Brian Gongol
| Book | Author | Enjoyability | Importance | Category | Comments |
Nothing is Sacred | Robert J. Barro |  | | Economics | |
| Animal Farm | George Orwell |  | | Politics and Philosophy | A landmark book for its accessibility and vision |
| Brave New World | Aldous Huxley | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Brave New World Revisited | Aldous Huxley | | | Politics and Philosophy | Huxley's coda to the original is even more frightening |
| Commanding Heights | Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw | | | Economics | How free markets won the 20th Century battle of ideas |
| Conscience of a Conservative | Barry Goldwater | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark | Carl Sagan | | | Science and Technology | How science can save us from our own errors |
| Economics in One Lesson | Henry Hazlitt | | | Economics | Ought to be mandatory reading |
| Elements of Style | William Strunk and EB White | | | Other | |
| Getting It Right: Markets and Choices in a Free Society | Robert J. Barro | | | Economics | |
| On Liberty | John Stuart Mill | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Rights of Man | Thomas Paine | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| The Analects of Confucius | Confucius | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| The Art of War (abridged) | Sun Tzu | | | Military | |
| 1984 | George Orwell |  | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Communist Manifesto | Karl Marx and Frederick Engels |  | | Politics and Philosophy | The arguments are fundamentally flawed; the tragedy is that millions of people died as a result |
| American Genesis | Thomas P. Hughes | | | History/Historical | Foundations of America's love affair with technology |
| Catch-22 | Joseph Heller | | | Literature | Possibly the funniest book ever written |
| Dubliners | James Joyce | | | Literature | Delightful reading by an innovative author |
| Visual Display of Quantitative Information | Edward R. Tufte | | | Science and Technology | Better ways of displaying information |
| Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Mark Twain | | | Literature | |
| Babbit | Sinclair Lewis | | | Literature | How upward mobility felt in the 1920s…for those who had access to it |
| Chaos | James Gleick | | | Science and Technology | |
| Design of Everyday Things | Donald Norman | | | Design | Why some things are easy to use and others are insufferably complicated |
| Determinants of Economic Growth | Robert J. Barro | | | Economics | |
| Envisioning Information | Edward R. Tufte | | | Science and Technology | |
| Hamilton's Blessing | John Steele Gordon | | | Economics | How the national debt came to be and what it means |
| Human-Built World | Thomas P. Hughes | | | Science and Technology | |
| It Can't Happen Here | Sinclair Lewis | | | Politics and Philosophy | A dystopic vision of America and how close we always are to losing our freedom |
| Jungle | Upton Sinclair | | | History/Historical | |
| Live to Win | Victor Kiam | | | Business Biography | Light, fun motivational reading |
| Millionaire Next Door | Thomas Stanley and William Danko | | | Investing | Both pleasurable to read and eminently useful |
| Mystery of Capital | Hernando de Soto | | | Economics | |
| Nine Nations of North America | Joel Garreau | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Relativity | Albert Einstein | | | Science and Technology | Worth reading for a better understanding of a fundamental concept |
| The Art of Money Getting | Benjamin Franklin | | | Investing | |
| The Disuniting of America | Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| The New Nationalism | Theodore Roosevelt | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| The Ordinary Business of Life | Roger Backhouse | | | Economics | |
| The Prince | Niccolo Machiavelli | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| The Road to Serfdom | Friedrich Hayek | | | Economics | |
| Towards a New Architecture | Le Corbusier | | | Science and Technology | |
| Trust | Francis Fukuyama | | | Economics | Intelligent and insightful, but too long |
