Harder than it looks.

One of my assignments for CPC|NYC06, as I've taken to calling it, was to make a list of my favorite and most influential books (with a very short description of each). It took me about an hour to narrow it down, so here goes.

The Art of Looking Sideways Alan Fletcher – A treasure trove of inspiration for the artist, the bohemian, the designer, the literati, and anybody who simply takes joy in creativity.

Soccer in Sun & Shadow Eduardo Galeano – His short vignettes on the history, players, goals and very soul of the game are a welcome respite from the current business culture of sport.

In Praise of Athletic Beauty Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht – I read this right before coming to Columbia, and found it utterly absorbing in detailing emotions that I always felt, but never named.

The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway – One of the few books I can just pick up and read at any page, his sparse, blunt style is absolutely transfixing. Also, everybody gets drunk.

Theater of War Lewis Lapham – Quite simply the best essayist today, this book is an arrow to the heart of all that has gone wrong in the American Republic over the past few decades.

Our Dumb Century The Onion – Intricate revisionist historical humor at its absolute finest; the headlines are the draw, but the devil, like always, is in the details.

The Fountainhead Ayn Rand – The only one of her works that doesn’t leave the taste of bile in my mouth, so, I guess that means something.

Strange Rumblings in Aztlan Hunter S. Thompson – Actually a long article for Rolling Stone, this is the kind of journalism that we should, my goodness should, see more of.

To the Finland Station Edmund Wilson – The best history I’ve ever read, Wilson illuminates a grand narrative of revolution in an era when that actually meant something.

Rolling Stone: The Complete Covers Fred Woodward & Jann S. Wenner – As a design, history and rock & roll junkie, I practically have this memorized. The whole thing.