Books to Read in 2011

Some of the books I aspire to read this year, listed in no particular order, just like my bookshelf...

The Stuff of Thought: Language As a Window Into Human Nature by Steven Pinker

The Feeling of Risk: New Perspectives on Risk Perception by Paul Slovic [removed]

The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist

How Intelligence Happens by John Duncan

 

Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness by James H. Austin

The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values by Sam Harris

Future Minds: How the Digital Age is Changing Our Minds, Why this Matters and What We Can Do About It by Richard Watson [This one may just fall off the list]

Sense and Goodness Without God: A Defense of Metaphysical Naturalism by Richard Carrier

Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway [Excellent!]

Why the West Rules--for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future by Ian Morris.

The War of the World by Niall Ferguson

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes

Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy by Mircea Eliade [Thick and chewy]

Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson

SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable by Bruce M. Hood

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan [Can't believe I didn't read this ages ago!]

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel C. Dennett [Very nice]

The Sacred and the Profane by Mircea Eliade

The Idea of the Holy by Rudolph Otto [Otto was a very deep well]

 

Doubt: History by Jennifer Michael Hecht

There will be others, of course...and a Master's paper to complete.  Stay tuned!

UPDATE: 21 April 2011: I'm getting tired of heavy reading so I'm going to cut The Feeling of Risk and replace it with The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

 

Black Swan comes highly recommended by several of my peers.  I picked up a copy last night with some birthday money.  I'll keep you posted...

Update the Nth: But wait, there's more...