| Visual Explanations | Edward R. Tufte | | | Science and Technology | |
| Wealthy Barber | David Chilton | | | Investing | |
| Why Buildings Stand Up | Mario Salvadori | | | Science and Technology | Engineering for dummies |
| Why Flip a Coin? | HW Lewis | | | Science and Technology | A delightful read about why statistics matter |
| Why People Believe Weird Things | Michael Shermer | | | Science and Technology | |
| All the President's Men | Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Antigone | Sophocles | | | Literature | |
| Arrowsmith | Sinclair Lewis | | | Literature | A probing story about the conflict between doing good on the small scale and doing good for the many |
| Banker to the Poor | Muhammad Yunus | | | Economics | A blueprint for pulling millions of people out of poverty |
| Cosmos | Carl Sagan | | | Science and Technology | Probes the origins of everything |
| Development as Freedom | Amartya Sen | | | Economics | Gets beyond GDP alone as a measure of development |
| Fahrenheit 451 | Ray Bradbury | | | Literature | |
| Free to Choose | Milton Friedman | | | Economics | |
| How to Win Friends and Influence People | Dale Carnegie | | | Psychology | |
| Iliad | Homer | | | Literature | |
| Kingsblood Royal | Sinclair Lewis | | | Literature | |
| Perestroika | Mikhail Gorbachev | | | Politics and Philosophy | Gorbachev really didn't think change would happen so quickly |
| Slaughterhouse Five | Kurt Vonnegut | | | Literature | |
| The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power, 1653-2000 | John Steele Gordon | | | Business | |
| Christian Liberty | Martin Luther | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Great Alternatives of Social Thought | Terrence Cook | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Imperialism | Nikolai (VI) Lenin | | | Politics and Philosophy | An extraordinary (and errant) obsession with monopoly |
| Oration on the Dignity of Man | Giovanni Pico della Mirandola | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Romeo and Juliet | William Shakespeare | | | Literature | Overrated, but since everyone overrates it, one can't avoid reading it |
| The State and Revolution | Nikolai (VI) Lenin | | | Politics and Philosophy | A terrifying blueprint that led to millions of deaths |
| All the Trouble in the World | PJ O'Rourke | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Eat the Rich | PJ O'Rourke | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Going for It! | Victor Kiam | | | Business | Most motivational books are wastes of paper; this isn't |
| Anthem | Ayn Rand | | | Politics and Philosophy | A good introduction to Rand's work; much shorter than her epic novels |
| Asimov Laughs Again | Isaac Asimov | | | Humor | |
| Be My Guest | Conrad Hilton | | | Business Biography | |
| Brand Warfare | David F. D'Alessandro | | | Business | |
| Dear George | George Burns | | | Humor | Short and witty |
| Dutch | Edmund Morris | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Economical Writing | Deirdre McCloskey | | | Economics | |
| Edison's Eve | Gaby Wood | | | Science and Technology | |
| Freakonomics | Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner | | | Economics | |
| Future and its Enemies | Virginia Postrel | | | Politics and Philosophy | Statism vs. freedom, and why freedom works |
| How the Irish Saved Civilization | Thomas Cahill | | | History/Historical | Thought-provoking if probably overindulgent |
| How to Read a Person Like a Book | Gerald Nierenberg and Henry Calero | | | Psychology | |
| Ishmael | Daniel Quinn | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Peace Kills | PJ O'Rourke | | | Humor | |
| Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind | Al Ries and Jack Trout | | | Business | Marketing 101 in a nutshell |
| Public and Private Papers | Thomas Jefferson | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Pygmalion | George Bernard Shaw | | | Literature | |
| Type and Layout | Colin Wheildon | | | Design | |
| A Long Short War | Christopher Hitchens | | | Military | |
| All Quiet on the Western Front | Erich Maria Remarque | | | History/Historical | |
