The Expulsion of the Other by Byung-Chul Han

According to Han, the days of the ‘Other’ are waning in this age of excessive communication, information and consumption. The result is a 'terror of the Same', where we no longer pursue knowledge, insight and experience but are instead reduced to echo chambers of a media-saturated sameness. Han offers a stark and challenging wake-up call to how we see ourselves in modern culture.

Break Blow Burn by Camille Paglia

“She flies as high as you can go. . . . Bold and convincing. . . . Exemplary. . . . A rich book.” —The New York Times Book Review

The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World — by Iain McGilchrist

Saving Beauty by Byung-Chul Han

Cultural theorist Byung-Chul Han reinvigorates the senses for our digital age.

Ways of Attending: How our Divided Brain Constructs the World— by Iain McGilchrist

The Origins of Creativity

From famed biologist and two time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward O. Wilson.

I and Thou by Martin Buber

A profound hallmark of western philosophy and spiritualism.

The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life

A remarkable and fascinating fusion of ideas. Part art and part science. By Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, and Tom Pyszczynski.

The True Believer by Eric Hoffer

Written by a Longshoreman and first published in the early 50's. Eric Hoffer received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work. Considered a “brilliant and original inquiry.”

Upstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver

"Emphasizing the significance of her childhood 'friend' Walt Whitman, through whose work she first understood that a poem is a temple, 'a place to enter, and in which to feel,' and who encouraged her to vanish into the world of her writing, Oliver meditates on the forces that allowed her to create a life for herself out of work and love. As she writes, 'I could not be a poet without the natural world. Someone else could. But not me. For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple.' Upstream follows Oliver as she contemplates the pleasure of artistic labor, her boundless curiosity for the flora and fauna that surround her, and the responsibility she has inherited from Shelley, Wordsworth, Emerson, Poe, and Frost, the great thinkers and writers of the past, to live thoughtfully, intelligently, and to observe with passion."

Ibn Tufayl's Hayy Ibn Yaqzan: A Philosophical Tale

A philosophical fable, and a classic of medieval philosophy. The Andalusian philosopher, Ibn Tufayl (d. 1185), tells the tale of a child raised by a doe on an isolated island. He grows up to discover the truth about the world and his own place in it, unaided—but also unimpeded—by society, language, or tradition. Hayy’s discoveries about God, nature, and man challenge the values his culture and times as well as those of every contemporary society.

Simon Schama's Power of Art

"Great art has dreadful manners... the hushed reverence of the gallery can fool you into believing masterpieces are polite things, visions that soothe, charm and beguile, but actually they are thugs. Merciless and wily, the greatest paintings grab you in a headlock, rough up your composure and then proceed in short order to rearrange your sense of reality..."

Nassim Taleb's Fooled by Randomness

Taleb's is a lively and spirited voice, never a dull moment. He's an entertaining thinker.

Divine Fury by Darrin M. McMahon

A comprehensive history of the often ill-defined concept of genius. Divine Fury follows its fortunes through the ages and our lives.

Writings on Art — Mark Rothko

A sophisticated, deeply knowledgeable, and philosophical artist who was also a passionate and articulate writer.

The Principles of Uncertainty — By Maira Kalman

"An irresistible invitation to experience life through a beloved artist's psyche”.

I is an Other — by James Geary

The secret life of metaphor and how it shapes the way we see and think about the world.

Man and His Symbols — By Carl Jung

The world-famous Swiss psychologist explains his enormously influential theory of symbolism.

The Hero With a Thousand Faces

Since its release in 1949, Joseph Campbell's revolutionary understanding of comparative mythology has influenced millions of readers.

The Power of Myth

The Power of Myth launched an extraordinary resurgence of interest in Joseph Campbell and his work. To Campbell, mythology was the “song of the universe, the music of the spheres.” With Bill Moyers, The Power of Myth touches on subjects from modern marriage to virgin births, from Jesus to John Lennon, offering a combination of intelligence and wit.

