Character and how to live
Books about the person you are becoming, and the time you have.
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Start here
Four Thousand Weeks
Oliver Burkeman, 2021
Time management for mortals: you can't do it all, so choose.
On Time's list of 100 must-read books of 2021. Source: Wikipedia
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Being Mortal
Atul Gawande, 2014
A surgeon on what matters at the end of life, and what medicine gets wrong.
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When Breath Becomes Air
Paul Kalanithi, 2016
A young neurosurgeon, dying, asks what makes a life worth living.
Medium length, about 228 pages
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The Road to Character
David Brooks, 2015
Résumé virtues versus eulogy virtues, through ten lives.
Medium length, about 320 pages
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Letters to a Young Poet
Rainer Maria Rilke, 1929
Ten letters on solitude, patience and living the questions.
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Wind, Sand and Stars
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1939
A pilot's memoir of danger, friendship and duty over the desert.
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The Obstacle Is the Way
Ryan Holiday, 2014
A quick, practical modern take on Stoic thinking about setbacks.
Medium length, about 224 pages
How we pick. A person picks every book here, not an algorithm, and each one says why. No ads, affiliate links or paid placement.