| Arnold's Ancient Axioms | Edmund Arnold | | | Design | |
| Ben Franklin Factor | James C. Humes | | | Psychology | |
| Beyond Boom and Crash | Robert L. Heilbroner | | | Economics | |
| Billions and Billions | Carl Sagan | | | Science and Technology | |
| Body Language | Julius Fast | | | Psychology | |
| Breakup | Lansing Lamont | | | Politics and Philosophy | It may be impossible for Canada to stay in one piece; if it breaks apart, what happens next? |
| Carson | Paul Corkery | | | Broadcasting and Media | |
| Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Rich | Larry Waschka | | | Investing | |
| Epic of Gilgamesh | unknown | | | Literature | |
| Finnegans Wake (abridged) | James Joyce | | | Literature | The hardest book most people will ever pick up |
| Great Gatsby | F. Scott Fitzgerald | | | Literature | |
| History of Technology | Luca Fraioli | | | Science and Technology | A simple and highly readable primer |
| How to Be a Successful Executive | J. Paul Getty | | | Business | |
| How to Invest $50 to $5,000 | Nancy Dunnan | | | Investing | |
| Image By Design | Clive Chajet | | | Business | |
| Introducing Fascism | Stuart Hood and Litza Jansz | | | Politics and Philosophy | An "illustrated novel" on the means and practices of fascism; a good primer |
| Irreconcilable Differences: Ross Perot vs. General Motors | Doron Levin | | | Business Biography | |
| Judaism for Dummies | Ted Falcon and David Blatner | | | Religion | |
| Julius Caesar | William Shakespeare | | | Literature | Thanks a lot, Brutus |
| Maestro | Bob Woodward | | | Economics | |
| Millionaire Mind | Thomas Stanley | | | Investing | |
| My Life and the Principles for Success | H. Ross Perot | | | Business Biography | Title overpromises what the book delivers |
| Naked Economics | Charles Wheelan | | | Economics | |
| Oliver Wendell Holmes | G. Edward White | | | History/Historical | |
| Origin of Brands | Al Ries and Laura Ries | | | Business | |
| Pale Blue Dot | Carl Sagan | | | Science and Technology | Why humanity needs to look to space |
| Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | James Joyce | | | Literature | |
| Red Storm Rising | Tom Clancy | | | Military | |
| Rome Wasn't Burnt in a Day | Joe Scarborough | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Rule of Three | Jagdish Sheth and Rajendra Sisodia | | | Business | Every market has room for three major players; #4 will get squeezed |
| Salesmanship Applied | Paul W. Ivey | | | Business | |
| Snow Crash | Neal Stephenson | | | Science and Technology | |
| Spirit to Serve | JW Marriott, Jr. | | | Business | |
| The Commanders | Bob Woodward | | | Military | |
| The Future as History | Robert Heilbroner | | | Economics | |
| The Uprooted | Oscar Handlin | | | History/Historical | The American immigrant experience in a nutshell |
| Tipping Point | Malcolm Gladwell | | | Psychology | |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | | | Literature | The movie does it sufficient justice |
| Trusting the People | Bob Dole and Jack Kemp | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| United We Stand | H. Ross Perot | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| What Just Happened | James Gleick | | | Science and Technology | |
| Winning Through Intimidation | Peter Ringer | | | Business | |
| With No Apologies | Barry Goldwater | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| 100-Mile City | Deyan Sudjic | | | Science and Technology | |
| Accidental Theorist | Paul Krugman | | | Economics | |
| American College and the Culture of Aspiration, 1915-1940 | David O. Levine | | | History/Historical | How the American college experience paved the way for the GI Bill, which in turn changed the country |
| Boiling Point | Kevin Phillips | | | Politics and Philosophy | A mediocre work on the hostility of the American middle class |
| Energy: A Guidebook | Janet Ramage | | | Science and Technology | |
| Farm Crops | Graham Boatfield | | | Agriculture | |
| Food, Inc. | Peter Pringle | | | Agriculture | Starts out anti-biotechnology, ends up pro |
| Lord of the Flies | William Golding | | | Literature | |
