Knowledge anxiety people will usually think: there are over 160 million books out there. If I read 30 books per year, I will need over 5 million years to completly reading all of them. Actually, I will never finish reading as there are ~4 million books published each year.

How to solve knowledge anxiety - will it help if I glance at one book per subject in my lifetime?

I’ve been wanting to search the ocean of the books and find one sentence that can enlighten me. That is a very powerful sentence, striking enough to touch the me. It will be very personal. But don’t all of us look for this “aha-moment” when we read for whatever reason?

In this era of chatbots, I am curious if AI can help me succinctly pick a few books per subject that cover everything in our modern lives. I mean it can be history, religion, world war too, but I am just not particularly interested in that type of book, which is tends to be subjective. I strongly believe history is written by the dominant, powerful winner as losers die and cannot write down their glories. The winner will always glorify their accomplishment while downplaying their mistakes. Because we cannot replay history like a YouTube video, the words cannot be trusted. Do not get me wrong, I still believe the key events are real, it is just the rationale behind these decision are often more complicated than words from a third party can describe.

What I really cherish are the words that you put evidence on. The fictions that enlighten people to think philosophically. So, if your interests do align with mine, let’s try the AI-generated 300-book lists.

Subject # Category Subject 1. The Hook (Entry Point) 2. The Deep Dive (Technical) 3. The Application (Behavior Change) 1 Digital Frontier Computer Science Code (Charles Petzold) The Universal Computer (Martin Davis) The Pragmatic Programmer (Hunt/Thomas) 2 Digital Frontier Artificial Intelligence The Master Algorithm (Pedro Domingos) The Alignment Problem (Brian Christian) AI Superpowers (Kai-Fu Lee) 3 Digital Frontier Cryptography The Code Book (Simon Singh) The Cuckoo’s Egg (Cliff Stoll) Secrets and Lies (Bruce Schneier) 4 Digital Frontier Data Science Naked Statistics (Charles Wheelan) The Signal and the Noise (Nate Silver) Factfulness (Hans Rosling) 5 Digital Frontier Robotics How to Build a Robot (Rodney Brooks) Robot Futures (I.R. Nourbakhsh) LEGO Mindstorms Idea Book (Y. Isogawa) 6 Living World Evolutionary Biology The Greatest Show on Earth (R. Dawkins) Your Inner Fish (Neil Shubin) The Story of the Human Body (D. Lieberman) 7 Living World Genetics The Gene (Siddhartha Mukherjee) A Crack in Creation (Jennifer Doudna) She Has Her Mother’s Laugh (Carl Zimmer) 8 Living World Biochemistry The Vital Question (Nick Lane) Molecules of Murder (John Emsley) The Glucose Revolution (J. Inchauspé) 9 Living World Neuroscience The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (O. Sacks) Behave (Robert Sapolsky) The Brain That Changes Itself (N. Doidge) 10 Living World Microbiology I Contain Multitudes (Ed Yong) Spillover (David Quammen) 10% Human (Alanna Collen) 11 Human Machine Sports Biology The Sports Gene (David Epstein) The Body (Bill Bryson) Becoming a Supple Leopard (Kelly Starrett) 12 Human Machine Nutrition Food Rules (Michael Pollan) Good Calories, Bad Calories (Gary Taubes) Burn (Herman Pontzer) 13 Human Machine Longevity Lifespan (David Sinclair) The Telomere Effect (Blackburn/Epel) Outlive (Peter Attia) 14 Human Machine Sleep Science Why We Sleep (Matthew Walker) The Sleep Solution (W. Chris Winter) Sleep Smarter (Shawn Stevenson) 15 Human Machine Endocrinology Adrenaline Junkie’s Feast (M. Bennett) The Female/Male Brain (L. Brizendine) The Hormone Cure (Sara Gottfried) 