Photos by Kelvin Kuo

Think about it. What if you knew your days were numbered? Some people would write a bucket list, strap on a parachute and set off on an adventure. Some of us would run to the Barnes & Noble in Technology Square.

We asked a number of Georgia Tech students, staff, faculty (including associate professor Paul Verhaeghen, above) and alumni their recommendations for books every Institute graduate should read before he or she dies.

No one suggested William Faulkner’s classic, As I Lay Dying.

1-4

Sometimes engineers make darn good writers. One of my current underexposed favorites is George Saunders, once a mining engineer, now a learned professor and certified-by-the-MacArthur-Foundation genius. Saunders — imagine him, if you will, as the tragic love child of Twain and Vonnegut (another writer-scientist!) — is our most deeply satirical and most disturbingly funny writer.

But what to recommend? There’s his first short-story collection, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, but might stories about a Civil-War-themed theme park hit a bit too close to home for comfort, Atlanta? Then there’s the novella The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil about a country so small it can contain only one of its inhabitants; the other six live in a transit zone within the neighboring country. What ensues is hilarity, war and genocide. Hmm. Perhaps better skip Saunders for this audience.

What about the prince of writer-engineers, Thomas Pynchon? Gravity’s Rainbow is my all-time favorite. What is not to love? World War II, banana breakfasts, prescient erections in blitzed London, a long trek to Peenemunde (literally the end of the world), where the launch of a secret Schwarzgeraet (“black engine,” serial number 00000) is being prepared, and along the way we meet Byron the Lightbulb; Katje (rhymes with “gotcha”) Borgesius the sultry spy; Grigori, the well-trained octopus; and the apple-cheeked frau Gnabh, among many others.

Silly songs, I mean, really silly. Three-page sentences. No way to even begin to comprehend this mess. Goes on for, like, 1,100 pages. I love it. But you might hate it. The nice thing: It’s easy to find out which way you’ll swing — read the first two pages and if they make you go, “WTF?” (in a good way), ’tis the book for you.

Otherwise, oh, go read Steven Pinker’s How the Mind Works.

Paul Verhaeghen
School of Psychology associate professor and novelist

5-7

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson

It is the third book in the Lisbeth Salander trilogy by the late Swedish author. The trilogy began with the immensely popular Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Larsson has created one of literature’s more unusual heroines in Salander, a petite hacker with a dark past. She is paired with financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist in plots that are complex and well woven. Get all three and have a marathon reading session.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

It is a recent nonfiction work about an impoverished African-American woman whose cells have been cultured since the 1950s and have produced some remarkable breakthroughs in the field of biology. The book addresses the ethics of science as well as its advances.

Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende

It is the newest novel by the popular and critically acclaimed Chilean writer, Allende, who now lives in the United States. The protagonist is a slave concubine in the early 19th century, and the setting spans from Saint-Domingue to New Orleans.

Mary Axford
Library & Information Center
reference and subject librarian

8-12

As you would imagine, these suggestions come from my writing and my scholarly interests, but the choice is made not only because some of these works are profoundly important to Western thought but also because they are so accessible, allowing the reader a visceral sense of past realities.

Timaeus by Plato

I am not a classical scholar, but I find great pleasure in the way the dialogue presents the beauty and order of the universe.

The City of God by Augustine of Hippo

A work written as the faith of Christians was shaken by the sack of Rome in 410 arguing that Christians must drop from their consciousness the city of the flesh, Rome, in order for the “City of God” to arise.

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon

This one can dip into forever, a work of prodigious scholarship that never interferes with brilliant storytelling.

Democracy and Education by John Dewey

Difficult to read but a distinctly American document. This I have not looked at in years, so the recommendation came from a colleague.

Imperial by William T. Vollmann

I felt I should include one work from the present, and it may turn out to have less significance than it has for me now. It is a compelling yet bleak examination of American reality.

Alan Balfour
College of Architecture dean and professor

13

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder
Read it sooner rather than later. It shows that humanitarian and academic goals can survive in the same individual. The university can serve as a foundation for rather than a fence around good works. And it is exciting to read.

Wayne J. Book
HUSCO/Ramirez distinguished professor of fluid power and motion control in the School of Mechanical Engineering

14-15

The Art of Influence by Chris Widener

I loved this book because it talks about how one can have an influence on everyone around him. It certainly helped me to understand the impact I can have on others’ lives.

The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

The basis of the book is about how people perfect their talents and become great at what they do. It’s a great read for coaches.

