I've got a bigger list at home but here're some favorites:
- Sci-Fi/Fantasy
I second the vote(s) for Asimov, Herbert, and Tolkien.
Addtionally,
- Anything by by Ursula K. LeGuin. I
particularly like `The Dispossessed'.
- The Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Most things by `The Killer Bs' : David Brin, Ben
Bova, and Greg Bear.
- Philosophy
- Conquest of Abundance, by Paul Feyerabend
- The Logic of Scientific Discovery, by Karl Popper
- Ethics for the New Millenium, by the Dalai Lama
- Power, Mysticism, and Logic, by Bertrand Russell
- History
- Turmoil and Triumph, by George Schultz, a
former Secretary of State
- A History of the Arab Peoples, by Albert Hourani
- Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville
- Anything by Barbara Tuchman (sp?). `The Zimmerman
Telegram' is pretty short.
- Science
Most of these assume a high level of familiarity with
advanced mathematics &&|| physics, but this is what
I do in real life so ...
- A Primer of Infinitesimal Analysis, J. L. Bell
At the level of college Calculus -- An
alternate view of calculus based on infinitesimal
line segments.
- Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics,
by J. S. Bell
- Quantum Mechanics, by J. J. Sakurai
- Solid State Physics, by Ashcroft and Mermin
- Classical Electrodynamics, by Julian Schwinger
- Classics
- Joseph Conrad, Jane Austen, Willa Cather,
O'Henry, Poe
- Other
- The Transparent Society, by David Brin
- 1984, by George Orwell
- Engines of Creation, by Eric Drexler
- Godel, Escher, Bach, by Douglas Hofstedter
- Joseph Liouville 1809-1882, Master of Pure
and Applied Mathematics, J. Lutzen
A biography.
I think your quote is slighly off:
"For us, who are
convinced physicists, the distinction between past,
present, and future has no other meaning than that of
an illusion, though a tenacious one." in Correspondance
avec Michele Besso, 1979.
Although, it does sound funkier and non-snooty your way. :)