Library | Antilibrary

an·ti·li·brar·y | noun | \ˌan-tē-ˈlī-ˌbrer-ē, ˌan-ˌtī-\

  1. A collection of unread books, kept as a reminder of what one does not yet know; the assembly of volumes acquired but not yet consumed

  2. The private collection of books one intends to read, standing in deliberate opposition to the notion that a library represents only what has been read.

Anthropology & Cultural Studies

Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity Marc Augé (1992)
Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concept of Pollution and Taboo Mary Douglas (2002)
Subcultures: The Basics Ross Haenfler (2014)
The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing (2021)
We Have Never Been Modern Bruno Latour (2012)

Biography & Memoir

Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace David Lipsky (2010)
Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir D. J. Waldie (1996)
Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai Gavan Daws (1973)
Humanly Possible Sarah Bakewell (2023)
Last Words George Carlin (2009)
Not Fade Away: A Short Life Well Lived Laurence Shames (2003)
Running with Scissors: A Memoir Augusten Burroughs (2002)
The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir Sherry Turkle (2021)
The Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985-1993 Jordan Mechner (2011)
Theodore Roosevelt Trilogy Edmund Morris (2015)
Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class Rob Henderson (2024)
Virginia Woolf Hermione Lee (1996)

Business

Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry David Robertson (2013)
The LEGO Story: How a Little Toy Sparked the World's Imagination Jens Andersen (2022)

Chinese Literature

Six Records of a Floating Life Shěn Fù (1877)
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio Pu Songling (1740)

Classic Literature

Death Comes for the Archbishop Willa Cather (1927)
Don Quixote de La Mancha Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1605)
East of Eden John Steinbeck (1952)
Independent People Halldór Laxness (1934)
Madonna in a Fur Coat Sabahattin Ali (1943)
Middlemarch George Eliot (1872)
The Anatomy of Melancholy Robert Burton (1621)
The Betrothed Alessandro Manzoni (1827)
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers (1940)
The Human Comedy William Saroyan (1943)
Trilby George du Maurier (1894)
Zorba the Greek Nikos Kazantzakis (1946)

Consciousness Studies

A Book of Life Peter Kingsley (2003)
Dark Night, Early Dawn: Steps to a Deep Ecology of Mind Christopher M. Bache (2000)
If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens ... WHERE IS EVERYBODY?: Fifty Solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life Stephen Webb (2002)
LSD and the Mind of the Universe: Diamonds from Heaven Christopher M. Bache (2019)
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness Peter Godfrey-Smith (2016)
Prometheus Rising Robert Anton Wilson (1983)
REALITY Peter Kingsley (2020)
Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy David J. Chalmers (2022)
Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens: Frank Oppenheimer and the world he made up K. C. Cole (2009)
The Chemical Muse: Drug Use and the Roots of Western Civilization D. C.A. Hillman (2008)
The Living Classroom: Teaching and Collective Consciousness Christopher M. Bache (2008)

Creativity & Innovation

Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre Keith Johnstone (1979)
The Act of Creation Arthur Koestler (1964)
The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn Richard Hamming (1997)
The Timeless Way of Building Christopher Alexander (1979)
Theory of Fun for Game Design Raph Koster (2004)

Economics & Social Theory

Private Truths, Public Lies: The Social Consequences of Preference Falsification Timur Kuran (1997)
Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto Kōhei Saitō (2020)
Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change W. David Marx (2022)
The Economics of Non-Human Societies Gordon Tullock (1994)
The Weirdest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous Joseph Henrich (2020)

Essays & Creative Nonfiction

Conversations with Don DeLillo Thomas DePietro (2005)
Feel Free: Essays Zadie Smith (2018)
For the Time Being Annie Dillard (1999)
Lost & Found: Reflections on Grief, Gratitude, and Happiness Kathryn Schulz (2023)
My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer Christian Wiman (2013)
String Theory: David Foster Wallace on Tennis David Foster Wallace (2016)
Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters Annie Dillard (1982)
The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison (2014)
When I Was a Child I Read Books Marilynne Robinson (2012)

