6 Must-Read Books for Graduate Students

By Timothy Hayes on August 15, 2015

This article is brought to you by Kaplan, the leader in test prep for over 90 standardized tests, including the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, and MCAT.

I am always shocked and slightly in awe of people who can read during the school year. The amount of work piled onto students is frequently overwhelming and as such, there is little time for such an involved process as reading.

However, among the droves of college students there are an elite few who can and do crack the spine of books during the school year. For those students in graduate school, the workload may be even heavier and for that reason some cleave even more strongly to their books, looking for escapes from the misery of thesis writing.

Being a book lover myself, I wish to share with you some ideas for books to read this coming school year. They are imaginative, inspiring, and insightful.

Photo Via Flickr.com

1. Outliers: the Story of Success. This nonfiction examination looks into a section of statistics that many in economics and mathematics will be familiar with: outliers. Outliers are exceptions to trends. They lie on the fringes of data sets and usually disrupt how the data is read. As such, they are frequently tossed aside.

Malcolm Gladwell decided that it wasn’t fair to toss out outliers and instead studies them in this book, looking at why some people succeed and why most fail. Although it sounds something like a self-help book, the tone is much more observant and less instructional. Gladwell does not seek to show everyone how to succeed, but rather he explores why some have.

2. How to Read Literature like a Professor: Another nonfiction book, this sounds much drier than it is. The book’s author Thomas C. Foster is a professor at the University of Michigan at Flint and makes the comment that students frequently do not understand at all where professors are coming from when they discuss material in books or other literature.

They seem mystified that their professor can pull a connection seemingly from thin air to tie together the intricacy of literature and make sense of it all. This is quite a page-turner and an excellent choice for students studying literature.

3. Murder on the Orient Express: A classic of detective novels, this one’s been around for decades and still entertains hundreds of thousands of Agatha Christie’s readers to this day. The novel is short enough to be readable in a reasonable period of time and it’s quite easy to pick up again where you left off, even for a murder mystery novel.

The book has been lauded for its exceptional story and Agatha Christie’s excellent descriptions bring the horror of a brutal murder to the reader’s eyes. Christie’s sarcastic quick wit is also evident in her writing and her masterful control over the reader is breathtaking as she will lead you one way to believe one theory and then another as you run to keep up with the pace of the investigation. Be warned though, once you pick up one of Christie’s books, you will pick up more. They are excellent exercise for a curious mind.

4. The 4-Hour Work Week. Wouldn’t we all like to spend just a little less time at work and a little more time at play? The idea of having more time to just do as you please and not pander to the demands of responsibility sounds idyllic to most. Tim Ferris thought so too, but he thought “why not be productive anyway?”

This book is a fantastic way to gain insight into excellent strategies on streamlining efficiency. Ferris’s TED Talk shows how he goes through and learns many useful skills like swimming, Japanese, and tango all by observing, breaking down the process, and doing it himself. This book is essential if you need to streamline your work schedule.

5. The Phantom Tollbooth: Who doesn’t want to escape away from trouble into a fantasy realm of odd creatures and nonsense? If you enjoyed “Alice Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll, you will certainly enjoy this book by Norton Juster.

The story revolves around a boy who is sent a mysterious package containing a tollbooth. Driving his toy car through the booth transports him into a mystical land populated by a dog with a clock in his center, slothful creatures in a lonely place called the Doldrums, a proverbial city on the hill Dictionopolis, and an adventure you’re sure to remember. Escape into another world with this fantastic book.

Image by James Tarbotton via Unsplash

6. The Graveyard Book: If the macabre is more your stick, this book is definitely for you. Falling again into the fantasy realm, but more firmly rooted in our backyard, Neil Gaiman’s Newberry Award Winning book is certain to entrance readers of many ages.

The story revolves around a boy, Bod, who is left by fate at the gates of a graveyard. Raised by ghosts and a mysterious figure named Silas and pursued by the mysterious Man Jack, Bod learns friendship, love, and courage in this ironically heart-warming tale.

Despite the last two books on this list being largely intended for children, it is important for people to escape back from adult life to simpler times and reestablish the values books like these taught us.

Learn more about Kaplan’s test prep options and start building the confidence you need for Test Day.

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Get Top Stories Delivered Weekly

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format