An old favorite of mine - Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China. It's the true story of three generations of a Chinese family, the grandmother was a concubine of a warlord, the mother was a communist official, and the daughter experienced the Cultural Revolution as a teenager and young adult. Really great read, hard to put down. And gives you a great overview of Chinese history, in the past century.

You learn about the fascinating and disturbing history of the 20th century in China, and how the communist revolution was experienced through the eyes of these three women. The stories are amazing. Particularly interesting was the story of the author's father, who was a communist official. He tried hard to be an honest man during and after the communist revolution, but then was completely crushed by the cultural revolution.

Octavia Butler's Patternist series is pretty wild. (Telepathic vampires yesterday, today, and tomorrow)

If you've not read Dune... Then you have some work to do.

Without dune there's no star wars or harry potter or a bunch of stuff.

It's a fantastic read.

Any of the Tom Clancy classics like

Hunt for Red October The Sum of All Fears

Louis-Ferdinand Céline: ''Journey to the End of the Night'' i

A semi-autobiographical novel, published in 1932. It follows the life and travels of cynical antihero Ferdinand Bardamu, set over several decades of his life, beginning with his experiences in World War I, colonial Africa, the United States, and the poor suburbs of Paris.

You'll never read a better book on a flight, on a toilet, during working hours, on Your honey-moon... whatever. It's crazy stuff

Not really that short, though.

If you're looking for entertaining fiction, I really like The Bonfire Of The Vanities, by Tom Wolfe. Really captures the wall street "masters of the universe" mood of the 1980s.

Fiction: Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Non-Fiction: The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt

These are both pretty accessible fun reads. I prefer that to heavy dense material when flying.

The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy & Catch-22. Both books never fail to make me lol

„The long walk” by Stephen King if you want a story or a magnificent „Same as ever” by Morgan Housel on timeless knowledge.

Favorite of all time is too hard to consider.

If you're looking for post-apocalyptic scifi, I enjoyed The Nexus Series and The Silo Series (currently being made into a TV show), but there are probably better books in the genre.

For casual non-fiction reading, the only books I can stand are anthropology or biographies of non-military figures. I've found most of Robert Greene's books enjoyable as each chapter usually has a historical anecdote.

Invisible Cities: Italo Calvino

It is a philisophical work in prose poetry about the travels of Marco Polo as he describes them to Kublai Khan. It is a particularly artsy but if you are willing to go out of your comfort zone on this one I always find it a good read for inspiration, I have read it several times.

Atlas Shrugged -Ayn Rand Come and Take it -Cody Wilson

"The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August" by Claire North.

The novel, published in 2014, is a science fiction and speculative fiction work that follows the extraordinary life of Harry August, who, upon death, is reborn at the same point in time with the memories of his previous lives intact. As Harry navigates through multiple lifetimes, he discovers a secret society of individuals with the same ability. The novel explores the consequences of this cyclic existence, delving into themes of morality, the impact of personal choices on history, and the complex dynamics of knowledge and power. With a unique narrative that spans different time periods, the book offers a captivating and thought-provoking exploration of the implications of living multiple lives.

How Paris Became Paris

One of my favorite science fiction books is "a canticle for liebowitz" 🤙

Vernor Vinge if you like science fiction.

Also Larry Niven underrated… try ‘Mote in God’s Eye’.

A philosopher normies should care about is Andy Clark. His newest, the experience machine is approachable and important.

The Surrender Experiment

The first novel by this extraordinary author showed that he will go far

J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye

Fiction, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Non fiction, Basic Economics by Dr. Thomas Sowell

Bonus, The Lord of the Rings audiobooks and The Silmarillion audiobook narrated by Andy Serkis. Masterpieces

A Drink Before the War by Denis Lehane Any “Dortmunder” book by Donald E. Westlake Creepers by David Morrell

Moby Dick - Herman Melville. The foundation of American literature and a timeless classic.

The Green Mile Any John Grisham - The Rainmaker is superb

Fight club. Diary. both from chuck palahniuk

Red rising, you won't be able to put it down.

The Politics of Experience and the Bird of Paradise by RD Lange. The Last Days of Jesus Christ Vampire by JG Eccarius. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

That Hideous Strength

The Celestine Prophecy

Way of kings

Children of Time.

Don Quixote is the best book of all time in my opinion

J R by William Gaddis.

11 year-old financial genius who threatens Wall Street with this one simple trick...

Gaddis has a strange style where the whole (very long) book is done in a breathless stream of consciousness, but it's really great. Thoughtful and humorous.

It's a bit dated now, but Lies My Teacher Told me is good if you like history.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - focuses on what it takes to be an outlier and how people got there. He may need to add a Bitcoin chapter, lol!

Fantastic thread @gmd 👏 this is a go to for what to read next, for at least a few years for me, I don't read that much, but when I do, I don't put it down

This could be a sticky/posted at top if they are a thing here

I'll share this on nostr and see if any plebs not joined up, fancy adding their choices.

And lastly if you want a basic easy read to lose yourself in. Girl on a train.

Mastering Bitcoin 3rd edition by Andreas is a quiet interesting read for a long flight.

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Going with 1984 by George Orwell. The systematic elimination of independent thought by removing vocabulary, the degeneration into a Big Brother dystopian state, the prevalent feelings of distrust and suspicion…all this makes it a suitable read for an enclosed space like the airplane haha

So many great suggestions in here... will have to do a lot of research, thanks everyone!!!