Food & Cooking

The Untold History of Ramen: How Political Crisis in Japan Spawned a Global Food Craze George Solt (2014)

Historical Fiction

Hild Nicola Griffith (2013)
Jerusalem Delivered Torquato Tasso (1581)
The Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie (1988)
The Secret History Donna Tartt (1992)

History & Politics

1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed Eric H. Cline (2014)
A Chronicle of the Last Pagans Pierre Chuvin (1990)
A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome: Daily Life, Mysteries, and Curiosities Alberto Angela (2007)
Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America David Hackett Fischer (1989)
Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism Noenoe K. Silva (2004)
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2014)
Blank Space: A Cultural History of the Twenty-First Century W. David Marx (2025)
Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City Sam Anderson (2018)
Cities for People Jan Gehl (2010)
Daily Life in Ancient Rome: The People and the City at the Height of the Empire Jérôme Carcopino (1939)
Democracy in America and Two Essays on America Alexis de Tocqueville (1835)
How Asia Works: Success and Failure In the World's Most Dynamic Region Joe Studwell (2013)
Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism George Monbiot (2024)
Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up Mary Beard (2014)
Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy John R. Hale (2009)
Picasso's War: How Modern Art Came to America Hugh Eakin (2022)
The Eye of the Master: A Social History of Artificial Intelligence Matteo Pasquinelli (2023)
The Land Trap: A New History of the World's Oldest Asset Mike Bird (2025)
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York Robert A. Caro (1974)
The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War Robert J. Gordon (2016)
Tower of Basel: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs the World Adam LeBor (2013)

Japanese Literature & Culture

A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government Nakae Chomin (1887)
All the Lovers in the Night Mieko Kawakami (2011)
Art of Edo Japan: The Artist and the City 1615-1868 Christine Guth (1996)
As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams: Recollections of a Woman in Eleventh-Century Japan Lady Sarashina
Breasts and Eggs Mieko Kawakami (2008)
Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata (2016)
Give and Take: Poverty and the Status Order in Early Modern Japan Maren A. Ehlers (2018)
Handbook of Japanese Mythology Michael Ashkenazi (2003)
Inventing the Way of the Samurai: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushidō in Modern Japan Oleg Benesch (2014)
Japan in Print: Information and Nation in the Early Modern Period Mary Elizabeth Berry (2006)
Japanese Design Since 1945: A Complete Sourcebook Naomi Pollock (2011)
Japanese Tales Royall Tyler (1987)
Kokinshu: A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern Laurel Rasplica Rodd (1984)
Kusamakura Natsume Soseki (1906)
Lost Japan Alex Kerr (1993)
Sisters in Yellow Mieko Kawakami (2023)
Sources of Japanese Tradition: Volume I/II William Theodore de Bary (1964)
Spectacular Accumulation: Material Culture, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Samurai Sociability Morgan Pitelka (2016)
Strange Weather in Tokyo Hiromi Kawakami (2001)
Tales of Ise Peter Macmillan (2016)
The Autobiography of Yukichi Fukuzawa Yukichi Fukuzawa (1899)
The Catalpa Bapan Carmen Blacker (1999)
The Japanese Garden Sophie Walker (2017)
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea Yukio Mishima (1963)
The Samurai Shūsaku Endō (1980)
Tokyo Ueno Station Yū Miri (2014)

Latin American Literature

One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez (1967)
The Savage Detectives Roberto Bolaño (1998)
2666 Roberto Bolaño (2004)

Literary Experimental

let me tell you and let me go on Paul Griffiths (2025)

