The Top 1000

A list of every formative book featured on the podcast.

#1000 WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS by Shel Silverstein 1

#999 Hard Times: an oral history of the great depression by studs terkel 2

#998* Jonathan Livingston Seagull by richard bach

#997 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by hunter s. thompson

#996 The Book of est by Luke Rhinehart 3

#995 See You at The Top by Zig Ziglar

#994 Linchpin by Seth Godin

#993 ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET BY JUDY BLUME 4

#992 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FACE BY LUCY GREALY

#991 LIGHT BOXES BY SHANE JONES

#990 LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS BY LAURA INGALLS WILDER 5 

#989** AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

#988 WHY WE GET FAT: AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT BY GARY TAUBES

#987 MADELINE BY LUDWIG BEMELMANS 6

#986 OZ (the complete paperback collection) BY L. FRANK BAUM

#985 heaven to betsy and betsy in spite of herself by maud hart lovelace

#984 YOU CAN WIN BY SHIV KHERA 7

#983 THE MAGIC OF THINKING BIG by david j. schwartz

#982 who moved my cheese? by spencer johnson

#981 WILD MAGIC BY TAMORA PIERCE 8

#980 HYPERBOLE AND A HALF BY ALLIE BROSH

#979 CRASH OVERRIDE BY ZOE QUINN

#978 CHIPS OFF THE OLD BENCHLEY BY ROBERT BENCHLEY 9

#977 VERY GOOD, JEEVES! BY PG WODEHOUSE 

#976 THE DOG OF THE SOUTH BY CHARLES PORTIS 

#975 THE CHRYSALIDS BY JOHN WYNDHAM 10

#974 ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH BY ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN 

#973 SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE BY KURT VONNEGUT

#972 THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE BY C.S. LEWIS 11

#971 THE BELL JAR BY SYLVIA PLATH

#970 THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK BY ANNE FRANK

#969 ENLIGHTENMENT NOW BY STEVEN PINKER 12

#968 THE BEGINNING OF INFINITY BY DAVID DEUTSCH

#967 THE BLUE SWEATER BY JACQUELINE NOVOGRATZ

#966* Animal Farm by George Orwell 13

#965 Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

#964 All We Shall Know by Donal Ryan

#963 THE BLESSING OF A SKINNED KNEE BY WENDY MOGEL 14

#962* NOTHING TO ENVY BY BARBARA DEMICK

#961 ON WRITING BY STEPHEN KING

#960 THE ROYAL ROAD TO ROMANCE BY RICHARD HALLIBURTON 15

#959 THE RIGHT STUFF BY TOM WOLFE

#958 GILEAD BY MARILYNNE ROBINSON

#957 BLACK LIKE ME BY JOHN HOWARD GRIFFIN 16

#956 THE DHARMA BUMS BY JACK KEROUAC

#955 AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH BY NEIL POSTMAN

#954 THE LIARS CLUB BY MARY KARR 17

#953 BIRD BY BIRD BY ANNE LAMOTT

#952 THE BOOK OF SHRIGLEY BY DAVID SHRIGLEY

#951 WILL YOU PLEASE BE QUIET, PLEASE?: STORIES BY RAYMOND CARVER 18

#950 TAKING CARE BY JOY WILLIAMS

#949 IN THE GARDEN OF THE NORTH AMERICAN MARTYRS BY TOBIAS WOLFF

#948 CATCH-22 BY JOSEPH HELLER 19 BO2018

#947 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ACHIEVEMENT BY BRIAN TRACEY

#946 GOOD TO GREAT BY JIM COLLINS

#945 OUTRAGEOUS ACTS AND EVERYDAY REBELLIONS BY GLORIA STEINEM 20

#944 RE-MAKING LOVE: THE FEMinization of sex BY BARBARA EHRENREICH

#943 WHERE THE GIRLS ARE BY SUSAN J. DOUGLAS

#942 THE LOTTERY AND OTHER STORIES BY SHIRLEY JACKSON 21

#941 DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION BY EDWARD HALLOWELL AND JOHN RATEY

#940 THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES BY TOM WOLFE

#939 THE STINKY CHEESE MAN AND OTHER FAIRLY STUPID TALES BY JON SCIESZKA AND LANE SMITH 22

#938 THE BOY WHO REVERSED HIMSELF BY WILLIAM SLEATOR 

#937** THE FOUNTAINHEAD BY AYN RAND

#936 THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD BY ZORA NEALE HURSTON 23

