Love Total State? Readers share 100 books like Total State...

By Paul O'Brien,

Here are 100 books that Total State fans have personally recommended if you like Total State. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India

Alan Mercel-Sanca Author Of Nepal - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

From my list on people learning about each other's cultures.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an intercultural educationalist, having many years of direct Prime Ministers, Culture Ministers, Ambassador of Nepal to the UK/Ireland/Malta, experts, and grassroots community organizations relationships with Nepal and Nepali diasporas (UK and Ireland) regarding research, reports, and major intercultural projects, as well as a published writer on Nepali culture and editor and lead content contributor for internationally respected online Nepal culture information resources (see Nepali Cultural Heritage and Foods of Nepal). An active member of the decolonization movement, I have provided live BBC TV News interviews on the UK Government–Gurkha dispute and led the enablement of a historically important Nepal–England football match. 

Alan's book list on people learning about each other's cultures

Alan Mercel-Sanca Why did Alan love this book?

This book is among the most informative and inspiring books ever. The subject treats–the Indian subcontinent’s experience (comparable to that of Ireland) of profit-seeking ‘entrepreneurs’ [especially the predatory East India Company] backed by British governments and opportunistic Western/Christian evangelical forces [giving ‘religious/moral’ ‘justification’ to foreign invasion, occupation and related apartheid type instituted rule–provides need to know detail for those in the West [UK] in an age where those wilfully or through ignorance of the facts are attached to supremacist nostalgic ‘Brexit’ views of yesteryear colonialism as benign, are still poorly challenged.

I am honored to be recognized as a member of the decolonization movement. This book is compelling and deserves mandatory inclusion in world history curricula. 

By Shashi Tharoor,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Inglorious Empire as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller on India's experience of British colonialism, by the internationally-acclaimed author and diplomat Shashi Tharoor

'Tharoor's impassioned polemic slices straight to the heart of the darkness that drives all empires ... laying bare the grim, and high, cost of the British Empire for its former subjects. An essential read' Financial Times

In the eighteenth century, India's share of the world economy was as large as Europe's. By 1947, after two centuries of British rule, it had decreased six-fold. The Empire blew rebels from cannon, massacred unarmed protesters, entrenched institutionalised racism, and caused millions to die…


Book cover of Hindu, Buddhist and Tantric Gods and Goddesses, Ritual Objects and Religious Symbols

Alan Mercel-Sanca Author Of Nepal - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

From my list on people learning about each other's cultures.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an intercultural educationalist, having many years of direct Prime Ministers, Culture Ministers, Ambassador of Nepal to the UK/Ireland/Malta, experts, and grassroots community organizations relationships with Nepal and Nepali diasporas (UK and Ireland) regarding research, reports, and major intercultural projects, as well as a published writer on Nepali culture and editor and lead content contributor for internationally respected online Nepal culture information resources (see Nepali Cultural Heritage and Foods of Nepal). An active member of the decolonization movement, I have provided live BBC TV News interviews on the UK Government–Gurkha dispute and led the enablement of a historically important Nepal–England football match. 

Alan's book list on people learning about each other's cultures

Alan Mercel-Sanca Why did Alan love this book?

In late 2013, during one of my many visits to Kathmandu as the lead of the UK Nepal Friendship Society, I was privileged to be engaged and presented with a copy of this just-published book.

For any non-South Asian person with a passion for learning about the esoteric and spiritual heritages of South Asia, this book is a true, precious treasure of the rarest and highest kind for students of those precious and vibrant heritages in which the spiritual concepts of profound ethical, personal self-development, and respect for the unique role in both of the latter regarding Nature in all her profound manifestations (including sexual love) and of global value and significance! 

