Some Favorite Non-Technical Books (2018)

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Some Favorite Non-technical Books

Modified September 16, 2018

I'm often asked what non-technical books I read, so here is a list of a few of my favorites.

I (Bjarne Stroustrup) have also been asked where I find the time to read non-technical books. Actually, it is not a question of finding the time. Reading non-technical stuff is essential. Without it, I'd go nuts and lose my sense of proportion. As a practical matter, I read for about an hour almost every evening before going to bed -- trying to go straight from technical work to sleep is usually not a good idea. This "use" of literature and history is reflected in my choice of reading: There is very little "heavy" reading listed here.

Apologies for misspellings, slightly-wrong titles, etc. This list is made partly from memory.

Literature

• Adams, Douglas: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Dick Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency.
• Blixen, Karen (Isak Dinesen): Den Afrikanske Farm (Out of Africa). Etc. short stories.
• Camus, Albert: The Plague. The First man.
• Chandler, Raymond: The Long Goodbye. Farewell my Lovely.
• Dostovjevski, Fyodor: The Devils.
• Dumas, Alexandre: The Three Musketeers.
• Eco, Umberto: The Name of the Rose.
• Herriot, James: All Creatures Great and Small.
• Hansen, Martin A.: Orm og Tyr. Lykkelige Kristoffer. Loegneren (The Liar). -- If you appreciate subtlety and can find time to read one Danish book only, this is it.
• Hansen, Thorkild: Jens Munk. Det Lykkelige Arabien. Syv Sejlsten.
• Herodotus: The Histories. -- The first of its kind and still one of the best.
• Homer: The Odyssey. -- The first of its kind and still one of the best.
• O'Brian, Patrick: The Aubrey/Maturin series.
• Orwell, George: Animal Farm.
• Pears, Iain: An Instance of the Fingerpost.
• Sayers, Dorothy: Nine Taylors. Gaudy Night.
• Georges Simenon: Most Maigret stories.
• Steinbeck, John: Cannery Row. Sweet Thursday. The log from a voyage to the Sea of Cortez.
• Tolkien, J.R.R.: The Hobbit. The Lord of the Rings.
• Van Gulik: Judge Dee stories.
• ???: Beowulf.
• ???: Njall's Saga. Egil Skalagrim's Saga.

History

• Barber, Malcolm: The Trial of the Templars.
• Blanning, Tim: Frederick the Great.
• Bullock: Hitler and Stalin. -- if this doesn't scare you, nothing will.
• Churchill: A History of the English Speaking Peoples.
• Farwell, Byron: Queen Victoria's Little Wars.
• Hartfort, R.: Scott & Amundsen. -- what it takes to succeed isn't always what it takes to be seen as a hero (and vice versa).
• Hugh, Thomas: Conquest. -- the Spanish conquest of old Mexico.
• Keegan: History of WWII. The Face of Battle. The Price of Admirality.
• Manchester (and Reid): The Last Lion. -- a biography of Churchill.
• Massie, Robert K.: Dreadnought.
• McPherson: Battle Cry of Freedom. -- I usually find books on the American civil war boring and/or annoying; this one is exceptional.
• Norwich, John Julius: A History of Venice. The Byzantium trilogy.
• Roger, N.A.M: Safeguard of the Sea. Command of the Ocean. The Insatiable Earl.
• Runciman S.: The Sicilian Vespers.
• Schrama, Simon: Citizens. -- an antidote to revolutionary romanticism.
• Spence: The Search for Modern China.
• Tuchman, Barbara: The Guns of August. The Proud Tower. A Distant Mirror.

Etc.

• Ashe, G.: The Quest for Arthur. -- some facts about King Arthur.
• Bryson, Bill: Notes from a small island. In a sunburned country.
• Dahl, Roald: Boy.
• Dawkins, R: The Ancestor's Tale -- a must if you haven't looked at biology recently. The GOD Delusion. The greatest show on earth -- evidence with explanatory logic.
• Dennett, Daniel: Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. -- modern philosophy.
• Gottlieb, Anthony: The Dream of Reason. The Dream of Enlightenment.
• Gould, S.: Wonderful Life (the story of the Burgess shale).
• Johnson, Paul: The Birth of the Modern. Intellectuals. A History of the Modern World: 1917 to the 1990s. -- interestingly biased.
• Kierkegaard, S.: Enten-Eller (Either-Or).
• Milligan, Spike: Adolf Hitler: My part in his downfall. -- "Bouts of insanity saved us from going mad."
• Paulsen, G.: Winterdance. -- doing the Iditarod.
• Rasmussen, K.: Den store slaederejse. -- Going to Nome the hard way: 12,000 miles over the ice from Thule.
• Solzhenitsyn: The Gulag Achipelago. August 1914. -- I'll stick with the 1972 version.

Please don't think that this is all I read, or even necessarily representative of what I read. For example, both history and science fiction are underrepresented here. The reason is that there is so much to read, but few obvious "favorites." Reading widely is essential for understanding history, and reading several books on any important topic is key to avoid having your judgement unduly swayed by a single author. Morgan Stanley | Columbia University | Churchill College, Cambridge home | C++ | FAQ | technical FAQ | publications | WG21 papers | TC++PL | Tour++ | Programming | D&E | bio | interviews | videos | applications | guidelines | compilers

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