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A curriculum for the well rounded person of the 21st century

Disclaimer: The following recommendations reflect my own tastes.

Books

Literature

  1. John Steinbeck's East of Eden
  2. George Eliot's Middlemarch
  3. Rebecca Goldstein's The Mind-Body Problem
  4. Annie Ernaux's Simple Passion
  5. Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilych
  6. Yashar Kemal's Memed, My Hawk series
  7. Orhan Pamuk's Strangeness In My Mind
  8. Khaled Houssein's The Kite Runner
  9. Jane Austen's Emma
  10. Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina
  11. Leo Tolstoy's What Men Live By
  12. The Complete Short Stories Of Earnest Hemingway

Contemporary

  1. Michel Faber's Under The Skin
  2. Susan Rigetti's Cover Story

History/Biography

  1. Ron Chernow's Hamilton
  2. Gray Matters: A biography of Brain Surgery
  3. Eric Berger's Liftoff (extremely important)
  4. The Federalist Papers (so good)
  5. Mr. Lincoln: The Life of Abraham Lincoln (amazing lectures from the Great Courses)
  6. Kanigel, Robert's The Man Who Knew Infinity
  7. Joseph J. Ellis's His Excellency: George Washington
  8. Harlow Giles Unger's John Quincy Adams
  9. Michael Waldman's The Second Amendment
  10. David McCullough's 1776
  11. David McCullough's John Adams
  12. Dumas Malone's Jefferson And His Times (excellent 4 volume biography!)
  13. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
  14. American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (one of Oppenheimer's fav novels was Middlemarch!)
  15. Isaacson's Leonardo Da Vinci
  16. Total Recall (Incredible autobiography!)
  17. Classic Autobiography of John D. Rockefeller Random Reminiscences of Men and Events
  18. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
  19. Freedom's Forge
  20. Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens: Frank Oppenheimer and the world he made up ( this book awakens wonder in you, guaranteed)
  21. Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger
  22. H.W Brand's The First American (I liked this biography better than Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. More comprehensive, I guess. Both very good though.)
  23. T.J Stiles's The First Tycoon
  24. Chuck Klustorman's The Ninties
  25. Andrew Robert's Napoleon: A Life
  26. Neal Gabler's Walt Disney
  27. Willian Taubman's Gorbashev
  28. Edmun Morris's The Rise Of Theodore Roosevelt series
  29. Ilber Ortaylı's Gazi Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK
  30. Alexis De Toqueville's Democracy In America
  31. JEAN M. TWENGE's generations

Anthropology

  1. Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle

Philosophy

  1. How to Live: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion
  2. Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind

Pop science

  1. Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences
  2. Taleb's Fooled By Randomness
  3. Taleb's Antifragile
  4. How To Lie With Statistics
  5. Economics in one Lesson
  6. Atul Gawande's books (all of them!)
  7. I Will Teach You to Be Rich
  8. The Psychology of Money
  9. On Intelligence: How a New Understanding of the Brain Will Lead to the Creation of Truly Intelligent Machines
  10. The Cancer Code
  11. Michael Pollan's In Defense Of Food
  12. Webb's Where is Everybody
  13. Amusing Ourselves To Death
  14. Gavin De Becker's The Gift Of Fear

Engineering

  1. Structures: Or Why Things don't fall
  2. How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built

Children (but also Adults)

  1. George's Marvellous Medicine

Fashion

  1. Flusser's Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion
  2. Scott Schuman's The Sartorialist series (3 volumes, all great)

Law

  1. Richard Posner's How Judges Think
  2. Antonin Scalia's Scalia Speaks
  3. Antonin Scalia's A Matter Of Interpretation
  4. Colmez/Schneps's Math on Trial
  5. Benjamin Cardozo's The Nature Of The Judicial Process
  6. Richard Posner's Reflections On Judging
  7. Peter Iron's A People's History Of The Supreme Court

Film Critcism

  1. Dave Kehr's When movies Mattered
  2. Dave Kehr's Movies That Mattered

Essays

  1. Borges's Collected Non-fiction
  2. The NewYorker's the 40s
  3. The Newyorker's the 50s
  4. The NewYorker's the 60s
  5. Joyce Carol Oates's The best American essays of the century
  6. Alvin Tofler's The Futurists
    *everything I've ever read/reading

