This is mostly being posted for my own use. My seemingly erratic choice of readings has a semi-coherent philosophy behind it. That is a general philosophy of what it takes to understand the world we live in. I think the modern education system does a woefully poor job of providing our citizens with the knowledge they need to interpret the world, myself included. Recognizing this lack in myself I put together some general notions of what it would take to not feel lost in regards to the world around me. I have divided this into a set of categories which I have sought to gain a general knowledge of. As I complete my readings in various categories have begun to find it more difficult to remember when browsing used book stores which categories I still need to complete books in. Hence, this list. It also provides me readers with a way of knowing if I have the kind of background necessary to make the sweeping pronouncements I sometimes make or if I am speaking from a position of ignorance on a given topic. I think it would be highly useful if more bloggers did the same to give their readers some idea of their expertise and to assist those wishing to educate themselves in choosing books worth reading. I found when I was younger that the hardest thing about self-educating was finding which books were worth reading and which a waste of time. I wasted a lot of time on useless books, though occasionally useless books are worthwhile because other people are reading them and you need to understand their perspective. This list won't be entirely inclusive, it will include all the books I own but books I have sold, lost, or had temporarily through the library won't necessarily be included. These will be added sporadically as I remember them.
What this list will include is a listing of non-fiction books and university courses I have taken. It will not include fiction books or journal articles, so there remain a few areas where I know more than this list lets on (like the 1000+ pages on international finance, trade, currency manipulation, and China I have been reading for the past few months).
The Foundation:
Literature:
The initial foundation of any education is in literature, and particularly methods of interpreting literature. This is because to truly understand what you are reading it is essential to realize the purposes of the author and to recognize bias. While training in literature is not the only way of achieving this it is the most accessible. A second reason for studying literature is to get a grasp of foreign cultures and how culture has influenced though through the ages. While you can grasp this through travel, it's rather more expensive to do that way and it can't really tell you how thought has changed over time.
I received this training through university studies. For general overviews of literature standard university texts, such as the Norton Anthologies, are good places to start. The introductions are a key piece of reading to get you some idea of textual analysis and should not be skipped, however dull.
The Sciences:
In modern life the sciences have become so influential that it is essential to have a basic understanding of scientific principles. To really understand them however, it is necessary to delve more deeply into at least one additional field, and preferably more. My own scientific education was mostly through university, though I've been known to pick up cheap undergrad textbooks when available (such as through my siblings, thanks again!)
University Courses:
Biology:
Biology 101 (I assume anyway)
Immunology (Immunobiology 5 by Janeway, with animated cd-ROM!)
Physiology (Human Physiology 2nd ed. by Silverthorn)
Genetics
Biochemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry 101
Organic Chemistry
Physical Chemistry
Physics:
Physics 101
Computer Science: (not really a science in my opinion, which isn't meant to deny its importance or rigor, but I don't intend for a special section on technical expertise)
Computer Science 101
Stuff I read:
Geology: Earth 8th edition by Tarbuck and Lutgens
The Cosmic Perspective 3rd Edition by Bennet et al.
History
I believe history is the basic foundation to understanding our social world. A good knowledge of history should go along with, and to some extent take priority over, reading about the other social sciences. This of course isn't entirely possible, both due to the necessity of understanding some social science to interpret history and because if you want to work in a social sciences field there is no opportunity to spend several years reading history before getting on with your life. In general, my plan for each subject area is to read two general sources and depending on my personal interest in the subject to delve down deeper from there into specific issues. Also, I believe it is important to gain some knowledge of historical methodology, either through coursework or through reading on the subject. I had to pick it up through reading the introductions to many books which has made me reassess some of my earlier thoughts on various subjects. I recommend doing this earlier rather than later by simply picking up a book or two on historical methodology or taking some courses. Also, reading secondary sources should precede reading primary. Most early historians aren't Thucydides and are writing from a fairly different perspective from the modern. Primary sources are very valuable and enjoyable to read but it is difficult to interpret them without some guidance to the period as a whole, too many assumptions are different between the author and reader. Of course, the downside to this is that it may mean becoming too influenced by the secondary authors on the period in question, which is why multiple perspectives are valuable.
University Coursework:
An introductory seminar on Alexander the Great.
