Favorite Books

By Ryan Shea · 2026

Philosophy & Spirituality

Finite and Infinite Games — James Carse
Man's Search for Meaning — Viktor E. Frankl
Tao Te Ching — Lao Tzu
Meditations — Marcus Aurelius
The Power of Now — Eckhart Tolle
The Way to Love — Anthony de Mello
Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing — Jed McKenna
The Power of Myth — Joseph Campbell

Science Fiction

Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress — Robert Heinlein
Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse, #1) — James Corey
Dune — Frank Herbert
Altered Carbon — Richard Morgan
Neuromancer — William Gibson
Snow Crash — Neal Stephenson
Prey — Michael Crichton
Foundation Trilogy: Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation — Isaac Asimov
Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy: The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, Death's End — Liu Cixin

Science & Systems

QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter — Richard Feynman
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions — Thomas S. Kuhn
The Book of Why — Judea Pearl
The Beginning of Infinity — David Deutsch
Thinking in Systems — Donella Meadows

Business & Entrepreneurship

The Four Steps to the Epiphany — Steve Blank
Founders at Work — Jessica Livingston
The Hard Thing About Hard Things — Ben Horowitz
Crossing the Chasm — Geoffrey A. Moore
Zero to One — Peter Thiel
The Design of Everyday Things — Donald A. Norman

Politics, Economics & Society

On Liberty — John Stuart Mill
Antifragile — Nassim Taleb
The Myth of the Rational Voter — Bryan Caplan

Biography & History

Sapiens — Yuval Noah Harari
The Better Angels of Our Nature — Steven Pinker
The Idea Factory — Jon Gertner
Steve Jobs — Walter Isaacson
Elon Musk — Ashlee Vance

Psychology & Personal Development

The Way of the Superior Man — David Deida
King, Warrior, Magician, Lover — Robert Moore
Iron John — Robert Bly

Literary Fiction

Patriotism — Yukio Mishima
The Alchemist — Paulo Coelho
The Stranger — Albert Camus
Siddhartha — Hermann Hesse
The Kite Runner — Khaled Hosseini
The Hobbit — J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King — J.R.R. Tolkien