Film

a curated list of 100 movies that will give you the most varied experience of cinema:

  1. Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run (1998) (The movie to get you into movies)
  2. Andrey Zvyagintsev's The Return (2003)
  3. Being John Malkovich (1999)
  4. Lars Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark (2000)
  5. Wim Winders's Paris, Texas (1984)
  6. Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris (2011)
  7. The Apartment (1960)
  8. House of Flying Daggers (2004)
  9. Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain (2006)
  10. Before Sunrise trilogy
  11. Angst (1980)
  12. Ruby Sparks (2012)
  13. Metropolis (1927)
  14. Atonement (2007)
  15. Dreams (1990)
  16. Planet of the apes (1968)
  17. Logan's Run (1976)
  18. Gattaca (1997)
  19. The Fly (1986)
  20. Children of Heaven (1997)
  21. Grave Of The Fireflies
  22. Lars Von Trier's Dogville (2003)
  23. Perfume: The story of a murderer
  24. The Thing (1982)
  25. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
  26. David Cronenberg's A History Of Violence (2005)
  27. The Art Of Racing In The Rain (2019)
  28. Cafe Express (1980)
  29. Caddo Lake (2024)
  30. The Hitcher (1986)
  31. The Fog (1980)
  32. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
  33. 3-Iron (2004)
  34. The Blues Brothers (1980)
  35. The King of Comedy (1982)
  36. High Fidelity (2000)
  37. Party Girl (1995)
  38. Alex Garland's Warfare (2025)
  39. Federico Fellini's La Strada (1954)
  40. Edgar Wright's Baby Driver
  41. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
  42. My Cousin Vinny (1992)
  43. The Verdict
  44. A Few Good Men (1992)
  45. Kramer Vs Kramer (1979)
  46. The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)
  47. Limitless (2011)
  48. Princess Mononoke (1997)
  49. Valley Girl (1983)
  50. Past Lives (2023)
  51. The Small Town (1997)
  52. Yol (1982)
  53. Phone Booth (2002)
  54. The Birds (1963)
  55. October Sky (1999)
  56. Carnage (2011)
  57. Wild Tales (2014)
  58. Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
  59. The Pledge (2001)
  60. The Best Offer (2013)
  61. The Man from Earth (2007)
  62. A Moment to Remember (2004)
  63. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
  64. In the House (2012)
  65. Monsieur Hire (1989)
  66. Zardoz (1974)
  67. Timecrimes (2007)
  68. The Raid 2 (2014)
  69. The Aviator (2004)
  70. Exotica (1994)
  71. A Taxi Driver (2017)
  72. The Body (2012)
  73. The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
  74. The Bandit (1996)
  75. Side Effects (2013)
  76. Scent of a Woman (1992)
  77. Sorry to Bother You (2018)
  78. The Covenant (2023)
  79. Paprika (2006)
  80. Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (1991)
  81. Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
  82. Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009)
  83. Watchtower (2012)
  84. Wanted (2008)
  85. Fearless (2006)
  86. Birdy (1984)
  87. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
  88. Weekend (1967)
  89. The Hunt (2012)
  90. Premium Rush (2012)
  91. Amour (2012)
  92. Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978)
  93. Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (2003)
  94. Night on Earth (1991)
  95. The Hospital (1971)
  96. Enter the Void (2009)
  97. Videodrome (1983)
  98. God Help the Girl (2014)
  99. RRR (2022)
  100. The Insult (2017)
    *recent big screen experiences

Documentaries:

  1. The Crash Reel (2013)
  2. 20,000 Days on Earth (2014)
  3. Samsara (2011)
  4. Looking for Richard (1996)
  5. Three Identical Strangers (2018)
  6. Jodorowsky's Dune (2013)
  7. Apollo 11 (2019)
  8. The Last Man on the Moon (2014)
  9. The Farthest (2017)
  10. Into Eternity: A Film for the Future (2010)
  11. Tim's Vermeer (2013)
  12. Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond (2017)
  13. The Up Series (1964)
  14. Maidentrip (2013)
  15. The Century of the Self (2002)
  16. HyperNormalisation (2016)
  17. Abstract: The Art of Design (2017)
  18. Baraka (1992)
  19. Bill Cunningham New York (2010)
  20. Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru (2016)
  21. Notes on Blindness (2016)
  22. The Human Face (2001)
  23. Sherpa (2015)
  24. Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb (2022)
  25. Triumph of the Will (1935)
  26. Mike Wallace Is Here (2019)
  27. Project Nim (2011)
  28. Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé (2019)
  29. One Child Nation (2019)
  30. Limitless with Chris Hemsworth (2022)
  31. Living in the Age of Airplanes (2015)
  32. David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived (2023)
  33. Amanda Knox (2016)
  34. Be Here Now (2015)
  35. Icahn: The Restless Billionaire (2022)
  36. I Am Bolt (2016)
  37. Cocaine Cowboys (2006)
  38. Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (2021)
  39. Margaret Thatcher: The Iron Lady (2012)
  40. 32 Sounds (2022)
  41. The Eagle Huntress (2016)
  42. Chasing Happiness (2019)
  43. WeWork: or The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn (2021)
  44. Buck (2011)
  45. Winged Migration (2001)
  46. Senna (2010)

TV

  1. Misfits (2009)
  2. The Leftovers (2014)
  3. The Originals (2013)
  4. Blackadder (1982)
  5. Inside No:9
  6. Dr Katz Professional therapist
  7. Nathan for You
  8. Skins (2007)
  9. Ugly Americans (2010)
  10. Superjail! (2007)
  11. Da Vinci's Demons
  12. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
  13. Star Trek: The Next Generation
  14. Revenge (2011)
  15. Raised by Wolves (2013)
  16. The Affair
  17. Mildred Pierce (2011)
  18. Miranda (2009)
  19. Dexter
  20. Archer (2009)
  21. Tess of the D'Urbervilles(2008)
  22. Scrubs
  23. Seinfeld
  24. Dirk Gently's holistic detective agency (2016)
  25. Portlandia
  26. A bit of Fry And Laury (1987)
  27. The Shivering Truth (2018)
  28. The Great (2020)
  29. Downtown Abbey

*everything I've ever watched/watching including TV/Doc/film:

Podcast:

  1. The Video Archives Podcast series
  2. Switched on Pop
  3. Conversations with Tyler
  4. Dear Hank and John
  5. Odd Lots
  6. The Common Reader
  7. No Priors
  8. How I Write
  9. Service95 Book Club
  10. Cheeky Pint
  11. 99% invisible
  12. Pure Cinema Podcast (I discover a lot of obscure movies bc of this show)
  13. We're not getting any younger... yet ( 2 seasons, excellent overview of aging biology)

Comedy audio series

  1. Cabin Pressure ( absolute gem from Benedict Cumberbatch et al)
  2. Bleak Expectations

stand-up

  1. Norm Macdonald: Me doing stand up (2011)
  2. Chris Rock: Bigger and Blacker (1999)
  3. Aziz Ansari: Right Now (2019)
  4. NEMR: No Bombing in Beirut (2017)
  5. Russel Peters: Deported (2020)
  6. Joe List: I hate Myself (2020)
  7. Jimmy O.Yang: Guess How much? (2023)
  8. Jimmy O.Yang: Good deal (2020)
  9. Dave chappelle: Sticks and Stones (2019)
  10. Dave Chapelle: Killing them softly (2000)

Music:

Top 10 Albums:

  1. John Coltrane's A Love Supreme
  2. Rahsaan Roland Kirk's Prepare Thyself To Deal With A Miracle
  3. Hermeto Pascoal's Ao Vivo
  4. Zakir Hussain's Tabla and Beyond
  5. Talking Head's Remain in Light
  6. Paul Simon's Graceland
  7. The xx's I See You
  8. Prince's Sign O' The Times
  9. Ali Akhbar Khan's Signature Series Vol1
  10. Caroline Polachek's Desire, I Want To Turn Into You.

Less well known genres I recommend checking out: Calypso, African Drums, Indian Classical, Dembow, Amapiano, and Soca.

allTheAlbumsIlike:

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