The bookshelf · 1000 books

Big books, distilled❦

The world's best non-fiction, re-told in our own words — a handful of ideas per book, minutes per idea. Read the summary, then buy the ones that deserve your shelf.

LeviathanThomas Hobbes9 ideas · 9 min Letting GoDavid R. Hawkins9 ideas · 9 min Letters to a Young PoetRainer Maria Rilke8 ideas · 8 min Letters from a StoicSeneca9 ideas · 9 min Let Your Life SpeakParker J. Palmer8 ideas · 8 min Leonardo da VinciWalter Isaacson9 ideas · 9 min Leonardo and the Last SupperRoss King9 ideas · 9 min Learned OptimismMartin E. P. Seligman9 ideas · 9 min Leadership Strategy and TacticsJocko Willink9 ideas · 9 min Leaders Eat LastSimon Sinek10 ideas · 10 min Language, Truth and LogicA. J. Ayer9 ideas · 9 min KrakatoaSimon Winchester9 ideas · 9 min Kitchen ConfidentialAnthony Bourdain10 ideas · 10 min King Leopold's GhostAdam Hochschild9 ideas · 9 min Killers of the Flower MoonDavid Grann9 ideas · 9 min Keep GoingAustin Kleon9 ideas · 9 min Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?Michael J. Sandel10 ideas · 10 min Just My Type: A Book About FontsSimon Garfield9 ideas · 9 min Just MercyBryan Stevenson9 ideas · 9 min Just KidsPatti Smith9 ideas · 9 min John AdamsDavid McCullough8 ideas · 8 min Jerusalem: The BiographySimon Sebag Montefiore10 ideas · 10 min It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at WorkJason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson9 ideas · 9 min IrresistibleAdam Alter10 ideas · 10 min