Literary Fiction

100 Boyfriends Brontez Purnell (2021)
A Shining Jon Fosse (2024)
Atonement Ian McEwan (2001)
Blackouts: A Novel Justin Torres (2023)
Circe Madeline Miller (2018)
Death on the Installment Plan Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1936)
Doctor Faustus Thomas Mann (1947)
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk (2009)
Either/Or Elif Batuman (2022)
Flesh David Szalay (2025)
Flowers For Algernon Daniel Keyes (1966)
Ghost Wall Sarah Moss (2018)
Gilead Marilynne Robinson (2004)
God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian Kurt Vonnegut (1999)
Inherent Vice: A Novel Thomas Pynchon (2009)
James Percival Everett (2024)
Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind: A Novel Molly McGhee (2022)
Journey to the End of the Night Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1932)
Leviathan Wakes James S. A. Corey (2011)
Lies and Sorcery Elsa Morante (1948)
Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)
Mind-body Problem Rebecca Goldstein (1983)
My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante (2011)
My Name Is Asher Lev Chaim Potok (1972)
Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)
No One Is Talking About This Patricia Lockwood (2021)
North Woods Daniel Mason (2023)
Notes of a Crocodile Qiu Miaojin (1994)
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous Ocean Vuong (2019)
Pachinko Min Jin Lee (2017)
Rejection Tony Tulathimutte (2024)
Sea of Tranquility Emily St. John Mandel (2022)
Sister Deborah Scholastique Mukasonga (2022)
Small Things Like These Claire Keegan (2021)
Station Eleven Emily St. John Mandel (2014)
The Barracks John McGahern (1963)
The Book of Disquiet Fernando Pessoa (1982)
The City of Brass: A Novel S. A. Chakraborty (2017)
The Coin Yasmin Zaher (2024)
The Fall Albert Camus (1956)
The Glass Hotel Emily St. John Mandel (2020)
The Guide: A Novel R. K. Narayan (1958)
The L.A. Quartet: The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A. Confidential, White Jazz James Ellroy (2011)
The Largesse of the Sea Maiden Denis Johnson (2018)
The Library at Mount Char Scott Hawkins (2015)
The Membranes Chi Ta-wei (1995)
The Mezzanine Nicholson Baker (1988)
The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco (1980)
The Passion According to G.H. Clarice Lispector (1964)
The Sea John Banville (2005)
The Sea, the Sea Iris Murdoch (1978)
The Sellout Paul Beatty (2015)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being Milan Kundera (1984)
The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead (2016)
Timequake Kurt Vonnegut (1997)
Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller (1934)
Under the Net Iris Murdoch (1954)
We Ride Upon Sticks: A Novel Quan Barry (2020)
When I'm Gone, Look for Me in the East: A Novel Quan Barry (2022)
While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction Kurt Vonnegut (2011)
Will There Ever Be Another You Patricia Lockwood (2025)
Yellowface R.F. Kuang (2023)

Literary Theory & Criticism

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain George Saunders (2021)
How to Be Alone Jonathan Franzen (2002)
Moments of Being: A Collection of Autobiographical Writing Virginia Woolf (1976)
Serious Noticing: Selected Essays, 1997-2019 James Wood (2019)
Ways of Seeing John Berger (1972)

Modernist Literature

Stoner John Williams (1965)
We Were the Mulvaneys Joyce Carol Oates (1996)

Music

Conversations Steve Reich (2022)
Silences So Deep: Music, Solitude, Alaska John Luther Adams (2020)

Neuroscience & Cognitive Science

Active Inference: The Free Energy Principle in Mind, Brain, and Behavior Thomas Parr (2022)
Being No One: The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity Thomas Metzinger (2003)
Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain António Damásio (1994)
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain John J. Ratey MD (2008)
The Body Electric: Electromagnetism And The Foundation Of Life Robert Becker (1985)
The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science Norman Doidge M.D. (2007)
The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World Iain McGilchrist (2009)
The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World Iain McGilchrist (2021)