| Mexico: From Independence to Revolution, 1810-1910 | W. Dirk Raat | | | History/Historical | |
| Virtue of Selfishness | Ayn Rand | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Wal-Mart Way | Don Soderquist | | | Business | |
| Winning Modern Wars | Wesley Clark | | | Military | |
| Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut | PJ O'Rourke | | | Humor | |
| CEO of the Sofa | PJ O'Rourke | | | Humor | |
| Give War a Chance | PJ O'Rourke | | | Humor | |
| I Want to Thank My Brain for Remembering Me | Jimmy Breslin | | | Broadcasting and Media | Breslin's a fun and engaging writer, even when talking about his stroke |
| Leadership Secrets of Atilla the Hun | Wess Roberts | | | Business | |
| Parliament of Whores | PJ O'Rourke | | | Humor | |
| Peril and Promise | John Chancellor | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Republican Party Reptile | PJ O'Rourke | | | Humor | |
| The Bachelor Home Companion | PJ O'Rourke | | | Humor | |
| The Seinfeld Scripts | Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld | | | Humor | |
| Wisdom from the Robber Barons | George David Smith and Frederick Dalzell | | | Business | |
| Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance | Robert M. Pirsig | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| 500-Year Delta | Jim Taylor and Watts Wacker | | | Science and Technology | Futurism |
| All the Best, George Bush | George HW Bush | | | Audio Books | |
| Angela's Ashes | Frank McCourt | | | Literature | |
| Call of the Wild | Jack London | | | Literature | |
| David Ogilvy: An Autobiography | David Ogilvy | | | Broadcasting and Media | An advertising man talks about himself |
| Designing the Total Newspaper | Edmund Arnold | | | Design | |
| Dirty Jokes and Beer | Drew Carey | | | Humor | |
| Elements of Agriculture | GF Warren | | | Agriculture | |
| Empire: William S. Paley and the Making of CBS | Lewis J. Paper | | | Broadcasting and Media | |
| Freefall | William and Marilyn Mona Hoffer | | | Other | |
| Greed is Good: The Capitalist Pig's Guide to Investing | Jonathan Hoenig | | | Investing | |
| Here's Johnny | Ed McMahon | | | Humor | McMahon's memoir is a little too heavy on the inconsequential |
| How to Cartoon or Caricature Anyone | Mark Linley | | | Other | |
| How to Retire Young and Rich | Joseph S. Coyle | | | Investing | |
| How to Think Like a CEO | Debra Benton | | | Business | |
| How to Watch TV News | Neil Postman, Steve Powers | | | Broadcasting and Media | |
| Iacocca: An Autobiography | Lee Iacocca | | | Business Biography | |
| Keep the Family Baggage Out of the Family Business | Quentin J. Fleming | | | Business | |
| Last Great Ride | Brandon Tartikoff | | | Broadcasting and Media | How Bill Cosby, Cheers, and ALF took NBC to the top in the 1980s |
| Like I Was Sayin'… | Mike Royko | | | Humor | Good collection of witty newspaper columns |
| Magazine Covers | David Crowley | | | Design | |
| My Life in Jokes | Bob Hope | | | Humor | |
| Naked Airport | Alastair Gordon | | | Design | |
| New Positioning | Jack Trout | | | Business | |
| Perot: An Unauthorized Biography | Todd Mason | | | Business Biography | |
| Poor Richard's Guide to E-Mail Publishing | Chris Pirillo | | | Other | |
| Ronald Reagan: A Remarkable Life | JH Cardigan | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Seabiscuit | Laura Hillenbrand | | | History/Historical | |
| Senator | William Jaspersohn | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Size Matters: Effective Graphic Design for Large Amounts of Information | Lakshmi Bhaskaran | | | Design | |
| Son of Web Pages that Suck | Vincent Flanders | | | Design | |
| The Rants | Dennis Miller | | | Humor | |
| The Real America | Glenn Beck | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Think and Grow Rich | Napoleon Hill | | | Investing | |
| Tornado | John Stanford | | | Science and Technology | Obviously more meaningful to Midwesterners than to other Americans |
| Unemotional Investor | Robert Sheard | | | Investing | |
| Wizard of Ads | Roy H. Williams | | | Business | |
