Books Recommended by Barack Obama
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Truth Decay
An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life
Michael D. Rich
Source: "A look at how a selective sorting of facts and evidence isn’t just dishonest, but self-defeating to a society that has always worked best when reasoned debate and practical problem-solving thrive." - Barack Obama
1 recommender
The Moment of Lift
How Empowering Women Changes the World
Melinda Gates
Source: "Melinda tells the stories of the inspiring people she’s met through her work all over the world, digs into the data, and powerfully illustrates issues that need our attention." - Barack Obama
In the Shadow of Statues
A White Southerner Confronts History
Mitch Landrieu
Source: "An ultimately optimistic take from someone who believes the South will rise again not by reasserting the past, but by transcending it." - Barack Obama
1 recommender
The New Geography of Jobs
Enrico Moretti
Source: "Still a timely and smart discussion of how different cities and regions have made a changing economy work for them." - Barack Obama
1 recommender
Speed & Scale
An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now
John Doerr
Source: "If you care about climate change, [this book] offers concrete steps that we can all take to make a difference." - Barack Obama
2 recommenders
Factfulness
Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
Hans Rosling
Source: "A hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases." - Barack Obama
Why Liberalism Failed
Patrick J. Deneen
Source: "Offers cogent insights into the loss of meaning and community that many in the West feel." - Barack Obama
2 recommenders
An American Marriage
A Novel
Tayari Jones
Source: "A moving portrayal of the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple." - Barack Obama
Educated
A Memoir
Tara Westover
Source: "A remarkable memoir of a young woman raised in a survivalist family in Idaho." - Barack Obama
A House for Mr Biswas
A Novel
V. S. Naipaul
Source: "Great novel about growing up in Trinidad and the challenge of post-colonial identity." - Barack Obama
1 recommender
Warlight
A Novel
Michael Ondaatje
Source: "A meditation on the lingering effects of war on family." - Barack Obama
1 recommender
The Word Collector
Peter H. Reynolds
Source: "A fun book that vividly illustrates the transformative power of words." - Barack Obama
2 recommenders
Futureface
A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and the Secret to Belonging
Alex Wagner
Source: "A thoughtful, beautiful meditation on what makes us who we are." - Barack Obama
1 recommender
Self Reliance
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Source: On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile.
2 recommenders
Gilead
Gilead, Book 1
Marilynne Robinson
Source: On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile.
1 recommender
Abraham Lincoln
Selected Speeches and Writings
Abraham Lincoln
Source: On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile.
1 recommender
The Oxford Shakespeare
The Complete Works
William Shakespeare
Source: On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile.
Moby Dick
Herman Melville
Source: On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile.
Song of Solomon
Toni Morrison
Source: On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile.
Parting the Waters
America in the King Years 1954-63
Taylor Branch
Source: On the "favorite books" section of Barack Obama's Facebook profile.
4 recommenders
2 recommenders
The Sixth Extinction
An Unnatural History
Elizabeth Kolbert
Source: Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List."
2 recommenders
4 recommenders
4 recommenders
2 recommenders
1 recommender
2 recommenders
4 recommenders
1 recommender
2 recommenders.jpg)
1 recommender
4 recommenders
1 recommender
How to Do Nothing
Resisting the Attention Economy
Jenny Odell
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
2 recommenders
2 recommenders
1 recommender
The Broken Ladder
How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die
Keith Payne
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list.
1 recommender
Things Fall Apart
African Trilogy, Book 1
Chinua Achebe
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list.
1 recommender
The Return
Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between
Hisham Matar
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list.
1 recommender
Evicted
Poverty and Profit in the American City
Matthew Desmond
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list.
2 recommenders
4 recommenders
1 recommender
The World as It Is
A Memoir of the Obama White House
Ben Rhodes
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list.
1 recommender
1 recommender
1 recommender
Tough Love
My Story of the Things Worth Fighting For
Susan Rice
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
2 recommenders
The Shallows
What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
Nicholas Carr
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
3 recommenders
1 recommender
Basketball
A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated
Shea Serrano
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list.
1 recommender
1 recommender
The Source of Self-Regard
Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations
Toni Morrison
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
1 recommender
The Education of an Idealist
A Memoir
Samantha Power
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
1 recommender
The Largesse of the Sea Maiden
Stories
Denis Johnson
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list.
1 recommender
1 recommender
1 recommender
Long Walk to Freedom
The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list.
2 recommenders
1 recommender
Frederick Douglass
Prophet of Freedom
David W. Blight
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list.
1 recommender
1 recommender
1 recommender
Trick Mirror
Reflections on Self-Delusion
Jia Tolentino
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
2 recommenders
4 recommenders
1 recommender
2 recommenders
3 recommenders
Anything Is Possible
Amgash, Book 2
Elizabeth Strout
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list.
1 recommender
The Anarchy
The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire
William Dalrymple
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
1 recommender
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee
Native America from 1890 to the Present
David Treuer
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
1 recommender
The Warmth of Other Suns
The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
Isabel Wilkerson
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
2 recommenders
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
Shoshana Zuboff
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
2 recommenders
3 recommenders
1 recommender
1 recommender
1 recommender
Maid
Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive
Stephanie Land
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
1 recommender
1 recommender
1 recommender
American Prison
A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment
Shane Bauer
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list.
2 recommenders
2 recommenders
1 recommender
A Different Way to Win
Dan Rooney's Story from the Super Bowl to the Rooney Rule
Jim Rooney
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
1 recommender
Coach Wooden and Me
Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2017 list.
2 recommenders
1 recommender
1 recommender
2 recommenders
1 recommender.jpg)
The Orphan Master's Son
A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)
Adam Johnson
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
1 recommender
Finding My Voice
My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward
Valerie Jarrett
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
1 recommender
Say Nothing
A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
Patrick Radden Keefe
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
1 recommender
1 recommender
2 recommenders
Furious Hours
Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee
Casey Cep
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
1 recommender
Heartland
A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
Sarah Smarsh
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
3 recommenders
1 recommender
Life 3.0
Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Max Tegmark
Source: Barack Obama's favorite books of 2018 list.
101 books
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