Tuesday Travels of the Mind: 2025 Reading List

 

George Washington Presidential Library, Mt Vernon, Virginia

1. How to Have a Life, Selected writings of Seneca, James Romm (P) 
2. Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8, Naoko Hgashida (P) Wisdom from a young man with Autism
3. Zaytinya, Jose Andres (P) an amazing cookbook 
4. The Thefts of the Mona Lisa, Noah Charney (P) the history of the world's most famous painting 
5. The Piano Shop on The Left Bank, Thad Carhart (P) a delightful tale of life in Paris, and rediscovering playing the piano as an adult. 
6. Those Precious Days, Ann Patchett (P) a collection of essays, good, not great. 
7. Draft No. 4, John McPhee (P) about non-fiction writing. 
8. All The Time in the World, John Gierach (P) fly fishing in the backwaters of north America, wonderfully written. 
9. White Space, Jennifer DeLeon (P) the life of a writer from Guatemala 
10. 100 Great Breads, Paul Hollywood (P) 
11. Seven Seasons in Siena, Robert Rodi (P) 
12. Your English is Better Than My French, Scott Carpenter (E) 
13. Write for Your Life, Anna Quindlen (P) journaling, bio, writing, 
14. Thoreau's Axe, Caleb Smith (P) distraction and discipline in American culture
15. Vegetables Unleashed, Jose Andres (P) - Great "cookbook." 
16. The Book That Changed My Life, Roxanne Coady (P) 
17. Arts Of The Possible, Adrienne Rich (P) 
18. The Abundance, Annie Dillard (P) 
19. The Plot Against Native America, Bill Vaughn (P) 
20. Low-Hanging Fruit, Randy Rainbow (P) 
21. Time Pieces, John Banville (P) 
22. This Is Assisted Dying, Stefanie Green, MD (P) 
23. A Year in the Maine Woods, Brend Heinrich (P) Well written, not Walden, lots of naturalist content
24. Three Roads Back, Robert Richardson (P) 
25. Pig Years, Ellyn Gaydos
26. Never Play It Safe, Chase Jarvis (P) didn't like it
27. Botticelli’s Secret, Joseph Lizzie (P)
28. On Tyranny, Timothy Snyder
29. Paris Lost and Found, Scott Carpenter (E)
30. Golden Years, James Cappel (E) 
31. The Seven Graces of Ageless Aging, Jason Elias (E)
32. Howards End, E M Forester (2/3rd of it, I couldn't stay awake long enough to finish it.) (P) 
33. Baking Across America, B. Dylan Hollis (P) 
34. How to Travel, The School of Life (P) 
35. Valley of Forgetting, Jennie Erin Smith (P) long winded and pointless. 
36. The World As I See It, Albert Einstein (P) 
37. Cheaper Faster Better How we'll win the climate war, Tom Steyer (P)
38. The Artist's Joy, Merideth Hite Estevez (P)  
39. Food for Thought, Alton Brown (P) A fun autobiography. 
40. American Sheep, Brett Bannor (P) Very well written, informative. 
41. The French Ingredient, Jane Bertch (P) 
42. Building, Mark Ellison (P) Excellent book by a carpenter from NYC. 
43. Humans are Underrated, Geoff Colvin (P) 
44. Revenge of the Tipping Point, Malcom Gladwell (P) 
45. Happy This Year, Will Bowen (P) 
46. Imagine, Jonah Lehrer (P) great book on creativity
47. BOLDER, Carl Honore (P) 
48. License to Travel, Patrick Bixby (P) 
49. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin (P) An modern classic. 
50. Purple Crayons, Ross Ellenhorn (P) Not worth it. 
51. The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris, Evie Woods (P), novel
52. Growing a Feast, Kurt Timmermeister (P) Very good
53. 50 After 50, Maria Olsen, (P) Did not like, to much of her personal tragedy and no real joy. 
54. Civility, Steven Selzer (P) 
55. The American Frugal Housewife, Mrs. Child (P) reprint of a book from 1833
56. The Slow Traveller, Jo Tinsley (P)
57. How to Host a Viking Funeral, Kyle Scheele (P) A better title than book. 
58. The Importance of Being Educable, Leslie Valiant (P) 
59. Uncharted, Gordon Ramsay (P) 
60. Longitude, Dava Sobel (P) Very informative. 
61. Modern Block Printing, Rowan Sivyer (P) 
62. The Burning of Washington, Anthony Pitch (P) A history of the War of 1812. I learned a few things about what happened in my neighborhood. 
63. Immortal Milk: Adventures in Cheese, Eric LeMay (P) Well written about small farming, cheese and cooking with love. 
64. Return, Lynx Vilden (P) 
65. The Pre-History of The Far Side, by Gary Larson (P) 
66. In My Remaining Years, Jean Grae (P)
67. Off the Record, Colin Dobson-Fox (P) erotica. 
68. Small Wonder, Barbara Kingsolver (P) 
69. In Praise of Idleness, Bertrand Russell (P) 
70. Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach (P) The first time I have read it, I have no idea why this one sold millions of copies. 
71. Nature Imprinted, Jane Spink (P) 
72. Arts of the Possible, Adrienne Rich (P) 
73. Amplify, Adam Met (P) 
74. The Slow Traveller, Jo Tinsley (P) 
75. Long Days Journey Into Night, Eugene O'Neil (P) A play, very much a downer. 
76. Page after Page, Heather Sellers (P)
77. Life in the Garden, Penelope Lively (P)
78. Look Alive Out There, Sloane Crosley (P) 
79. Barbados Island of the Yellow Bird, Ralfy Mitchell (P) A travelog by a Whiskey YouTuber. 
80. The Funny Thing Is . . ., Ellen Degeneres (P) I didn't find her very funny. 
81. Think Like A Rocket Scientist, Jim Longuski (P) Well worth the read, a work of philosophy by a rocket scientist. 
82. Medium Raw, Anthony Bourdain (P) 
83. More Than Words, Maryellen MacDonald (P)  Psycholinguistics
84. Make it Anyway, Danny Gregory (P) Art philosophy  
85. In Praise of Wasting Time, Alan Lightman (P) slow down, be idle, sleep, find time to do nothing
86. Portrait Painting, Tricia Reichert (P) 
87. Beginners, Tom Vanderbilt