14 Books That Will Make You Smarter

This appeared on TIME a few weeks ago, the result of Shane Parrish of Farnham Street asking his Twitter followers “What is page for page the book with the most wisdom you’ve ever read?” (If you have trouble getting it from TIME you can check it out in its original spot.)  Here are the top three. Check out the rest (Hint: Dr. Seuss makes an appearance.) What books would you nominate?

1. Seeking Wisdom, by Peter Bevelin
This is number 8 on the list of books that changed my life. It is also the book I give away most often, sending innumerable copies around the globe.

2. Cosmos, by Carl Sagan
This is one of the best-selling science books of all time. I’ve never read it, so I ordered it after reading the blurb: “retraces the fourteen billion years of cosmic evolution that have transformed matter into consciousness, exploring such topics as the origin of life, the human brain, Egyptian hieroglyphics, spacecraft missions, the death of the Sun, the evolution of galaxies, and the forces and individuals who helped to shape modern science.”

3. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
A book that a lot of people, myself included, talk about but have never read. It’s time to change that.