Books like The Examined Life by Robert Nozick

A series of spiritual exercises for leading a meaningful life, 2,000 years old and still relevant today.

Candide: A Tale of Conviviality and Optimism in a Wretched World

Richard Dawkins’ classic, The Selfish Gene reexamines evolution from the perspective of genes as primary agents, arguing that organisms serve as vehicles for gene replication.

A concise exploration of Bertrand Russell’s key philosophical questions, focusing primarily on epistemology while briefly addressing metaphysics and other contemporary issues.

In this highly original work, Robert Nozick develops new views on philosophy's central topics and weaves them into a unified philosophical perspective. It is many years since a major work in English has ranged so widely over philosophy's fundamental concerns: the identity of the self, knowledge and skepticism, free will, the question of why there is something rather than nothing, the foundations of ethics, the meaning of life. Writing in a distinctive and personal philosophical voice, Mr. Nozick presents a new mode of philosophizing. In place of the usual semi-coercive philosophical goals of proof, of forcing people to accept conclusions, this book seeks philosophical explanations and understanding, and thereby stays truer to the original motivations for being interested in philosophy. -- Description from http://www.amazon.com (April 11, 2012).