This list was last updated on: July 21, 2019 to include Nick Bostrom.

Carl Sagan

Sagan had an unparalled ability to speak with charisma about complicated scientific problems, and why they should matter to the public. His grace, eloquence, and patience are something that the modern scientific community should hold on a pedistal. Not to mention Contact, his books including Billions & Billions, and The Varieties of Scientific Experience, are some of my favorites about how much left there still is to learn in the world.

Robert Pirsig

If you haven’t read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maitenence, you should take this as a suggestion to order it immediately. Subtitled “An Inquiry into Values”, this book provides a fantastic psuedo-philosophical insight into why we should hold onto quality as the highest of all characterizations; wrapped into an engaging story.

Kurt Vonnegut

Ranging from Slaughterhouse Five, to Cats Cradle, Sirens of Titan, and dozens others, Vonnegut has written many classics. His cynical humor is astonishingly refreshing, and he constantly reminds us that we’re each going to die - and that’s just how it goes.

Issac Asimov

The Foundation Trilogy is a must read for fans of science fiction. Asimov tells an interesting and easy to read story that involves humanity, technology, ethics, morality, game theory, and many other topics relevant to readers in a compelling way that spans thousands of years. Paving the way for all science fiction since, this is something that really should be on everyone’s shelves.

Nick Bostrom

Nick Bostrom is a world renown philosopher who’s doing very important work as the Director of the Future for Humanity Institue, and professor at Oxford University. He was also the philosopher who formalized the argument which implies we are likely living in a computer simulation via his paper - “Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?”. As a leading researcher in the fields of artificial and superintelligence, and extensial risk his book, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies is certainly worth a read.