(this is probably best viewed on a desktop for now)
The idea is that guests at the Jackson homes share their five favorite books and why, and then we’ll stock them in the bookshelf in the downstairs office so people can read while they’re visiting. If you haven’t filled this out yet, do so on this form!
Adam Devine
The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway I love this book in an infinite world, but I particularly love this book in the context of the confined vacuum that is a stretch of time on holiday. Each of these stories is epic and inspiring, and they can be read in a sitting - which is sometimes all one has time for on a journey. “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” alone is one of my favorite works of literature because it’s the most entertaining vessel for one of life’s great lessons: live with courage or don’t bother. |
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles I love narratives that take me into an imagined world but teach me about the real one. AGIM does this beautifully. Set in Moscow just after the revolution, it follows the decline in status and the rise in character of the lone remaining member of the Russian royal family. He’s one of the most charming and endearing literary portraits I can remember, and the story is a great lesson in making the best of what fate deals us. |
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas Hofstadter I read this book when I was in the thick of helping to birth one of the first cognitive automation software companies. I love it because it weaves (pun!) together an education about math and the brain and intelligence in the voice of a witty, wonderfully weird philosopher. |
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy In less than 30 minutes of reading, it reminds us why we’re here and what’s important. |
The Recent East, by Thomas Grattan I love this book because, as with A Gentleman in Moscow, it’s a story with an insightful backdrop of history - in this case, of Berlin from 1968 to the present. It follows four generations of a family whom we first meet in a tumultuous effort to escape East Berlin. We simply watch how their lives unfold, centering on the theme of feeling foreign in a familiar place and isolated in the midst of humanity. So many works of fiction are unnecessarily tragic and convoluted. This young writer has the restraint to tell a simple story about a complex time and satisfy the ready with a thoughtful, optimistic ending - one that assured us that any future can be a good future. |
Adam Gazzaley
Art Forms in Nature - Ernst Heinrich Haeckel so beautiful. take a glimpse of nature that will blow your mind |
perspective-bending short stories |
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe an intimate view of hippie culture and the awkward birth of psychedelics in US culture |
Leviathan Wakes - James S. A. Corey First book of the intoxicating Expanse series |
The book that launched the sci fi genre. Please don't start this unless you read the whole trilogy ; ) |
Chip Giller
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami I remember this book like a dream or a mood. I had read -- and have since read -- nothing else like it. Both surreal and realistic, and everything in between. |
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clark History and magic meet in this remarkable book that has made a legend out of its non-prolific author. I loved everything about it. Enter it with no preconceptions, and stick with it (just takes a bit to be pulled into this novel form of storytelling). |
A book about trees and humans relationships -- and a world that could still be saved -- by an author who used to be more focused on technology and Silicon Valley-ness, but now is directing his attention to the complexities of the natural world. |
The Fifth Season (first book of The Broken Earth Trilogy), N.K. Jemisin Everything about this book blew my mind -- including the worldbuilding the author did and the meanings behind it. Opened my mind to a lot. |
Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison The book introduced me to a new type of storytelling, a new way of building on mythologies and of connecting readers to unforgettable characters. People argue about their favorite Toni Morrison books (Beloved versus Sulu versus The Bluest Eye versus Tar Baby, etc.), but for me, this one takes the cake. I will never forget reading its conclusion and the feelings it invoked in me. |
Connie
Illustrated guide to becoming one with the universe. By yumi sakugawa You open it and you immediately feel more peaceful. It’s like watching the stars. |
Anything yung pueblo |
My favorite fiction book in recent memory. The powerful magic of a myth delved deeper, it reads as if woven from a loom. |
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss This helped me rediscover how much I loved fantasy. The world he paints is incredibly rich, and the adventures are boyishly delightful to follow. |
We watched the documentary version of this in Jackson!! And I help it helps so much so see something so vividly from another person’s perspective. Let’s have more empathy in the world. |
Daniel Cook
Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships, Robin Dunbar Great summary of the last 20 years of research of the Social Brain theory (we have big brains because we are social animals that need to track and share what others are thinking.) Absolutely essential when building social systems since many constraints (like Dunbar layers) seem to be hard coded limits of the human brain. |
Wonderful gothic sci-fi. Lots of bones. |
It is rare that a book leaves a specific taste in your brain. And it has excellent vampires. |
Basically the only science fiction book about augmented reality that is worth reading. Crap characters, but full of wonderful ideas and philosophy. |
Emma
It was the first book or story I've ever read that opened my mind to alternative realities (as a young little Emma) |
The living Gita So many lessons to learn, over and over |
"Letting go", "Power vs force" & "letting go" / David Hawkins All three books are connected, taught me a lot about releasing negativity, the importance of choosing kindness and that everyone is on this journey and spectrum... All positions on it are valid |
