I am writing about the said question after having read almost all the answers already posted for it. All of them are fantastic. Each represents the mind of the reader as well as what they have understood by the phrase “expansion of mind” as requested by the question.
Before delving into my bit I would put forth two thoughts which come to my mind as of now. One, as I found in many answers, writers have assumed that “expansion of mind” is basically fed by stuff which either motivates you to think, manipulate or do well or it helps you become more smarter at certain things considered integral to an intelligent human being. I personally do not believe so. I believe that “expansion of mind” simply means being more aware about any aspect of life. We, as humans, are extremely limited in our understanding of the world and there are infinite avenues to expand our mind. Two, I am limited in my perspective by the limited knowledge I have about literature here. Some very bright people surfing through this might not find anything which might help their minds expand.
WEALTH DISTRIBUTION
Capital in the Twenty-First Century By Thomas Piketty (2013)
Thomas Piketty has written a very important work for our times. Economic inequality in the world has been on the rise and recently a record high as measured by the household consumption expenditure in countries like the U.S., China, India, U.K., Germany and France. Perfect equality is when everyone has a similar income while perfect inequality is when all income is accumulated in one person. The issue of rising inequality is also socially and politically important as it may harm societal stability, especially in a large, diverse and young democracy plagued by widespread poverty and vulnerability amid rising expectations.
MODERN HISTORY : OPIUM WARS
Ibis Trilogy By Amitav Ghosh (2008–2015)
Ibis Trilogy is the most ambitious work of Amitav Ghosh, comprising Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke and Flood of Fire, published between 2008 and 20015. It is a gigantic piece of work, totalling about 1,700 pages, with dozens of principal characters from very diverse backgrounds, moving from Bihar to China to Mauritius, with the British opium trade in the 1830s to the First Opium War in China as the backdrop.
He complements his craft with alarmingly deep research. The Ibis trilogy (Ibis is the name of the ship on which most of the characters find themselves at one time or another) wows the reader with 19th century Bhojpuri songs, minute details of opium cultivation, Chinese society and culture, the peculiar language of the laskars (sailors), botany, the engineering details of ships and intricacies of sailing them on the high seas, the Indianization of the English spoken by East India Company officials, Parsi customs, and even early 19th century pornography.
LEGAL THRILLER
The Firm (1991) by John Grisham
I think reading The Firm (1991) by John Grisham made me fall in love with reading. I think this was because I was compelled to read books at school to score marks. All we read were a handful of classics and those too were rendered tasteless by tacit manipulation for the exams. The novel takes you to the exciting work of Corporate Tax Lawyers. It is about a young attorney who finds a very lucrative job with a firm in Memphis. He later discovers through FBI that the firm he is working for, actually, is just a front to launder money for a Chicago Crime Family. He now has to run for his life as well as help the FBI in taking down the firm. Very exciting read. I admired this book thoroughly. The one thing at which the writer excels is acquiring a grip over the reader's mind. I was completely mesmerized while reading the novel. No doubt Grisham is the master of legal thrillers. The novel is phenomenal.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Steve Jobs By Walter Isaacson (2011)
Walter Isaacson has been a biographer of many famous celebrities. He interacted with a lot many people associated with Jobs to write this great biography. The biography takes us through the college years of Jobs up till his days at Apple Inc. The biography is a mind numbing tale of an Art School dropout with a sense of design. It takes us through his journey with Steve Wozniak to establish one of the foremost companies dealing in specialized products. Special insights in the book make us aware of a number traits that made Jobs one of the foremost entrepreneurs of his generation.
INDIAN CULTURE AND HISTORY
The Discovery of India (1946) By Jawaharlal Nehru
This voluminous work of Indian culture and history was written by Jawaharlal Nehru during his time at Ahmednagar Fort. It is a tribute to the rich cultural heritage of India by the foremost writers of India. The book tracks the history of India from the advent of Aryans up till the present period. It meanders, in between, to his reflections on the Journey of India through the times. His conclusions are vivid and point out to the fact that India had been one of the foremost stages of Civilization in the world. India’s immense potential and cultural diversity are some of the themes that find their place throughout the book.
WAR DOCUMENTARY
The Things They Carried (1990) By Tim O’ Brien
This work is a collection of linked short stories based on the soldiers of a platoon in Vietnam War. It is one of the foremost and finest works of War Documentary in a long time. War has always been depicted in popular culture as something very fantastic and gritty. One major aspect of wars, especially long ones like Vietnam, is the impact such events have on the mental architecture of the soldiers who return from them.
Reading this work takes the reader into the intricacies involved in the effects of wars most of which are psychological.
PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology By Robert A. Baron (2014)
Ever wondered what goes inside people’s mind ? Why they behave the way they do ? Why some children perform well on intelligence tests while some fail miserably ?
Reading the Science of Mind is perhaps the best way to expand our minds. This book is a brilliant illustration of the complexities involved in determining the behaviour, thought processes and cognitive abilities of human beings.