By Trilok Chandra Majupuria,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hindu, Buddhist and Tantric Gods and Goddesses, Ritual Objects and Religious Symbols as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

English 130 (Throughout B/W Illustrations)Why This Book?This book has been written for those who would like to know about gods and goddesses in Hinduism, Buddhism and Tantrism, in a nutshell. Tibetan deities as well as those associated with sutras (esoteric discourses) are also dealt with in detail. It would be of special interest to visitors who come to Nepal for a short visit. Since most of the sculptures, paintings are based on religious mythologies; therefore, basic facts about religions are also necessary.Authors have been interacting for 56 years with visitors of Nepal and giving them lectures mainly about religions and…


Book cover of Ayo Gorkhali: A History of the Gurkhas

Alan Mercel-Sanca Author Of Nepal - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

From my list on people learning about each other's cultures.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an intercultural educationalist, having many years of direct Prime Ministers, Culture Ministers, Ambassador of Nepal to the UK/Ireland/Malta, experts, and grassroots community organizations relationships with Nepal and Nepali diasporas (UK and Ireland) regarding research, reports, and major intercultural projects, as well as a published writer on Nepali culture and editor and lead content contributor for internationally respected online Nepal culture information resources (see Nepali Cultural Heritage and Foods of Nepal). An active member of the decolonization movement, I have provided live BBC TV News interviews on the UK Government–Gurkha dispute and led the enablement of a historically important Nepal–England football match. 

Alan's book list on people learning about each other's cultures

Alan Mercel-Sanca Why did Alan love this book?

This book is rightly in my top five ‘must-read’ books list. It provides essential reading for anyone interested in the Gurkha golden thread from the earliest days of the creation of the state [formerly kingdom] of Nepal, the Gurkhas' crucial role in British history of the colonial period, and the unlooked-for race relations impacts in the UK of the 2020s. 

As an intercultural educationalist of Nepali culture and respected ally of the Gurkha community (providing three BBC TV News live interviews across the period of the heroic Gurkha Satyagraha – whose lead personally presented me with Mr. Gurung’s groundbreaking book – hunger strike for Gurkha rights and pensions in summer 2021), I commend ‘Ayo Gorkhali’ as essential reading for historians of the Nepal–UK bitter-sweet relationship. 

By Tim I. Gurung,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ayo Gorkhali as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Nepal, 1767. The tiny kingdom of Gorkha is on the ascendant under its ruler Prithvi Narayan Shah. Over the next few decades, his Gorkhali army establishes a mighty kingdom, the borders of which extend from Kangra in the west to the Teesta river in the east. The territory encompasses a large part of present-day Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and almost all of present-day Nepal and Sikkim. When they are eventually reined in by the mighty British army in 1815, it sparks off a new engagement between the imperial power and Nepal. Impressed by the fighting abilities on display, the British army…


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Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Book cover of Taste of Nepal

Alan Mercel-Sanca Author Of Nepal - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture

From my list on people learning about each other's cultures.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an intercultural educationalist, having many years of direct Prime Ministers, Culture Ministers, Ambassador of Nepal to the UK/Ireland/Malta, experts, and grassroots community organizations relationships with Nepal and Nepali diasporas (UK and Ireland) regarding research, reports, and major intercultural projects, as well as a published writer on Nepali culture and editor and lead content contributor for internationally respected online Nepal culture information resources (see Nepali Cultural Heritage and Foods of Nepal). An active member of the decolonization movement, I have provided live BBC TV News interviews on the UK Government–Gurkha dispute and led the enablement of a historically important Nepal–England football match. 

Alan's book list on people learning about each other's cultures

Alan Mercel-Sanca Why did Alan love this book?

I strongly recommend this book as the most authoritative English-language publication on Nepali cuisines. The book’s thematic structure and details of the range of Nepali dishes and food types place it in a class of its own.

Pathek’s mastery of ‘about’ and ‘how to’ detail is matched by his passion for the subject concerned; it sets a ‘gold standard’ for communication to the English-speaking world at both home cookery and professional levels regarding this still little-known cuisine in the West and outside of South Asia. 

I make this commendation as an educationalist–‘Foods of Nepal resource (with culture minister and TV chef commendations)–with my colleague Deepak Tamrakar, guided by his brother [a respected chef] Suraj, recognized in this area. 

