My top 65 books to read in a lifetime

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Published on 3 March 2016

Today is World Book Day, a wonderful opportunity to address this #ChallengeRichard sent in by Mike Gonzalez of New Jersey: Make a list of your top 65 books to read in a lifetime.

Here’s my top 65 books to read in a lifetime:

1.            Where the Wild Things Are – Maurice Sendak

2.            Tales of the Unexpected – Roald Dahl

3.            George's Marvellous Medicine – Roald Dahl

4.            The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain

5.            Oh, The Place You’ll Go – Dr Seuss

6.            Peter Pan – J. M. Barrie

7.            The Jungle Book – Rudyard Kipling

8.            The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain

9.            Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome

10.          The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy – Douglas Adams

11.          Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stephenson

12.          The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien

13.          Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton

14.          Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – Jules Verne

15.          1984 – George Orwell

16.          Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

17.          The Quiet American – Graham Greene

18.          The Dice Man – Luke Rhinehart

19.          Shantaram – Gregory Roberts

20.          One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

21.          Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World – Tracy Kidder

22.          The Outermost House – Henry Beston

23.          Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China – Jung Chang

24.          Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege – Antony Beevor

25.          The Right Stuff – Tom Wolfe

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26.          In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex – Nathaniel Philbrick

27.          I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou

28.          Travels with Charley – John Steinbeck

29.          Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela – Nelson Mandela

30.          Mao: The Unknown Story – Jung Chang

31.          A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety – Jimmy Carter

32.          No Future Without Forgiveness – Desmond Tutu

33.          Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time – Dava Sobel

34.          Mandela's Way: Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage – Stengel 

35.          Limitless: Leadership That Endures – Ajaz Ahmed

36.          Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World – Adam Grant

37.          If I Could Tell You Just One Thing: 50 of the world's most remarkable people pass on their best piece of advice – Richard Reed

38.          Remote: Office Not Required – Jason Fried

39.          Start With Why – Simon Sinek

40.          101 Reasons to Get Out of Bed – Natasha Milne

41.          Letters to a Stranger: A publishing project in aid of MIND – Various

42.          Self Belief: The Vision – Jamal Edwards

43.          The Meaning of the 21st Century – James Martin

44.          Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill – Matthieu Ricard

45.          A Time for New Dreams – Ben Okri

46.          A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking

47.          The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution – Frank White

48.          Beyond The Blue – Jim Campbell

49.          Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think – Peter Diamandis

50.          Cosmos – Carl Sagan

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51.          The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth – Tim Flannery

52.          Big World, Small Planet – Johan Rockström and Mattias Klum

53.          An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It – Al Gore

54.          Necker: A Virgin Island – Russell James

55.          Lost Ocean – Johanna Basford

56.          Arctica: The Vanishing North – Sebastian Copeland

57.          In Patagonia – Bruce Chatwin

58.          Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster – Jon Krakauer

59.          The World Without Us – Weisman

60.          In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules – Stacy Perman

61.          In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto – Michael Pollan

62.          Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal – Eric Schlosser

63.          Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption – Bryan Stevenson

64.          Lean In – Sheryl Sandberg

65.          Ending the War on Drugs – Various

What’s your favourite book, and why do you recommend that people read it?