The thing that brings together these five books is that they are both enjoyable and there is too much to infer from.
1
In terms of personal development, this book's guidance in my teens made an everlasting impact for reasoning things, albeit just the very basics of scientific thinking. And personally again, every epistemologic problem that I came across or witnessed in life had somehow been heralded by Sagan's reasonings because the method he is referring to, is no other than that we use to monitor million light years away. There may be tons of popular science books for introduction but this one is a very good example and since we live in the post-truth, it gets ironically fresher every day.
2
Geert Mak is a Dutch journalist and this book is his testimony and ode to his continent's century. As he takes you from one corner of Europe to another in time, he remembers and reminds with a narrative tradition he inherited from prose masters. There are billion things to learn and infer from his thousand-page gripping voyage.
3
Since I live in a region which was pretty much devastated by the First World War, this one is particularly important for people like me. But as you turn more pages of it, you begin to realize the never ending consequences of WWI. It was not something that happened and finished some 100 and more years ago. Humanity is still witnessing something in Israeli-Palestinian wars which is very much a remnant of WWI. Even WWII did not have such far reaching impacts. WWI did not only demolish empires, it also perplexed the minds of hundreds of millions of people in terms of nations, citizenship, country formations, human rights and so on and so on. I did not see a better emphasis to this reality than Gerwarth's.
4
You may not be particularly interested in the things that led to the emergence of the Ottoman Empire but Cemal Kafadar weighs the prevailing assertions on the issue (which is based on scarce written and documented material) in such contemplations and witty reasonings that you cannot help but entertain.
5
The book I had to refer to is not a direct translation of a concrete book of his, but a translation and compilation of Heinrich Schliemann's several writings into Turkish, on the way to his discovery of the Homeric city of Troy. In the great discovery age of 19th century, archaeology was not an exception and while many dug in Egypt and elsewhere, Schliemann, Homer fan businessman, dedicated his life and money to find the city that inspired Iliad and Odyssey. All I can say is, despite his notoriety in the methods he used (like dynamiting the upper layers of the ancient ruins), that he shadows Indiana Jones as regards adventure. It is such a joyous ride.
1
In terms of personal development, this book's guidance in my teens made an everlasting impact for reasoning things, albeit just the very basics of scientific thinking. And personally again, every epistemologic problem that I came across or witnessed in life had somehow been heralded by Sagan's reasonings because the method he is referring to, is no other than that we use to monitor million light years away. There may be tons of popular science books for introduction but this one is a very good example and since we live in the post-truth, it gets ironically fresher every day.
2
Geert Mak is a Dutch journalist and this book is his testimony and ode to his continent's century. As he takes you from one corner of Europe to another in time, he remembers and reminds with a narrative tradition he inherited from prose masters. There are billion things to learn and infer from his thousand-page gripping voyage.
3
Since I live in a region which was pretty much devastated by the First World War, this one is particularly important for people like me. But as you turn more pages of it, you begin to realize the never ending consequences of WWI. It was not something that happened and finished some 100 and more years ago. Humanity is still witnessing something in Israeli-Palestinian wars which is very much a remnant of WWI. Even WWII did not have such far reaching impacts. WWI did not only demolish empires, it also perplexed the minds of hundreds of millions of people in terms of nations, citizenship, country formations, human rights and so on and so on. I did not see a better emphasis to this reality than Gerwarth's.
4
You may not be particularly interested in the things that led to the emergence of the Ottoman Empire but Cemal Kafadar weighs the prevailing assertions on the issue (which is based on scarce written and documented material) in such contemplations and witty reasonings that you cannot help but entertain.
5
The book I had to refer to is not a direct translation of a concrete book of his, but a translation and compilation of Heinrich Schliemann's several writings into Turkish, on the way to his discovery of the Homeric city of Troy. In the great discovery age of 19th century, archaeology was not an exception and while many dug in Egypt and elsewhere, Schliemann, Homer fan businessman, dedicated his life and money to find the city that inspired Iliad and Odyssey. All I can say is, despite his notoriety in the methods he used (like dynamiting the upper layers of the ancient ruins), that he shadows Indiana Jones as regards adventure. It is such a joyous ride.
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