In October of 2011, just two months before his passing, Christopher Hitchens accepted the Richard Dawkins Award at the Texas Freethought Convention. While taking questions from the audience, 8-year-old Mason Crumpacker asked if he could recommend any books for her to read. Hitchens spent 15 minutes chatting with the girl, writing out a list that included Shakespearean satires, Greek mythology, and classic tales by Wodehouse and Dickens.
Read on for Hitchens’ recommendations, and find a full account of the encounter here. Complement with the reading lists of Richard Dawkins, Salman Rushdie and Carl Sagan.
The Complete Works by William Shakespeare (also rec’d by Jane Goodall & Nelson Mandela)
The Collected Works by Geoffrey Chaucer
The Greek Myths by Robert Graves
The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (also rec’d by Maya Angelou)
Sunset at Blandings by P.G. Wodehouse
(via Open Culture)
Hitchens has a special place in my mind.