Peter Savodnik’s Reading Advice

Peter Savodnik (@petersavodnik) on X, April 21, 2026: “Read everything you can find by Plato, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. To start.”

The books

12 books.

• A Letter Concerning Toleration — John Locke
• An Essay Concerning Human Understanding — John Locke
• De Cive — Thomas Hobbes
• Discourse on the Origin of Inequality — Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Emile, or On Education — Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Leviathan — Thomas Hobbes
• Plato: Complete Works — Plato
• Some Thoughts Concerning Education — John Locke
• The Complete Works of Aristotle — Aristotle
• The Complete Works of Shakespeare — William Shakespeare
• The Social Contract — Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Two Treatises of Government — John Locke

Connections

• Read everything you can find… (tweet) — the original post, archived.
• Book Lists — Master