#935 THE CINNAMON PEELER BY MICHAEL ONDAATJE

#934*** MAN’S SEARCH FOR MEANING BY VIKTOR E. FRANKL

#933** THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA BY ERNEST HEMINGWAY 24

#932 MINDSET: THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY OF SUCCESS BY CAROL S. DWECK

#931 WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR BY PAUL KALANITHI 

#930 TROPIC OF CANCER BY HENRY MILLER 25

#929 TAO TE CHING BY LAO TZU

#928 PARIS SPLEEN BY CHARLES BAUDELAIRe

#927 ROLl of thunder, hear my cry by mildred d. taylor 26

#926** the autobiography of malColm X by malcolm x as told to alex haley

#925 the rose that grew from concretE by tupac shakur

#924 THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN BY STAN LEE AND STEVE DITKO 27

#923 FOOD, THE BODY, AND THE SELF BY DEBORAH LUPTON

#922 DISCIPLINE AND PUNISH BY MICHEL FOUCAULT 

#921** ATLAS SHRUGGED BY AYN RAND 28

#920 A BRIEF HISTORY OF EVERYTHING BY KEN WILBER

#919 INFINITE JEST BY DAVID FOSTER WALLACE

#918 HATCHET BY GARY PAULSEN 29

#917 DRAGONS OF AUTUMN TWILIGHT BY MARGARET WEIS

#916 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF RED BY ANNE CARSON

#915 HOLY TOLEDO BY KEN KORACH 30

#914 MOURNING HAS BROKEN BY ERIN DAVIS

#913 KNIGHT: MY STORY BY BOB KNIGHT AND BOB HAMMEL

#912 LOOK FOR ME BY MOONLIGHT BY MARY DOWNING HAHN 31

#911 PUBLIC SEX: THE CULTURE OF RADICAL SEX BY PAT CALIFIA

#910 THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS BY URSULA K. LE GUIN

#909 WHAT SHOULD DANNY DO? BY ADIR LEVY AND GANIT LEVY 32

#908 THE CONFIDENCE CODE FOR GIRLS BY CLAIRE SHIPMAN AND KATTY KAY

#907 BE OUR GUEST BY GRAY MALIN

#906 RHYMES OF WHIMSY - THE COMPLETE ABOL TABOL BY SUKUMAR RAY 33

#905 HOW MUSIC WORKS BY DAVID BYRNE

#904 THE LOST STEPS BY ALEJO CARPENTIER

#903* THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE BY STEPHEN R. COVEY 34

#902 GETTING TO YES BY ROGER FISHER WILLIAM URY

#901 SEARCH INSIDE YOURSELF BY CHADE-MENG TAN

#900 TRIXIE BELDEN BY JULIE CAMPBELL TATHAM 35

#899 THE SUN ALSO RISES BY ERNEST HEMINGWAY

#898 A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY BY JOHN IRVING

#897 The book of mormon by joseph smith 36

#896 unbroken by laura hillenbrand

#895 the hobbit by j.r.r. tolkien

#894 The Person and The Situation by Lee Ross and Richard Nisbett 37

#893 The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John le Carré

#892 The Blind Side by Michael Lewis

#891 What Makes Sammy Run? by Budd Schulberg 38

#890 48 laws of power by robert greene

#889 Totto Chan: The Little Girl at the Window by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi 

#888** Meditations by marcus aurelius

#887* Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery 39

#886 Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

#885 Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

#884 The power of Myth by Joseph Campbell 40

#883 Love Wins by Rob Bell

#882 Be Here Now by Ram Dass 

#881 The Silver Chair by CS Lewis 41

#880 Watership Down by Richard Adams

#879* Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

#878 An unnamed series of women’s biographies 42

#877 The ‘choose your own adventure’ series, originally created by Edward Packard

#876 When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön

#875 In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan 43


#874* Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll


#873 Women who run with wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés

#872 The Twits by Roald Dahl 44 BO2019

#871* Lord of the Rings Series by J.R.R. Tolkien

#870 The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

#869* THE WAR OF ART BY STEVEN PRESSFIELD 45

#868 THE ARTIST'S WAY BY JULIA CAMERON

#867** THE BIG BOOK OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS BY Dr.bob Smith