Philosophy & Continental Thought

A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful Edmund Burke (1757)
A Theory of Justice John Rawls (1971)
Anarchy, State, and Utopia Robert Nozick (1974)
Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia Gilles Deleuze (1972)
Being-in-the-World: A Commentary on Heidegger's Being and Time Hubert L. Dreyfus (1991)
Breakdown of Will George Ainslie (2001)
Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy Rene Descartes (1641)
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil Hannah Arendt (1963)
Escape from Evil Ernest Becker (1975)
Ethical Intuitionism Michael Huemer (2005)
Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology John Heritage (1984)
Human-Machine Reconfigurations: Plans and Situated Actions Lucy Suchman (2007)
In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life Robert Kegan (1994)
Morality of Happiness Julia Annas (1993)
More Studies in Ethnomethodology Kenneth Liberman (2013)
Political Liberalism John Rawls (1993)
Simulacra and Simulation Jean Baudrillard (1981)
Studies in Ethnomethodology Harold Garfinkel (1967)
The Art of Happiness Epicurus
The Complete Essays Michel de Montaigne (1580)
The Denial of Death Ernest Becker (1973)
The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness R. D. Laing (1960)
The History of Sexuality Michel Foucault (1976)
The Human Condition Hannah Arendt (1958)
The Meaning of History Nikolai Berdyaev (1923)
Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things Jane Bennett (2010)
What We Owe to Each Other T.M. Scanlon (1999)

Poetry

Bright Dead Things Ada Limon (2015)
Decreation: Poetry, Essays, Opera Anne Carson (2005)
Eros the Bittersweet Anne Carson (1986)
Maximus Poems Charles Olson (1983)
The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos Anne Carson (2001)
The Wild Iris Louise Glück (1992)
Walking to Martha's Vineyard: Poems Franz Wright (2003)

Postmodern & Maximalist Fiction

Gravity's Rainbow Thomas Pynchon (1973)
House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski (2000)
J R William Gaddis (1975)
My Struggle Karl Ove Knausgård (2009)
On the Calculation of Volume Solvej Balle (2020)
Solenoid Mircea Cărtărescu (2015)
The Instructions Adam Levin (2010)
The Last Samurai Helen DeWitt (2000)
The Recognitions William Gaddis (1955)
The Tunnel William H. Gass (1995)
Underworld Don DeLillo (1997)
V. Thomas Pynchon (1963)
Wittgenstein's Mistress David Markson (1988)

Psychology

A Therapeutic Journey: Lessons from The School of Life Alain de Botton (2020)
Integral Psychology: Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology, Therapy Ken Wilber (2000)
Iron John: A Book About Men Robert Bly (1990)
King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine Robert Moore (1990)
Outsider Theory: Intellectual Histories of Unorthodox Ideas Jonathan Eburne (2022)
The Architecture of Happiness Alain De Botton (2006)
The Art of Travel Alain De Botton (2002)
The Burnout Society Byung-Chul Han (2010)
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting up a Generation for Failure Jonathan Haidt (2018)
The Listening Society: A Metamodern Guide to Politics Hanzi Freinacht (2017)
The Sibling Society: An Impassioned Call for the Rediscovery of Adulthood Robert Bly (1996)
The Talent Code Daniel Coyle (2009)

Russian Literature

A Hero of Our Time Mikhail Lermontov (1839)
Life and Fate Vasily Grossman (1960)
Notes from Underground Fyodor Dostoevsky (1864)
Pale Fire Vladimir Nabokov (1962)
The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky (1880)

Science & Physics

Seven Brief Lessons on Physics Carlo Rovelli (2014)
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World David Deutsch (2011)
The New Breed: What Our History with Animals Reveals about Our Future with Robots Kate Darling (2021)

Science Fiction & Speculative Fiction

Project Hail Mary Andy Weir (2021)
The Fifth Season N.K. Jemisin (2015)
The Martian Andy Weir (2011)
The Sword of Kaigen M.L. Wang (2019)
Wool Omnibus Hugh Howey (2012)

Short Stories

Birds of America Lorrie Moore (1998)
The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis Lydia Davis (2009)
The Visiting Privilege: New and Collected Stories Joy Williams (2015)
Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg (2018)

