How to Find Great Books & Create a Reading List

[waking_dreams]

I see @PhilGR's thread and other similar ones asking for book recommendations.
If anyone wants to take the matter of their education into their own hands, here's a process to help do that. 

Here's how to compile a good book list for yourself without having to ask a forum for advice. 
There's not necessarily anything wrong with that. You may get some great recommendations, but the list will not be as well rounded as you'll want. 

STEP 1: 
Run a Google search for "best books about X". In @PhilGR's case, it was "books about critical thinking"

STEP 2:
The first page of the Google search results from your query will likely have several blog posts/articles recommending the best books on your desired topic. Open several of these pages at once. 

STEP 3: 
Go to Goodreads.com. If you don't have an account, make one. 

STEP 4: 
Systematically go through each of the articles/lists from your Google search and look up each book on Goodreads one by one. 
Read the description of each book on Goodreads, note the community score, and decide if you want to put that book in your book list. 

STEP 5:
Do this for every book on the lists you found on Google so that you can compile a book list about your topic. 

STEP 6:
Once you have the book list, put them in order of most to least important/useful. 

STEP 7:
Start reading your book list by starting with the book you identified as being the most important and helpful. 
Work your way down the list. 
Take notes on all of them. 

If you learn something new from a book and it changes what you think is important about what you're learning, you may want to reorder your book list according to your new priorities. 
You also don't have to read every single book on the list. That's why it's good to rank order them by perceived utility and read starting with the most useful to you. 

You can use this process to help you get good at anything. Business, Psychology, Spirituality, Communication, Music; the possibilities are endless. 
If you feel you are a slow reader, most of the most prominent books in most fields can be found on youtube and audible. 
Have fun. 

Edited September 27, 2018 by waking_dreams

[PhilGR]

@waking_dreams Thank you very much that was very kind and helpful , I will do it ! I already have a book list (150 b.) From philosophy to dietetics. I asked the forum because people here are intrested in the same subjects and many of them are bookworms, so forum's opinion for books counts for me.

[waking_dreams]

No problem @PhilGR 
I feel the same way too, it's always good to double check the info for whatever rabbit hole I decide to travel down against what people in the forum have already done. There's no way I will have found everything, and drawing on everyone's collective experience is super helpful. 
Good luck with your studies!

[kieranperez]

Also, if you read a great books that has cited sources of other books that informed that great book you just read look into those. 

Example: If I read “The Hero With a Thousand Faces” and I wanted to read more books about the hero’s journey because I’m really inspired, go to the cited sources of books that in this example Joseph Campbell used. 

This creates like this giant web effect starting from just 1 book because if you do this with starting book, you can buy 3 more of those books from the cited sources, read those, apply the same process and on and on it goes.