The Lists: 30 Essential Books for Students and Autodidacts

By Joe Carter
The Evangelical Outpost

Tom Wolfe From Bauhaus to Our House | Tom Wolfe The Painted Word

The best book on modern architecture and the best book on modern art by the best essayist in the modern world.

Paul Johnson Modern Times | C.S. Lewis The Abolition of Man

The two most essential books for understanding the 20th century.

Sun Tzu The Art of War | U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting

The key primers on warfare and strategy. (Note: Here is an online copy of Warfighting (PDF))

Plutarch Lives | Gary Wills Lincoln at Gettysburg

Although biographical in format, these works transcend the genre, illuminating not only the subjects but the reader as well.

Solomon Proverbs | Hugh Hewitt In, But Not Of

Practical wisdom is one of the most neglected areas in education. The book of Proverbs is the greatest guide to practical wisdom every produced. Hewitt's book, while written for Christians, is one of the best modern example of a vade mecum

Edwin Abbot Flatland | Jostein Gardner Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy

Math and philosophy are cleverly illuminated in this pair of intriguing books.

E.D. Swinton The Defense of Duffer's Drift | Orson Scott Card Enders Game

Swinton's book teaches tactical thinking using an intriguing series of dreams. Card's book also provides lessons on tactics in one of the best science fiction books ever written. Both are on the Marine Corps Professional Reading List. (Note: Here is an online version of Duffer's Drift)

George Lakoff Metaphors We Live By | Copi Introduction to Logic

Anyone who wants to become a better thinker should learn how metaphors and logic work. These are two of best books on those subjects.

Malcolm Gladwell The Tipping Point | Michael Lewis Moneyball

Two masterworks by a pair of the most creative nonfiction writers in America.

Mortimer Adler How to Read a Book | Strunk and White The Elements of Style

The two reference books that every student should read, study, and digest.

Neil Postman Technopoly | Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves to Death

Postman was not only our most astute media critic but one of the most prophetic voices of the last thirty years. Essential reading for understanding how our culture is shaped by media and technology.

Richard Tarnas The Passion of the Western Mind | Jacques Barzun From Dawn to Decadence

Big, bold, broad surveys of intellectual history.

Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye | Alexander Solzenitzhen's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch

While we may find ourselves trapped by location -- whether in a Soviet gulag or in Lorain, Ohio -- our freedom is dictated by our will. While the short novels by Solzenitzhen and Morrison may not appear to have much in common, both show how our beliefs can either set us free or trap us within ourselves.

Henry Hazlitt Economics in One Lesson | Charles Wheelan Naked Economics

The dismal science made slightly less dismal. Each will change the way you think about economics, and therefore how you think about life.

Tom Morris If Aristotle Ran General Motors | Vamos and Lidsky Fast Company's Greatest Hits

Although these books would be filed in the Management section of the bookstore, each shows that "business" is about more than making money. Morris is a superb philosopher who shows how Aristotle ideas on truth, beauty, goodness, and unity should shape our lives. In compiling their "greatest hits", Fast Company, the most fascinating business magazine of the last century, has produced an indispensable collection of innovative ideas. (more)