Tonya Johnson, pictured above
Georgia Tech volleyball coach

16-17

Homer & Langley: A Novel by E.L. Doctorow

Inspired by the real-life Collyer brother hermits, Doctorow delivers a poignantly written story of two brothers living in New York City amidst (and yet trying to separate themselves from) many of the major events of the 20th century. Homer is the narrator, and it is through his eyes (though he is going blind) we see the world. A great read.

City of Thieves: A Novel by David Benioff

This tale of a young man’s struggle for survival in World War II Russia made me contemplate life, war, fate and the meaning of friendship.

Sherri Brown
Library & Information Center
first-year English instruction librarian

18

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

The most lucid explanation to date of the age-old question of why we are here.

Parag Chordia
Music assistant professor

19-22

The Bible and King Lear by William Shakespeare

I am fascinated by stories about leaders — both good ones and bad ones. These “must-read” books are filled with such stories. Along the same line, I also recommend anything written by Bill George (e.g. Authentic Leadership and True North).

Steve Cross
Executive vice president for research

23-26

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick; Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk; The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan; and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Each of these books changed the perception I have of myself and the people around me. They are all thought-provoking books.

Kaliyana Finney, rising fifth-year
computational media major

27-34

A Step Farther Out by Jerry Pournelle

Straightforward discussions of how technology can help us solve energy crises, environmental disasters and thrive both on Earth and in space. Almost 30 years old, long out of print, but used copies are readily available.

Radical Evolution by Joel Garreau

What happens when we use technology now on the drawing boards to transform ourselves? What does it mean to be human?

The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg

A well-documented and readable examination of many claims of the environmental movement. The mathematical reasoning — as opposed to the philosophical or emotional underpinnings of many environmentalists — is critical to understanding the real state of the world.

Abraham: A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths by Bruce Feiler

An excellent historical overview that’s easily accessible to Christians, Jews, Muslims or those of any faith. It helps us understand that the current problems in the Middle East didn’t start in the 20th century.

Alias Shakespeare by Joseph Sobran

A completely convincing argument that, whoever wrote the works of Shakespeare, it wasn’t the man from Stratford-upon-Avon. It convinced me, at least, that Edward de Vere was the likely author.

Truman by David McCullough

An excellent biography of one of the three great presidents of the 20th century (the others being Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan).

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard P. Feynman

An entertaining, funny and thought-provoking autobiography by the Nobel Prize laureate. It includes his time on the Manhattan Project during World War II.

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

Arguably the best book by the inarguable best science fiction author of all time.

Stephen Fleming
Enterprise Innovation Institute
vice president and executive director

35-39

The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done by Peter F. Drucker

There are many books that claim to tell you how to be a better executive; this one, first published in 1967, lays out very clearly what you need to do to be a more productive, more effective executive. I would start here and move on. All the others build on the concepts in this book.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t by Jim Collins

Again, what makes certain companies more successful than others? I like the research-driven approach Collins takes and the way he shows the various elements it takes to make a company successful. You can use this information both ways: to find great companies and to make your company great.

Non-business books every Tech alum should read before he dies:

Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

Everyone knows the last page, “I do like green eggs and ham,” but the key is how persistent Sam I Am is to get the other character to try green eggs and ham. Sometimes life is like that — he who is most persistent gets the shot. It’s a wonderful metaphor for the sales process.

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

Great story, larger-than-life characters, but the speeches! The intrigue! The love of country versus the love of one’s friends.

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

I was introduced to this book at Georgia Tech, and it made an indelible impression on me. Yes, the story takes some unpacking, but it is so meaty, it draws you in again and again. The richness of the story, the feelings it evokes, the form, the use of time, to me the example of a great novel. It’s worth the effort.

Moshe Gordon, ChE 01
Young Alumni Council president

40

Creation by Gore Vidal

There is a new edition that includes four chapters that were cut from its first publication in the early 1980s. It’s a fascinating historical novel with a global sweep and an important theme (origins), and the additional chapters make it an even better read.

William Green
Mathematics professor emeritus

41-44

Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

It’s not as dull as it sounds — far from it. The ancient Greek philosophers are extraordinarily accessible, and their work is still the basis for much of our politics, culture and social life. In Ethics, Aristotle writes about friendship, justice, virtue and courage. Most important, he reflects on what it is to be good and how to be happy, pretty much everything you need to know to be a proper human being, at any age.

Summer and Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

These are two short novels and should be read back to back. Read Summer outside on a very warm day with your favorite cold drink, then find an overly air-conditioned room — and hot drink — to read Ethan Frome. These are gripping books about ecstasy and suffering, written by our master American storyteller. Fiction does not get any better. Oh, and Edith Wharton is certainly not “chick lit,” so men, no excuses!

