+Newton's Principia as a masterpiece of marketing and for creating the modern scholasticism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathema

+Newton's Principia as a masterpiece of marketing and for creating the modern scholasticism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiæ_Naturalis_Principia... +Descartes' Geometry where he declares that you can choose any line as a unit to measure other lines (your knowledge depends on what you already know, your unit) (p.1) http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26400/26400-pdf.pdf http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26400/26400-pdf.pdf +Galileo's Dialogues for the realization that real understanding of nature does not come from academic gibberish and research is actually fun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chi... +Dana Densmore's Newton book to understand Principia http://www.greenlion.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.100.exe/principi.html?E+scstore http://www.greenlion.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart.100.exe/principi.h... +Slow burn by Stu Mittleman to understand how human body deals with fat and sugar http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Burn-Faster-Exercising-Slower/dp/0062736744/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251423434&sr=1-4 http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Burn-Faster-Exercising-Slower/dp/... +The Answer John Assaraf about habits http://www.amazon.com/Answer-Business-Achieve-Financial-Extraordinary/dp/1416562001/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251423501&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Answer-Business-Achieve-Financial-Extr... +Paul Graham's essays on education and dropping out of school for early startup http://www.paulgraham.com/mit.html http://www.paulgraham.com/mit.html +Ernst Mach's History of mechanics for its incredible lucidity and classic simplicity http://books.google.com/books?id=8bI3-JSarecC&dq=ernst+mach+mechanics&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=XKK9MvgqWF&sig=7R2QuZYCshqlRogROu74ktE2MMM&hl=en&ei=AzaXSvbANtCJ8Qa6icixDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=8bI3-JSarecC&dq=ernst+m... +Euclid for its complete lack of physics in it and its beautiful diagrams http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/elements.html http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/elements.html +Aristotle for appreciation of curiosity http://books.google.com/books?id=WWyF4vS8P7UC&pg=PA154&dq=aristotle+curiosity&lr=#v=onepage&q=aristotle%20curiosity&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=WWyF4vS8P7UC&pg=PA154&#... +Bertrand Russel for his humor http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell and for his Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy Really beautiful book so simple and fun to read... http://books.google.com/books?id=9GK_Fhz5RDUC&dq=introduction+to+mathematical+philosophy&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=T0YcV4i7Zs&sig=nZTCfKBaVLaVLQYJGRdRHwqc6ac&hl=en&ei=-TaXSpSOIJOg8QbD84GaDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3#v=onepage&q=&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=9GK_Fhz5RDUC&dq=introdu... +Tolstoy's Confessions http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/tolstoy/confession.html http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/tolstoy/confession... For his intellectual quest going in circles I believe that if you continue long enough in your quest, your research and understandings will describe such a circle. That's not a bad thing, I guess. How does the world work? The world works the way you look at it. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=210104 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=210104 We see what we believe. Ooops, I think I am steering away from your question. But I learned something about how the world works from each one of these books. I totally appreciate your approach to the question from a wholistic view (including the social and human elements) by disregarding academic boundaries.