By Jyoti Pathak,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Taste of Nepal as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER GOURMAND COOKBOOK AWARD for Best Foreign Cuisine Cookbook

"Highly recommended: a 'must' for any serious international cookbook collection: there's simply nothing like it on the American market." -The Midwest Book Review

The landlocked nation of Nepal is tucked into the Himalayan mountains between India and Tibet. Nepali cuisine is surprisingly diverse for such a small country, with influences from both neighboring countries. In this cookbook, the popular staple daal-baat-tarkaari (rice served with lentils and vegetables) is showcased in all its healthful variations, as are a variety of potato, meat, and fish dishes.

With more than 350 authentic, easy-to-follow recipes,…


Book cover of On Freedom

Daniel Shaw Author Of Traumatic Narcissism

From my list on healing, recovery, and freedom from abuse.

Why am I passionate about this?

An avid reader from an early age, what has moved me most were the characters who faced adversity and fought to overcome it. In my 30s, I lost my way, followed a guru, and took almost a decade to realize I was in a cult. Psychotherapy helped me get out and led me to become a psychotherapist. The books I've recommended have encouraged and inspired me to heal and to grow, to build a good, strong, healthy life–even though I fell more than once and didn't know for sure if I could get back up. I hope these books will inspire you as they inspired me. 

Daniel's book list on healing, recovery, and freedom from abuse

Daniel Shaw Why did Daniel love this book?

This is a follow-up to Snyder's book On Tyranny, which I read when a friend gave me the graphic novel version. That one was great, this one really blew me away. My 1-year-old mother and her family escaped from Ukraine in 1919 after a pogrom in their village killed 1600 other Jews.

In America, my grandparents, free from persecution, worked hard, and the country that took them in gave my mother and her brothers opportunities that, in turn, gave me and my children more and more opportunities. Snyder, a Yale historian, knows Eastern European history inside out. He's a close observer of how tyranny is brought down and how freedom is constructed. Freedom has never been more fragile in the U.S. and around the world as authoritarianism and autocracies rise. I wish Snyder's book could be taught to every child and every adult in America today. 

By Timothy Snyder,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked On Freedom as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A brilliant exploration of freedom—what it is, how it’s been misunderstood, and why it’s our only chance for survival—by the acclaimed Yale historian and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller On Tyranny

“A rigorous and visionary argument . . . Buy or borrow this book, read it, take it to heart.”—The Guardian

Timothy Snyder has been called “the leading interpreter of our dark times.” As a historian, he has given us startling reinterpretations of political collapse and mass killing. As a public intellectual, he has turned that knowledge toward counsel and prediction, working…


Book cover of The Sane Society

Stephen Palmer Author Of Beautiful Intelligence

From my list on that explain the mystery of consciousness.

Why am I passionate about this?

For thirty-five years I’ve studied and written about consciousness, the evolution of the mind, and the development of human social and cultural forms. I think we’re all fascinated by who we are and why we have minds. In my case, that fundamental question, which we must all answer in some way during our lives, has become a drive to bridge our theory of consciousness with a full description of the human condition. I believe we cannot progress ethically without such a bridge. Although in my novels I don’t usually write explicitly on such themes, they’re always present, providing the framework in which my characters live their lives.

Stephen's book list on that explain the mystery of consciousness

Stephen Palmer Why did Stephen love this book?

Although not Fromm’s best-known book, The Sane Society is crucial because it states for the first time a description of the human condition. I was astonished when I first read it, as it presented to me the possibility that the human condition could be described, and, therefore by implication, understood, something which had never before occurred to me. Fromm’s thesis is that society in the 20th century, when he was writing, can be characterised as insane, because it does not meet humanity’s real needs. Part of the revelation of this book is that such needs can be developed from an analysis of the human condition. Since reading the book, I have followed Fromm’s conviction that a real and true description of ourselves is crucial to humane ethical progress. 