His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis

He was a warrior and uncommon leader, but Washington was a person as well, with emotions as complex as one would hope for in a man of his stature. Centuries later, we cannot know him, but in this book Ellis makes the iconic American figure come alive. While fighting a revolution and inventing this nation, Washington was homesick, funny, lonely and exceedingly selfless in ways that make him far more lovable than he looks on that dollar bill.

Susan Herbst
University System of Georgia executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer and School of Public Policy professor

45-47

The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White

The perfect companion for perfect writing — and entertaining besides.

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn is an analysis of the history of science. Its publication was a landmark event in the sociology of scientific knowledge and popularized the terms paradigm and paradigm shift.

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal is a book by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser that examines the local and global influence of the U.S. fast food industry.

Paul Houston
College of Sciences dean

48-53

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett; Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West by Stephen E. Ambrose; The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov; East of Eden by John Steinbeck; The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton; and Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Joe Irwin, IM 80
President of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association

54-56

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

They are all very profound works that allow me to reflect on both myself and my surroundings.

Corey Boone, pictured above
Rising fourth-year management student and
president of undergraduate student government

57-60

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne; The Precious Present by Spencer Johnson; Wooden on Leadership by John Wooden; and The Blind Side: The Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis

MaChelle Joseph
Women’s basketball head coach

61

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

It’s accessible, thought-provoking and hilarious. I wouldn’t have made it through my first semester at Tech if I didn’t religiously follow the guide’s most important rule: “Don’t Panic.”

Holden Link
Rising fourth-year computational media major

62-63

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

Machiavelli provides the philosophical foundation for the story in Lampedusa’s The Leopard.

Charles Liotta, Regents professor and
School of Chemistry and Biochemistry interim chair

64-65

Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence by David Keirsey

This book does a great job of describing a variety of personality traits based on Myers-Briggs types, including their benefits and caveats. It is a very useful book in learning to see how others see you, as well as to appreciate the variety of talents that people have. I truly found this useful to explain how my brother and I got along, as we are opposites on every aspect considered by this book.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

While some may see this book as providing corporate buzzwords, it does give a solid framework for discussing leadership in everyday life. If you’re looking to make a change in your productivity, this is a great place to start. I was fortunate to have my co-op employer, Georgia Power, use this as part of our training.

Randy McDow, IE 95, MS PubPol 03
President’s Scholarship Program director

66-67

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

A classic that still seems fresh after 50 years, a book about race but much more than that, with a complex and compelling portrait of an individual as he comes to terms (maybe) with American society and with an equally impressive evocation of the power of jazz.

Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

A challenging but engrossing process of discovery, a true must-read for everyone from the South, or any other part of the country, particularly anyone who thinks that the Civil War and slavery are somehow isolated in the past and no longer part of our personal and familial identity.

Gregory Nobles
Georgia Tech Honors Program director and professor of history

68-69

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

We had the entire strategic planning steering committee read this in preparation for our plan development this past year.

How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes by Peter D. Schiff and Andrew J. Schiff

It helps a non-economist understand what happened to our financial system.

G. P. “Bud” Peterson
President of Georgia Tech

70-71

You Don’t Need a Title To Be a Leader by Mark Sanborn

I’m just starting to read it, and it looks interesting so far. Certainly my all-time favorite is the irrepressible Jack Welch and Winning.

Dan Radakovich
Director of Athletics

72-78

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston; In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens by Alice Walker; Playing in the Dark by Toni Morrison; Kindred by Octavia E. Butler; Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama; In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez; and Technical Difficulties by June Jordan

I have to say that for a lover of books this question is fairly impossible. There are so many volumes that have so much to offer. So what I’ve decided that I can reasonably do is to offer a short list of books that are favorites for many reasons and that serve typically to broaden the horizon. You might take note that all are written by women of color and that they are a combination of fiction and essay collections.

Jackie Royster
Incoming dean of the Ivan Allen College

79-83

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

It lets you know that as a creative individual you’re not alone. I don’t subscribe to all of the beliefs presented here, but it’s a good book to read when you’re feeling beaten down by the system.

Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson

It really opens your eyes to what the future will bring.

The Second Coming of Steve Jobs by Alan Deutschman

An incredible take on the “Legend of Steve,” complete with some fascinating information on Pixar and its creative process.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

I grew up on the Neil Diamond songs inspired by this book, and it’s a wonderful book about believing in yourself.

Story by Robert McKee

I don’t have any formal training in storytelling, and this book has been invaluable.

