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Recommendations based on City of Djinns: A Year in Delhiby William Dalrymple
* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans
Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found
by Suketu Mehta
An exploration of the diverse and complex city of Bombay, India.
A native of Bombay, Suketu Mehta gives us an insider’s view of this stunning metropolis. He approaches the city from unexpected angles, taking us into the criminal underworld of rival Muslim and ... (Goodreads)
India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy
by Ramachandra Guha
An expansive account of India's post-independence history, exploring its unique path to democracy.
A magisterial account of the pains, the struggles, the humiliations, and the glories of the world's largest and least likely democracy, Ramachandra Guha's India After Gandhi is a breathtaking ... (Goodreads)
Seven Years in Tibet
by Heinrich Harrer
Exploration of Tibet, told through the story of a man who escapes internment and lives in the region for seven years.
The book covers the escape of Harrer and his companion, Peter Aufschnaiter , from a British internment camp in India. , Harrer and Aufschnaiter then traveled across Tibet to Lhasa , the capital. Here ... (Wikipedia)
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
by Bill Bryson
A humorous account of a man's attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail, reflecting on the beauty and history of the American wilderness.
The book starts with Bryson explaining his curiosity about the Appalachian Trail near his house. He and his old friend Stephen Katz start hiking the trail from Georgia in the South , and stumble in ... (Wikipedia)
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
by Jung Chang
A family memoir spanning decades of Chinese history, exploring the power of resilience.
The story of three generations in twentieth-century China that blends the intimacy of memoir and the panoramic sweep of eyewitness history—a bestselling classic in thirty languages with more than ten ... (Goodreads)
The Shadow of the Sun
by Ryszard Kapuściński
An epic account of a journey through Africa, navigating the continent's diverse cultures and politics.
In 1957, Ryszard Kapuscinski arrived in Africa to witness the beginning of the end of colonial rule as the first African correspondent of Poland's state newspaper. From the early days of independence ... (Goodreads)
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
by Katherine Boo
Explores the lives of the people living in Mumbai's slums and the harsh realities they face.
From Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo, a landmark work of narrative nonfiction that tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the ... (Goodreads)
The Places in Between
by Rory Stewart
A pilgrimage across Afghanistan, uncovering the country's forgotten history.
Stewart arrives in Afghanistan in January 2002, beginning his journey in Herat and proceeding on foot to Kabul . He is initially accompanied by two armed guards, Qasim and Abdul Haq, at the ... (Wikipedia)
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
by Susan Cain
An exploration of the power of introversion, examining the implications of modern society's emphasis on extroversion.
The book that started the Quiet Revolution, At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike ... (Goodreads)
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
by Thomas L. Friedman
An exploration of the rapid globalization of the world, and the implications of this shift.
When scholars write the history of the world twenty years from now, and they come to the chapter Y2K to March 2004 , what will they say was the most crucial development? The attacks on the World ... (Goodreads)
My Family and Other Animals
by Gerald Durrell
A humorous memoir of a family's experiences living on the Mediterranean island of Corfu.
When the unconventional Durrell family can no longer endure the damp, gray English climate, they do what any sensible family would do: sell their house and relocate to the sunny Greek isle of Corfu. ... (Goodreads)
Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town
by Paul Theroux
An exploration of Africa, from the ancient wonders of the Nile to the modern marvels of the Cape.
In Dark Star Safari the wittily observant and endearingly irascible Paul Theroux takes readers the length of Africa by rattletrap bus, dugout canoe, cattle truck, armed convoy, ferry, and train. In ... (Goodreads)
A Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson
A captivating overview of the natural sciences, spanning the history of the universe.
In Bryson's biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory ... (Goodreads)
How Proust Can Change Your Life
by Alain de Botton
A journey of self-discovery and personal growth, inspired by the insights of Marcel Proust.