| Your Wealth-Building Years | Adriane Berg | | | Investing | |
| A Reporter's Life | Walter Cronkite | | | Broadcasting and Media | America's anchor has great stories, but he's a terrible writer |
| Buffalo Creek Disaster | Gerald M. Stern | | | Business | |
| Building Wealth | Russ Whitney | | | Investing | |
| Buy Your First Home Now | Peter Miller | | | Investing | |
| Designing Direct Mail that Sells | Sandra Blum | | | Design | |
| Downsize This! | Michael Moore | | | Audio Books | |
| Faith of My Fathers | John McCain | | | Audio Books | |
| Frozen Republic | Daniel Lazare | | | Politics and Philosophy | Blames the Constitution for making political reform impossible |
| Jungle Rules: How to Be a Tiger in Business | John Imlay | | | Business | |
| Liberation Management | Tom Peters | | | Audio Books | |
| Light Pollution | Bob Mizon | | | Science and Technology | |
| Megatrends | John Naisbitt | | | Other | |
| Our Plan for America | John Kerry and John Edwards | | | Politics and Philosophy | Technocratic, bureaucratic, and interventionist answers to all our problems |
| Read All About It! | James D. Squires | | | Broadcasting and Media | Lots of navel-gazing about news media ownership |
| Rich Dad, Poor Dad | Robert T. Kiyosaki | | | Investing | Widely overrated; author apparently too cheap to hire a copy editor |
| Road Ahead | Bill Gates | | | Science and Technology | One might expect deeper thoughts from the nation's richest man |
| Searching for Memory | Daniel Schacter | | | Psychology | |
| Should Students Share the Power? | Earl J. McGrath | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Sybill | Flora R. Schreiber | | | Psychology | |
| The Antitrust Laws | John Shenefield and Irwin Stelzer | | | Business | |
| The Wrong Stuff | Truman Smith | | | Military | Reminisces of fighting in WWII, with plenty of dirty old man stories |
| Tuesdays with Morrie | Mitch Albom | | | Other | Didn't live up to the hype |
| Victor Padrini | Mark Pizzimenti | | | Military | |
| Web Type Expert | Tom Arah | | | Design | |
| Well Done! | Dave Thomas | | | Business Biography | Less insightful than one might expect |
| Who Killed CBS? | Peter Boyer | | | Broadcasting and Media | |
| Who Moved My Cheese? | Spencer Johnson | | | Business | Astonishing that anyone was paid to write this |
| Why Government Doesn't Work | Harry Browne | | | Politics and Philosophy | A broadside, not a groundbreaking work |
| Art of the Deal | Donald Trump |  | | Business Biography | An insufferable blowhard praises himself |
| Re-Inventing the Corporation | John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene | | | Business | |
| The Medium is the Massage | Marshall J. McLuhan | | | Broadcasting and Media | Reads like someone needed to lay off the LSD |
| Thomas Woodrow Wilson | Sigmund Freud and William C. Bullitt | | | Psychology | |
| Ungovernable City | Douglas Yates | | | Politics and Philosophy | |
| Winning Back America | Howard Dean | | | Politics and Philosophy | A dull catalogue of Dean's eccentricities |
| Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot | Al Franken | | | Audio Books | Inconsequential rambling |
| The Fifth Discipline | Peter Senge | | | Other |
Guide to Scores
| Enjoyability | Importance | |
|
Pure reading pleasure | One of the most important books ever |
|
Probably worth an eventual re-read | Important to a well-rounded education |
|
A decent reference | Worth reading |
|
Not much fun | Passing or special interest only |
|
Painful | Waste of time |
Currently Reading
Broca's Brain - Carl Sagan
The Downing Street Years - Margaret Thatcher
Intend to Read
Discovering the News: A Social History of American Newspapers
Understanding Media - Marshall McLuhan
Chicago: Growth of a Metropolis - Harold Mayer
My American Journey - Colin Powell
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt - Edmund Morris
The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money - John Maynard Keynes
Understanding Media - Marshall McLuhan
The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson
On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors - Patrick Wright
material by Peter F. Drucker