#866* DIBS IN SEARCH OF SELF BY VIRGINIA M. AXLINE 46

#865 POWER VS. FORCE BY DAVID R. HAWKINS

#864 WHO DIES? BY STEPHEN AND ONDREA LEVINE

#863 Martin Luther King by Ed Clayton 47

#862 Inherit The Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert. E. Lee

#861 Mockingbird by Chelsea Cain

#860 If on a WINTER'S Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino 48

#859 A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

#858 An Imaginary Life by DAvID MALOUF

#857 The Klingon Dictionary by Marc Okrand 49 SWC

#856 Spin Magazine's "Words From The Front" (1987-1995)

#855 Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari

#854 An Intimate History of Humanity by theodore Zeldin 50

#853 The soul’s code by james hillman

#852 the sports gene by david epstein

#851 The romance of the three kingdoms by luo guanzhong 51 SWC

#850 journey to the west (AKA “The monkey king’s amazing adventures”) by cheng’en wu

#849 dream of the red chamber (aka “the story of the stone”) by cao xueqin

#848 Hamlet by William Shakespeare 52

#847 An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen

#846 Grande Sertão: VeREdas (The Devil to Pay in the Backlands) by João Guimarães Rosa

#845* The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison 53

#844 Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg

#843 Big Kids by Michael DeForge

#842 BEE-bim bop! by Linda Sue Park 54

#841 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

#840 The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir

#839 The Dead Bird by Margaret Wise Brown 55

#838 Bill Peet: An Autobiography by Bill Peet

#837 Walking on Water by Madeleine L’EnglE

#836 FERDINAnd the bull by munro leaF 56

#835* charlotte’s web by E.B. WhitE

#834* the pearl by john steinbeck

#833 Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard 57

#832 Walkable City by Jeff Speck

#831 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

#830 A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA BY URSULA K. LE GUIN 58

#829 The DUEL by anton chekhov

#828 The reason i jump by naoki higashida

#827 THe DEATH AND LIFE of great american cities by jane jacobs 59

#826 Suburban nation by andrés duany, elizabeth plater-zyberg, jeff speck

#825 the crying of lot 49 by thomas pynchon

#824 The stopwatch gang by Greg weston 60

#823 Poor charlie’s almanack by charles t. munger

#822 influence by robert b. cialdini

#821 An unnamed children’s book with stories of great inventors 61

#820 black Beauty by anna sewell

#819 the invisible pyramid by loren eiseley

#818 the ballad of the sad café by carson mccullers 62

#817** invisible man by ralph ellison

#816 Pedro Páramo by juan rulfo

#815 Benjamin franklin by walter isaacson 63

#814 just kids by patti smith

#813 the power broker by robert A. caro

#812 The handmaid’s tale by margaret atwood 64

#811 the nancy drew series by carolyn keene

#810 The uglies by scott westerfeld

#809 for my people by margaret walker 65

#808 MRS. Frisby and the rats of NIMH by Robert c. O’Brien

#807 leaving atlanta by tayari jones

#806 vivekananda: a biography by swami nikhilananda 66

#805 conversations with god by neale donald walsch

#804 the alchemist by paulo coelho

#803 the age of innocence by edith wharton 67

#802 possessing the secret of joy by alice walker

#801 the hunger games trilogy by suzanne collins

#800 lord of the flies by william golding 68 BO2020

#799 overcoming organizational defences by chris argyris

#798 art as experience by john dewey

#797 lives of girls and women by alice munro 69

#796 notes of a native son by james baldwin

#795 the diary of anaïs nin (All volumes) by anaïs nin

#794 teaching to transgress by bell hooks 70

#793** all about love by bell hooks

#792 sophie’s world by jostein gaarder 71

#791 white fragility by robin diangelo

#790 love you forever by robert munsch

#789 the westing game by ellen raskin 72

#788* the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy by douglas adams

#787 Tuesdays with morrie by mitch albom

#786 death blossoms by MUMIA ABU-JAMAL 73

#785 God’s debris by scott adams

#784 the greatness guide by robin sharma

#783 ARCHIE COMIcs 74 BM1

#782 spiritual midwifery by ina may gaskin

#781 dying to be me by anita moorjani

#780 A christmas carol by charles dickens 75

#779 hadji murad by leo tolstoy

#778 europeana by Patrik Ouředník

#777 twice 22 by ray bradbury 76

#776 go ask alice by anonymous

#775 the nutshell studies of unexplained death by corinne may botz

#774 Exploring Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson & Jenny Robb 77

