Books I am Reading
As I mentioned elsewhere on this site, around 2019, I began an autodidactic self-study. I have put a list of books that I have studied below. To be considered "studied," I usually take comprehensive notes while reading through each book. I have hundreds of pages of notes from all the books I've read, and at some point, I may make them available. However, for now, I am just listing the titles that I've studied. I have also included the ones that are currently underway.
I also listen to audiobooks, but I have not included them on this page as I don't consider a listen-through of an audiobook enough to warrant saying I have truly studied or comprehended a piece. To see all the audiobooks I have also listened to, click here. Often, I start by listening to an audiobook, and then if I find the book very interesting, I will read it and study it closely in textual form.
This blog page is a living document, so as I have more time and complete more content, I will add to it.
I've grouped the items into two sections, longer pieces and shorter pieces. Longer pieces tend to be entire books, often 100 pages or so or more. Shorter pieces tend to be research papers, brief essays, or excerpts from larger works; imagine around 20 pages or so, but the length may vary. Within each section, I have listed the pieces chronologically, with the older, more classic pieces appearing first, followed by the more modern pieces.
The list is not comprehensive; I have mainly included works that I have read in my leisure, and I have not included the readings I have done for school. I may add these later if I have time to review and organize my notes.
I am sharing this so that people can understand what thought may have informed my own thinking, to inspire others to investigate the pieces listed here and to begin a dialogue. Please recommend pieces to check out or provide your interpretation or feedback on the items listed here.
Longer Pieces
Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) (c. 563–483 BCE)
The Dhammapada: Compiled c. 3rd century BCE
Confucius (Kong Fuzi) (c. 551–479 BCE)
Analects: Compiled c. 475–221 BCE
Sun Tzu (c. 544–496 BCE)
The Art of War: Compiled c. 5th century BCE
Plato (c. 428–348 BCE)
Complete Works of Plato, ed. John M. Cooper: Published 1997, including:
Apology
Crito
Euthyphro
Phaedo
Meno
Gorgias
Symposium
Republic
Phaedrus
Timaeus
Laws
Parmenides
Theaetetus
Sophist
Statesman
Philebus
Charmides
Lysis
Laches
Ion
Euthydemus
Cratylus
Menexenus
Hippias Major
Hippias Minor
Protagoras
Alcibiades I (spurious)
Alcibiades II (spurious)
The Lovers
Theages
Clitophon
Minos
Letters (spurious)
Vyasa (c. 4th century BCE–2nd century CE, traditional attribution)
The Bhagavad Gita: Composed c. 2nd century BCE–2nd century CE
The Bible’s Various Authors (c. 1200 BCE–100 CE, collective authorship)
The Bible: Hebrew Bible compiled c. 165 BCE;
New Testament compiled c. 100 CE (currently underway reading)
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (43 BCE–17 CE)
Metamorphoses: Published c. 8 CE
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121–180 CE)
Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Published posthumously (circulated after 180 CE)
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (1469–1527)
The Prince: Published 1532
John Milton (1608–1674)
Paradise Lost: Published 1667
François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire) (1694–1778)
Candide: Published 1759
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)
Critique of Pure Reason: Published 1781 (currently underway reading)
Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals: Published 1785
What is Enlightenment?: Published 1784
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860)
On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason: Published 1813 (revised 1847)
The Emptiness of Existence
Thinking for Oneself
A Short Dialogue on the Indestructibility of Our True Being by Death
Religion
Metaphysics of Love
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
Circles: Published 1841
Friendship: Published 1841
Nature: Published 1836
Self-Reliance: Published 1841
The Over-Soul: Published 1841
Charles Robert Darwin (1809–1882)
On the Origin of Species: Published 1859
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813–1855)
Either/Or: Published 1843
Fear and Trembling: Published 1843
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844–1900)
The Birth of Tragedy: Published 1872
Untimely Meditations Published 1874 (currently underway reading)
Human, All Too Human: Published 1878
Daybreak (or The Dawn of Day): Published 1881
The Gay Science: Published 1882
Thus Spoke Zarathustra: Published in parts 1883–1891
Beyond Good and Evil: Published 1886
On the Genealogy of Morality: Published 1887
