Harvard is a place of intellectual curiosity, a place to explore and gain new knowledge. This drive prompted us to compile a list of book recommendations from our administrators, faculty, and students across academic departments. As loyal members of the 1636 Society, we hope you enjoy these selections, reflective of the times in which they were given, as another way to connect and explore new areas that might pique your interest. Thank you for all that you continue to do for Harvard.
See what Harvard leaders, faculty, and students were reading in years past using the date links below. (Please note, faculty titles may have changed since the time of their recommendations.)
2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019
2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2023 Recommendations
All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis
Edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson ’02 and Katharine Wilkinson
Katie D. ’22, integrative biology concentrator
“All We Can Save is an anthology of writings by women of the climate movement. One of the editors, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, studied environmental science and public policy at Harvard. She has been an inspiration to me as I have pursued an environmental career.”
Fictions (Ficciones)
by Jorge Luis Borges
Carlie M. T. ’24, integrative biology concentrator
“Ficciones is a breathtaking collection of short stories by a literary genius that, along with other giants of Latin American literature, was instrumental in the creation of magic realism. This book explores themes of infinity and imagination through tales of never-ending libraries, the birth of man through thought, and dreams within dreams. It is an accomplishment and true delight to indulge in Ficciones.”
Fulfillment
by Alec MacGillis
Patrick B. ’22, government concentrator
Know Your Price
by Andre Perry
Patrick B. ’22, government concentrator
Ordinary Light
by Tracy K. Smith ’94
Claudine Gay, Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and of African and African American Studies
Seventeen Syllables and Other Stories
by Hisaye Yamamoto
Ju Yon Kim, Patsy Takemoto Mink Professor of English
The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages
by Geraldine Heng
Emma Dench, Dean of the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History and of the Classics
“A brilliant and chilling premodern history with a global reach. A necessary and fascinating corrective to modern tendencies to idealize the remote past, or, alternatively, to imagine that nothing changes in the history of ideas and practices.”
The Oppermanns
by Lion Feuchtwanger
Introduction by Joshua Cohen
Claire Messud, Joseph Y. Bae and Janice Lee Senior Lecturer on Fiction
“A novel about a prosperous German Jewish family in Berlin during the rise of the Third Reich. Written in real time, The Oppermanns was first published in Holland in 1933, when its author was already in exile in France. This brilliant, terrifying, and incisive novel, unjustly forgotten, feels powerfully relevant today.”
2022 Recommendations
Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life
by Louise Aronson
Karen Thornber, Harry Tuchman Levin Professor in Literature and Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
Health Care Off the Books: Poverty, Illness, and Strategies for Survival in Urban America
by Danielle Raudenbush
Mario Small, Grafstein Family Professor of Sociology
Klara and the Sun
by Kazuo Ishiguro
Evelyn Hu, Tarr-Coyne Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering and Harvard College Professor
"Ishiguro envisions a future world where people are more isolated, privileged children study largely individually, and have the companionship of 'artificial friends.' Klara is such an artificial friend, a 'machine' but one that observes, learns about human interactions, and comes to her own conclusions of 'fairness.' Having read this during this past COVID year that was interwoven with the stories of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, attacks on different parts of the population, consideration of the well-being of our family, friends, and colleagues in a time of isolation, the lessons of Klara and the Sun—whom we think of and treat as 'other'—were profound. They were expressed simply and beautifully."
The Climate Casino: Risk, Uncertainty, and Economics for a Warming World
by William Nordhaus
Michael Aziz, Gene and Tracy Sykes Professor of Materials and Energy Technologies
The Plague Year: America in the Time of COVID
by Lawrence Wright
Evelyn Hu, Tarr-Coyne Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering and Harvard College Professor
"This grew out of a New Yorker article that Wright wrote. This summary is 'early,' but in my mind, it is timely and provides overview, context, and integrative framework while we can still vividly remember the recent events and their effects on our lives. Ironically, he had earlier written The End of October (published in April 2020), which was a fictional account of a devastating virus that originates in Asia and spread globally."
The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Affects Our Health and Longevity
by Michael Marmot
Katie McLaughlin, John L. Loeb Professor of the Social Sciences
"This is a book that reviews academic research on the health consequence of social status and inequality but is written for a general audience and is very accessible."
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Larry Bobo, Dean of Social Science and W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences
"A 1967 book by African American minister, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and social justice campaigner Martin Luther King Jr. Advocating for human rights and a sense of hope, it was King's fourth and last book before his 1968 assassination."