For anyone who ever wondered what Marcel Proust had in mind when he wrote the one-and-a-quarter-million words of, In Search of Lost Time, (while bedridden, no less), Alain de Botton has the answer. ... (Goodreads)
Tao Te Ching
by Lao Tzu
A collection of wise sayings and reflections on the nature of existence.
A lucid translation of the well-known Taoist classic by a leading scholar-now in a Shambhala Pocket Library edition. Written more than two thousand years ago, the Tao Teh Ching , or -The Classic of ... (Goodreads)
Palestine
by Joe Sacco
A graphic novel that recounts the experiences of Palestinians living under military occupation.
The book takes place over a two-month period in late 1991 / early 1992, with occasional flashbacks to the expulsion of the Arabs, the beginning of the Intifada , the Gulf War and other events in the ... (Wikipedia)
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
by Peter Frankopan
An epic narrative of the discover of the world's trade routes, spanning more than 3,000 years.
The New Silk Roads takes a fresh look at the relationships being formed along the length and breadth of the ancient trade routes today. The world is changing dramatically and in an age of Brexit and ... (Goodreads)
Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942–1943
by Antony Beevor
The epic story of the Battle of Stalingrad and its devastating impact on WWII.
The Battle of Stalingrad was not only the psychological turning point of World War II: it also changed the face of modern warfare. From Antony Beevor, the internationally bestselling author of, ... (Barnes & Noble)
Long Walk to Freedom
by Nelson Mandela
A remarkable story of courage, perseverance and hope in the face of oppression.
Nelson Mandela is one of the great moral and political leaders of our time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel ... (Goodreads)
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
by Elizabeth Kolbert
Examination of the current extinction of species caused by human activity and the potential global implications.
Over the last half-billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring ... (Goodreads)
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared Diamond
Tracing the origins of human civilizations through the lens of geography, technology, and biology.
"Diamond has written a book of remarkable scope ... one of the most important and readable works on the human past published in recent years." Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a national bestseller: ... (Goodreads)
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
by Barbara Demick
Exploration of the lives of North Koreans during the famine and repression of the 1990s.
Nothing to Envy follows the lives of six North Koreans over fifteen years—a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the unchallenged rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il, and the ... (Goodreads)
Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart
by Tim Butcher
An exploration of the Congo River, tracing its past and present history.
A compulsively readable account of a journey to the Congo — a country virtually inaccessible to the outside world — vividly told by a daring and adventurous journalist. Ever since Stanley first ... (Goodreads)
The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific
by J. Maarten Troost
A humorous memoir of a couple's misadventures while living on a remote island in the Pacific.
In the book Troost described how he and his girlfriend Sylvia adjusted to life on the remote small island in the South Pacific, and built a life for themselves there. Troost described the unusual ... (Wikipedia)
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
by Siddhartha Mukherjee
A comprehensive account of the history and science of cancer, from its origins to modern treatments.
An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found, here, and, here,. The Emperor of All Maladies is a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer - from its first documented ... (Goodreads)
The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement
by David Brooks
A journey through the unconscious mind, exploring how it shapes our behavior, relationships, and success in life.
With unequaled insight and brio, David Brooks, the New York Times columnist and bestselling author of Bobos in Paradise, has long explored and explained the way we live. Now, with the intellectual ... (Goodreads)
The Diary of a Bookseller
by Shaun Bythell
A humorous and insightful account of life in a small bookshop.
Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set ... (Goodreads)
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris
by David McCullough
Story of the American artists, writers, scientists, and others who flocked to Paris in the 19th century, searching for inspiration and creativity.
The Greater Journey is the enthralling, inspiring - and until now, untold - story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, architects, and others of high aspiration who set ... (Goodreads)
Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
by Ross King
A look into the remarkable life and legacy of the pioneering artist and architect, Filippo Brunelleschi.
The, New York Times, bestselling, award winning story of the construction of the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence and the Renaissance genius who reinvented architecture to build it. On ... (Barnes & Noble)
The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism
by Fritjof Capra
An exploration of the connections between modern physics and ancient Eastern philosophies.
