Maria Popova Book Recommendations
Maria Popova is a Bulgarian-born, American-based writer of literary and arts commentary and cultural criticism.
(Read more on Wikipedia)12 Books Recommended
Desert Solitaire
A Season in the Wilderness
by Edward Abbey
"So powerful, so enduring, so fiercely necessary today." - Maria Popova (Source)
Gathering Moss
A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses
by Robin Wall Kimmerer
"An extraordinary celebration of smallness and the grandeur of life." - Maria Popova (Source)
The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, 1837-1861
by Henry David Thoreau
"A book I continue to consider an existential Bible of secular scripture." - Maria Popova (Source)
On the Shortness of Life
by Lucius Seneca
"A poignant reminder of what we so deeply intuit yet so easily forget and so chronically fail to put into practice." - Maria Popova (Source)
Also recommended by:
On science, necessity, and the love of God
Essays
by Simone Weil
"You will find yourself at once infinitely gladdened by [the author]'s enduring ideas and infinitely saddened by the self-fulfilling prophecy embedded in this particular one." - Maria Popova (Source)
Man's Search for Meaning
by Viktor E. Frankl
"A meditation on what the gruesome experience of Auschwitz taught [the author] about the primary purpose of life: the quest for meaning, which sustained those who survived." - Maria Popova (Source)
Also recommended by:
Jordan Peterson, Jocko Willink, Esther Perel, Emma Watson, Naval Ravikant, David Blaine, Terry Crews, Jimmy Fallon, Tony Robbins, Simon Sinek, Michael Gervais, Daniel Pink, Ev Williams, Bryan Johnson, Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz, Ryan Holiday, Chelsea Handler, Aniela Gregorek, Turia Pitt, Fedor Holz, Patrick Bet-David, Michael Hyatt, Jim Kwik, Robin Black, Steve Kerr, Alastair Humphreys, Mark Manson, Lex Fridman, Tom Bilyeu, Phil Jackson, Shane Parrish, PewDiePie, Dave Elitch, Chip Conley
Stumbling on Happiness
by Daniel Todd Gilbert
"Explores the sometimes subtle, sometimes radical changes we can make in our everyday cognitive strategies in order to avoid ending up unhappy and disappointed." - Maria Popova (Source)
Also recommended by:
Sam Harris, Derek Sivers, Ev Williams, Andrew Wilkinson, Mark Manson
The Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert
Take a Whiff of That
by Richard Betts
"Lovely, and profound, and challenge our existing ideas about sensory experience." - Maria Popova (Source)
Also recommended by:
Still Writing
The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life
by Dani Shapiro
"[The author's] magnificent memoir of the writing life, at once disarmingly personal and brimming with widely resonant wisdom on the most universal challenges and joys of writing." - Maria Popova (Source)
The Republic
by Plato
"I’m actually gobsmacked that this isn’t required in order to be sworn into office, like the Constitution is required for us American immigrants when it comes time to gain American citizenship." - Maria Popova (Source)
Also recommended by:
Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Nolan Bushnell, Vlad Tenev, Mark Manson
A Rap on Race
by Margaret Mead
"Spectacular and pause-giving in its entirety — the kind of perspective-normalizing read that reminds us both how far we’ve come and how much further we have yet to go." - Maria Popova (Source)