By Erich Fromm,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Sane Society as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.


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Book cover of Grand Old Unraveling: The Republican Party, Donald Trump, and the Rise of Authoritarianism

Grand Old Unraveling by John Kenneth White,

It didn’t begin with Donald Trump. When the Republican Party lost five straight presidential elections during the 1930s and 1940s, three things happened: (1) Republicans came to believe that presidential elections are rigged; (2) Conspiracy theories arose and were believed; and (3) The presidency was elevated to cult-like status.

Long…

Book cover of On Liberty

Paul Guyer Author Of Virtues of Freedom

From my list on freedom in theory and practice.

Why am I passionate about this?

I discovered philosophy while still in high school and was lucky to study with some of the most exciting philosophers of the twentieth century in college and graduate school. I then taught philosophy in several of America’s great universities for fifty years myself. I have been fascinated by the philosophy of Kant since my first year of college and I gradually came to see Kant’s theory of the value of freedom as the core of his philosophy and a reason to devote a lifetime to studying it. I hope you will find these books as illuminating and rewarding as I have.

Paul's book list on freedom in theory and practice

Paul Guyer Why did Paul love this book?

From a different tradition and in a different, more accessible language, Mill also brilliantly defended the principle that everyone should be as free as possible as long as their choices do not harm other people. He was particularly aware that public opinion can be just as much of a constraint on the freedom of individuals as laws and courts can be.

I love Mill because of his clear commitment to this principle, his straightforward prose and arguments, and his striking examples.

By John Stuart Mill,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked On Liberty as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Discussed and debated from time immemorial, the concept of personal liberty went without codification until the 1859 publication of On Liberty. John Stuart Mill's complete and resolute dedication to the cause of freedom inspired this treatise, an enduring work through which the concept remains well known and studied.
The British economist, philosopher, and ethical theorist's argument does not focus on "the so-called Liberty of the Will…but Civil, or Social Liberty: the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual." Mill asks and answers provocative questions relating to the boundaries of social authority…


Book cover of A Preface to Economic Democracy

David Ellerman Author Of Neo-Abolitionism: Abolishing Human Rentals in Favor of Workplace Democracy

From my list on a fair and just private property market economy.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ever since my graduate student days in philosophy and economics, I have slowly come to understand more and more the case for workplace democracy based on normative principles (i.e., the inalienability, property, and democratic principles), not just the obvious consequentialist or pragmatic arguments based on increased productivity (people working jointly for themselves), less worker alienation, and eliminating the divide down the middle of most enterprises between employers and employees. In addition to two decades of teaching university economics, I have co-founded several consulting companies dedicated to implementing these principles in practice, the Industrial Cooperative Association in Massachusetts (now the ICA Group) and the Institute for Economic Democracy in Slovenia, where I have retired.

David's book list on a fair and just private property market economy

David Ellerman Why did David love this book?

This book is the follow-up to Robert Dahl’s influential Preface to Democratic Theory—published in 1956. The newer Preface to Economic Democracy applied democratic theory to the workplace. Dahl, as the Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale, was arguably the foremost democratic theorist of his time, so it is important that he applied the democratic theory arguments to the organizations where most people spend much of the waking time. I am particularly thankful for knowing him and when he set out to describe his vision of economic democracy (p. 91), he had a footnote reading, “In clarifying my ideas on this question I have profited greatly from a number of unpublished papers by David Ellerman, cited in the bibliography....”

By Robert Alan Dahl,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Preface to Economic Democracy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Tocqueville pessimistically predicted that liberty and equality would be incompatible ideas. Robert Dahl, author of the classic A Preface to Democratic Theory, explores this alleged conflict, particularly in modern American society where differences in ownership and control of corporate enterprises create inequalities in resources among Americans that in turn generate inequality among them as citizens.