Andy Runton, ID 98, MS ID 00
Author of the Owly graphic novel series

84-86

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky; David Copperfield by Charles Dickens; and Candide by Voltaire

Steve Salbu
Dean of the College of Management

87-88

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

This was the book that made me want to study literature for the rest of my life. The fight between Dante Riordan and Mr. Dedalus and the long sermon about hell are so realistic that they’re almost painful to read.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Dickens is to literature what “Pistol” Pete Maravich is to basketball or George Best is to soccer — an artist so unbelievably gifted, so naturally talented, that sometimes he seems to abandon what he’s supposed to be doing just to see what he can do. Pip’s sad story is very moving, but the real thrill of the novel is the way every page seems to offer up a brilliant little caricature, or a perfectly captured accent, or an endless sentence that pulls you along with it for line after line. Pure reading pleasure.

Aaron Santesso
Assistant professor in the School of
Literature, Communication and Culture

89-92

Middlemarch by George Eliot

It is set right as England is on the verge of passing the Reform Bill of 1832. Thus it depicts England on the cusp of the modern age. It has great characters too. I suspect that everyone who reads it will recognize the Dorotheas and the Rosamunds in their own lives.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

The novel is accurate so far as modern concepts like intersexuality are concerned, and it also depicts racial tensions in Detroit during the 1960s, but it’s basically a great novel with rich, compelling and memorable characters. Since all Americans were immigrants once, it provides insights into the immigrant experience. I’ve taught it twice and, despite the fact that it’s long, my students always love it.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

It depicts the fears that were pervasive at the end of the 19th century as the world became modern. Pitting modern science and technology — Stoker was a real gadget freak who rode bicycles and felt that the typewriter had changed his life — it also demonstrates the fear of the past, of sexuality (especially female sexuality in the era of the New Woman) and of the animal aspects of human nature (clear evidence that Stoker had read Darwin).

Plus everyone should read the novel that created the modern idea of the vampire. Very different from Twilight, The Vampire Diaries and anything by Anne Rice before she became Christian again.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

It’s been a while since I read it, but I thought when I did that it would be one of the novels from the ’90s that will still be read in a hundred years. It explores America, the developing world and the place of religion in the world.

Carol Senf
Professor and associate chair, School of Literature, Communication and Culture

93

The Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Jared Diamond entitled Guns, Germs, and Steel. It provides ecological reasons why certain cultures developed materially rich societies and others did not. It combines biology, anthropology and history in a fascinating milieu that explains a lot of observations.

Terry Snell, interim chair and profesor
School of Biology

94

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho really changed my view of things and motivated me to be the best I could.

David Turk
Rising fourth-year computational media major

95-96

The Calculus of Friendship: What a Teacher and a Student Learned About Life While Corresponding About Math by Steven Strogatz is a selection of letters from a 30-year correspondence illustrating mathematics, friendship and mentoring.

The Princeton Companion to Mathematics, edited by Timothy Gowers, is a magnificent panorama of a huge swath of modern mathematics. Not a book to read through but to dip into as need and curiosity dictate. Any Tech graduate could find it enormously rewarding.

Doug Ulmer
School of Mathematics chair and professor

97-98

The First Three Minutes by Stephen Weinberg

An exposition of our current understanding of the Big Bang origin of the universe written for the lay public but at a high level appropriate for Tech graduates.

Mr Tompkins in Paperback by George Gamow

A wonderfully imaginative fantasy that imagines what the world would be like if the effects of special relativity and quantum mechanics operated in our everyday life. Terrific as a gift for a bright high school student.

Andy Zangwill
School of Physics professor

99-101

Be the Change! Change the World. Change Yourself. Edited by Michelle Nunn, co-founder and CEO of Hands On Network

Continue to be inspired to serve others and enhance your own life in the process. Learn practical ways to create change by reading stories and tips shared by both prominent and everyday citizens. Note the “small acts to change the world,” No. 2 on page 266. Remember, one person can and does make a significant difference!

Bicentennial Man by Isaac Asimov

Consider what it really means to be “human” — a confidant, a trusted friend, one of the family. Science fiction precedes science fact; read it with both an open mind and open heart. And then see the movie, of the same name, starring Robin Williams. It brings me to tears each time I view it.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Contemplate, with respect and humor, the usefulness of and aesthetic qualities of cadavers. Stiff was given to me several Christmases ago by an alumnus who knows of my desire to donate my body. I am a cadaver donor for Emory University’s School of Medicine. Death is an intrinsically intertwined part of life. As my mama used to say, “Do for the living!”

Billiee Pendleton-Parker, pictured above
Assistant director of the President’s Scholarship Program