Last weekend I read a thread on X asking the question what is the best novel ever, if you can only pick one?

I don’t know. But it got me thinking about which books I recommend frequently, so I thought I’d share a list:

The Count of Monte christo Only just read this as an adult, and it’s an incredible novel. It reads like a historic fiction written today, and it’s a wonderful exploration of human agency.

Atlas shrugged Rand is always controversial, but to me her villains are wonderful renditions of how we go wrong as humans. Explains why utopias always fail.

The alchemist The modern fable about living well and human achievement.

Discworld This entire series is an amazing world. Pratchett was a great observer of humans, and laugh out loud hilarious. Start with The Truth or Night Watch. The early ones haven’t aged well.

A Moveable Feast by Hemingway Just brilliant. Makes me want to move to Paris and become an artist. The world feels so real I get nostalgic when I think of the book, and I’ve never even been to Paris.

The beginning of infinity David Deutsch incredible work. You can understand everything. And this book gives you at least one of the foundational ways of thinking. This book will make you 5x smarter.