Curated Reading List
5 books: nonfiction that makes the world larger.
A note from the concierge
Science, essays and philosophy for the endlessly curious reader.
A balance of wonder and rigour. Read one chapter at a time and let it settle.
The Concierge
5 books
Bill Bryson, 2003
A genial and funny tour of how we came to know what we know about the universe, the Earth and ourselves.
Consider: Which question in A Short History of Nearly Everything would you most like to follow further?
Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2013
A botanist and member of the Potawatomi Nation weaves scientific knowledge and Indigenous wisdom into essays on our reciprocal relationship with the living world.
Consider: What does Braiding Sweetgrass make you notice about the natural world around you?
Tara Westover, 2018
Raised in a survivalist household in rural Idaho, the author teaches herself enough to reach university, and pays a heavy price for the education.
Consider: Which relationship in Educated would you most like to understand better?
Marcus Aurelius
The private notebooks of a Roman emperor, a practical guide to composure, duty and meeting life as it comes.
Consider: What keeps the people in Meditations going when they might stop?
Virginia Woolf, 1929
Woolf's elegant argument that a woman needs money and a room of her own to write fiction, and why history made that so hard.
Consider: What does A Room of One's Own say about why people make beautiful things?
Practical
Read together, these 5 books come to about 45 hours. That is a comfortable month at roughly 11 hours a week.
If you want more
Readers who love this list tend to enjoy the following. Each is chosen for how closely it shares the mood and themes of the books above.
Trevor Noah, 2016
A comedian recalls growing up in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa as the son of a Black mother and a white father, at a time when their relationship was against the law. Shares memoir and thought-provoking with Educated.
Peter Attia, 2023
A physician argues that the goal of medicine should be a longer healthspan, not just a longer life, with practical guidance on exercise, nutrition, sleep and emotional health. Shares science and thought-provoking with A Short History of Nearly Everything.
Paulo Coelho, 1988
A young Andalusian shepherd sets out for the Egyptian pyramids in search of treasure, and learns along the way what it means to follow a personal calling. Shares thought-provoking and uplifting with A Short History of Nearly Everything.