I thoroughly enjoyed the lucid explanation of the mechanisms and theories that govern the functioning of our minds.
Originally written here.
Before delving into my bit I would put forth two thoughts which come to my mind as of now. One, as I found in many answers, writers have assumed that “expansion of mind” is basically fed by stuff which either motivates you to think, manipulate or do well or it helps you become more smarter at certain things considered integral to an intelligent human being. I personally do not believe so. I believe that “expansion of mind” simply means being more aware about any aspect of life. We, as humans, are extremely limited in our understanding of the world and there are infinite avenues to expand our mind. Two, I am limited in my perspective by the limited knowledge I have about literature here. Some very bright people surfing through this might not find anything which might help their minds expand.
WEALTH DISTRIBUTION
Capital in the Twenty-First Century By Thomas Piketty (2013)
Thomas Piketty has written a very important work for our times. Economic inequality in the world has been on the rise and recently a record high as measured by the household consumption expenditure in countries like the U.S., China, India, U.K., Germany and France. Perfect equality is when everyone has a similar income while perfect inequality is when all income is accumulated in one person. The issue of rising inequality is also socially and politically important as it may harm societal stability, especially in a large, diverse and young democracy plagued by widespread poverty and vulnerability amid rising expectations.
MODERN HISTORY : OPIUM WARS
Ibis Trilogy By Amitav Ghosh (2008–2015)
Ibis Trilogy is the most ambitious work of Amitav Ghosh, comprising Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke and Flood of Fire, published between 2008 and 20015. It is a gigantic piece of work, totalling about 1,700 pages, with dozens of principal characters from very diverse backgrounds, moving from Bihar to China to Mauritius, with the British opium trade in the 1830s to the First Opium War in China as the backdrop.
He complements his craft with alarmingly deep research. The Ibis trilogy (Ibis is the name of the ship on which most of the characters find themselves at one time or another) wows the reader with 19th century Bhojpuri songs, minute details of opium cultivation, Chinese society and culture, the peculiar language of the laskars (sailors), botany, the engineering details of ships and intricacies of sailing them on the high seas, the Indianization of the English spoken by East India Company officials, Parsi customs, and even early 19th century pornography.
LEGAL THRILLER
The Firm (1991) by John Grisham
I think reading The Firm (1991) by John Grisham made me fall in love with reading. I think this was because I was compelled to read books at school to score marks. All we read were a handful of classics and those too were rendered tasteless by tacit manipulation for the exams. The novel takes you to the exciting work of Corporate Tax Lawyers. It is about a young attorney who finds a very lucrative job with a firm in Memphis. He later discovers through FBI that the firm he is working for, actually, is just a front to launder money for a Chicago Crime Family. He now has to run for his life as well as help the FBI in taking down the firm. Very exciting read. I admired this book thoroughly. The one thing at which the writer excels is acquiring a grip over the reader's mind. I was completely mesmerized while reading the novel. No doubt Grisham is the master of legal thrillers. The novel is phenomenal.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Steve Jobs By Walter Isaacson (2011)
Walter Isaacson has been a biographer of many famous celebrities. He interacted with a lot many people associated with Jobs to write this great biography. The biography takes us through the college years of Jobs up till his days at Apple Inc. The biography is a mind numbing tale of an Art School dropout with a sense of design. It takes us through his journey with Steve Wozniak to establish one of the foremost companies dealing in specialized products. Special insights in the book make us aware of a number traits that made Jobs one of the foremost entrepreneurs of his generation.
INDIAN CULTURE AND HISTORY
The Discovery of India (1946) By Jawaharlal Nehru
This voluminous work of Indian culture and history was written by Jawaharlal Nehru during his time at Ahmednagar Fort. It is a tribute to the rich cultural heritage of India by the foremost writers of India. The book tracks the history of India from the advent of Aryans up till the present period. It meanders, in between, to his reflections on the Journey of India through the times. His conclusions are vivid and point out to the fact that India had been one of the foremost stages of Civilization in the world. India’s immense potential and cultural diversity are some of the themes that find their place throughout the book.
WAR DOCUMENTARY
The Things They Carried (1990) By Tim O’ Brien
This work is a collection of linked short stories based on the soldiers of a platoon in Vietnam War. It is one of the foremost and finest works of War Documentary in a long time. War has always been depicted in popular culture as something very fantastic and gritty. One major aspect of wars, especially long ones like Vietnam, is the impact such events have on the mental architecture of the soldiers who return from them.
Reading this work takes the reader into the intricacies involved in the effects of wars most of which are psychological.
PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology By Robert A. Baron (2014)
Ever wondered what goes inside people’s mind ? Why they behave the way they do ? Why some children perform well on intelligence tests while some fail miserably ?
Reading the Science of Mind is perhaps the best way to expand our minds. This book is a brilliant illustration of the complexities involved in determining the behaviour, thought processes and cognitive abilities of human beings.
I thoroughly enjoyed the lucid explanation of the mechanisms and theories that govern the functioning of our minds.
Originally written here.
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