Spirituality & Religious Studies

All Things Are Full of Gods: The Mysteries of Mind and Life David Bentley Hart (2024)
Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious Ross Douthat (2025)
Book of the Hopi Frank Waters (1963)
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Robin Wall Kimmerer (2013)
Centuries Thomas Traherne (1908)
Food for the Heart: The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah Ajahn Chah (2002)
Gravity and Grace Simone Weil (1947)
Hakuin's Precious Mirror Cave: A Zen Miscellany Norman Waddell (2009)
Hawaiian Mythology Martha Warren Beckwith (1940)
How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America Rick Fields (1981)
How to Cook Your Life: From the Zen Kitchen to Enlightenment Eihei Dogen (2005)
Hsin-Hsin Ming: Verses on the Faith-Mind Seng-ts'an (2001)
Kumano Kodo: Pilgrimage to Powerspots J. Christian Greer (2022)
Magical Passes: The Practical Wisdom of the Shamans of Ancient Mexico Carlos Castaneda (1998)
Meditation for the Love of It: Enjoying Your Own Deepest Experience Sally Kempton (2011)
Mipham's Beacon of Certainty: Illuminating the View of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection John W. Pettit (1999)
Mountain Mandalas: Shugendo in Kyushu Allan G. Grapard (2016)
Opening Awareness: A guide to finding vividness in spacious clarity Charlie Awbery (2023)
Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer Tyler Staton (2022)
Protocol of the Gods: A Study of the Kasuga Cult in Japanese History Allan G. Grapard (1992)
Psychomagic: The Transformative Power of Shamanic Psychotherapy Alejandro Jodorowsky (2010)
Revelations of Divine Love Julian of Norwich (1393)
Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World Stephen Batchelor (2017)
Spiritual Enlightenment, the Damnedest Thing Jed McKenna (2002)
The Analects Confucius
The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker's Guide to Making Travel Sacred Phil Cousineau (1998)
The Biology of Transcendence: A Blueprint of the Human Spirit Joseph Chilton Pearce (2002)
The Book of Chuang Tzu Martin Palmer (1996)
The Book of Five Rings Miyamoto Musashi (1645)
The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra Thomas Cleary (1993)
The Mahabharata Anonymous
The Making of Modern Buddhism David L. McMahan (2008)
The Mirror of Simple Souls Marguerite Porette (1993)
The Religion of Tomorrow: A Vision for the Future of the Great Traditions Ken Wilber (2017)
The Secret of the Golden Flower Thomas Cleary (1991)
The Sound of Silence: The Selected Teachings of Ajahn Sumedho Ajahn Sumedho (2007)
The Zen Teaching of Homeless Kodo Kosho Uchiyama (1981)
Treasure-house of Mysteries: Exploration of the Sacred Text Through Poetry in the Syriac Tradition Sebastian Brock (2012)
Waiting for God Simone Weil (1951)
When You Greet Me I Bow: Notes and Reflections from a Life in Zen Norman Fischer (2021)
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings Paul Reps (1957)

Sports Writing

Inverting The Pyramid: The History of Soccer Tactics Jonathan Wilson (2008)
This Bloody Mary is the Last Thing I Own: A Journey to the End of Boxing Jonathan Rendall (1997)

Technology & Digital Culture

Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas Natasha Dow Schüll (2012)
Blockchain Chicken Farm, And Other Stories of Tech in China's Countryside Xiowei Wang (2020)
Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI Ethan Mollick (2024)
Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture Kyle Chayka (2024)
Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart Nicholas Carr (2025)
Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom bell hooks (1994)
The Age of Earthquakes: A Guide to the Extreme Present Douglas Coupland (2015)
The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World Christine Rosen (2024)
The Extreme Self Shumon Basar (2015)
The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource Christopher L. Hayes (2025)

Theater & Drama

4.48 Psychosis Sarah Kane (2000)
Endgame Samuel Beckett (1957)
Krapp's Last Tape Samuel Beckett (1958)
The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov (1904)
The Seagull Anton Chekhov (1896)
Three Sisters Anton Chekhov (1901)
Top Girls Caryl Churchill (1982)

Travel & Nature Writing

A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople - from the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube Patrick Leigh Fermor (1977)
A Time to Keep Silence Patrick Leigh Fermor (1953)
Annals of the Former World John McPhee (2000)
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life William Finnegan (2015)
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Annie Dillard (1974)
The Tree John Fowles (1979)
The Writing Life Annie Dillard (1989)