The great influenza / John m Barry This book is entirely too long and verbose, but I started it at the beginning of the pandemic. It has been a very great reminder that we've been here before, societies and governments have acted very much the same and we didn't learn much. 100 years is plenty of time for humans to forget and discount lessons of the past. While all a super bummer, I've found it oddly comforting bc humans are truly human and we have a hard time being anything else. |
The body keeps score / bressel van DER kolk As a person who has experienced childhood abuse, (suppressed until very recently)as an adult this text helped me understand what my mind and body have been holding on to and how it manifests itself in my every day life. Having this understanding has helped me on my healing journey💜 |
Hugh Howey
The Age of Absurdity by Michael Foley An exploration of the search for human happiness. I've read this book several times, and it never fails to make me laugh out loud and weep by the end. |
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt A manual for the human mind and the human condition. It explores our absence of free will, the reasons for tribalism, the source of our moral differences. Humanity's must-read if ever there was one. |
The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan The subtitle of this classic says it all: Science as a candle in the dark. Sagan explores the history of superstition and how the scientific method insulates us from attractive untruths. |
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles One of the greatest American novels ever written happens to have been penned in the past year. The Lincoln Highway became a top 5 novel of mine on the first read and lived up to it on the second. Amor Towles is an absolute legend. This is also a great vacation home book, because a visitor might pick this up on a snowy morning and have it finished before bed. |
The Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton The greatest work of science fiction that almost nobody talks about. Epic in scope, human in touch, full of more great ideas than most authors' entire careers, this is an impossibly imaginative story told with such venom and vigor that you marvel you survive, as the reader, until the end. (This is also one of Adam Gazzaley's favorite works of sci-fi, so I feel less guilty offering up the entire trilogy for submission). |
Jade
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen Every winter I find comfort reading this while drinking tea by a fireplace |
Devil in the White City by Erik Larson The most page-turning true crime book (coming from someone who's not a fan of the true crime genre) |
Make a game of guessing which short stories were written by favorite authors |
Mindset, Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck Introduction to growth mindset thinking. Food for the brain. |
LSD: My problem child by Albert Hoffman Required educational reading for anyone interested in psychedelic journeys |
Jane Kim
Kind Of Blue: The Making of a Masterpiece by Ashley Kahn Not a lot of well written books on music and musicians- this one is beautifully written |
White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty Sarcastic, hilarious, sharp and intelligent. His other books Tuff and Sellout are worth reading too |
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriela García Marquez Gorgeous |
The Age of Acrimony: how Americans fought to save their democracy by John Grinspan 1865-1915 one of my favorite reads in 2021 |
Barefoot Gen Volume 1: Hardcover Edition: A Graphic Novel of Hiroshima By Keiji Nakazawa Beautiful read- graphic novels are one of my favorite mediums to capture emotions without words and if you need to be convinced to be anti-war, this is required reading. |
Jo Gazzaley
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card This book got me into Science Fiction as a child |
Pandora’s Star by Peter Hamilton This is the first book of the commonwealth saga, an epic space opera by one of my favorite authors. |
How to Raise a Wild Child by Scott Sampson Although aimed at how to help children appreciate and love nature, this book is also wonderful for adults to learn how to interact with nature on different level. |
The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu Written by a Chinese author, this book is an amazing story but feels so different from western sci fi. |
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu A collection of beautiful short stories |
Kyle KP Pickering
Exhalation - Ted Chang Super imaginative collection of short stories about time travel. |
The Golden Spruce - John Vaillant A wild story about a guy making some questionable decisions and a history of First Nations and forestry on the west coast. |
The World in a grain - Vince Beiser Sand is way more fascinating and important than I ever would have guessed. |
Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir Science and science fiction! |
Am I over thinking this?: over answering life’s questions in 101 charts - Michelle Rial Entertaining charts using things found around Michelle’s life. A friend! |
Ligaya
When the soul speaks one can’t help but listen |
On Food & Cooking by Harold McGee Knowing the science adds to magical sensory experiences |
Psychedelics researched and explored by one of the best non-fiction authors of our time |
Poignant, cautionary take on dystopia by a brilliant writer |
Delightful time travel through pop culture |
Lyndsey Garrill
Haruki Murakami Kafka on the Shore Surrealism in literature. It’s weird, wonderful and captivating. A world unexpected. |
The Poetry Remedy: Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind, and Soul People sit with William in his “pharmacy” and talk about how they feel and what’s happening in their life - he offers them a prescription in the form of a poem. Mountain time is always reflective time for me. I’m so grateful to be there, grateful for the winter, for nature, for beauty, for friends, for the warm fire - the mountains fill my heart with love and joy. May you find peace and healing and love. |
How to draw animals for the artistically anxious Things were getting too serious 😉 Lyndsey |
Because I want you to visit me. Lyndsey xxx |
An interesting discussion with data. |
Mark Pearson