Arguing that Americans have misconceived the relation between democracy, private property, and the economic order, the author contends that we can achieve a society of real democracy and political equality without sacrificing liberty by extending democratic principles into the economic order. Although enterprise control by…


Book cover of Development as Freedom

William K. Jaeger Author Of Environmental Economics for Tree Huggers and Other Skeptics

From my list on economics is much more than the study of the economy.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was initially drawn to economics as a way to understand and address global problems of poverty and hunger, like those I saw in Africa with the Peace Corps and later as a researcher. As my interests broadened toward environmental and other social problems, again I found that economics provides valuable insights about their causes and possible solutions. Economics is unfortunately often misunderstood and defined too narrowly: but as a social science, it encompasses a broad framework to comprehend individuals, families, cities, nations. It encompasses philosophical thought, normative questions, and intangibles like humans’ desire for respect. After decades as an economics professor I still find its insights fascinating and powerful.  

William's book list on economics is much more than the study of the economy

William K. Jaeger Why did William love this book?

The aims of economic development are often said to be higher incomes, industrialization, efficient investment, and poverty alleviation.

Amartya Sen argues for a broader goal: increasing the capability of all human beings to achieve those things that they most value.

Such an agenda implies more ambitious goals for empowering people, especially in poor countries, to begin a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy: education, health care, longevity, and the ability to influence political decisions.

Sen, a Nobel laureate in economics, draws on a lifetime of thought about human predicaments, famines, and poverty, how to define one’s capabilities, and the meaning of one’s ‘standard of living.’

Rather than offering specific recipes, this book provides a provocative framework for thought. 

By Amartya Sen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Development as Freedom as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In Development as Freedom Amartya Sen quotes the eighteenth century poet William Cowper on freedom:

Freedom has a thousand charms to show,

That slaves howe'er contented, never know.

Sen explains how in a world of unprecedented increase in overall opulence, millions of people living in rich and poor countries are still unfree. Even if they are not technically slaves, they are denied elementary freedom and remain imprisoned in one way or another by economic poverty, social deprivation, political tyranny or cultural authoritarianism. The main purpose of development is to spread freedom and its 'thousand charms' to the unfree citizens.

Freedom,…


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Book cover of The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier,

The coaching book that's for all of us, not just coaches.

It's the best-selling book on coaching this century, with 15k+ online reviews. BrenĂŠ Brown calls it "a classic". Dan Pink said it was "essential".

It is practical, funny, and short, and "unweirds" coaching. Whether you're a parent, a teacher,…

Book cover of Liberalism: A Counter-History

Dillon S. Tatum Author Of Liberalism and Transformation: The Global Politics of Violence and Intervention

From my list on liberalism and politics.

Why am I passionate about this?

Dillon Stone Tatum is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Francis Marion University. His research interests are on the history, development, and politics of liberal internationalism, international political theory, and critical security studies.

Dillon's book list on liberalism and politics

Dillon S. Tatum Why did Dillon love this book?

Italian philosopher and historian Domenico Losurdo’s book Liberalism: A Counter-History represents one of the most ambitious attempts to conceptually and historically tie the liberal tradition to the politics of slavery, empire, and genocide. What I find to be most evocative about Losurdo’s “counter-history” is both his sweeping narrative of the liberal tradition balanced against a close reading of key figures in that tradition. Losurdo provides an important critique of liberalism, and provides us with the analytic and methodological tools to interrogate its legacy, its past, its future.

By Domenico Losurdo, Gregory Elliott (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Liberalism as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this definitive historical investigation, Italian author and philosopher Domenico Losurdo argues that from the outset liberalism, as a philosophical position and ideology, has been bound up with the most illiberal of policies: slavery, colonialism, genocide, racism and snobbery.


Book cover of Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India
Book cover of Hindu, Buddhist and Tantric Gods and Goddesses, Ritual Objects and Religious Symbols
Book cover of Ayo Gorkhali: A History of the Gurkhas

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5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in liberty, authoritarianism, and democracy?

Liberty 63 books
Authoritarianism 50 books
Democracy 123 books