There’s no doubt that President Obama has a huge job ahead of him, so it comes as no surprise that he may need some advice on many different topics, including what books to read.  The editors of Washington Monthly recently asked many respected writers and thinkers for what they think the president should read and why.  The library has many, but not all, of these books, including:

• The Ayatollah begs to differ : the paradox of modern Iran by Hooman Majd
• The Will to Believe by William James
• The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight Against AIDS by Helen Epstein
• A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
• The Art of the Long View by Peter Schwartz
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• India After Gandhi: the History of the World’s Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha
• The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam
• The Quiet American by Graham Greene
• The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation by Stephen Flynn
• Lost in the City: Stories by Edward P. Jones
• Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams
• The Way We’ll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream by John Zogby
• Lincoln at Gettysburg: the Words that Remade America by Garry Wills

And some of the recommendations are available on the web

• The Pretence of Knowledge by Friedrich Hayek
• America’s Defense Meltdown (PDF) by many different writers

What book would you recommend for President Obama?  Feel free to leave a comment.

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