Li Lu's recommended books/reading list

 Recommended Reading by Li Lu from his website (Chinese version)

Part 1: Science, Philosophy, Evolution, Human Civilization History, Human History

1. [America] Jared Diamond, "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Society", Shanghai Century Publishing Group, 2006. (Jared M. Diamond. 1999. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York, NY, US: WW Norton & Co.)

2. [America] Ian Morris, "How Long Will the West Dominate: Looking at the Future of the World from Historical Development Modes", CITIC Publishing House, 2011. (Morris, Ian. 2011. Why the West Rules for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future. London, UK: Picador.)

3. [America] Ian Morris, "The Measurement of Civilization: How Social Development Determines the Destiny of a Country", CITIC Press, 2014. (Ian Morris. 2013. The Measure of Civilization: How Social Development Decides the Fate of Nations. Princeton , NJ, US: Princeton University Press.)

4. [America] Edward Osborne Wilson, "The Conquest of the Group: Human Evolution, Human Nature, Human Society, How to Make People the Leading Power of the Earth", Left Bank Press, 2018. (EO Wilson . 2012. The Social Conquest of Earth. New York, NY, US: WW Norton & Co.)

5. [English] David Deutsch, "The Beginning of Infinity: The Origin of World Progress", People's Posts and Telecommunications Press, 2014. (David Deutsch. 2011. The Beginning of Infinity: The Transform the World. London, UK: Allen Lane.)

6. [English] David Deutsch "The Context of the Real World: Parallel Universes and Their Implications", People's Posts and Telecommunications Publishing House, 2016. (David Deutsch. 1997. The Fabric of Reality: The Science of Parallel Universes - And Its Implications. New York, NY, US: Allen Lane.)

7. [English] Matt Ridley, "Rational Optimist: A History of Human Economic Progress", Machinery Industry Press, 2011. (Matt Ridley. The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves. Harper. 2010.)

8. [English] Karl Popper, "The Logic of Scientific Discovery", China Academy of Art Press, 2008. (Karl Popper. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Routledge; 2nd edition. 2002.)

9. [English] Karl Popper, "Open Society and its Enemies", China Social Sciences Press, 1999. (Karl Popper. The Open Society and its Enemies. Princeton University Press; New One-Volume edition. 2013.)

10. [English] Richard Dawkins, "The Selfish Gene", CITIC Press (Richard Dawkins. The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press. 1990.)

11. [Israel] Yuval Harari "A Brief History of Humankind: From Animals to God", CITIC Publishing Group, 2014. (Yuval N. Harari. 2015. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. New York, NY, US : Harper.)

12. [English] Neal Ferguson, "Civilization", CITIC Publishing House, 2012. (Niall Ferguson. 2012. Civilization: The West and the Rest. Penguin Books.)

13. [America] Steven Pinker, "The Enlightenment Now: In Defense of Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress", Zhejiang People's Publishing House, 2018. (Steven Pinker. Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress. Viking. 2018.)

 

14. [America] Steven Pinker, "Mind Exploration: The Origin and Evolution of Human Mind", Zhejiang People's Publishing House, 2016. (Steven Pinker. How the Mind Works. W W Norton & Co Inc. 1997.)

15. Charles Van Doren. A History of Knowledge: Past, Present, and Future. Ballantine Books. 1992.

16. Karen Armstrong. A History of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Ballantine Books. 1994. (Taiwan Edition: Karen Armstrong "History of God", Lixu Publishing House, 2018 .)

17. Robert Wright. Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment. Simon & Schuster. 2017.

18. Daniel Kahneman. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2011. (Taiwan version: Connerman "Thinking Fast and Slowly", World Vision Publishing Co., Ltd., 2012)

19. Vaclav Smil. Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact. Oxford University Press. 2005.

20. Vaclav Smil. Transforming the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations and Their Consequences: Technical Innovations and Their Consequences. Oxford University Press. 2006.

Part 2: Chinese civilization, history, and culture

1. Qian Mu, "The Years of the Pre-Qin Zhuzi", Dongda Book Company

2. "Twelve Lectures on Chinese Culture" by Qian Mu, Dongda Book Company

3. [Han] Sima Qian, "Historical Records (Vernacular Version)", The Commercial Press, 2016.

4. Li Jiemin and others "Twenty-Five History of Vernacular" (four volumes), New World Press

5. [Song] Zhu Xi (ed.) "Four Books", Taiwan Ancient Books Publishing House

6. De Bary. Waiting for the dawn.

7. Di Barry, "The Tradition of Freedom in China", Chinese University Press

8. Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom. Editors. Approaches to the Asian Classics.

9. Wing-Tsit Chan. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton University Press. 1969.

10. Xu Zhuoyun "Eternal Rivers-Analysis and Development of Chinese History and Culture"

11. "The Complete Works of Huang Zongxi", Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House

12. "Collections of Yu Yingshi" (10 volumes), Guangxi Normal University Press-especially "Democratic System and Modern Civilization", "History and Tradition" and "Literature and History Tradition and Cultural Reconstruction"

13. Lin Yusheng "Thoughts and People", Lianjing Publishing Company

14. "The Complete Works of Zeng Guofan" (four volumes), Beijing Yanshan Publishing House

15. Huang Renyu "Wanli Fifteen Years"

16. Jonathan D. Spence, "Intellectuals and the Chinese Revolution", Silk Road Publishing

17. Jonathan D. Spence. The Search for Modern China. Norton.

18. Wang Yanan, "Chinese Bureaucratic Politics Research", Gu Feng Publishing House

19. Gu Hongming, "The Spirit of the Chinese", Shaanxi Normal University Press

20. Sun Haohui "Apocalypse of Chinese Native Civilization" (three volumes), CITIC Publishing Group

Part III: China's contemporary economic reform and opening up

1. Huang Renyu "Capitalism and the 21st Century"

2. Qian Mu, "Chinese Economic History"

3. Fu Gaoyi (Ezra. F. Vogel) "Deng Xiaoping Times", Sanlian Bookstore

4. Wu Jinglian "The Process of China's Economic Reform"

5. Lin Yifu "Interpretation of Chinese Economy", Peking University Press, 2014 (updated edition).

6. "Yang Xiaokai Academic Library" (nine volumes), Social Science Literature Press, 2018.

7. Shi Zhengfu, "Supernormal Growth: China's Economy from 1979 to 2049", Shanghai People's Publishing House

8. Wen Yi "The Great Chinese Industrial Revolution", Tsinghua University Press

9. [Singapore] Lee Kuan Yew, "The Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew: The Challenge of My Life-The Road to Bilingual Singapore", Yilin Publishing House, 2013.

10. [Singapore] Lee Kuan Yew, "Lee Kuan Yew: The Last Word for Singapore's Survival", Singapore: Straits Times Press. 2011.

11. [Singapore] Lee Kuan Yew, "The Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew 1923-1965", World Book Company, 1998.

12. [Singapore] Lee Kuan Yew, "The Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew 1965-2000", World Book Company, 2000.

13. Gao Hua "How did the red sun rise-the ins and outs of the Yan'an rectification movement"

14. Wu Xiaobo, "Two Thousand Years: Chinese Enterprises in the 7th Century BC-1869", CITIC Publishing House, 2012.

15. Wang Xiaobo "The Silent Majority", China Book Publishing House

(a) Note: The listed books are all recommended according to the author's personal preferences, not based on the book's broad social influence.  In addition, the recommendation are less than two books per author. If readers like the author's work, you can read more of his (her) works. The total number of recommended books are within 150.