You would think that someone like Carl Sagan wouldn’t have much free time for recreational reading during his college studies, but this list, assembled in 1954 while attending the University of Chicago, indicates otherwise. Seeing the breadth of his reading tastes explains the philosophical leanings he brought to his own writings and at times to his scientific work.
I find the literature and philosophy particularly interesting, which probably says more about me than him:
- Gide’s The Immoralist
- Gunther’s Death Be Not Proud
- Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
- Hutchin’s Autobiography of an Uneducated Man
- Plato’s Symposium, Timaeus and the Republic
I also can’t help but note that physics students were reading Sears and Zemansky’s works in 1954 and they still are today.
- via Brain Pickings
“Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds” is probably the book most often recommended to others past few years (care to guess why?). It fills me with joy to see it on that list!
Now I feel guilty – I’ve owned that book for a long time (can you guess where I got it?) but still haven’t read it. It’s on the list of “proof people are crazy” books to read