The 50+ Books Mark Manson Recommends Reading

This article was based on several articles. The sources can be found here, here and here.

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Alex Wieckowski 4/1/19 Alex Wieckowski 4/1/19

"Can't Hurt Me" by David Goggins

Book summary of "Can't Hurt Me" by David Goggins.
Goggins went from a living in poverty to joining the SEALs and becoming an ultra endurance athlete.
This book is one of my favorite books of 2019 and I highly, highly recommend reading it.

Book Summary:

“Can’t Hurt Me” by David Goggins is unlike any book I’ve ever read. The story of David Goggins is something out of a Hollywood movie. A young boy with a horrible childhood and a myriad of problems overcomes it all to become part of an elite military team and a world famous ultra endurance athlete.

As a child, Goggins had a learning disability, was often ill, and was raised by a single mother. As a young adult, Goggins’ future seemed bleak. He was depressed, overweight and worked as a bug exterminator.

And yet, he would go on to join an elite military team–the Navy SEALS– break the world record for pull-ups and become one of the world’s top endurance athletes, often running races of 100+ miles.

How did Goggins turn his life around and transform from a literal zero to American hero?

He did it through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work.

However, his transformation didn’t happen overnight. In fact, it took him several decades to change his life around.

Let’s start by looking at Goggins’ childhood.

Goggins’ Early Years

David Goggins was born in New York in 1975 and although he lived on Paradise Road, his childhood was anything but that.

Goggins’ father, Trunnis, ran a roller-disco rink during the day, but was also involved in shady activities such as moving prostitutes across the border. When Goggin’s mother disobeyed or argued with Trunnis, such as taking Goggins to the doctor because he had an ear infection, he would beat her for disobeying him. When Goggins tried to stop his father, he would end up catching a beating himself.

““I was covered in welts from my neck to the crease at the knees. I didn’t go to school for several days.””

— Page 28

When Goggins was 8 years old, his mother put together a plan to escape from her abusive partner. Despite his cruelty, Goggins’ older brother decided to stay with Trunnis, and so, only Goggins and his mother managed to escape.

Although Goggins was able to get away his abusive father, his life didn’t get much better. He and his mother were free from Trunnis, but they now had no financial support. The two found shelter in a public housing block and paid $7 a month in rent.

Not only was Goggins experiencing poverty, but he was also diagnosed with ADHD and developed a nervous stutter. His traumatic childhood and toxic environment made it difficult to learn, and so he started cheating in school to pass classes.

““I knew that if I didn’t show some improvement I would eventually be shipped out to that special black hole for good, so I found a solution. I started cheating my ass off.” ”

— Page 42

When Goggins was in the 4th grade, his mother met Wilmoth, a man who was the polar opposite of Trunnis. Wilmoth was kind and laid-back. He treated Goggins’ mother well and even played basketball with Goggins.

However, a happy family was not in Goggin’s future. One night, Wilmouth was shot five times as he tried to enter his home. The cops never found the killers and once again, Goggins and his mother found themselves on their own.

Goggins’ Young Adult Years

As a teenager, David continued to struggle with school. To force himself to learn, Goggins had to read the same text multiple times and rewrite his notes over and over again. His work eventually paid off and he finished high school and was he accepted into Air Force training.

David’s dream was to become an Air Force pararescue, a special group of soldiers who specialize in parachuting into war zones and rescuing their brothers-in-arms. However, to complete his training, David would have to face one of his biggest weaknesses, swimming.

However, as a child, David rarely spent time in a pool. When it came time to the water portion of his military training, Goggins found himself overwhelmed with fear and quit the program. He knew he should have fought through his fear and completed his training, but instead he took the easy way out.

Quitting training would become one of Goggins’ biggest regrets, he started to feel sorry for himself and things began to spiral downhill. After leaving the military, Goggins was 24-years-old and working a dead-end job as a night-shift pest exterminator. He used food as a way to numb the pain of failure and weighed nearly 300 pounds.

After quitting the Air Force, Goggins ballooned up to nearly 300 pounds.

Goggins was nearing a dead-end. He hated his job, ate junk food multiple times a day and had trouble looking at himself in the mirror. Fortunately, his life would soon change.

One day, Goggins flipped on the television and happened to stumble upon a documentary about Navy SEALS. He watched as the narrator talked about the SEALs as the most elite fighting force in the world and that only the best of the best made it through training.

Goggins was stunned and amazed by the mental toughness and determination of the men on the screen. They had to carry boats for miles, lift logs, do countless pushups, swim for hours and perform many more difficult tasks.

Goggins wanted to become one of these incredible human beings and set out on a mission to become a Navy SEAL.

Becoming A SEAL

Before Goggins could even enter training, he first had to lose over 100 pounds of weight in less than three months because of the Navy’s maximum weight limit. Many people would have quit at this point, but Goggins decided to double down and commit 110% percent to becoming a SEAL.

Goggins woke up at 4:30 A.M. every day and exercised for two hours on a stationary bike. He then spent two hours in the pool and hit the weight room afterwards. He would also bike for another two hours after dinner. Working out practically became a full-time job for Goggins.

Remarkably, Goggins’ hard work paid off and he was accepted into the SEAL training program.

However, he would still have to endure his hardest training yet. Goggins participated in three Hell Weeks–where he experienced 5 ½ days of grueling exercise, soaked in water and covered in sand, all while getting barely any sleep during the program. In his third Hell Week, a man actually died during training.

Fortunately, Goggins made it through training and became a SEAL.

David Goggins (left) before Navy SEAL training and Goggins during Hell Week in BUD/S.

Becoming An Endurance Athlete

Goggins spent several years as a SEAL, but soon found himself craving new challenges. He searched for the toughest challenges known to man and found the Badwater 135, a 135-miles race through California’s Death Valley–one of the hottest places on Earth.

To even qualify for the Badwater race, the race organizers required Goggins to run in a 100-mile race. Although he had never run more than 26.2 miles before, Goggins accepted the challenge and signed up.

Through sheer motivation, willpower and incredible driver, Goggins finished the race in 19 hours, he even ran an extra mile to make sure the judges counted his laps correctly.

Goggins would later describe the race as the most pain he had ever experienced in his life–he was urinating brown piss from experiencing kidney failure and lost his bowel movement while running and defecated on himself. And yet, he would also remember that race as the moment his life changed forever–if he could run a 100-mile race with no training, he could do anything.