2021 Recommendations
Black Reconstruction in America
by W. E. B. Du Bois
Walter Johnson, Winthrop Professor of History and Professor of African and African American Studies
Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture
by Gaiutra Bahadur
Durba Mitra, Assistant Professor of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality
In Search of Lost Time [À la recherche du temps perdu]
by Marcel Proust
Catherine Dulac, Higgins Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology
The Language of Thieves
by Martin Puchner
Alison Simmons, Samuel H. Wolcott Professor of Philosophy
The Source of Self-Regard
by Toni Morrison
Jill Johnson, Senior Lecturer on Theater, Dance & Media and Director of Dance
Stranger in the Shogun’s City: A Japanese Woman and Her World
by Amy Stanley
Yukio Lippit, Jeffrey T. Chambers and Andrea Okamura Professor of History of Art and Architecture
Wherever You Go, There You Are
by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Elsie Sunderland, Gordon McKay Professor of Environmental Chemistry
The Yellow House
by Sarah M. Broom
Claudine Gay, Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Wilbur A. Cowett Professor of Government and of African and African American Studies
2020 Recommendations
1984
By George Orwell
Brandon P. ’21, neurobiology concentrator
Democracy’s Slaves: A Political History of Ancient Greece
By Paulin Ismard
Alexandra S., PhD candidate in classics, classical philology
“Ismard uncovers a history of the public slaves who administered the democracy in ancient Athens and many other Greek city-states. These highly skilled public slaves filled the roles of modern civil servants—accountants, courtroom clerks, policemen, and other crucial roles for the functioning of the state—yet they were excluded from the political community of citizens who wielded power in the democracy itself. In this provocative book, Ismard argues that the Athenian democracy rejected the notion that knowledge legitimizes power, and he demonstrates that the success of ancient democratic systems, along with the ideals of freedom and equality, were predicated on slavery.”
This Side of Paradise
By F. Scott Fitzgerald
Rufaro J. ’20, classics and government concentrator
Zoobiquity: The Astonishing Connection Between Human and Animal Health
By Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers
Ernaya J. ’20, neuroscience concentrator
2019 Recommendations
A Single Man
By Christopher Isherwood
Joyce F. ’20, visual and environmental sciences and philosophy concentrator
The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World
By the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Carlton Abrams
Sarah R. ’21, sociology concentrator
“The book is like a modern Dao de Jing and can help bring wisdom and perspective to any situation.”
Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza
By Gloria Anzaldúa
Sophia S. ’19, computer science concentrator
“This is a revolutionary text that not only helped me understand the in-betweenness (geographically, culturally, nationally) I had always felt being a Mexican American born in Texas but contributed enormously to the Chicana/x movements and queer movements since it was published.”
Ego Is the Enemy
By Ryan Holiday
Donovan D. ’20, economics concentrator
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
By Yuval Noah Harari
Seth B. ’19, integrated biology concentrator
Shoe Dog
By Phil Knight
Lucas K. ’21, economics concentrator
“Shoe Dog is the best book I’ve ever read. It’s an impressively candid account of Knight’s life and his journey creating Nike. It spares no expense in telling the good, the bad, and the ugly side of the business world.”
Washington: A Life
By Ron Chernow
Ary S. ’19, mathematics and philosophy concentrator
“I am inspired daily by this Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Washington, a testament to the personality and narrative behind our collective abstraction of his name and accomplishments.”