16 Human Mind Cognitive Psychology Thinking, Fast and Slow (D. Kahneman) Proust and the Squid (M. Wolf) The Art of Learning (Josh Waitzkin) 17 Human Mind Behavioral Economics Predictably Irrational (Dan Ariely) The Undoing Project (Michael Lewis) Nudge (Thaler & Sunstein) 18 Human Mind Social Psychology The Tipping Point (M. Gladwell) The Lucifer Effect (Philip Zimbardo) Influence (Robert Cialdini) 19 Human Mind Developmental Psych The Philosophical Baby (Alison Gopnik) Far From the Tree (Andrew Solomon) Range (David Epstein) 20 Human Mind Linguistics The Language Instinct (Steven Pinker) Don’t Sleep, There are Snakes (D. Everett) Never Split the Difference (C. Voss) 21 Human Mind Logic & Critical Thinking The Demon-Haunted World (Carl Sagan) Gödel, Escher, Bach (D. Hofstadter) The Organized Mind (D. Levitin) 22 Human Mind Learning Science Moonwalking with Einstein (J. Foer) How We Learn (Stanislas Dehaene) Make It Stick (Peter Brown) 23 Human Mind Perception & Senses An Immense World (Ed Yong) Incognito (David Eagleman) A Natural History of the Senses (D. Ackerman) 24 Human Mind Anthro-zoology The Inner Life of Animals (P. Wohlleben) Our Inner Ape (Frans de Waal) The Genius of Dogs (Brian Hare) 25 Human Mind Archetypal Psych The Hero with a Thousand Faces (J. Campbell) Modern Man in Search of a Soul (C. Jung) King, Warrior, Magician, Lover (Moore/Gillette) 26 Society Macroeconomics Economics in One Lesson (H. Hazlitt) The Price of Time (Edward Chancellor) The Deficit Myth (Stephanie Kelton) 27 Society Microeconomics The Undercover Economist (Tim Harford) The Armchair Economist (Steven Landsburg) Freakonomics (Levitt/Dubner) 28 Society Political Science Why Nations Fail (Acemoglu/Robinson) The Origins of Political Order (F. Fukuyama) The Dictator’s Handbook (Bueno de Mesquita) 29 Society Sociology The Tipping Point (M. Gladwell) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (E. Goffman) Bowling Alone (Robert Putnam) 30 Society Anthropology Guns, Germs, and Steel (J. Diamond) Debt: The First 5,000 Years (D. Graeber) The Art of Not Being Governed (James Scott) 31 Society Urban Planning The Happy City (Charles Montgomery) The Death and Life of Great American Cities (J. Jacobs) Walkable City (Jeff Speck) 32 Society International Relations The Accidental Superpower (Peter Zeihan) Prisoners of Geography (Tim Marshall) The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (J. Mearsheimer) 33 Society Law & Jurisprudence The Rule of Law (Tom Bingham) The Bramble Bush (Karl Llewellyn) The New Jim Crow (Michelle Alexander) 34 Society Criminology Mindhunter (John Douglas) The Anatomy of Violence (Adrian Raine) The Gift of Fear (Gavin de Becker) 35 Society Education Systems Creative Schools (Ken Robinson) The Schools We Need (E.D. Hirsch) Dumbing Us Down (John Taylor Gatto) 36 Business Management/Leadership Leaders Eat Last (Simon Sinek) High Output Management (Andy Grove) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Covey) 37 Business Marketing/Persuasion Contagious (Jonah Berger) Ogilvy on Advertising (David Ogilvy) Building a StoryBrand (Donald Miller) 38 Business Finance & Investing The Psychology of Money (Morgan Housel) The Intelligent Investor (B. Graham) Rich Dad Poor Dad (Robert Kiyosaki) 39 Business Entrepreneurship The Lean Startup (Eric Ries) Zero to One (Peter Thiel) The 4-Hour Workweek (Tim Ferriss) 40 Business Strategy Good Strategy/Bad Strategy (R. Rumelt) Competitive Strategy (Michael Porter) The Art of War (Sun Tzu) 41 Tech Cryptography/Cyber The Code Book (Simon Singh) Secrets and Lies (B. Schneier) Ghost in the Wires (Kevin Mitnick) 42 Tech Blockchain The Bitcoin Standard (S. Ammous) Digital Gold (Nathaniel Popper) The Truth Machine (Casey/Vigna) 