You Must Change Your Life

Rachel Corbett tells the story of Rainer Maria Rilke and Auguste Rodin's relationship. A captivating insight into art and culture by Rachel Corbett.

Think Fast and Thinking Slow

From a beloved Nobel Laureate, Daniel Kahneman. Essential for anyone who wishes to study their own blind-spots and biases.

Becoming Wise — Krista Tippett

"In the end, perhaps the greatest blessing conveyed by the lessons of spiritual genius Tippett harvests in Becoming Wise is the strength to meet the world where it really is, and then to make it better."

Wonders of Life: Exploring the Most Extraordinary Phenomenon in the Universe

Professor Cox and Andrew Cohen transform the sometimes difficult parts of science into an inspiring read.

An American Conscience: The Reinhold Niebuhr Story

Jeremy L. Sabella offers an insight into the thinking, life, and journey of Reinhold Niebuhr. Interviews with Jimmy Carter, David Brooks, and Cornel West provide a deep perspective into an theologian of another time.

An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments

"The antidote to fuzzy thinking, with furry animals!" Too much fun while still learning. By Ali Almossawi.

The Demon-Haunted World

Carl Sagan lives on not just as a poet of science, but as an voice and mind who challenged our perceptions of reality.

Ways of Seeing — John Berger

This classic book and TV series first revealed aspects of a cultural landscape that have since become commonplace.

Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists

Kay Larson's inquiry into post war American culture is captured through the spirit and work of John Cage. Filled with layers of insights, wisdoms and revelations, Kay Larson's book is a study in modern living.

The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood

Acclaimed science writer James Gleick.

Thoughts Without A Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective — Mark Epstein

Thoughts Without a Thinker describes the unique psychological contributions offered by the teachings of Buddhism.

The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present

By Nobel Prize winner Eric R. Kandel.

Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World

Lisa Randall gives us an overview into physics and the role of science in our lives.

Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity as Seen Through the Lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, Gandhi

Howard Gardner gives a view of creativity through portraits of seven figures who each reinvented an area of human endeavour.

On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes

Alexandra Horowitz’s On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes shows us how to see the spectacle of the ordinary—to practice, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle put it, 'the observation of trifles.'

The Rise — by Sarah Lewis

"The gift of failure is a riddle: it will always be both the void and the start of infinite possibility."

SOME SITES...

On Wisdom

Igor Grossmann and Charles Cassidy host the ‘On Wisdom’ site exploring this vital, but often overlooked piece of our nature. “The podcast thrives on a diet of freewheeling conversation… decision-making, wellbeing, and society and includes regular guests spots with leading behavioral scientists from the field of wisdom research and beyond.” A great tool for learning.

Aeon

A unique digital magazine that promotes among the best writing and thinking today. And a beautiful mission statement "committed to big ideas, serious enquiry and a humane worldview. That’s it."

Nautilus

A science website that covers both the arts and sciences, weaving them into an endless, wandering path of discovery. Rich in image, text and thought, it's a favourite for learning.

Big Think

A website that offers ideas to help manage and master the universe of information. Using a network of 2,000 fellows and guest speakers — who comprise the top thinkers and doers from around the globe — they provide a daily feed of science, art, philosophy and life.

On Being — With Krista Tippett

"What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live?" A collection of interviews from leading thinkers, politicians, theologians and artists that are endlessly engaging — from author, journalist and broadcaster Krista Tippett. (More)

Quanta Magazine

Albert Einstein called photons “quanta of light.” Quanta Magazine's goal is to “illuminate science.”

THE PARIS REVIEW

Literary critic Joe David Bellamy described the Review as "one of the single most persistent acts of cultural conservation in the history of the world." William Styron championed one of the most interesting mission statements I've read, "The Paris Review hopes to emphasize creative work—fiction and poetry—not to the exclusion of criticism, but with the aim in mind of merely removing criticism from the dominating place it holds in most literary magazines... I think The Paris Review should welcome these people into its pages: the good writers and good poets, the non-drumbeaters and non-axe-grinders. So long as they're good."