The Case of Wagner: Published 1888
Twilight of the Idols: Published 1889
Nietzsche Contra Wagner: Published 1889
The Antichrist: Published 1895
Ecce Homo: Published 1908
The Will to Power: Published 1901 (currently underway reading)
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex: Published 1905
Civilization and Its Discontents: Published 1930
Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872–1970)
A History of Western Philosophy: Published 1945
Carl Jung (1875–1961)
Modern Man in Search of a Soul: Published 1933
Answer to Job: Published 1952
Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle: Published 1952
Memories, Dreams, Reflections: Published 1962
Man and His Symbols: Published 1964
Dale Carnegie (1888–1955)
How to Win Friends and Influence People: Published 1936
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
Philosophical Investigations: Published 1953
Shunryu Suzuki (1904–1971)
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Published 1970 (currently underway reading)
Viktor Frankl (1905–1997)
Man’s Search for Meaning: Published 1946
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980)
Existentialism is a Humanism: Published 1946
Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986)
The Ethics of Ambiguity: Published 1947
The Second Sex: Published 1949
Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997)
The Hedgehog and the Fox: Published 1953
Albert Camus (1913–1960)
The Stranger: Published 1942
Alan Watts (1915–1973)
The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are: Published 1966
Ernest Becker (1924–1974)
The Denial of Death: Published 1973
Michel Foucault (1926–1984)
Discipline and Punish: Published 1975
Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007)
Simulacra and Simulation: Published 1981
The Transparency of Evil: Published 1990 (currently underway reading)
David G. Myers (1942–)
Psychology - 11th Edition: Published 2018
Gloria Jean Watkins (bell hooks) (1952–2021)
The Will to Change: Published 2004
John Gray (1951–)
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: Published 1992
Marshall B. Rosenberg (1934–2015)
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Published 1999
David Loy (1947–)
Lack and Transcendence: The Problem of Death and Life in Psychotherapy, Existentialism, and Buddhism: Published 1996
Richard Delgado (1939–) & Jean Stefancic (1940–)
Critical Race Theory: An Introduction: Published 2001 (co-authored with Jean Stefancic)
Christopher Ryan (1962–) & Cacilda Jethá (1965–)
Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality: Published 2010 (co-authored with Cacilda Jethá)
Robert Greene (1959-)
Mastery 2012
Grant Hardy (1967–)
Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition: Published 2008 (The Great Courses lecture series)
James Clear (1986–)
Atomic Habits: Published 2018
Jordan Peterson (1962–)
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos: Published 2018
Shorter Pieces
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 BCE–65 CE)
On the Shortness of Life: Published c. 49 CE
Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
Of the Art of Discussion: Published 1580 (in Essays, Book III)
On the Art of Conversation: Published 1580 (in Essays, Book III)
Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
A Modest Proposal: Published 1729
Various Authors (American State Papers) (c. 1730–1800, collective authorship)
The Declaration of Independence: Published 1776
The Constitution of the United States of America: Published 1787
Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891)
A Season in Hell: Published 1873
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
Street Haunting: Published 1927 (in The Yale Review, later in The Death of the Moth and Other Essays, 1942)
Martin Heidegger (1889–1976)
The Question Concerning Technology: Published 1954 (in The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays)
Leo Strauss (1899–1973)
Persecution and the Art of Writing (first chapter): Published 1952 (in Persecution and the Art of Writing)
Mortimer Jerome Adler (1902–2001)
Happiness, from The Great Ideas: A Syntopicon of Great Books of the Western World, Published 1952
Will, from The Great Ideas: A Syntopicon of Great Books of the Western World, Published 1952
Wisdom, from The Great Ideas: A Syntopicon of Great Books of the Western World, Published 1952
Alan Mathison Turing (1912–1954)
Computing Machinery and Intelligence: Published 1950 (in Mind journal)
Gilles Deleuze (1925–1995)
Spinoza: Practical Philosophy — Chapter 2: On the Difference Between the Ethics and a Morality: Published 1981 (English translation 1988)
John Rogers Searle (1932–)
Minds, Brains, and Science: Published 1984
Thomas Nagel (1937–)
What Is It Like to Be a Bat?: Published 1974 (in The Philosophical Review)
