Updated December 10, 2005

What is:
Masterfully Written Important Nonfiction

What is a Masterfully Written Important Book? TOP

Several years ago, while talking casually to relatives around a kitchen table about leadership and young people of the day, as older people sometimes do, we started to list critically important books a young person to read by the age of 24. The concept generated interesting conversation and exposed various strengths and weaknesses in reading habits. I've pursued this topic with others for the past few years. Women in general were far more inclined to have recommendations than men. Topics were similarly stratified with women focusing on relationship titles and men, if they had any recommendations at all, focusing on work-related management styles, wealth, history or politics.

Good Vs. Important

But before we could successfully list the important books we had to make the distinction between an important book and a good book. This distinction was difficult since most did not originally separate the two. While all well written books can be good, not all good books are important. I probably pushed this distinction farther than most, but my objective was to list books that are likely to make a difference in someone's life as opposed to masterful creative work that, more than anything else, entertains. This is not to take away from masterful creative works that entertain. They have their place — recreational reading. But I wouldn't want to educate young people on nothing but masterful entertainment. Yet I see it every day.

Ancient History

A recent NDA visitor viewed my Most Important Books List and wrote: "I think the list is sadly lacking in cultural history.  Nothing by Thucydides or Herodotus." (Historians from 5th century B.C.E.). After reviewing their work I considered whether they were important enough or just masterful. The purpose of my list is not to offer LOTS of nonfiction, just masterfully written important nonfiction. The two authors mentioned are widely regarded as classic historical (nonfiction) works and important to cultural history, but how would my life today be different if I had not read them? When challenged by this question, I concluded that they and other masterful nonfiction books that I cannot put to use in my everyday life fall into the category of masterful but not important books. This raises the ire of history devotees (as did my challenge on What Value Shakespeare?) but alas, ancient events that do not change how I live my life today, no matter how well written, are academic. They may be and by all accounts certainly are masterfully written and deserve respect, attention, preservation, and recreational reading, but they are not important enough to qualify for my most important books list. Other books have a greater impact on reader's lives today.

To this same visitor's credit, she also included a suggestion for Night which ranks alongside If This is a Man and Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl, all books about the Holocaust. I agree that these books should be on the list for the reasons listed above so I have added them. My thanks go to my visitor.

Before you conclude that I reject all the ancients, let me explain how ancient is too ancient. My line is drawn in the sand at Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677). He is the first to make modern sense despite the bad science of his day. Authors before him must be viewed with a more critical eye that must consider the science, politics, culture and religions of the times. Authors after Spinoza were living in what I consider a more modern time yet that does not allow them to escape careful critique. So authors before 1650 are probably of VERY limited value though there are a very few exceptions. Authors after 1650 still need to be carefully evaluated but are much more likely to have something tangible to contribute to today's society. But then, you might just have to read them all to make this judgment yourself. This is my opinion.

Entertainment Vs. Empowerment

Lists of masterful entertainment abound and are promoted heavily. Think of "the classics". How many classics are nonfiction? Why so few? Masterfully written books that are primarily entertainment (many classics fall into this category) rarely add clarity, values or power to a person's life as an important book would. Entertainment takes you for a great, engaging and engrossing ride, but primarily helps you escape, forget, fantasize. It may be a truly great book, but your life or thoughts are not appreciably or literally changed, just wonderfully set aside for a time.

Important, thought changing, life changing fiction books exist, but they are rare. Fiction specializes in entertainment; safe, easy and abundant, like eating dessert without the main meal. The next generation needs their vegetables too. The main course cannot not be derived or inferred only from the dessert. The next generation needs masterful important books for more solid nutrition.

Not Just Raw Data

Masterful important books are not just raw data or ideas or boring. Masterful important books prepare critical ingredients for your brain as a chef combines critical ingredients into a delicious meal that readers crave, offering bold innovative nutrition, ingestible, digestible ingredients that fortify and empower the mind, change your attitudes or direction, expand your interests or even your life. That is a masterfully written important book.

Learning from Mistakes

We are not all great thinkers, yet we can gain great insight from the few great thinkers who have been kind enough to record their thoughts for posterity. There is little need to reinvent the wheel, yet we do it every day. We seem to prefer to learn from mistakes instead of learning to avoid mistakes in the fist place. So each generation experiences the same mistakes over and over again, learning that it was a mistake only afterwards, wasting time getting into the mistake and more getting out, over and over again, so that when we finally get smart, we've run out of time. Masterful important books can accelerate you past mistakes into opportunity. They put you in control of your own life, getting you into desirables you choose instead of getting yourself out of undesirables you wind up in.

Harder to Find

Test: How long does it take you to get to the nonfiction section from the Amazon.com home page? Try it! While trying, try to conclude which from the many sources (video stores, catalogs, book stores, retail stores, advertisements, etc.) is more accessible, fiction or nonfiction.

Lists of masterful important books are much harder to find, probably because they are not always politically correct (safe) or universally appealing because of emotional biases, so they target a smaller audience, are promoted more selectively, less aggressively, listed more emotionally, criticized more politically and aggressively, may contradict each other because of differing value systems or geography, cultures or time frames, may cause readers to painfully or happily evaluate or reevaluate events in their lives, challenge "don't worry, be happy" propaganda, might instigate change from the status quo, and might be assumed (wrongly) to be school assignments instead of discretionary reading.

Making Hard Choices

I list books and other media below that empower people, that clarify confusing concepts, increase skills, sharpen focus, make life potentially better, and oh by the way are masterfully written or produced. These are what I think young people should have read by the age of 24, to help them choose their future path, a path chosen by them, not for them. Chosen more efficiently by benefiting from past experiences of others who have masterfully written important books.

If you are already older than 24, you better hurry to catch up! If you haven't read books like these but have an opinion on these topics, how do you know you are right or that someone else is wrong? Are you the first or brightest person in all of written history to have your opinions on the topics that affect your life? Possibly, but not likely. You need to read others to benefit from their experiences, confirm your conclusions and validate your genius!

My Goal

My goal is not to push my agenda, but to list books that help others decide if they have or should have their own agenda. Since this is my list it offers the books that I and others I know and agree with and have found to be important. Other people will obviously have different lists and that is great. The more lists of important resources the better. These titles, at the very least, will offer support, alternatives and conviction to what you already know. This page offers what I think are masterfully written books and other media to help you make good choices or to change the flavor of your choices.

I hope this list is helpful. Enjoy.

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Steve Waller