Goggins would go on to compete in the Badwater 135 and finish in 5th place, completing the race in 30 hours. He continued to look for the most difficult challenges he could find–he competed in Ironman triathlons, ultra marathons, and even broke the world record for pull-up attempts.

“Talent wasn’t required for this sport. It was all about heart and hard work, and it delivered relentless challenge after relentless challenge, always demanding more.”

— Page 235

Be Like Goggins

Several times throughout the book Goggins admits to readers that he wasn’t born strong, smart or with a hard work ethic. Early on in his life, he took the easy way out by cheating in school, running away from his fears and taking the easy way out as much as possible.

And where did that get him? Nowhere.

Goggins shares that it is only when changed his mindset and realized that the key to success was working harder than anyone else, did his life change for the better.

The secret to Goggins’ accomplishments is his willingess to work and suffer. By punishing himself physically, Goggins was also able to push himself mentally and vice-versa.

Goggins says that too many people get comfortable in their lives, they start to make excuses for working hard, such as not having time to exercise, or even worse, they simply decide not to. But Goggins doesn’t accept excuses.

Goggins didn’t make the excuse of not having time to train when he had a full-time job as a SEAL, he made time to train.

Goggins would get up at 4 A.M. and go for a 6-10 mile run. He would be home by 5:15 A.M., shower and eat breakfast. He would then bike 25 miles to work and arrive at his desk by 7:30 A.M. He would work till lunch time, and lift weights during his break. Once he was done with his day job, he would bike another 25 miles and arrive home at 7 P.M.

“My work ethic is the single most important factor in all of my accomplishments. Everything else is secondary.””

— Page 249

As Goggins says, most people program themselves to seek comfort, carve out safe spaces and spend as little time possible doing things that are hard or straight up suck. Although these things may feel good temporary, in the long-term it makes people weak.

Towards the end of the book, Goggins tells readers to ask themselves one question, “What if?”

Just as Goggins asked himself,

What if I lost 100 pounds in 3 months?
What if a kid afraid of water became a Navy SEAL?
What if I ran 100 miles without any training?

What if you set out to do a so-called impossible goal and actually completed it.

So ask yourself, “What if?”

Book Review:

“Can’t Hurt Me” by David Goggins might be my favorite book of 2019 and the year isn’t even halfway over. David’s story is beyond amazing, if one were to simply look at his achievements, you would took the guy isn’t human. But after reading his book, you realize he is just as human as everyone of us–except he simply chooses to strive for excellence and challenge himself over and over again.

Words cannot convey of important and inspiring this book is–I read the book, listened to the audiobook (which I recommend because Goggins shares bonus stories on the audio version) and watched dozens of podcasts about Goggins, and yet I’m still blown away him.

Just from reading his book, I’ve been motivated to run 5 miles every week–I’ve ran in 20 degree weather, in the snow and in the rain, and have been doing so for almost 4 months now. I’ve even signed up for several races.

This book will motivate you to push yourself to a new level and will make you a better person because of it. Get it, read it and learn from it!

Rating: 5/5

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After reading 100+ books, which ones do I recommend? Find out here.

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Alex Wieckowski 3/11/19 Alex Wieckowski 3/11/19

The 40+ Books Leo Tolstoy Recommends Reading

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, better known as Leo Tolstoy, is one of the greatest authors of all time.
He is best known for writing “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina.”

Here’s a list of books Tolstoy recommends reading!

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, better known as Leo Tolstoy, was a renowned Russian writer and perhaps one of the greatest authors of all time. Best known for his two novels “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina”, Tolstoy also wrote several short stories and a semi-autobiographical trilogy.

Author Virginia Woolf once called Tolstoy “the greatest of all novelists.” Even today, over a hundred years after his death, Tolstoy’s thousand long page books are still in print and continue to sell well.

A few of Tolstoy’s bestselling books.

“Rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbor — such is my idea of happiness.”

— Leo Tolstoy

Being one of the greats is no easy feat so I began to research which books Tolstoy loved most during his life in an attempt to gain insight into what influenced this genius writer.

According to an article by Russia Beyond, Tolstoy decided to compile a list of his own 100 must-read books after reading and being dissatisfied with author John Lubbock’s list which was published in 1891.

However, Tolstoy found that creating a list of the 100 greatest books to be difficult, so instead, he sent a letter to his publisher Mikhail Lederle with 45 books that impressed him the most. Tolstoy’s list contains a wide range of books from religious texts to Chinese philosophy, and is divided into five ages of man with their actual degree of influence ("enormous," "v. great," or merely "great").

Tolstoy’s list of the 45 books he recommends reading:

Childhood to the age of 14 or so:

Pushkin’s poems: Napoleon - Great
Tales from The Thousand and One Nights - Great
The Little Black Hen by Pogorelsky - V. great
The story of Joseph from the Bible - Enormous
Dobrynya Nikitich, Ilya Muromets, Alyosha Popovich. Folk Tales - Enormous

Age 14 to 20:

History of the Conquest of Mexico by William Prescott - Great
The Overcoat, The Two Ivans, Nevsky Prospect by By Nikolai Gogol - Great
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol - V. great
Die Räuber by Friedrich Schiller - V. great
Polinka Sachs by Aleksandr Druzhinin - V. great
Yevgeny Onegin by Alexander Pushkin - V. great
A Sportsman’s Sketches by Ivan Turgenev - V. great
The Hapless Anton by Dmitry Grigorovich - V. great
A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne - V. great
A Hero for our Time by Mikhail Lermontov - V. great
Nouvelle Héloise by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - V. great
Viy by Nikolai Gogol - Enormous
Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Enormous
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - Enormous
Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Enormous
Matthew’s Gospel: Sermon on the Mount - Enormous

Age 20 to 35:

Afanasy Fet’s poems - Great
Aleksey Koltsov’s poems - Great
Fyodor Tyutchev’s poems - Great
The Odyssey and The Iliad by Homer (read in Russian) - Great
Phaedo and Symposium by Plato (in Cousin’s translation) - Great
Victor Hugo. Notre Dame de Paris - V. great
Hermann and Dorothea by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - V. great

Age 35 to 50:

George Eliot. Novels - Great
Anthony Trollope, Novels - Great
Mrs. [Henry] Wood. Novels - Great
The byliny - V. great
Anabasis by Xenophon - V. great
The Odyssey and The Iliad by Homer (in Greek) - V. great
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - Enormous

Age 50 to 63:

Frederick William Robertson’s sermons - Great
Theodore Parker Discourse on religious subject - Great
The Essence of Christianity by Ludwig Feuerbach - Great
Confucius and Mencius - V. great
Book of Genesis (in Hebrew) - V. great
Progress and Poverty by Henry George - V. great
Epictetus - Enormous
Pensées by Blaise Pascal - Enormous
All the Gospels (in Greek) Enormous
Lao-Tzu. Julien [S. Julien, French translator] - Enormous
On the Buddha. Well-known Frenchman [“Lalita Vistara”] - Enormous

How many books on Tolstoy’s list have you read?

I’ve read only a couple books on this list (the English versions), but it looks like I have a lot more reading to do. If there’s a book on here that you think is a must-read, let me know in the comments below!

You may also want to check out these book recommendations from:

If you want to check out my list of recommended books, you can find that here.

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This article was based on several articles. The sources can be found here, here and here.

Alex Wieckowski 2/14/19 Alex Wieckowski 2/14/19

The Best Quotes from "The Alchemist" by Paul Coelho

Book summary and my favorite quotes from “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho
At 197 pages, this book can be read quickly in as little as two or three days.
However, the passages you read from this book will likely stick with you for years or decades to come.

Book Summary:

The book tells the magical story of Santiago, a shepherd boy who longs to travel in search of a worldly treasure. Santiago experiences a recurring dream of a great treasure hidden thousands of miles away at the base of the Egyptian Pyramids.

Along the way, he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself a king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows exactly what the treasure is or if Santiago will be able to overcome the obstacles on his path.

Early into his journey, Santiago finds himself in a town where he doesn’t speak the language, is robbed and left completely alone. He contemplates giving up and turning around, but decides to carry on. He finds a job in a crystal shop and saves up money to return home, but then decides to risk it and continue his quest for the treasure.

Santiago meets a girl named Fatima who he falls in love with but must leave her to continue his journey. On his way to the pyramids, Santiago is taken prisoner by a local tribe. Santiago’s friend on this journey, tells the tribesmen that Santiago is a powerful magician and then tribe offers to set them free if he can prove it.

Santiago then asks the elements (stick with me here) to help him turn himself into the wind (yes, the wind) and somehow does it. This scares the tribesmen so they free Santiago and his friend.

Santiago finally makes his way to the Pyramid and finds some gold when he is attacked by robbers. When asked what he is doing there, Santiago replies that he had a dream of a treasure buried at the base of the Pyramids. One of the robbers laughs at him, and mentions that he has had the exact same dream, except that in his dream, the treasure was buried in an abandoned church in Spain (which is where Santiago first started his journey).

The story then jumps forward in time and finds Santiago digging a hole at the base of the tree where he had had his first dream. Sure enough, he finds a trunk full of gold–enough for him and Fatima to live happily for a long time.

The book is essentially a tale of the journey being equally important as the end goal, because of all the experiences and lessons one learns throughout their quest. Just like Santiago, the book encourages readers to find and pursue their life purpose, no matter how discouraged they may at times feel.

Santiago shows readers how to earn to trust their hearts, read the seemingly inconspicuous signs, and understand that as we look to fulfill a dream, the universe works with us to do the same.

Book Quotes:

The “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho was published over 25 years ago and has sold over 65 million copies to date. Although every reader will have their own opinion of what they enjoyed about the book, here are my personal favorite quotes from it:

“The problem is that they don’t even realize that they’re walking a new road every day. They don’t see that the fields are new and the seasons change. All they think about is food and water. Maybe we’re all that way, the boy mused.”

— Page 13

““What’s the world’s greatest lie?” the boy asked, completely surprised. “It’s this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie.” ”

— Page 20

“People say strange things, the boy thought. Sometimes it’s better to be with the sheep, who don’t say anything. And better still to be alone with one’s books. They tell their incredible stories at the time when you want to hear them. But when you’re talking to people, they say some things that are so strange that you don’t know how to continue the conversation.”

— Page 22

““When you want something, all of the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it,” he had said.”

— Page 43

““I don’t want to change anything, because I don’t know how to deal with change. I’m used to the way I am.””

— Page 60

““When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.” ”

— Page 70

““In pursuit of the dream, he was being constantly subjected to tests of his persistence and courage.” ”

— Page 92

““People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them.” ”

— Page 134

““The world we live in will be either better or worse, depending on whether we become better or worse. And that’s where the power of love comes in. Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are.”
”

— Page 154

Conclusion:

“The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho is an enjoyable fiction book that anyone can understand. At first, the story may seem too simple: a boy leaves home on a quest to find treasure, encounters foes and friends, gets his treasure stolen by thieves, but then realizes the real treasure was right where he started.

And it is true, the story is simple. But perhaps that is what makes this book loved by millions of readers. A simple story with simple lessons that can be applied to anyone’s life.

Lessons such as: Life is about the journey, follow your dreams, it may not be easy but it will be worth it, what you’re seeking is also seeking you, and many more.

At 197 pages, this book can be read quickly in as little as two or three days. However, the passages you read from this book will likely stick with you for years or decades to come.

Rating: 4.5/5

If you’re interested in getting the book, click here or on the image below.

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For just a few dollars, a book can give you an enormous amount of valuable information that can help you improve your life. It’s practically highway-robbery. So take advantage of this and read as much as you can.

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Alex Wieckowski 2/2/19 Alex Wieckowski 2/2/19

The 20+ Books George R. R. Martin Recommends Reading

George R. R. Martin is the creator of the bestselling series: “A Game of Thrones.”
His book series was adapted into an HBO show and has been watched by millions of viewers.
Here’s a list of books GRRM recommends reading!

George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist and short story writer in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres, screenwriter, and television producer.

Martin is the bestselling author of several novels, including the acclaimed series “A Game of Thrones” which in 2013 alone sold 1 million copies. His book series was adapted into a TV series on HBO and the first episode aired in 2011. Millions of people tune in to watch the hit show and some episodes have even been viewed by over 18 million people.

A few of Martin’s bestselling books.

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.
”

— George R.R. Martin

I was curious to learn which books Martin enjoyed throughout his life, so I did some research to find out which books the famous author recommends. Here is the list of the 20+ books George R.R. Martin recommends reading.

Martin's favorite books (regardless of genre) in order:

If you love Game of Thrones, Martin suggests Reading:

Unit 731: A book about evil and war crimes

“Unit 731 Testimony: Japan's Wartime Human Experimentation Program” by Hal Gold is a disturbing account of a top secret project named Unit 731.
The Unit conducted some of the most unethical and brutal human experiments during World War II.
Although this book is horrific, one must learn from the past in order to prevent it from happening again.

Book Summary:

“Unit 731 Testimony: Japan's Wartime Human Experimentation Program” by Hal Gold is a disturbing account of a top secret project named Unit 731, which conducted some of the most unethical and brutal human experiments during World War II.

Many people know about the battles and bombs dropped during the Second World War, but almost no one has heard of the cruel deeds performed by Japanese doctors and soldiers in Japan’s medical wards where prisoners were treated as human guinea pigs and underwent gruesome medical experiments.

The book is split up in two parts.

The first part retells the story of Japan’s history and involvement in WWII and how Japanese doctors went from fighting biowarfare to running experiments on humans in their own Unit 731 testing labs. The second half of the book involves interviews with actual former Unit 731 members themselves, who recount memories of cutting open pregnant women to injecting plague germs into healthy farmers.

Author Bio:

Hal Gold (1929 – 2009) was a writer, historian, critic, and long-time Kyoto resident. He lived in Kyoto for over 30 years, and was a well-known writer on Japan-related subjects.

Book Lessons:

1) The Start of an Evil Genius

“The middle makes and breaks you, and ending up on the right side of this line depends on how you manage everything in between. It requires immense perseverance, self-awareness, craftsmanship, and strategy.
”

— Page 12

Shiro Ishii was born on June 25, 1892 in a small village two hours from Tokyo.

He went on to study at the prestigious Kyoto Imperial University and earned awards from the United States and Europe for his work. He also received his Doctorate of Medicine in 1911.

Ishii studied bacteriology for his postgraduate work and married the school president’s daughter.

He also enlisted in the army and quickly rose to a lieutenant.

It was clear Ishii was a gifted and smart young man with a bright future.

Yet, about two years later, he responsible for running Unit 731, a “prison camp” that was used to develop biological and chemical weapons that were tested on prisoners.

When Ishii learned about the Geneva Convention of 1925, which prohibited biological and chemical warfare, he was encouraged by this notion since if something were “bad enough to be outlawed, then it must certainly be effective.”

However, just as it took years for Hitler to gain power and create the concentration camps, Ishii too played the long game.

By the 1930s, Japan was expanding its power on to the Asian mainland and the military needed to figure out ways to prevent diseases infecting their troops.

Ishii also worked on turning bacteria and gas into weapons, but animal research had serious limits in producing usable data.

Then in 1933, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations, which had judged it wrong for its aggression against China. This severance of ties would play a big role in the creation of Unit 731 since the country no longer had promises to keep.

During this time, Japan’s Emperor had created a special police force called like kenpeitai, much like the Nazi SS or the Soviet NKVD.

Groups or individuals responsible for anti-Japanese resistance, were quickly captured by the kenpeitai. They were given jobs such as catching spies and interrogating suspects, and were “authorized to use torture” (pg 30).

All of the pieces were slowly falling into place.

2) The start of unit 731

As Japanese troops moved into Manchuria, they were concerned about a clash with Soviet troops along the Soviet-Manchurian border.

Ishii planned to use his specialty to overcome his side’s disadvantage.

In the city of Harbin, he set up a facility to focus on vaccines and other proper medical research. It would serve as a facade of goodwork.

However, about 100 kilometers to the South, he and his troops cleared out a local village and had Chinese laborers build a military complex. It was officially known as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army, but later adopted the name Unit 731.

The laborers were paid almost nothing for their work, and one man reported that all of the workers were killed after the project was finished.

Once completed, the complex kept around 500 to 600 prisoners. Many of whom were treated well and were given rice, meat and vegetables.

Why?

A normal state of health would provide the most accurate data for their experiments.

However, the life expectancy at the prison was a maximum of one month…

The Unit 731 complex: two prisons are hidden in the center of the main building. Photo: Wiki

3) Prisoners used into experiments (women & children too)

“In the process of building a business–and in life, generally–you should manage expenses carefully. But sometimes frugality backfires.
”

— Page 140

Some prisoners had large amounts of blood taken every two or three days. This went on and on, while scientists kept careful records, until the prisoner was literally drained to death. Others, were injected with poison to see how they would react.

Other experiments were also performed on prisoners, including vivisections, which involved infecting a prisoner with a disease and then cutting them open while they were alive and without anesthesia, to study the effects of the disease. Patients were kept alive because the scientists thought it would give more accurate results.

For more research, several new satellite facilities were built in Xinjing, Beijing, Singapore and other locations.

Outdoor tests of plague, cholera and other pathogens were dropped on subjects while they were tied to crosses. Rats and fleas were raised for experiments to spread diseases and released in local villages.

One satellite facility had a large refrigerator la where subjects had their flesh frozen over and over again. Others used prisoners as bayonet practice for young soldiers.

One of the worst experiments performed was forcing a healthy prisoner to have sex with one who had syphilis. Anyone resisting would be shot. Researchers would track the infection progress every week, and employed live dissection on the infect patient to investigate how their internal organs were affected by the disease.

Countless more horrible experiments were performed in Unit 731. As Japan began losing the second World War, a secret order was issued to perform more vivisections to gather as much research as possible.

It’s estimated that over 10,000 people were killed during the 10 years Unit 731 and its sister facilities were in operation.

Unit 731 studied anthrax, cholera, and other pathogens by forcibly infecting victims. They experimented with the bubonic plague and tried to weaponize it by using infected fleas and various delivery systems. (Photo: Pixnio)

4) No justice for victims

You might be wondering how the scientists and guards of Unit 731 were punished for their crimes after Japan lost the war.

After WWII, Nazi leaders were charged with crimes and sent to the Nuremberg trials. But for Ishii and his fellow researchers, they were given a get out of jail free card.

The researchers involved in Unit 731 were secretly given immunity by the U.S. in exchange for the data they gathered through human experimentation.

Why were the members of Unit 731 granted immunity?

The U.S. believed that the research data was valuable, and did not want other nations (particularly the Soviet Union) to acquire data on biological weapons.

Conclusion:

“Unit 731 Testimony: Japan's Wartime Human Experimentation Program” by Hal Gold is a disturbing book to say the least. But it also serves as an important reminder to the world that life isn’t perfect.

The world can be a very dark and cruel place is people allow it. History will repeat itself if individuals don’t learn from the past and keep an eye out on the emergence of new evils.

Even today, similar concentration still exist around the world. For instance, the book, “The Aquariums of Pyongyang” by Chol-hwan, reveals the truth about North Korea’s concentration camps.

Although the things that happened in this book are horrific, it is important to learn about evil so that people will become aware of its existence, instead of turning a blind eye and pleading ignorance to a problem that still plagues the modern world.

Rating: Unrated

If you’re interested in getting the book, click here or on the image below.

Here are a few similar books to “Unit 731”:

For literally a few dollars and hours of time, a book will give you an enormous amount of valuable information that can help you in life. It’s practically highway-robbery. So take advantage of this and read as much as you can.

If you want to check out my list of recommended books, you can find that here.

If you enjoyed this article, consider supporting our site or signing up for our monthly newsletter. Thank you!

Reader freebies:

Get a FREE month of unlimited kindle reading and listening!

Alex Wieckowski 1/8/19 Alex Wieckowski 1/8/19

Alex & Books Annual Review: 2018

Annual review of Alex and Books.
Read about the lows and highs of Year 2.
Best books, articles, recommendations & more!

Reflection and review of 2018

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I’d like to say thank you to everyone who visited Alex & Books, I hope you have found this site to be both interesting and educational.

Running a book blog has proven to be quite difficult, it takes a lot more time and money then most people would think: there’s reading the books, reviewing them, writing about them, editing the articles, finding images, the list goes on…

But, it has also been an incredible learning experience!

Just as in life, there will always be ups and downs, however, the journey must go on. Now, let’s reflect and review 2018:

Here’s what’s been achieved This Past Year:

63 articles have been written (100+ articles in total).
- Read them here.
Read 38 books & wrote over 30 reviews.
- Find them here.
Created a list of book recommendations from famous individuals (Ernest Hemingway, Elon Musk, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King).
- Find all of these recommendations here.
Created Alex & Books bookmarks and a new freebies page.
- Get A&B bookmarks here.
- Get free or discounted goodies here.

Here are The 10 Most popular articles of 2018:

If you want to read the very first article I posted, you can read it here.

Also, my most popular articles from previous years can be found here.

On the site there has been a total of:

36,200+ Visits
42,600+ Unique Visitors
57,100+ Pageviews
- A 1,141% increase from last year!

Website stats from Jan. 1 - Dec. 31 2018.

Social Media Stats:

Instagram
- 1,829 followers
Twitter
- 103 followers
YouTube
- 61 subscribers
Quora
- 345 followers & 382.9K views
- My most popular article on Quora with 220K+ views & 4K+ upvotes

A Few Things I Learned From 2018:

As your Website grows, Make changes

Building a website is hard, but the work doesn’t stop there. As Alex & Books has grown and more articles have been written, I needed to reorganize the site. I also experimented with different text sizes, styles and spacing to make reading easier.

I look forward to adding more interesting book-related pages to the site, such as famous book recommendations, and I have a few more things in the pipeline (I’m constantly looking for ways to improve the website so if you have any suggestions, you can message me here.)

What Gets Measured Gets Done

I’ve been tracking my daily habits (reading, exercising and writing aka R.E.W.) for a few months now. I keep a calendar and write out the letters R E W, and before going to sleep, I circle each letter if I completed the task.

It’s a simple, yet very effective method to track important habits.

For instance, I used to think that I was working out 5-6x every week. However, once I started tracking my workouts, I realized it was closer to 3 times a week. Now if I look at my calendar, I can see my weekly progress and make sure I hit my goal of exercising 5 times a week. One thing that helped me hit this goal was making a home gym (for free), read about it here.

Whatever habits you’re trying to achieve, make sure to track it everyday (either on paper, in an app or on your computer).

Blogging will not make you rich (Part 2)

Last year I made less than $10 from the site, I’m happy to say that this year I made much more, but it is still no where near to the point of becoming a full-time job.

Owning a domain name and operating a website costs around $200 a year. The cost of all of the books adds up to several hundreds of dollars as well. But then again, no hobby is free.

Making Reading (And Writing) A Daily Habit

Reading is still very much like going to the gym. There are times when you don’t want to do it and times when it gets boring, but once you do it every day for long enough, it becomes almost effortless to start reading.

That is why it is important to turn it into a habit.

When you make something into a habit, it doesn’t require much energy or motivation. You just do it. For example, I do most of my reading in the morning. I eat breakfast and start reading afterwards. The best time to read is also before bed, it’s a great way to unwind after a long day and it will keep you away from social media or other distractions that may cause stress or anxiety before going to sleep.

Now I just have to focus on making writing into a daily habit.

Brief Lessons Learned from MY favorite Books of 2018:

Humans can survive even the most horrendous conditions.
Tiny actions, done daily, can compound over time and lead to radical results.
Men and women literally think differently and have different core desires.
Who you know is just as important as what you know.
Take extreme ownership of your life and work, avoid blaming others.
About 80% of your results come from 20% of your work, focus on that one thing.
Train the body and the mind, use each hour of the day wisely.
The more discipline you have in life, the more freedom you’ll have.
Habits make up your life, form good habits and you’ll have a good life.
Don’t suffer more than you need to, make yourself as competent as possible.

Thoughts on 2019

My goal for 2019 is to read and write about 52 books (one book every week).
Aiming for 10K+ page views each month.
Experiment with different writing styles and deeper articles.
Create book-related videos.

Reading all of these books, I learn over and over again that I know very little about the world and that I’m not an expert, nor do I have all the answers. However, I will continue to learn and share important lessons from great books and give (hopefully helpful) advice along the way. As always, it is a privilege to write for you.

To every single person that has read this article or any of my work, thank you.

Sincerely,

Alex W.

Read on!

If you’ve found my work helpful, please consider supporting Alex & Books.

Ways to support a&B

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As mentioned earlier, running a website costs a lot more than I thought. Add in the cost of books, and the expenses of this site total to roughly $500+ a year.

If you found this site useful and would like it support it, the best way of doing so would be to give a contribution.

Every dollar will go towards this website and even small donations help.

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Alex Wieckowski 1/6/19 Alex Wieckowski 1/6/19

Top 10 Favorite Books of 2018

I read a total of 38 books In 2018.

Here are my top 10 favorite books.

Summary:

In 2018, I was fortunate to read a number of great books, 38 to be exact (the vast majority were physical books, but some were ebooks or audiobooks). I beat my 2017 record of 35 books (you can find my favorite books from 2017 here). However, a small number of these books really stood out from the crowd.

These books either changed the way I looked at the world or taught me something that I will remember for the rest of my life.

The 10 books listed below deserve extra recognition for being so awesome, so without further delay, here they are (in no particular order):

10) “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy

There’s a reason this book is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller, it’s because it is incredibly insightful and helpful to readers. Darren Hardy does an excellent job of teaching readers the importance of the Compound Effect (how little actions overtime can lead to radical results) and provides several analogies that really stick in the reader’s head.

The shocking part is that this book is only about 160 pages. There is no fluff or guff. It’s pure gold. I would recommend reading this book at least twice and make sure to highlight important passages, jot down notes and write down steps on how you can start changing your life for the better.

9) "TOTAL RECALL" BY ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

“Total Recall” (2013) is an incredible story about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s life that covers both the struggles and triumphs he faced in bodybuilding, acting and politics. It’s a great American-dream story that shows the true path to becoming successful and what is needed to get there.

A lot can be learned about his drive and desire to achieve from reading this book. Readers will learn several important lessons such as why you should write down your goals, practice often, be self-disciplined, and train both the mind and body.

Arnold doesn’t hide anything and talks about both the ups and downs during his life journey. He also includes a chapter that highlights his rules for success. And even though he isn’t perfect and had an affair, he is an awesome human being and readers will learn a lot by reading his book.

Now go read this book. Hasta la vista, baby.

8) "Discipline Equals Freedom" by Jocko Willink

This book doesn’t have any secrets to life, but that’s the point. THERE ARE NO SECRETS or SHORTCUTS. It’s just hard work, day-in and day-out.

People already know a lot of lessons in this book, such as work out often and don’t eat sugar, but when it comes from Jocko (a retired Navy SEAL of 20 years), there’s a much higher chance of it sticking in your mind. I think part of it is the amount of respect people have for him. This guy wakes up a 4:30 AM every day–even on Christmas and New Years– and works out, and posts a picture on social media as proof for everyone to see.

In the end, readers will have learned at least two valuable lessons from this book. The need to build self-discipline and the need to take action. Don’t just read this book, but go and do. Do the work, do what needs to be done even if you don’t feel like doing it, do what will make you a smarter, stronger and a better person in life. Now, go and GET AFTER IT!

7) “The ONE Thing” by Keller & Papasan

The title of this book sounds like clickbait, do this one thing to be successful, but this book is actually filled with an immense amount of valuable information.

The book provides advice backed by scientific studies, on how to be more productive and effective. It will teach you how to prioritize tasks, manage time, build good habits, use willpower properly, set goals and more. The book also debunks popular myths such as multitasking being great–which it is not–and that being busy is good–also not true.

The authors also provide readers with additional tools and information at their website here. I highly recommend reading this book if you want to be more productive and efficient in both your professional and personal life.

6) “The Third Door” by Alex Banayan

This book is filled with a lot of great business advice, but it’s also an amazing story. As a college student, the author hacked The Price Is Right and used the prize money to fund his quest to learn from the world's most successful people.

The author takes readers on a journey of how he chased Larry King in a grocery store, waited in a bathroom to talk to Tim Ferriss, used his network to meet with Bill Gates, and dozens more of the world's most successful people.

There’s also a lot of great advice from icons such as how Tim Ferriss cold-emails people, how Jessica Alba stays focused on her business, and how Pitbull believes people should always stay an intern. Highly recommend it to college students, entrepreneurs, and people interested in business.

5) "A Billion Wicked Thoughts” by Ogas & Gaddam

They say men are from Mars and women are from Venus, and in a way, that is true. “A Billion Wicked Thoughts” shines light on the ways men and women are wired and how even though they are part of the same species, heterosexual guys and girls desire and are attracted to vastly different traits.

Although the authors are scientists and probably love big data, they do a surprisingly fantastic job of explaining what they found from the data and combine it with evolutionary psychology to create clear and easy to understand lessons that readers can apply to their daily lives.

I’d highly recommend reading this book to both men and women because it helps people better understand the opposite sex through a scientific lens instead of simply saying “Guys are stupid” or “Girls are weird.”

4) “Atomic Habits” by James Clear

I’d put this book in the top 3 best productivity books I’ve ever read, it’s that good.

James Clear did an excellent job with this book. It’s an easy and entertaining book to read filled with personal stories as well as scientific studies. There’s a lot of information to absorb, but each chapter ends with a summary and important lessons are repeated throughout the book.

If you’re looking for an easy and proven way to build good habits and break bad ones (which is everyone), this book is for you. Read it, highlight it, take notes, and start applying the lessons to your life and achieve success that lasts.

3) “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl

After reading this book, I recommended it to several people and every one of them has told me that the book was incredible.

The author retells his life at Auschwitz and several other concentration camps and talks about the horrible conditions he and other prisoners had to endure to survive. From working 10+ hours a day of physical labor in freezing temperatures to constantly walking past dead bodies. It was hell, but amazingly, Frankl survived.

This book is a story of one man’s will to live and throughout the book, Frankl teaches readers several important lessons about how humans can be evil, but also incredibly kind. The best part is that Frankl was a psychiatrist so he could really analyze both the prisoners and the guards and get to the center of what makes humans ticks and why they do what they do. From his experience, Frankl discovered life lessons that would have been nearly impossible to find anywhere else.

2) “Extreme Ownership” by Willink & Babin

“Extreme Ownership” was initially released as a leadership and management guide to help corporate leaders, but this book is so much more than that. The lessons learned from this book can be applied to almost every aspect of life.

For example, the title of the book refers to a trait that Willink and Babin believe all great leaders possess–the ability to go above and beyond by taking extreme ownership and responsibility of the situation (also if you’re interested in leadership, management, and lessons from war, check out Jocko’s podcast here).

People that take extreme ownership don’t go around blaming others for negative outcomes, they ask themselves what they could have done to prevent things from going bad or think about what they’ll do from now on to prevent the same negative event from happening in the future.

Honorable mentions:

These are books that I’d highly recommend reading when you have some free time. Although they didn’t make it into the top ten, these books are still spectacular and you can learn a lot from reading them:

"Mastering Fear" by Brandon Webb & John Mann
- Webb, a Navy SEAL, pilot and media CEO, teaches readers how to overcome fear in business and life.
"The Productivity Project" by Chris Bailey
- Bailey spent a year experimenting and researching different habits and activities, to find out how people can maximize their productivity.
"The Aquariums of Pyongyang" by Chol-hwan & Rigoulot
- The author spent 10 YEARS in a North Korean concentration camp (yes, these still exist), managed to escape and shares stories of corruption and the truth about life in the hermit kingdom.

1) “12 Rules for Life” by Jordan Peterson

Every now and then you read a book that literally changes your life, for me, this is that book.

It’s hard to start talking about “12 Rules for Life” because so many aspects of this book are incredible. The book pulls interesting lessons from psychology, philosophy, anthropology, and sociology. It also talks about how religion, literature, and Disney movies have similar life lessons and how each one can teach people about the proper way to live a good life.

Peterson teaches readers how to stand up for themselves, how to take care of themselves and others, and several other lessons that teach people how to be a better person overall. If you want to change your life for the better, read this book.

Want more book recommendations?

Find my Top 10 Favorite Books of 2017 here.

Or all my book recommendations here.

If you enjoyed this article, consider supporting the site or signing up for our monthly newsletter. Thank you!

Alex Wieckowski 12/28/18 Alex Wieckowski 12/28/18

"A Billion Wicked Thoughts" by Ogas & Gaddam

What can a billion internet searches tell us about sexual relationships?
Learn the difference between male and female desires.
Backed with real data, evolutionary psychology and extensive research, this book will change the way you look at the opposite sex.

Book Summary:

“A Billion Wicked Thoughts: What the Internet Tells Us About Sexual Relationships” by Ogi Ogas & Sai Gaddam explores the differences in male and female sexuality, human desire and attraction through extensive research into mountains of data provided by online searches.

The last great sex study was done in the 1950s and looked at about 18,000 people and found shocking results. In this book, neuroscientists Ogas and Gaddam examined over 400 million different searches and the search history of more than 650,000 people, providing a vastly more detailed and improved answer to the question, what do men and women really desire?

Here are a few lessons this book teaches readers:

What really turns men and women on
Why men love large breasts and butts
What makes the set up to a romantic evening so important for a woman
Why women’s desires are so hard to predict

And much, much more.

Author Bio:

Ogi Ogas studies computational models of memory, learning, and vision. He was a Department of Homeland Security Fellow. Ogi Ogas, Ph.D. He is the project head of the Dark Horse Project in the Laboratory for the Science of Individuality at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Sai Gaddam studies large-scale data analysis and serves as a data mining consultant in India. Sai conducted his doctoral research at Boston University on biologically inspired models of machine learning.

Book Lessons:

1) Why men like large breasts and butts

“Visual cues trigger desire in men. If a man’s brain decides a picture is arousing, he swiftly experiences physical and psychological arousal.
”

— Page 46

What cues do men specifically desire?

Breasts, hips and butts are the main cues, along with feet and feminine facial features.

The authors write that across many species (humans included), more attractive female parts are associated with greater health, fertility, and offspring survival. These body parts also signal to a man how many years of healthy childbearing remain in a woman’s lifetime.

Interestingly, all of the things men are attracted to are influenced by the same molecule: Estrogen.

Why estrogen?

“Unhealthy and underfed women produce less estrogen and therefore may not be able to bear children, or may bear unhealthy children” (pg 56). It also indicates if she is getting enough to eat and how much stress she is experiencing.

In addition to estrogen, women need a specific kind of female-only fat called gynoid fat that supports the energy demands of pregnancy and lactation. This fat is also only used during childbearing.

And where is the gynoid fat stored?

In the breasts, hips, butts and thighs.

Usually the larger these parts are, the more gynoid fat they have. For instance, levels of gynoid fat in breast positively predict all aspects of female lifetime reproductive capacity, including conception probability, probability of successful pregnancy and offspring quality.

Since these body parts are the best indicators of a woman’s long-term reproduction value, it’s no surprise that these ornaments have evolved to become the most potent visual cues for men.

2) Women experience sexual arousal differently from men

“The results were very clear. Men experienced a strong correlation between the arousal of mind and body. Women did not. ”

— Page 69

In a study by one of the world’s leading researchers on the neuropsychology of female desire, researchers measured how aroused women were while looking at different images (straight sex, gay sex, lesbian sex, etc).

Researchers measured how psychologically aroused women were by asking them, and also how physically aroused they were by measuring their blood flow to their sexual organs. The same experiment was performed on men.

The results?

If a man was physically turned on, he was also psychologically turned on. However, that was not the case for women.

Women were physically turned on by all of the images (even ones of monkey porn), but were only psychologically turned on by specific images (images of heterosexual sex generated the greatest arousal, monkey porn generated zero arousal).

Thus, it’s clear that there is a dissociation between the conscious arousal of the mind and the unconscious arousal of the body for females. This is why some women even report having an orgasm during unwanted or coercive sex.

Why the mind body split?

It’s because women have to consider the long term consequences of sexual intercourse.

Sex for a woman can result in pregnancy, nursing and more than a decade of child raising. These commitments require enormous amounts of time, resources and energy. Sex with the wrong guy can lead to single motherhood, an abusive spouse or a weak father that can’t protect his offspring.

Females are like detectives, they look for clues and information about mates before committing to one.

Women want a man that is financially stable, nice to children, self-confident, physically and mentally healthy, and makes her feel safe.

While a man only needs one cue to become aroused (she has a thick behind), a woman needs several cues such as personality, commitment, kindness, status and many more pieces of information.

3) Why women love vampires and werewolves

“Over the past decade, sexy vampires, lusty werewolves, and a wide variety of supernatural beasties have replaced mere mortals as the most popular romance heroes and heroines.”
”

— Page 221

Why do women love Edward the vampire or Jacob the werewolf from “Twilight” which has sold over 100 million copies worldwide?

It’s because these paranormal heroes are supernatural males, alphas among alphas.

They are exceptionally strong, often immortal, know how to fight off evil beings, can protect the ones they love, are often rich, and live in a mansion or castle. Essentially all the traits that females desire, but to the max.

Another cue that turns women on is irresistibility. “One of the most fundamental and influential psychological cues for women is irresistibility: the feeling that you are sexually desirable” (pg 109).

This explains why so many women have fallen for Edward Cullen. Not only does he display all of the traits listed above, but he also lusts after Bella’s blood which he can’t let himself give in because he loves her.

As a result, Bella gets to be desired forever by a supernatural being, by a boyfriend who must continuously prove how much he loves her by controlling himself.

Werewolves share some similarities as vampires, but also some differences. Werewolves are known for having monstrous strength and refuse to back down from challenges. Wolf packs have a true designated alpha, a super alpha among alphas. They are also intensely loyal to protecting anyone that is part of the pack, including their human girlfriends.

These superheroes also have tough exterior shells, but inside they are soft and kind, which is something many women desire in a male.

In the end when you combine this huge mix of turbocharged cues of masculinity, few women are able to resist these supernatural beings.

Bonus: Interesting facts from the book

Popular adult pay-sites (i.e. Brazzers) attract an audience that is about 75% male and 25% female.
- However, when it comes to actually paying for porn, the gender gap widens to about 98% male and only 2% female.
- Indicating that men are much more motivated and are willing to pay for images of the opposite sex than females.
“Teen” and “young” are the most searched sexual keywords by men.
- Breasts are the most popular body part in sexual searches in every country the authors looked at (including U.S., Russia, India, Japan and even Saudi Arabia).
- Searches for butts are almost as popular as breasts.
Throughout history, about 80% of females reproduced, while only 40% of males have done so. Meaning the majority of men never had any kids. This may explain why men are more willing to task risks.
- Sailing off to explore new countries, fighting in wars or starting a business are all risky ventures, but men need to stand out from one another and staying home, although safe, won’t help one reproduce.
- For women on the other hand, the optimal thing to do is play it safe because odds are that multiple men will come along and offer sex. The woman simply has to pick the one she likes best.
Romance novels are essentially porn for women.
- All hero professions (doctor, king, knight, etc) are associated with status, confidence and competence.
- Women want their heroes to be like coconuts: hard and tough on the outside, but soft and sweet on the inside. “The hero is granted free reign to be a badass with everyone else, as long as he’s tender and attentive with the heroine” (pg 99).
Material resources are arousing to females all across the animal kingdom.
- Women prefer men who are richer than them, female chimps prefer males with the largest quantity of meat, female pelicans prefer males that give them the most amount of fish.
- Women want a man that is competent. When asked if they would date someone that didn’t know how to drive a car, most women answered no, while most men answered yes.
- This explains why women mostly go for older men: first, older men have had more time to accumulate wealth and secondly, they have had more time to educate themselves and gather life experiences.
Women find married men attractive because it shows that another woman has vetted the man and approved of him in one form or another.
- Women prefer bodies that are muscular, specifically the chest, arms and back, without being overbuilt; these features also indicate testosterone levels. Women prefer men that are taller than them. They also like men in uniform or well-dressed.
Men are wired for sexual jealousy, but women are wired for emotional jealousy.
- Men are suspicious of a woman who has slept around many different men, while women are jealous of a man who has loved several women.

“Since a man pays no physical cost for impregnating a woman, evolution made it easy for him to get aroused. After all, any opportunity is precious. For a woman, however, a man is bound to show up eventually, but pregnancy entails a substantial investment. She doesn’t need to chase–she need to choose.”

— Page 125

Conclusion:

There’s also a good Google Talk about this book done by one of the authors. You can watch that here.

Rating: 5/5 Stars

If you’re interested in getting the book, click here or on the image below.

Here are a few similar books:

For literally a few dollars and hours, a book will give you an enormous amount of valuable information that can help you in life. It’s practically highway-robbery. So take advantage of this and read as much as you can.

If you want to check out my list of recommended books, you can find that here.

If you enjoyed this article, consider supporting our site or signing up for our monthly newsletter. Thank you!

Reader freebies:

Get a FREE month of unlimited kindle reading and listening!

Alex Wieckowski 12/23/18 Alex Wieckowski 12/23/18

The 20+ Books F. Scott Fitzgerald Recommends Reading

F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of the most well-known writers of the 20th century.
His book, “The Great Gatsby” is one of my all-time favorites.
Here’s a list of 20+ books Fitzgerald recommends reading!

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940), better known as F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of my favorite fiction writers and his book, “The Great Gatsby” is one of my all-time favorite reads.

For those unfamiliar with Fitzgerald, he was a 20th-century American short-story writer and novelist. He completed four novels and more than 150 short stories during his lifetime, and is perhaps best remembered for his third novel, “The Great Gatsby” (1925), which is today widely considered “the great American novel.”

Joanne Rowling, better known by her pen name J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith.

Throughout his life, Fitzgerald struggled with alcoholism and in 1936, he ended up at the Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina.

There, he provided his nurse with a list of 22 books he thought were essential reading:

At the top of the page, the nurse wrote, "These are books that Scott thought should be required reading."

The list is a bit hard to read, so here it is typed out:

What do you think of this list and have you read any of the books on it?

Although I see a lot of familiar names on here such as Conrad, Faulkner and Wilde, I’m sad to say I have not read any of the books here. Guess it’s time to order some more books.

““That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.””

— F. Scott Fitzgerald

If you’re looking for more book recommendations, check out the books Ernest Hemingway, Stephen King and J.K. Rowling recommend reading.

For just a few dollars, books give you an enormous amount of valuable information that can help change your life. It’s practically high-robbery. So take advantage of this and read as much as you can.

Also, if you want to check out my list of recommended books, you can find that here.

If you enjoyed this article, consider supporting our site or signing up for our monthly newsletter. Thank you!

Reader freebies: