My reading list: how to get it

Summary

Dr. Orion Taraban presents 100 books he considers essential—not necessarily his favorites or the best-written, but edifying: books that teach, enlighten, and encourage wisdom and virtue. He says they have helped him find meaning and suffer less.

Taraban has read every title, often more than once. He notes that many are challenging and may offer conflicting advice; different problems, he argues, call for different tools.

Five books highlighted

1. The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham — A novel about Larry Darrell, who gives up conventional pursuits such as wealth and status to search for truth and meaning. Taraban says it underscores that people must choose how to live their own lives.
2. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu — A short work whose lessons, in Taraban’s view, can take a lifetime to understand and apply. He says he has read it repeatedly.
3. On Liberty by John Stuart Mill — An argument for protecting individual autonomy and freedom of thought and expression, which Mill presents as foundations for human development and social progress.
4. The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker — Becker argues that much human behavior is shaped by unconscious fear of death, which people try to overcome through “immortality projects,” such as children, religion, or art. Taraban says the book influenced his interest in psychology.
5. Of Human Freedom by Epictetus — A collection of Epictetus’s recorded teachings, presented as a practical guide to pursuing what one wants and avoiding what one does not want.

How to get the full reading list

Taraban says the complete list is sent as a welcome gift to people who sign up for his free weekly newsletter through his website. The newsletter is one email per week, takes about two minutes to read, and can be canceled at any time.

He also asks viewers to subscribe to his channel, saying a larger subscriber count could help him access bigger conversations and debates. He says subscribing costs nothing and does not earn him money.

Speakers and sources featured

• Speaker: Dr. Orion Taraban
• Authors and works discussed: W. Somerset Maugham, The Razor’s Edge; Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching; John Stuart Mill, On Liberty; Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death; Epictetus, Of Human Freedom
• Quotation referenced: A line about contradicting oneself and containing multitudes, commonly associated with Walt Whitman.