#773 deep thoughts: inspiration for the uninspired by jack handey

#772 grapefruit by yoko ono

#771 100 essays i don’t have time to write by sarah ruhl

#770 Nine stories by j.d. salinger 78

#769 east of eden by john steinbeck

#768* the princess bride by william goldman

#767 the incredible and sad tale of innocent eréndira and her heartless grandmother by gabriel garcía márquez 79

#766 massacre in mexico by elena poniatowska

#765 the stomach is first by eduardo del rio (rius)

#764 rage becomes her: the power of women’s anger by soraya chemaly 80 BM2

#763 Communion: the female search for love by bell hooks

#762 lovingkindness: the revolutionary art of happiness by sharon salzberg

#761 the flight of the dragons by peter dickinson 81

#760 notes on the making of apocalypse now by eleanor coppola

#759 Anagrams by lorrie moore

#758 when the lights go down by pauline kael 82

#757 9/30/55 by John minahan

#756 semi-tough by dan jenkins

#755 Go, dog. go! by P.d. Eastman 83

#754 cosmic trigger 1: final secret of the illuminati by robert anton wilson

#753* finite and infinite games by james carse

#752 torah

#751 Love’s executioner by irvin d. yalom 84

#750 the tennis partner by abraham verghese

#749 the year of magical thinking by joan didion

#748 it must be magic by marian woodruff 85

#747 beyond boredom and anxiety by mihaly csikszentmihalyi

#746 the search for signs of intelligent life in the universe by jane wagner

#745 goodnight moon by margaret wise brown 86

#744 playtown by roger priddy

#743 where’s waldo by martin handford

#742 sugarcane island by edward packard 87 BM3

#741 house of hades by steve jackson

#740 the galactic pirate by seth mcevoy

#739 The giving tree by shel silverstein 88

#738 forever by judy blume

#737 the firm by john grisham

#736 relentless by tim s. grover 89

#735 a promised land by barack obama

#734 no rules rules by reed hastings & erin meyer

#733 how to stop worrying and start living by dale carnegie 90

#732 island by aldous huxley

#731 the time paradox by philip zimbardo and john boyd

#730* from the mixed-up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler by e.l. konigsburg 91

#729 the invisible string by patrice karst

#728 dress your family in corduroy and denim by david sedaris

#727 the adventures of huckleberry finn by mark twain 92

#726 in search of lost time by marcel proust

#725 the view from ninety by edward Packard

#724 the mysterious island by jules vernes 93 bo2021

#723 carrying the fire: an astronaut’s journeYs by michael collins

#722 factfulness by hans rosling, ola rosling and anna rosling ronnlund

#721 the CATCHER IN THE RYE BY J.D. SALINGER 94

#720 on the road by jack kerouac

#719 the americans by Robert frank

#718 hey willy, see the pyramids by maira kalman 95

#717 the bullfighter checks her makeup by susan orlean

#716 why women aren’t funny by christopher hitchens

#715 The little prince by antoine de saint-exupéry 96

#714 into thin air by jon krakauer

#713 love in the time of cholera by gabriel garcia márquez 97

#712 hunger by roxane gay

#711 the voice that is great within us by hayden carruth

#710* The prophet by kahlil Gibran 98

#709 tiny beautiful things by cheryl strayed

#708 ready player one by ernest cline

#707 Tarzan Book series by edgar rice burroughs 99 BM5

#706 the wind in the willows by kenneth Grahame

#705 as i lay dying by william faulkner

#704 Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar 100

#703 breakfast of champions by kurt vonnegut 101

#702 no one belongs here more than you by miranda july

#701 sex at dawn by christopher ryan and cacilda jetha

#700 calvin and hobbes by bill waTterson

#699 it’s a magical world by bill watterson

#698 claudine at school by colette 102

#697 do what you are by paul tieger

#696 the essential rumi by rumi

#695 On suicide by émile durkheim 103

#694 patterns, thinking and cognition by howard margolis

#693 storming heaven by jay stevens

#692 The Man Who Moved the World: The Life and Work of Mohamed Amin by Bob Smith 104

