8 BOOKS EVERYONE SHOULD READ -- SAYS NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Looking for some light winter reading?

Some years ago a Reddit user asked the celebrity astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson for his essential reading list. Tyson responded with eight books, and curt comments on why he considers each essential.

Thanks to Reddit and to Open Culture.

1. The Bible – “to learn that it’s easier to be told by others what to think and believe than it is to think for yourself.”

2. The System of the World (The Principia) , by Isaac Newton – “to learn that the universe is a knowable place.”

3. On the Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin – “to learn of our kinship with all other life on Earth.”

4. Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift – “to learn, among other satirical lessons, that most of the time humans are Yahoos.”

5. The Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine – “to learn how the power of rational thought is the primary source of freedom in the world.”

6. The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith – “to learn that capitalism is an economy of greed, a force of nature unto itself.”

7. The Art of War, by Sun Tsu – “to learn that the act of killing fellow humans can be raised to an art.”

8. The Prince, by Machiavelli – “to learn that people not in power will do all they can to acquire it, and people in power will do all they can to keep it.”

COMING SOON: 8 AMERICAN BOOKS EVERYONE SHOULD READ — SAYS THE ATTIC