Energy and Climate: Vision for the Future
By Michael B. McElroy, Gilbert Butler Professor of Environmental Studies
Fast: Poems
By Jorie Graham, Boylston Professor of Oratory and Rhetoric
A Lens of Love: Reading the Bible in Its World for Our World
By Jonathan L. Walton, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church
These Truths: A History of the United States
By Jill Lepore, David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History
To Shape a New World: Essays on the Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Edited by Tommie Shelby, Caldwell Titcomb Professor of African and African American Studies and of Philosophy, and Brandon M. Terry, Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies and Social Studies
2018 Recommendations
Autonauts of the Cosmoroute: A Timeless Voyage from Paris to Marseilles
By Julio Cortázar and Carol Dunlop
Karthik Pandian, Assistant Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
By Steven Pinker
Michael D. Smith, John H. Finley Jr. Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Exit West: A Novel
By Mohsin Hamid
Drew Gilpin Faust, President Emerita of Harvard University and the Arthur Kingsley Porter University Professor
Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War
By Mary Roach
Frank Doyle, John A. Paulson Dean of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Man of the Hour: James B. Conant, Warrior Scientist
By Jennet Conant
Alan Garber, Provost of Harvard University; Mallinckrodt Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School; Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School; Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Réparer Les Vivants
By Maylis de Karengal
Dan Carpenter, Allie S. Freed Professor of Government
Stand Your Ground: A History of America’s Love Affair with Lethal Self-Defense
By Caroline E. Light
Robin Bernstein, Dillon Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies and of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality
To the Lighthouse
By Virginia Woolf
Emma Dench, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History and of the Classics
Women and Power
By Mary Beard
Melissa Franklin, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics
2017 Recommendations
Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
By Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner
Yiling Chen, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science
Why Time Flies: A Mostly Scientific Investigation
By Alan Burdick
Frank Doyle, John A. Paulson Dean of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; John A. & Elizabeth Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences
The Sympathizer: A Novel
By Viet Thanh Nguyen
Drew Faust, President Emerita of Harvard University and the Arthur Kingsley Porter University Professor
Nutshell
By Ian McEwan
Alan Garber, Provost of Harvard University; Mallinckrodt Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School; Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School; Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America
By Alex Kotlowitz
Jennifer Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government; Professor of African and African American Studies; Harvard College Professor
The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery
By Sarah Lewis
Jill Johnson, Dance Director, Theatre, Dance & Media; Senior Lecturer, Department of Music; Artistic Director, Harvard Dance Project
In Defence of the Enlightenment
By Tzvetan Todorov
Robin Kelsey, Dean of Arts and Humanities; Shirley Carter Burden Professor of Photography, Department of History of Art and Architecture
$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America
By Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer
Mario Small, Grafstein Family Professor of Sociology
Just Mercy
By Bryan Stevenson
Michael D. Smith, John H. Finley Jr. Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences
2016 Recommendations
Economics Rules: The Rights and Wrongs of the Dismal Science
By Dani Rodrik
Pol Antràs, Robert G. Ory Professor of Economics
Moby Dick
By Herman Melville
Joyce E. Chaplin, James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American History, Chair, American Studies
Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
By Philip E. Tetlock and Dan Gardner
Frank Doyle, John A. Paulson Dean of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and John A. & Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering & Applied Sciences
Just Mercy
By Bryan Stevenson
Drew Gilpin Faust, President Emerita of Harvard University and the Arthur Kingsley Porter University Professor
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
By Haruki Murakami
Alan Garber, Provost of Harvard University; Mallinckrodt Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School; Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School; Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
By Simon Winchester
Frank Keutsch, Stonington Professor of Engineering and Atmospheric Science and Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
When Breath Becomes Air
By Paul Kalanithi
Rakesh Khurana, Danoff Dean of Harvard College; Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development; Professor of Sociology; Faculty Dean of Cabot House
Between the Woods and the Water
By Patrick Leigh Fermor
Martin Puchner, Byron and Anita Wien Professor of Drama and of English and Comparative Literature
The Expatriates
By Janice Y. K. Lee
&
Machines of Loving Grace
By John Markoff
Michael D. Smith, John H. Finley Jr. Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences
After Nature: A Politics for the Anthropocene
By Jedediah Purdy
Sunil Amrith, Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies and Professor of History
2015 Recommendations
The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease
By Daniel Lieberman
Randy Buckner, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience; Director of the Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital
All the Light We Cannot See
By Anthony Doerr
Caroline Elkins, Professor of History and African and African American Studies; Director of the Harvard Center for African Studies
Empire of Cotton: A Global History
By Sven Beckert
Drew Gilpin Faust, President Emerita of Harvard University and the Arthur Kingsley Porter University Professor
To Heal a Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility
By Jonathan Sacks
Alan Garber, Provost of Harvard University; Mallinckrodt Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School; Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School; Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Being Mortal
By Atul Gawande
Evelyn Hu, Tarr-Coyne Professor of Applied Physics and of Electrical Engineering
Stoner
By John Williams
Bret Johnston, Senior Lecturer on English; Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser Director of Creative Writing
Gilead
By Marilynne Robinson
Sean Kelly, Teresa G. and Ferdinand F. Martignetti Professor of Philosophy; Chair of the Department of Philosophy
Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis
By Robert D. Putnam
Rakesh Khurana, Danoff Dean of Harvard College; Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development; Professor of Sociology; Faculty Dean of Cabot House
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
By James Joyce
Harry Lewis, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science
The Origin Mystery Trilogy
By A. G. Riddle
Michael D. Smith, John H. Finley Jr. Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Want more recommendations?
Check out Harvard Summer Reads, Recommendations from Radcliffe’s Fellows, and Harvard Law.