Listed below are some non-fiction books that have made an impact on me in the past 15 years. There is a non-trivial overlap with the list compiled by godless for GNXP readers, so I left off Blank Slate & Genome, etc.

If anything, there are good indicators of "where I'm coming from," so to speak-though I'm sure there are plenty of great books I've left off, the fact that these come to mind in a short time says something about either the books or me.

History

Africa

A History of Byzantine State and Society

China

History of Rome

History of the Arab Peoples

In Search of the Trojan War

The Sacred Chain

The Sumerians

Life Science

Broca's Brain

Guns, Germs and Steel

Principles of Population Genetics

The Living Planet

The Third Chimpanzee

Tower of Babel

Math

The Millennium Problems

Politics

Libertarianism

Conservatism

Physical Science

Big Bang

Einstein's Dream

The God Particle

Political Philosophy

A Theory of Justice

Social Science

Migrations and Cultures

Philosophy

The Truth About Everything

Programming

Programming Perl

Religion

Who Wrote the Bible

Biography

I.Asimov