Stuff I read:
General History:
Guns, Germs, and Steel. Diamond.
Modern Times. Johnson.
Birth of the Modern. Johnson.
Europe. A History. Davies.
The Origins of Political Order. Fukuyama.
Strange Parallels Vol. 1 and 2. Liberman
Plagues and Peoples. McNeil.
Trade and Civilization in the Indian Ocean. Chadhuri.
Plagues and Peoples McNeil
Ancient History (Classical) (This is likely to be pretty incomplete. I read a lot of this when younger and have only recently started to fill in the gaps)
Many primary sources.
Gibbon
The Making of the Roman Army (Keppie)
A Guide to the Ancient World (Grant, I was seriously weird enough when younger to read through a dictionary of classical places and events)
The Peloponnesian War. Thucydides.
From Alexander to Actium Green
From Cyrus to Alexander. Briant
The Fall of the Roman Empire. Heather.
The Roman Republic. Crawford
Ancient History (the really old stuff)
A History of the Ancient Near East by Mieroop
Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Shaw
China
The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han
The Early Chinese Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties
The Early Chinese Empires: The Tang Dynasties
The Age of Confucian Rule: Kuhn
Imperial China by Mote
China Marches West Perdue.
The Paradox of China's Post-Mao Reforms by Goldman and MacFarquhar
The Search for Modern China by Spence
Modernization and Revolution in China by Grasso et al
Cambridge Ancient History of China
Cambridge History of China Vol. 1, 3, 6-8
Southeast Asia
The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia Vol 1 - IV
Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 2 Volumes by Anthony Reid
Indonesian Destinies by Friend
Terrorism and Violence in Southeast Asia. Smith.
Jihad in paradise : Islam and politics in Southeast Asia. Millard.
Militant Islam in Southeast Asia. Abuza.
Japan:
Japan: The System that Soured by Katz
Hirohito. Bix
Japan at War. Cook and Cook
Japan: A Modern History. McClain
Embracing Defeat. Dower
The Machine that Changed the World.
India:
A New History of India. Wolpert
Early India. Thapar
The Great Mutiny. Hibbert
The Mughal Empire. Richards
The Islamic World (not otherwise categorized, this is kinda a grab bag)
Islam in History. Lewis
A Peace to End All Peace. Fromkin
The Missing Peace: Dennis Ross
History of the Arabs: Hitti
Islam Observed: Geertz
Sahara: Villiers and Hirtle
The Suez Crisis
The Economic Diplomacy of the Suez Crisis
Crisis: The Inside Story of the Suez Conspiracy
Descent to Suez
Israel:
A History of Israel. Sachar.
Africa:
Africa Reader
Africa in Modern History. Davidson
Latin America:
Liberators. Harvey.
The Conquest of New Spain. Diaz
The Course of Mexican History. Meyer et al.
A History of Brazil 2nd Ed.. Burns.
Russia:
The Gulag Archipelago. Solzhenitsyn (I'm not entirely sure this belongs in history, but still...)
A History of Modern Russia. Service
The Making of Modern Russia. Kochan and Keep
The Economic History of the USSR. Alec Nove
The Russian Revolution and Bolshevik Victory. Suny and Adams.
The Ottoman Empire and Turkey:
The Ottoman Centuries. Lord Kinross
Osman's Dream. Finkel.
The warrior diplomats : guardians of the national security and modernization of Turkey / Metin Tamkoç.
Dangerous neighborhood : contemporary issues in Turkey’s foreign relations / Michael S. Radu, editor.
Turkey at the Crossroads
Ataturk
United States:
Plan of Attack. Woodward.
A History of the American People. Johnson.
The Civil War. Hansen.
American Lion. Meacham.
Sea of Glory. Philbrick.
Democracy in America. Tocqueville.
A People's History of the United States. Zinn.
Origins of the New South. Woodward.
The Lincoln Douglass Debates.
Nothing Like it in the World. Ambrose.
Federalist Papers. Signet Edition.
Anti Federalist Papers. Signet edition.
The Power Broker. Caro.
The Glorious Cause. Middlekauff.
Eisenhower and the Suez Crisis of 1956
The New Deal : a modern history / Michael Hiltzik.
Endangered dreams : the Great Depression in California / Kevin Starr.
