what they reveal about the future / Ian Morris

-The Columbian exchange; biological and cultural consequences of 1492 [by] Alfred W. Crosby

-Pandora’s seed : the unforseen cost of civilization / Spencer Wells

Science Fiction

-Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

-28 science fiction stories. Wells, H. G.

-20000 leagues under the sea, around the world in 80 days, journey to the cetner of the world by Jules Verne

-Fondation series by Issac Asimov

-The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

-The moon is a harsh mistress [by] Robert A. Heinlein

- Inferno, Da Vinci Code, and Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

Biographies

-Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Issacson — An awesome biography of America’s most diversely talented genius.

-Rabindranath Tagore: my life in my words

-Tesla : inventor of the electrical age / W. Bernard Carlson

-Surely you’re Joking, Mr. Feynman

-Elon Musk : Tesla, SpaceX, and the quest for a fantastic future / Ashlee Vance.

-The everything store : Jeff Bezos and the age of Amazon / Brad Stone.

-Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson

-A mathematician’s Apology by G H Hardy

-A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar. The biography of John Nash (winner of the Nobel Prize in economics 1994)

Travel

-A book of traveller’s tales / assembled by Eric Newby — A great anthology of tales written by ancient travelers. Instilled a spirit of adventure in me.

-Voyages and discoveries; the principal navigations, voyages, traffiques, and discoveries of the English Nation by Richard Hakluyt. Edited, abridged, and introduced by Jack Beeching.

-Travels in Asia and Africa by Ibn Batuta, 1325–1354, translated and selected by H.A.R. Gibb.

-The travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian. Edited by Thomas Wright. Polo, Marco,

-The journals of Captain James Cook on his voyages of discovery / edited by J.C. Beaglehole.

-Marco Polo : from Venice to Xanadu / Laurence Bergreen.

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Shivam Duhan

Written by

Computer Science & Innovation @ Stanford. Computer Engineering, Mathematics, Entrepreneurship & Innovation @ Purdue. I want to learn everything from everyone :)

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