Have you ever read a book that you found simply amazing? Or perhaps one that somehow radically altered your way of thinking about something? What books completely blew your mind?
My degree is actually in Art History, but my all-time favorite books have nothing to do with that. They are as follows:
1) A brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking. Perhaps being a non-specialist actually increased my enjoyment of this amazing book. Black holes, wormholes, time-travel, the shape of time, etc. How could anyone not be absorbed in this? It is also very reader-friendly. You’ll never look at the world the same way again.
2) The Cosmos, Carl Sagan. I thought this was going to be boring. Instead, it opened my eyes to the sublimity and grandeur of the universe and the fragility of life. Written in the height of the cold war, this book also served as a plea for humans to use technology for good and not for evil, which perhaps sounds cliché, but was very brilliantly done. It is indeed still applicable today.
3) The Clash of Civilizations, Huntington. This may be a surprise. I’ll admit, it’s no masterpiece. Huntington admittedly treats all civilizations as monoliths. Yet Huntington dispelled quite a few misconceptions I had regarding relations between the West & the Rest. The doomsday scenario he concludes with (a theoretical war between the U.S. and China) is a bit too possible to be taken altogether lightly.