The most recommended books about the human condition

Who picked these books? Meet our 24 experts.

24 authors created a book list connected to the human condition, and here are their favorite human condition books.
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What type of human condition book?

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Book cover of The Book That Wouldn't Burn

Kian N. Ardalan Author Of Eleventh Cycle

From my list on think about humanity's legacy.

Why am I passionate about this?

Something that annoys me to no end is when people avoid reading fantasy or sci-fi because it isn’t realistic. I argue that realism isn’t about the veracity of flying dragons or building a fusion reactor that can fit in our hands; it’s about the human elements in between. Sci-fi can be a reminder of the dangerous trajectory we are heading in. Fantasy can reflect inequality by condensing resources to one mystical gem. To this end, any book that ends with me understanding the danger of language by describing it as a virus or showing me how books can bridge the gap between past and present makes me grow as a person.

Kian's book list on think about humanity's legacy

Kian N. Ardalan Why did Kian love this book?

Books are what connect us to the past and remind us of the present.

My love for Mark Lawrence’s work began when I saw the cover for King of Thorns at a bookstore. I went ahead and ordered Prince of Thorns the same day and never looked back. So it comes with a heavy heart when I say that this has taken the spot as my favorite book by Mark.

What a beautiful, simple idea to base a story around the library of Babel. Pop culture still invokes imagery regarding the library of Alexandria. Books, and by extension, libraries, connect us to our past. They are the legacy that we leave behind, and they are vessels for the zeitgeist that different points of existence embody.

By Mark Lawrence,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Book That Wouldn't Burn as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

All books, no matter their binding, will fall to dust. The stories they carry may last longer. They might outlive the paper, the library, even the language in which they were first written.

The greatest story can reach the stars . . .

This is the start of an incredible new journey from the internationally bestselling author of Prince of Thorns, in which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned...

Evar has lived his whole life trapped within a vast library, older than empires and larger than cities.

Livira has spent…


Book cover of The Book That Wouldn't Burn

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