Nonfiction
Freakonomics by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt - a book about how seemingly-unrelated things almost always are. The authors use the principles of economics to answer questions like: "How is the Ku Klux Klan like a group of real estate agents?" and "Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?" (actual chapter titles from the book)
Economics in one Lesson by Henry Hazzlit - the economy is in the toilet right now and everybody wants to know why. There has never been a more thorough, easy to comprehend explanation in the history of economics than this book.
The Law by Frederic Bastiat - even if you don't believe in the libertarian principles set forth by this pamphlet, something about the translation from French to English makes the prose flow more like poetry than a brutal excoriation of nearly everything government stands for.
The Alphabet of Manliness by Maddox - a satirical look at what it means to be a man. Each chapter links a letter of the alphabet to a corresponding trait of manhood in a way that's subtle, witty and hilarious.
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max - certainly not high literature by any stretch of the imagination, this book still serves as an example of the hilarity that can ensue--and the enlightenment that comes-- when one ignores the world and fully embraces the art of being true to oneself.
Fiction
Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien - at the risk of sounding like a cliche fantasy nerd, the books are at least 300% better than the movies, which completely omitted two of the best parts. Warning: your tolerance for women who are into LotR just because it's trendy now may drop considerably once you finish these books.
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien - a suitable beginning if the idea of reading the LotR behemoth doesn't excite you. This was the first book I ever read and actually liked.
Tucker by Louis L'Amour - no better coming of age tale has ever been written.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - check out this chart (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ations.jpg) illustrating how all the characters of this novel are related to each other and tell me you're not at least intrigued. You may not make it all the way through it (and if you do, you probably won't understand everything that happened) but the fact that you try at all is a testament to your manhood.
My patience when it comes to long-term projects is akin to that of a fruit fly so you can rest assured everything I've named is both interesting and written in a way that holds the reader's attention. Still, I prefer short columns, so I'm a regular reader of Taki's Magazine (www.takimag.com), Lew Rockwell (www.lewrockwell.com) and The American Conservative (www.amconmag.com).
That should get you started
Your boy,
870