Herbert H. Lehman and New York's Little New Deal
Pennsylvania's Little New Deal
American social reform movements.
The sorrows of empire : militarism, secrecy, and the end of the Republic / Chalmers Johnson.
Blowback
Improbable dangers : U.S. conceptions of threat in the Cold War and after / Robert H. Johnson.
Europe:
Europe General:
Europe in the Sixteenth Century 2nd ed. Koenigsberger, Mosse, and Bowler.
Europe Divided. Elliott
The Ancien Regime in Europe. Williams.
Europe. A History. Davies.
Coercion, Capital, and European States. Tilly.
The Economy of Europe in an Age of Crisis. Jan de Vries.
Oxford History of Medieval Europe. Holmes.
Byzantium:
The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire. Luttwak.
A Short History of Byzantium. Norwich.
Byzantium. 3 Vol. Norwich.
The Making of Byzantium, 600 - 1025
Italy:
Florentine Histories. Machiavelli.
The Making of Italy. Smith.
The Italian City Republics. Davies.
Venice: Pure City (?)
Venice Triumphant:
Britain:
The Isles. Davies.
The Rise and Fall of the British Empire. James.
The Enlightened Economy. Mokyr.
Britain and the Suez Crisis
British Politics in the Suez Crisis
France:
Citizens. Schama.
Germany:
Reflections and Reminiscences. Bismarck.
Bismarck and the German Empire. Eyck
The Thirty Years War. Asch.
The Thirty Years War. Wilson.
Netherlands:
The Dutch Republic. Israel.
Poland
God's Playground. Davies.
Spain.
Imperial Spain 1469-1716. Elliott
Religious History:
The Reformation. MacCulloch.
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. MacCulloch.
Greece
Karamanlis, the restorer of Greek democracy
Greece since 1945 : politics, economy, and society / David H. Close.
Cyprus:
Cyprus, conflict and negotiation, 1960-1980
The work of the UN in Cyprus :
Cyprus : a contemporary problem in historical perspective / Van Coufoudakis.
Cyprus and international peacemaking
Colonialism:
Voyages and Discoveries. Hakluyt
Over the Edge of the World. Bergreen
Technology:
The Lever of Riches. Mokyr.
Medieval Technology and Social Change. White.
Trade:
Power and Plenty. Findlay and O'Rourke.
War:
The Cambridge History of Warfare. Parker.
War in European History. Howard.
More Specialized:
Economics:
Coursework:
Econ 101
200 level Econ course (I think micro)
International Economics Krugman and Obstfeld was the textbook
American Economic History
Books:
Classics:
Wealth of Nations. Adam Smith.
Capital. Marx
Report on Manufactures. Hamilton.
Finance:
Manias, Panics, and Crashes. Kindleberger
This Time is Different. Reinhart and Rogoff.
The US-Sino Currency Dispute: New Insights from Economics, Politics, and Law. Debating Chinese Exchange Policy. Goldstein.
Toward an East Asian Exchange Rate Regime. Chung and Eichengreen.
Dollar and Yen: Resolving Economic Conflict Between the United States and Japan. McKinnon and Ohno.
Currency Competition and Foreign Exchange Markets: The Dollar, the Yen, and the Euro
General Economics.
The Machine that Changed the World. Womack et al.
The Road to Serfdom. Hayek.
The General Theory. Keynes.
Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. Schumpeter
The Industrious Revolution. Jan de Vries
The Great Stagnation. Cowen.
Structure and Change in Economic History. North
Political Science:
Books:
Classics:
Wealth of Nations. Adam Smith.
Capital. Marx
The Prince. Machiavelli.
Discourses on Livy. Machiavelli.
Politics. Aristotle.
Two Treatises on Government. Locke.
Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers.
The Marx Engles Reader. Tucker.
On Liberty and Other Essays. Mill.
Utilitarianism. Mill.
Utopia. More.
Toward Perpetual Peace and Other Writings on Politics, Peace and History. Kant.
Rights of Man. Thomas Paine.
The Basic Political Writings. Rousseau (Hackett edition)
Leviathan. Hobbes.
Imperialism. Hobson.
Muqaddimah. Khaldun.
Democracy in America. Tocqueville.
Democratic Theory
The Public and Its Problems. Dewey.
Public Opinion. Lippmann.
