40 for 40 List of Recommendations

WOW!
I asked for more recommendations and received lots and lots! The best part about this embracing of my 40th year is that I am learning about my friends even more and learning from them. I'm also learning and exploring new ideas that I previously wouldn't have considered!

Here is the list so far..
From Melissa
1. Tale of Two Cities
2. The Brothers Karamazov

From Neil:
1.Any of the travel writings of Tim Cahill, but at least "Pecked to Death by Ducks." (... "Jaguars Ripped My Flesh" is also pretty good)
2. All of Malcolm Gladwell's books. They are each stand-alone, so no reading order. I think "Tipping Point" is my favorite, but there are interesting ideas in all of them.
3. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville in your list. Written in 1832, he discusses and anticipates problems we are still having today:
4. Anything by Hunter S. Thompson, but of course "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," at least.
5. All of Ray Kurzweil's books. I read them in order, which is interesting to check a futurist's predictions when years have gone by. A lot of it is dense science-y stuff but it can be whimsical as
well.
6. Everybody knows Richard Bach for "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," "Illusions," and "The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah" - but he also wrote the most amazing first-person aviation stories. His series starts with "Stranger to the Ground" and "Biplane" and they are both terrific. Of course, that is me as a pilot talking, but if you have an interest in aviation outside of airline travel then Bach is the man.
7. Biographies by David McCullough. "Truman" and "John Adams," for sure, but don't miss: "Mornings on Horseback, The Story of an Extraordinary Family. a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt."
8. For a little spooky and twisted, you can't beat Neil Gaiman. All his books are stand-alone, no series so you can start anywhere. My favorite is "American Gods" (Warning! Creepy!) I wish he would write a sequel, but he just doesn't do that... "Stardust" was good and eventually was turned into a movie. Same with "Coraline."

From Whitney:
The Marines of August
Survival of the Sickest
Connections
The Day the Universe Changed
Vaccinated-The biography of the guy that developed nearly all the vaccines Whitney currently works on.
Airframe
The Secret History of the Mongol Queens"
"The Great Game"

From Charles:
Murakami "A Wild Sheep Chase"
Michael Chabon "The Adventures of Cavalier and Clay"
David Mitchell "Cloud Atlas"

From Marti:
Ann Fairbairn "Five Smooth Stones"

From Irene:
Aristophanes: The Frogs, The Clouds
Jerome Weidman "My Father Sits in the Dark"
Grace Paley "Wants"
Lu Xun "Diary of a Madman"
Jhumpa Lahiri "A Temporary Matter"