43 Tech Space Exploration Packing for Mars (Mary Roach) The Right Stuff (Tom Wolfe) Endurance (Scott Kelly) 44 Math Mathematics (Foundations) The Joy of x (Steven Strogatz) Fermat’s Enigma (Simon Singh) How Not to Be Wrong (Jordan Ellenberg) 45 Math Game Theory The Art of Strategy (Dixit/Nalebuff) Theory of Games (von Neumann) The Evolution of Cooperation (R. Axelrod) 46 Business Negotiation Never Split the Difference (C. Voss) Getting to Yes (Fisher/Ury) Start with No (Jim Camp) 47 Business Product Design The Design of Everyday Things (D. Norman) Creative Selection (Ken Kocienda) Hooked (Nir Eyal) 48 Business Supply Chain The Box (Marc Levinson) The Goal (Eliyahu Goldratt) Door to Door (Edward Humes) 49 Business Org Behavior Work Rules! (Laszlo Bock) Images of Organization (G. Morgan) Atomic Habits (James Clear) 50 Business Real Estate The Color of Law (R. Rothstein) Emerging Real Estate Markets (Lindahl) The Book on Rental Property Investing (Turner) 51 History Ancient History SPQR (Mary Beard) The Histories (Herodotus) Meditations (Marcus Aurelius) 52 History Military Strategy The Book of Five Rings (M. Musashi) On War (Carl von Clausewitz) The 33 Strategies of War (R. Greene) 53 History History of Science The Gene (S. Mukherjee) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (Kuhn) The Invention of Nature (A. Wulf) 54 History Industrial Revolution The Enlightened Economy (Joel Mokyr) The Maker of the Modern World (J. Meyer) The Victorian Internet (Tom Standage) 55 History Globalization The World is Flat (Thomas Friedman) Power and Progress (Acemoglu/Johnson) The Silk Roads (Peter Frankopan) 56 Arts Art History The Story of Art (E.H. Gombrich) Ways of Seeing (John Berger) Steal Like an Artist (Austin Kleon) 57 Arts Music Theory/History How Music Works (David Byrne) The Rest is Noise (Alex Ross) Musicophilia (Oliver Sacks) 58 Arts Religious History A History of God (Karen Armstrong) The Varieties of Religious Experience (James) The Power of Ritual (Casper ter Kuile) 59 History Maritime History The Sea and Civilization (L. Paine) Longitude (Dava Sobel) The Outlaw Ocean (Ian Urbina) 60 History Archaeology The Lost City of the Monkey God (D. Preston) Gods, Graves, and Scholars (C.W. Ceram) Finders Keepers (Craig Childs) 61 Humanities Ethics Justice (Michael Sandel) The Righteous Mind (Jonathan Haidt) Practical Ethics (Peter Singer) 62 Humanities Metaphysics Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance The Secret History of the World (Booth) The Matter with Things (Iain McGilchrist) 63 Humanities Literature Analysis How to Read Literature Like a Professor The Heroine with 1001 Faces (M. Tatar) The Seven Basic Plots (C. Booker) 64 Humanities Film Theory Sculpting in Time (A. Tarkovsky) How to Read a Film (James Monaco) Save the Cat! (Blake Snyder) 65 Humanities Journalism The Elements of Journalism (Kovach) The Journalist and the Murderer (Malcolm) On Writing Well (William Zinsser) 66 Arts Architecture The Architecture of Happiness (de Botton) A Pattern Language (C. Alexander) 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School 67 Arts Culinary Science Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (Samin Nosrat) On Food and Cooking (Harold McGee) The Food Lab (J. Kenji López-Alt) 68 Arts Fashion The Psychology of Fashion (C. Mair) The Golden Thread (Kassia St. Clair) The Curated Closet (Anuschka Rees) 69 Arts Photography On Photography (Susan Sontag) Camera Lucida (Roland Barthes) The Photographer’s Eye (Michael Freeman) 70 Arts Theater The Empty Space (Peter Brook) An Actor Prepares (Stanislavski) Impro (Keith Johnstone) 71 Practical Personal Finance The Richest Man in Babylon (Clason) A Random Walk Down Wall Street (Malkiel) I Will