The Little Prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

1943

The story follows a young prince who visits various planets in space, including Earth, and addresses themes of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss. Despite its style as a children's book, The Little Prince makes observations about life, adults and human nature.

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Malcolm Gladwell

2000

Mysterious sociological changes that mark everyday life. As Gladwell states: "Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do." The examples of such changes in his book include the rise in popularity and sales of Hush Puppies shoes in the mid-1990s and the steep drop in New York City's crime rate after 1990.

The Midnight Library

Matt Haig

2020

Matt Haig's unique novel The Midnight Library ponders the infinite possibilities of life. It is about a young woman named Nora Seed, who lives a monotonous, ordinary life and feels unwanted and unaccomplished. One night, her despair reaches a peak and she commits suicide.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Yuval Noah

2011

Traces the origins, mechanisms, and effects of what we think of as “human progress” from small bands of hunter gatherers 100,000 years ago to the present-day global network through which our species has come to dominate the entire Earth.