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles A novel full of humor and intellect, all set within a grand hotel in Moscow. |
Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson It's such a great story that I know of a bookstore in Michigan that offers a "money-back guarantee." It was edited by the president of Simon & Schuster, Jon Karp. |
The Second Mountain by David Brooks Brooks shares his own journey and all his research about living a more meaningful life. |
The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery Montgomery is a gifted writer and I was amazed at how complex and intelligent octopus are |
The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven by Nathaniel Ian Miller A debut novel about the life of a fur trader in arctic circle. I loved the wry humor and his brilliant observations about the human condition. |
Melissa Chen
The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov "Psychohistory dealt not with man, but man-masses. It was the science of mobs; mobs in their billions. It could forecast reactions to stimuli with something of the accuracy that a lesser science could bring to the forecast of a rebound of a billiard ball. The reaction of one man could be forecast by no known mathematics; the reaction of a billion is something else again." In our Information Age, advanced analytics and machine learning make the predictive power envisioned by Asimov ever so plausible. No series of books has ever blown my mind quite like the Foundation Trilogy.. that it is becoming more science and less fiction just speaks to his genius. Make no mistake, Foundation is more than just a genre-defining work. It interrogates the complexities of human psychology and cycles of civilizational progress and inspires us to dream of the cosmos in the face of entropy and decline. |
Mark Twain is just a classic staple. If there's any dead person who I wish would just come alive on Twitter, it's Twain. His impact on American cultural and intellectual life cannot be more overstated. He is a towering, enduring figure of Americana and his novels are classics. Enjoy! |
The Making of Middle-earth: The Worlds of Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings by Christopher Snyder Has anyone ever come close to rivaling Tolkein in world-building? I think not. This is a beautiful book that looks into the mythological, archeological, intellectual and aesthetic foundations of the world that Tolkein created - Middle Earth. If you, like me, are a huge LOTR fan, you cannot miss this. |
n/a |
Michael Sharon
David Deutsch, Beginning of Infinity Amazing treatise on knowledge, humanity and optimism. |
The Obstacle is the way - Ryan Holiday Stoic philosophy for dummies |
Never Split The Difference - Chris Voss Every negotiation skills |
Amazing illustration of key fact finding and obfuscation techniques |
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration |
Pablos
Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson Prescient book from 1994 exploring the question of whether computers can be teachers. I believe we are on the cusp of being able to accomplish this technically. |
The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber The best true story that reads like fiction. |
Infinite Progress by Byron Reese Great primer on what is technically possible for humanity. |
The Pattern On The Stone by Danny Hillis Genius book that explains how computers work from first principles. Anyone can read this and learn more than what CS graduates knows. |
Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile The other best true story that reads like fiction. Bonus, you'll learn how we actually won the cold war. |
Paul Rush
Possibly my favorite sci fi novel. The whole series is fantastic. Complex execution, written in almost a dozen styles. Beautiful world building and dazzling twists and turns. |
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carrol - For artists, logicians and psychedelics. A masterwork of imagination and story telling. |
Hard to pick a favorite Hesse but this is both the easiest read and most positive in disposition. A beautiful story of the path to enlightenment. |
Pathways to Bliss - Joseph Campbell A book of lectures that outline Campbell’s conception of mythology and how can be a guide to reach individual fulfillment. The chapter on personal mythology is my favorite. Pairs well with books on or written by Jung. |
The closest thing we have (that I’ve seen) to a manual for healthy intimate relationships. This needs to be read by all humans. Further study of attachment theory is a great addition to this book. |
Sophia Li
Windup bird chronicle - by Haruki Murakami My fav fiction writer |
Seeking wisdom from Darwin to Munger by Peter Bevelin It’s a very dense book, but it helps with thinking and the book articulates structured thinking very well. I love the way it links human nature, evolution with how society evolves. Don’t finish it in one go, it’s good for revisiting |
Wabi sabi Love the philosophy of perfection in “imperfection”. It’s a very thin book. Again very philosophical and it gives good history and stories around the subject |
The seat of the soul - Gary Zukav Beautiful spiritual book, I enjoyed it very much when I was traveling for work. |
Mastery of Love - don Miguel Ruiz I just like the message it brings, love the person as they are 🥰 |
Vivian Wu
Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, Jia Tolentino Jia's writing is insightful without coming across as pretentious or inaccessible. This book also made me laugh out loud. |
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, Cathy Park Hong A must read for every Asian American and anyone wanting to learn more about what it's like to grow up in America with Asian ancestry. Cathy Hong captures the experience and historical context so beautifully. |
In Praise of Shadows, Junichiro Tanizaki This book gave me a deeper understanding of Japanese aesthetics. |
Hyperart: Thomasson, Genpei Akasegawa Read this and you'll see cities in a whole new light 🙂 |
China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power, Rob Gifford Stories of modern Chinese life often take a backseat to Chinese political news (in the West). Gifford brings these stories to life, really capturing the richness and diversity of Chinese people's experiences. Read this and then watch "A Touch of Sin" by Jia Zhangke. |