#691 Malcolm X: A life of reinvention by manning marable

#690 Vendetta: the Mafia, Judge Falcone, and the Quest For Justice by John Follain

#689 space cadet by robert heinlein 105 BM6

#688 dinner at the homesick restaurant by anne tyler

#687 lonesome dove by larry mcmurtry

#686 Eye of the world by robert jordan 106

#685 gay new york by george chauncey

#684 pet sematary by stephen king 107

#683 of mice and men by john steinbeck

#682 the miseducation of the negro by dr.carter g. woodson

#681 the tao of pooh by benjamin hoff

#680 beloved by toni morrison 108

#679 pereira maintains by antonio tabucChi

#678 interview with the vampire by anne rice 109

#677 mating in captivity by esther perel

#676 sexual surrogate partner therapy by david brown

#675 the whole earth catalog by stewart brand 110

#674 The holy bible: new international version

#673 gödel, escher, bach by douglas hofstadter

#672 lies my teacher told me by james loewen 111 BM7

#671 what it is by lynda barry

#670 The journal of henry david thoreau by henry david thoreau

#669 a brief history of time by stephen hawking 112

#668 rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead by tom stoppard

#667* My side of the mountain by jean craighead George 113

#666 excuse me, your life is waiting by lynn grabhorn

#665 galápagos by kurt vonnegut

#664 how to win friends and influence people by dale carnegie 114

#663 winnie the pooh by a. a. Milne 115

#662 the scourge of the swastika by lord russell of liverpool

#661 don quixote by miguel de cervantes

#660 The brothers Karamazov by fyodor dostoevsky 116

#659 the color purple by alice walker

#658 The harry potter series by j.k. rowling 117 BO2022

#657 little house on the prairie by laura ingalls wilder

#656 Obasan by joy kogawa 118

#655 lullabies for little criminals by heather o’neill

#654 fifteen dogs by andré alexis

#653 a hero of our time by mikhail lermontov 119 BM9

#652 ask the dust by john fante

#651 journey to the end of the night by louis-ferdinand céline

#650 Who's Gonna Take the Weight by Kevin powell 120 BM10

#649 Chronicles: volume one by bob dylan

#648 she must have known by brian masters 121

#647 Manufacturing Consent by Edward S. Herman & Noam Chomsky

#646 The Anatomy Of A Moment By Javier Cercas

#645 The Greatest Salesman In The World by Og Mandino 122

#644 Joshua: A Parable for Today by Joseph Girzone

#643 The Sermon On The Mount By Emmet Fox

#642 It Didn’t Start With You By Mark Wolynn

#641 Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

#640 Loving What Is By Byron Katie 123

#639 The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks

#638 Charlie and The Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl 124

#637 Console Wars By Blake J. Harris

#636 Hagakure: The Way of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo

#635 The Muqaddimah by Ibn Khaldun 125

#634 Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya by Ibn Arabi

#633 The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb

#632 The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz 126

#631 The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren

#630 A REturn To Love by Marianne Williamson

#629 The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang 127

#628 The Book Of Knowledge Children’s Encyclopedia

#627 Free To Learn by Peter Gray

#626 Sacred Hoops by Phil Jackson 128

#625 The Legacy Of Luna by Julia Butterfly Hill

#624 The Day They Shook the Plum Tree by Arthur H. Lewis

#623 The 4-Hour WorkWeek by Tim Ferriss 129

#622 The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma

#621 Four THousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

#620 You Are Your Own Best Teacher! by Claire Nader 130 BM-Leslie Richardson

#619 Democratizing America by Dimitra Doukas

#618 A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold 131

#617 Birds of North America: A Guide to Field Identification by Chandler S. Robbins

#616 Last of the Curlews by Fred Bodsworth

#615 The Rise of the New Physics by Aram D’Abro 132

#614 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance bY Robert M. Pirsig

#613 Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas

#612 Perfume by Patrick Süskind 133

#611 Chess Story by Stefan Zweig

#610 Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal

#609 The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner 134

#608 The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe

#607 Great Plains by Ian Frazier

#606 Getting Things Done by David Allen 135

#605 Walden by Henry David Thoreau

#604 The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel

*picked by another guest. see Question #24 in FAQ.

for why links go where they go, SEE QUESTION #25 in FAQ.