I’m writing a book “500 best books originally written in English” for Japanese audience, and I have made a tentative list of nonfiction books I am considering including in the book. I have lists for fiction books, children’s books, and classics separately.
This list is not completed and I would like your input. Some of the book’s audience are beginning readers of English and some are native level, so I need a mix of books that would appeal to these various levels that I believe are enjoyable for the Japanese readers. Some are entertaining, and some are mind stimulating, and some of them are informative. The most important thing is that the book gives a Japanese reader a good reading experience. If that experience encourages the reader to pick up another English book, it will be a success.
The following are the criteria I used for the tentative list.
1) The reader feels “ I’m glad I have read this book”.
2) The book has a reasonably wide range of audience.
3) The book must be reasonably well written.
4) The book must be still in print and available in Japan.
I’m including some books I personally do not like very much, because I believe there are many Japanese readers who can learn to enjoy English books from them. Because of the limited number I can list for the book, I decided to chose only one book by each author.
I separated into several genres, but please keep in mind that some of them are mixture of different genres.
回想録／伝記 Biographies, memoirs
Angela’s Ashes
Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys
Just Kids
Look me in the Eye
Running With Scissors
Steve Jobs
Team of Rivals
The Audacity of Hope
The End of Your Life Book Club
The Last Lecture
時事、歴史、旅行,スポーツのルポとエッセイ New Journalism or report on crime, economy, politics, history. And travel essays
In Cold Blood (1965)
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
Liar’s Poker
Into the Wild
The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion
Game Change
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
Swerve
Guns, Germs, and Steel
The Perfect Storm
Born to Run
Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time
A Year in Province
Eat, Pray, Love
Under the Tuscan Sun
自然／科学／音楽
Science, psychology, Medicine, Music
A Brief History of Time (2005年改訂版)
Elegant Universe
The Omnivore’s Dilemma for Children
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
The Emperor of All Maladies
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
心理、神経科学、応用心理、哲学、思想、音楽
The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat
Incognito by David Engelmann
Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey
Psychopath Test
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children
Einstein Never Used Flashcards: How Our Children Really Learn–and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less
Emotional Intelligence
A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis, et al
A Little History of Philosophy
The Shallows
by Nicholas Carr
How Music Works
ビジネス／経営／社会科学 Business, management, and marketing, social science
The Dip by Seth Godin
Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead
The World Is Flat
Tipping point
The End of Big
The Adventures of Johnny Bunko
The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs
Trust Me
書くことについて、それ以上に学べる本 About writing & Life
The Best American Essays
On Writing
Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
実用書、自己啓発、育児, self-help, motivational, parenting books
I Will Teach You To Be Rich
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff–and it’s all small stuff
The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts
ユーモア Humor
Sh*t My Dad Says
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
When You Are Engulfed in Flames
アート、料理、その他のジャンル (art, cooking, and other genre)
Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals
PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives
Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust
Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook
The French Laundry Cookbook
Joy of Cooking
The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
New York Times Cookbook
*****Books which haven’t made a list (yet).*****
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, Musicophelia by Oliver Sacks, etc. Because of “one book by one author for one genre”policy
A Girl Named Zippy
A Heart-Breaking Work of Staggering Genius
A Pattern Language, Alexander, et al
Are You Somebody?: The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman
Bossy Pants (A very
good book, but Japanese audience don’t know who she is)
Influence, Cialdini
Northern Nurse
One Hundred Names for Love
Story, Robert Mckee
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in
Personal Change
The Snow Leopard, Matthiessen
The Songlines, Chatwin
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her
American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
The Wisdom of Crowds
Townie: A Memoir
Peoplewatching: The Desmond Morris Guide to Body Language
Undaunted Courage
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II