Walter Isaacson
11 Books recommended by Walter Isaacson
Walter Isaacson is an American author, journalist, and professor. He has been the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., the chair and CEO of CNN, and the editor of Time. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, he attended Harvard University and the University of Oxford as a Rhodes scholar at Pembroke College.
Walter Isaacson's favorite books
Holy Bible
Holy Bible
Hendrickson Publishers
Bibles"If you are looking for a Bible that's easy to use and to give away, this is the Bible for you " The world is hungry for eternal truth. When we spread God's Word, we're helping to fulfill the Great Commission. Now you can reach more people with this handy, budget-friendly edition. With no frills or extras that increase the page count or the price, this economy KJV Bible is the ideal choice for a basic introduction to Scripture, for daily devotions, worship, prison ministry, evangelistic outreach, missions, or any occasion when you want to read and share God's Word. Special Features - Complete KJV text - Simple, straightforward presentation - Convenient size - Affordable price--keep a supply on hand
“Like every great piece of writing from the Bible”
Oct 14, 2017 — Source
“Recommended on Tim Ferriss' podcast”
Oct 14, 2017 — Source
On the Road
On the Road
Jack Kerouac
FictionA reproduction of Kerouac's original 1951 scroll draft of "On the Road" offers insight into the writer's thematic vision and narrative voice as influenced by the American literary, musical, and visual arts of the post-World War II period.
“read Ken Keseys On the Bus or On the Road,”
Oct 14, 2017 — Source
The Moviegoer
The Moviegoer
Walker Percy
FictionIn this National Book Award–winning novel from a “brilliantly breathtaking writer,” a young Southerner searches for meaning in the midst of Mardi Gras (The New York Times Book Review). On the cusp of his thirtieth birthday, Binx Bolling is a lost soul. A stockbroker and member of an established New Orleans family, Binx’s one escape is the movie theater that transports him from the falseness of his life. With Mardi Gras in full swing, Binx, along with his cousin Kate, sets out to find his true purpose amid the excesses of the carnival that surrounds him. Buoyant yet powerful, The Moviegoer is a poignant indictment of modern values, and an unforgettable story of a week that will change two lives forever. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Walker Percy including rare photos from the author’s estate.
“Recommended on Tim Ferriss' podcast”
Oct 14, 2017 — Source
The 4-Hour Workweek
The 4-Hour Workweek
Tim Ferriss
The 4-Hour Workweek In 20 Minutes Summary Tim Ferriss The 4-Hour Work Week teaches techniques to increase your time and financial freedom giving you more lifestyle options. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (2007) is a self-help book by Timothy Ferriss, an American writer, educational activist, and entrepreneur. The book has spent more than four years on The New York Times Best Seller List, has been translated into 35 languages and has sold more than 1,350,000 copies worldwide. It deals with what Ferriss refers to as "lifestyle design" and repudiates the traditional "deferred" life plan in which people work grueling hours and take few vacations for decades and save money in order to relax after retirement.
“Recommended on Tim Ferriss' podcast”
Oct 14, 2017 — Source
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Inventors“I also think the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is cool.”
Oct 14, 2017 — Source
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
FictionReferring to "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, " H. L. Mencken noted that his discovery of this classic American novel was "the most stupendous event of my whole life"; Ernest Hemingway declared that "all modern American literature stems from this one book," while T. S. Eliot called Huck "one of the permanent symbolic figures of fiction, not unworthy to take a place with Ulysses, Faust, Don Quixote, Don Juan, Hamlet." The novel's preeminence derives from its wonderfully imaginative re-creation of boyhood adventures along the mighty Mississippi River, its inspired characterization, the author's remarkable ear for dialogue, and the book's understated development of serious underlying themes: "natural" man versus "civilized" society, the evils of slavery, the innate value and dignity of human beings, the stultifying effects of convention, and other topics. But most of all, "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is a wonderful story filled with high adventure and unforgettable characters (including the great river itself) that no one who has read it will ever forget. Unabridged Dover (1994) republication of the text of the first American edition, published by Charles L. Webster and Company, New York, 1885. New introductory Note."
“read Huckleberry Finn”
Oct 14, 2017 — Source
“read Ken Keseys On the Bus or On the Road,”
Oct 14, 2017 — Source
Einstein's Dreams
Einstein's Dreams
Alan Lightman
FictionA modern classic, Einstein’s Dreams is a fictional collage of stories dreamed by Albert Einstein in 1905, about time, relativity and physics. As the defiant but sensitive young genius is creating his theory of relativity, a new conception of time, he imagines many possible worlds. In one, time is circular, so that people are fated to repeat triumphs and failures over and over. In another, there is a place where time stands still, visited by lovers and parents clinging to their children. In another, time is a nightingale, sometimes trapped by a bell jar. Now translated into thirty languages, Einstein’s Dreams has inspired playwrights, dancers, musicians, and painters all over the world. In poetic vignettes, it explores the connections between science and art, the process of creativity, and ultimately the fragility of human existence.
“This is a work of fiction that weaves in the whimsy of Einstein's days as a patent clerk in Switzerland.”
— Source
Fantasyland
Fantasyland
Kurt Andersen
HistoryNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The single most important explanation, and the fullest explanation, of how Donald Trump became president of the United States . . . nothing less than the most important book that I have read this year.”—Lawrence O’Donnell How did we get here? In this sweeping, eloquent history of America, Kurt Andersen shows that what’s happening in our country today—this post-factual, “fake news” moment we’re all living through—is not something new, but rather the ultimate expression of our national character. America was founded by wishful dreamers, magical thinkers, and true believers, by hucksters and their suckers. Fantasy is deeply embedded in our DNA. Over the course of five centuries—from the Salem witch trials to Scientology to the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, from P. T. Barnum to Hollywood and the anything-goes, wild-and-crazy sixties, from conspiracy theories to our fetish for guns and obsession with extraterrestrials—our love of the fantastic has made America exceptional in a way that we've never fully acknowledged. From the start, our ultra-individualism was attached to epic dreams and epic fantasies—every citizen was free to believe absolutely anything, or to pretend to be absolutely anybody. With the gleeful erudition and tell-it-like-it-is ferocity of a Christopher Hitchens, Andersen explores whether the great American experiment in liberty has gone off the rails. Fantasyland could not appear at a more perfect moment. If you want to understand Donald Trump and the culture of twenty-first-century America, if you want to know how the lines between reality and illusion have become dangerously blurred, you must read this book. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE “This is a blockbuster of a book. Take a deep breath and dive in.”—Tom Brokaw “[An] absorbing, must-read polemic . . . a provocative new study of America’s cultural history.”—Newsday “Compelling and totally unnerving.”—The Village Voice “A frighteningly convincing and sometimes uproarious picture of a country in steep, perhaps terminal decline that would have the founding fathers weeping into their beards.”—The Guardian “This is an important book—the indispensable book—for understanding America in the age of Trump.”—Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci
“I think it helps you understand the wackiness happening in our country today.”
Oct 14, 2017 — Source