Teach You To Be Rich (Sethi) 72 Practical Productivity Getting Things Done (David Allen) Deep Work (Cal Newport) The 80/20 Principle (Richard Koch) 73 Practical Communication How to Win Friends… (D. Carnegie) Crucial Conversations (Patterson) Talk Like TED (Carmine Gallo) 74 Practical Parenting Science The Whole-Brain Child (Siegel) The Self-Driven Child (Stixrud) How to Talk So Kids Will Listen 75 Practical Ethics in Tech Weapons of Math Destruction (O’Neil) The Age of Surveillance Capitalism Digital Minimalism (Cal Newport) 76 Practical Sustainability Cradle to Cradle (McDonough) Drawdown (Paul Hawken) How to Abandon Ship (Richards) 77 Practical Future Studies The Inevitable (Kevin Kelly) Physics of the Future (Michio Kaku) Superforecasting (Tetlock) 78 Practical Disaster Prep The Unthinkable (Amanda Ripley) Black Swan (Nassim Taleb) The Survival Medicine Handbook 79 Practical Human Rights The Evolution of International Human Rights East West Street (Philippe Sands) The Underground Railroad (C. Whitehead) 80 Practical Civic Duty The Death of Politics (Peter Wehner) Democracy in America (de Tocqueville) The Righteous Mind (J. Haidt) 81 Earth Geology Annals of the Former World (McPhee) The Map That Changed the World (Winchester) A Brief History of the Earth (Knoll) 82 Earth Meteorology The Weather Machine (Andrew Blum) The Cloudspotter’s Guide (Pretor-Pinney) The Man Who Caught the Storm (Zuckerman) 83 Earth Astronomy Cosmos (Carl Sagan) Astrophysics for People in a Hurry The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide 84 Earth Oceanography The Brilliant Abyss (Helen Scales) The Sea Around Us (Rachel Carson) Mapping the Deep (Robert Kunzig) 85 Earth Thermodynamics The Second Law (P.W. Atkins) A Farewell to Entropy (Arieh Ben-Naim) The Order of Time (Carlo Rovelli) 86 Life Botany The Botany of Desire (Michael Pollan) Braiding Sweetgrass (R.W. Kimmerer) Lab Girl (Hope Jahren) 87 Life Zoology The Soul of an Octopus (Sy Montgomery) The Ancestor’s Tale (Richard Dawkins) The Elephant Whisperer (Lawrence Anthony) 88 Life Ecology Silent Spring (Rachel Carson) The Sixth Extinction (Elizabeth Kolbert) Wilding (Isabella Tree) 89 Life Marine Biology The Log from the Sea of Cortez Blue Machine (Helen Czerski) Spying on Whales (Nick Pyenson) 90 Life Immunology An Elegant Defense (Matt Richtel) The Compatibility Gene (Daniel Davis) Immune (Philipp Dettmer) 91 Health Longevity (Diet) The Longevity Diet (Valter Longo) The Blue Zones (Dan Buettner) How Not to Die (Michael Greger) 92 Health Mental Health The Noonday Demon (Andrew Solomon) The Body Keeps the Score (van der Kolk) Maybe You Should Talk to Someone 93 Health Pharmacology The Emperor of All Maladies (Mukherjee) Pills, Powder, and Smoke (Antony Loewenstein) Drug Use for Grown-Ups (Dr. Carl Hart) 94 Health Preventive Medicine The Checklist Manifesto (Atul Gawande) The Healing of America (T.R. Reid) Being Mortal (Atul Gawande) 95 Tech Data Privacy Data and Goliath (Bruce Schneier) Permanent Record (Edward Snowden) The Art of Invisibility (Kevin Mitnick) 96 Tech Virtual Reality The Experience Machine (Andy Clark) The Metaverse (Matthew Ball) Dawn of the New Everything (J. Lanier) 97 Society Globalization History Splendid Exchange (William Bernstein) Against the Grain (James Scott) The Box (Marc Levinson) 98 History Industrial History The Alchemy of Air (Thomas Hager) The Wright Brothers (David McCullough) Skunk Works (Ben Rich) 99 Practical Crisis Leadership Endurance (Alfred Lansing) Leadership in Turbulent Times (Goodwin) The Obstacle Is the Way (Ryan Holiday) 100 Human Purpose/Meaning Man’s Search for Meaning (Frankl) The Denial of Death (Ernest Becker) The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck