I turned 25 this week, and I thought it would be amiss not to acknowledge the books that have shaped me to this point. It was difficult to narrow this down to just 25, but when considering the impact some books had on me, it became clear that a few stood out more than others. Many of these singlehandedly changed the trajectory of my life, including the creation of this blog. Let’s dive in.

Fiction

1. The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

My most read and gifted book. Every time I open this novella, there is a new lesson waiting to be uncovered. It has an uncanny ability to be appreciated by all – to mould itself to the state of the reader. The scene in the rose garden remains one of the greatest teachings on love I have come across.

• “But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world.”
• “It is only with the heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

2. The Power and The Glory – Graham Greene

My second most gifted book. One of Graham Greene’s shorter works, but contains profound ideas on suffering and goodness through the enigma of a “whiskey priest”. The prison scene near the end fundamentally altered my perspective on religious morality.

• “He said, “Oh god, help her. Damn me, I deserve it, but let her live forever.” This was the love he should have felt for every soul in the world: all the fear and the wish to save concentrated unjustly on the one child. He began to weep…. He thought: This is what I should feel all the time for everyone.”
• “There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in… We should be thankful we cannot see the horrors and degradations lying around our childhood, in cupboards and bookshelves, everywhere.”

3. The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

If I could only read one book for the rest of my life, it would be The Brothers Karamazov – a work of philosophy disguised as a murder mystery. It has some of the most complex, troubled characters I have come across, and touches upon dilemmas such as faith vs. reason, and innocence vs. guilt. The Grand Inquisitor still remains my favourite chapter in literary history until this day.

• “Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”
• “The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”

4. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Dostoyevsky’s warning against becoming evil – no matter the consequences. Following Raskolnikov’s descent into madness after committing a ‘justifiable’ crime, remains one of the greatest thrills and teachings on alienations and moral consequence I have experienced.

• “To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s.”
• “Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.”

5. Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami

One of Murakami’s less ‘classic’ works, but my favourite. While the plot is simple in nature, it contains compelling characters and quotes that have moved me deeply. A fairly easy read which draws you in and doesn’t let you go.

• “What a terrible thing it is to wound someone you really care for and to do it so unconsciously.”
• “People leave strange little memories of themselves behind when they die.”

6. The Old Man and The Sea – Ernest Hemingway

The book that made me love reading. A short but humbling tale on the ruthlessness of nature and the perseverance of mankind. Reading this in one go at the library gave me a reverence for the Earth I hadn’t experienced before.

• “But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
• “All my life the early sun has hurt my eyes. Yet they are still good.”

7. The Dark Forest – Cixin Liu

My favourite book in my favourite science fiction series, The Three-Body Problem. Takes the cliffhanger from the first book to new heights, exploring concepts of game theory, ethics, and politics. Luo Ji, the protagonist of the book, remains one of the most well-written characters I have come across.

• “Once we know where we are, then the world becomes as narrow as a map. When we don’t know, the world feels unlimited.”
• “Do you know what the greatest expression of regard for a race or civilization is?” “No, what?” “Annihilation. That’s the highest respect a civilization can receive. They would only feel threatened by a civilization they truly respect.”

8. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia – Mohsin Hamid

A fun novel by an underrated author. Written uniquely in second person, this novel illustrates the full spectrum of human experience through a rags-to-riches tale where the protagonist is known only as “you”. Was able to meet the author last year at the Melbourne Writing Festival and hear him talk. Also the first book I traded with Lynn.

• “Most of the battle. We are all refugees from our childhoods. And so we turn, among other things, to stories. To write a story, to read a story, is to be a refugee from the state of refugees.”

9. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

A French epic about self-sacrifice, moral dilemmas and finding meaning beyond oneself. Reading about Marius and Javert’s inner conflicts made me stay up all night and were the basis for many of my early short stories.

• “You who suffer because you love, love still more. To die of love, is to live by it.”
• “It is nothing to die. It is frightful not to live.”

10. How Do You Live? – Genzaburo Yoshino

A birthday gift from Jenny. While starting off as a standard coming-of-age tale set in Japan, I was surprised to find myself learning about Napoleon, Copernicus and Newton while taking away deep truths about what it is to be human. One section on broken promises brought back a flood of memories and nearly brought me to tears. It is uplifting, and encourages the reader to be a better person.

• “Other than a dethroned king, who would sorrow over not having a throne?” If we were not born with the ability to conduct ourselves with morality, there would be no reason for bitter tears.”
• “You take many things from the world, but I wonder what you will give back in return?”

11. The Stranger – Albert Camus

A philosophical essay on absurdism disguised as novel, recommended by Yang. A somewhat unsettling read, but illustrates the potential consequences of believing in an irrational and meaningless universe. Pair with The Meursault Investigation for a sequel that complements themes raised in The Stranger.

• “I looked up at the mass of signs and stars in the night sky and laid myself open for the first time to the benign indifference of the world.”
• “It is better to burn than to disappear.”

12. A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini

A stunning tale set in Kabul, where two women are brought together by war and loss. Highlights how a person’s love can bring them to acts of courage and self-sacrifice. There are few books as heartbreaking and uplifting as this one.

• “You see, some things I can teach you. Some you learn from books. But there are things that, well, you have to see and feel.”
• “Learn this now and learn it well. Like a compass facing north, a man’s accusing finger always finds a woman. Always. You remember that, Mariam.”

13. Life of Pi – Yann Martel

A philosophical essay defending spirituality disguised as a novel. The last chapter, where we are called to question the book’s entire events, remains one of my favourite reading experiences of all time.

• “To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.”
• “I must say a word about fear. It is life’s only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unnerving ease. It begins in your mind, always … so you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don’t, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.”

14. The Prophet – Kahlil Gibran

When poetry meets wisdom. This short book contains short prose poems on a range of topics, including parenting, relationships and work. The chapter on relationships has guided much of what I value in a friend and partner.

• “Some of you say,” Joy is greater than sorrow”, and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater”. But I say unto you, they are inseparable.”
• “Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.”
• “And stand together yet not too near together:
  For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
  And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”

15. Animal Farm – George Orwell

A terrifying novel warning of the dangers of dictatorship. Inspired by the Stalinist era, this was the first book that showed me how politics and art can be combined into a force for change. The scene of Boxer being taken away still makes me shudder.

• “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
• “If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

Non Fiction

16. The Holy Bible

Requires little introduction. The most read work in my childhood and adolescence, with weekly attendance at Bible studies. Though I no longer identify with the faith, the stories and teachings from this book have had a tremendous impact on my personal beliefs.

• “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20 ESV)
• The Parable of the Lost Son.

17. Show Your Work! – Austin Kleon

The book that made me start this blog. Highly recommended to anyone thinking about sharing their work online but unsure how to, or requiring that extra nudge to start.

• “You can’t be content with mastery; you have to push yourself to become a student again.”
• “The real gap is between doing nothing and doing something.”

18. Tools of Titans – Tim Ferriss

An encyclopedia of wisdom from some of the world’s top performers. Tim has distilled thousands of hours of interviews with writers, athletes, scientists and philosophers into 700 pages. I visit this book every few months when there is an issue I am struggling with, and always find actionable advice no matter the topic. One of the chapters features an article called Some Practical Thoughts on Suicide which helped save my life.

• “A friend once told me that killing yourself is like taking your pain, multiplying it 10x, and giving it to the ones who love you. I agree with this, but there’s more. Beyond any loved ones, you could include neighbors, innocent bystanders exposed to your death, and people — often kids — who commit “copycat suicides” when they read about your demise. This is the reality, not the cure-all fantasy, of suicide.
  If you think about killing yourself, imagine yourself wearing a suicide bomber’s vest of explosives and walking into a crowd of innocents.”

19. When Breath Becomes Air – Paul Kalanithi

The memoir that made me decide to study medicine over engineering. Medicine, this book made me realise, is uniquely shaped by art, ethics, and philosophical issues such as mortality, morality, and the limits of science. Eight years later, I can say that choosing medicine was the right decision.

• “You can’t ever reach perfection, but you can believe in an asymptote toward which you are ceaselessly striving.”
• “The physician’s duty is not to stave off death or return patients to their old lives, but to take into our arms a patient and family whose lives have disintegrated and work until they can stand back up and face, and make sense of, their own existence.”

20. David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants – Malcolm Gladwell

Case studies and unconventional ideas on what makes underdogs succeed and how giants can fall. While often criticised as overly simplistic, some of his premises I have found to be very true and has helped me win battles I thought never possible.

• “Courage is not something that you already have that makes you brave when the tough times start. Courage is what you earn when you’ve been through the tough times and you discover they aren’t so tough after all.”
• “Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often the sources of great weakness.”

21. How To Talk To Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships – Leil Lowndes

A handbook for becoming more approachable and improving social skills. I can credit two skills I learnt from this book (eye contact and smiling) to a great number of successes in real life interactions.

• “The way you move is your autobiography in motion.”

22. Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds – David Goggins

The most unbelievable and inspirational memoir I have come across. How did an abused, poor black child from New York end up as a decorated Navy SEAL, world record holder for most pull-ups done in 24 hours, and ultra marathon runner? Through carrying the boats and being the hardest man alive.

• “You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft, that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”
• “In the military we always say we don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.”

23. Several Short Sentences about Writing – Verlyn Klinkenborg

This book teaches how to write with greater elegance and clarity by demonstrating what beautiful writing looks like. It also encourages readers to read more intentionally by noticing lovely turns of phrases or areas that could be improved. Required reading for anyone who wishes to take writing seriously.

• “Writing isn’t a conveyer belt bearing the reader to “the point” at the end of the piece, where the meaning will be revealed. Good writing is significant everywhere, delightful everywhere.”
• “We forget something fundamental as we read:
  Every sentence could have been otherwise but isn’t.
  We can’t see all the decisions that led to the final shape of the sentence.
  But we can see the residue of those decisions.”

24. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running – Haruki Murakami

A rare glimpse into Murakami’s running and writing life. It was interesting to read how his running helped his writing, and vice versa. Encouraged me to run my first marathon, and to see running more as a way of life than a just a hobby.

• “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you’re running and you think, Man, this hurts, I can’t take it anymore. The ‘hurt’ part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand anymore is up to the runner himself.”
• “The most important thing we learn at school is the fact that the most important things can’t be learned at school.”

25. Shrinks: The Untold Story of Psychiatry – Jeffrey A. Lieberman

The history of psychiatry is one plagued by mysticism, skepticism and deceit, and this book tells it honestly without shame. It is strange how such an increasingly crucial part of medicine feels so alienated from other medical specialties, and how the DSM-V – psychiatry’s handbook – is a far cry from having scientific backing. Yet reading this gave me hope: that there are conversations surrounding these issues, and there are people advocating for real change. A change I hope to be part of someday.

• “Unable to find a biological basis for the illnesses within its province, psychiatry became ever more scientifically estranged… Psychiatry has trumpeted more illegitimate treatments than any other field of medicine.”
• “There’s a good reason that so many people will do everything they can to avoid seeing a psychiatrist. I believe that the only way psychiatrists can demonstrate how far we have hoisted ourselves from the murk is first to own up to our long history of missteps and share the uncensored story of how we overcame our dubious past.”