Postcommunism and the Theory of Democracy.
A Preface to Democratic Theory. Dahl.
The Democracy Sourcebook. Dahl et al.
Capitalism and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe. Ekiert.
Contentious Politics (Terrorism)
Inside Rebellion. Weinstein.
Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife. Nagl.
Inside Terrorism. Hoffman.
Nuclear Terrorism. Allison
Terror in the Mind of God. Juergensmeyer
The Political Economy of Terrorism. Enders.
Dying to Kill. Bloom.
The Marketing of Rebellion. Bob.
The Politics of Collective Violence. Tilly.
Theorizing Revolutions.
Riots, Pogroms, Jihad
Militant Islam in Southeast Asia
The Broken Crescent
Jihad in Paradise
Landscapes of the Jihad
Terrorism and Violence in Southeast Asia
The Age of Sacred Terror
Foreign Policy
Diplomacy. Kissinger.
Crisis. Kissinger.
Does America Need a Foreign Policy. Kissinger.
Essence of Decision. Allison.
The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy. Sobel
Defending the National Interest. Krasner.
America Against the World. Kohut.
A Problem from Hell. Power.
The New Imperialism. Harvey.
Of Paradise and Power. Kagan.
Statecraft. Thatcher.
American Foreign Policy. Witkopf.
Special Providence. Mead.
Does Foreign Aid Really Work? Riddell.
When Allies Differ: Anglo American Relations During the Suez and Falklands Crises. Richardson
A Special Relationship: Anglo-American Relations in the Cold War and After. Dumbrell
Bureaucratic politics and foreign policy
Diplomats and diplomacy for the 21st century
War
Triangulating Peace. Russett and Oneal.
War in European History. Howard.
The Culture of National Security. Katzenstein.
War in the Tribal Zone. Ferguson etatl.
In the Shadow of the Garrison State. Friedberg.
The War Puzzle. Vasquez.
Man, the State, and War. Waltz.
Realism.
The Twenty Years' Crisis. Carr.
Neorealism and its Critics. Keohane.
Politics Among Nations. Morgenthau.
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. Mearsheimer.
Political Economy.
Adam Smith in Beijing. Arrighi.
Industry and Empire. Hobsbawn.
The Rise and Decline of Nations. Olson.
Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism. Anderson.
Before European Hegemony. Abu-Lughod.
Imperialsim. Hobson.
The Great Transformation. Polanyi.
The Commanding Heights. Yergin.
Bread and Democracy in Germany. Gerschenkron.
U.S. Power and the Multinational Corporation. Gilpin.
The Rise and Fall of Great Powers. Kennedy.
Behavioral Approaches
Risk-Taking in International Politics. McDermott
Analogies at War. Khong.
Political Psychology in International Relations.
Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment. Nisbett and Ross
Nationalism.
Liberal Nationalism. Tamir
Nationalism Reframed. Brubaker.
Nations and Nationalism. Gellner.
Communist and Post-Communist Studies.
New World Disorder. Jowitt.
The Prospects for Liberal Nationalism in Post-Leninist States. Chen.
Development of the Modern World.
The Modern World System. Wallerstein.
The Great Divergence. Pomeranz.
Power and Plenty. Findlay and O'Rourke.
Civilization and Capitalism. Braudel.
Lever of Riches. Mokyr.
The Rise of the Western World. North.
Structure and Change in Economic History. North.
The Enlightened Economy. Mokyr.
Culture
Cultural realism : strategic culture and grand strategy in Chinese history / Alastair Iain Johnston.
General Social and Political.
The Grand Chessboard. Brzezinski.
Guns, Germs, and Steel. Diamond. (?)
The Clash of Civilizations. Huntington.
World on Fire. Chua.
Constructing the World Polity. Ruggie.
Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Moore.
Democracy, Revolution, and History. Skocpol.
After Hegemony. Keohane.
Conservative Mind. Kirk.
Rethinking Social Policy. Jencks.
Wealth and Welfare States. Garfinkel, Rainwater, and Smeeding.
Losing Ground. Murray.
Do-Gooders. Charen.
Religion
The Bible.
The Koran.
Analects. Confucious
Upanishads. (Penguin Classics edition.)
Tao te Ching
A collection of writing by Mencius (cannot recall the specific title or collection)
