inspired by the list maintained by Max Fenton
- Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
- The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins
- Shortest Way Home - Pete Buttigieg
- Regretting Motherhood - Orna Donath
- The Anxious Generation - Jonathan Haidt
- Outlive - Peter Attia
- The Coming Wave - Mustafa Suleyman
- Life 3.0 - Max Tegmark
- How to Own Your Own Mind - Napoleon Hill
- The Creative Act - Rick Rubin
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin
- Chip War - Chris Miller
- An Immense World - Ed Yong
- The Most Human Human - Brian Christian
- Never Split the Difference - Chris Voss
- Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind - Shunryu Suzuki
- Super Mario - Jeff Ryan
- Build - Tony Fadell
- Traction - Gino Wickman
- Think Again - Adam Grant
- Kiss Me Like a Stranger - Gene Wilder
- Drive - Daniel H. Pink
- Meditations - Marcus Aurelius, George Long
- Stumbling on Happiness - Daniel Gilbert
- ADHD 2.0 - Edward M. Hallowell, John J. Ratey
- Interior Chinatown - Charles Yu
- Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman
- This Is Marketing - Seth Godin
- The Infinite Game - Simon Sinek