Jeffrey L. Seglin
Jeffrey L. Seglin teaches at Emerson College in Boston and is the author of The Right Thing: Conscience, Profit, and Personal Responsibility in Today’s Business (Spiro, $18), a collection of the monthly business-ethics columns he’s written for The New York Times since 1998.
Night by Elie Wiesel (Bantam, $6). I was about the age of the teenage narrator when I first read Night. He witnessed the ravages of the Holocaust that claimed his family and left him to grapple with guilt and spiritual doubt. I still marvel over the beauty of the storytelling.
Candide by François Marie Arouet de Voltaire (Oxford University Press, $17). Whenever all seems lost, I pick up this 1759 tale of eternally optimistic yet misfortune-prone Candide’s efforts to reunite with his true love. His ability to persevere in the face of mind-numbing self-delusion is awesome.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Lying by Sissela Bok (Vintage, $14). It’s not the lies we’d all agree are “unconscionable” that we need to look at, but “those cases where many see good reasons to lie.” After all, if trust is what’s at the foundation of human relations, Bok writes, then “when this trust shatters or wears away, institutions collapse.”
100 Love Sonnets by Pablo Neruda (University of Texas Press, $12). I turned to this collection for a reading at my mother’s funeral and again at the marriage of my son. “If I die, survive me with such a pure force you make the pallor and the coldness rage,” one poem begins. Neruda paints emotion that takes my breath away.
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson (HarperCollins, $6). My first read of this book about a little boy who uses a purple crayon to create an adventurous world was when I was 5 years old. It hooked me on the power of imagination. Now I can share Harold with my grandsons, Evan and Luke.
The Baseball Encyclopedia
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
How to create a healthy 'germier' home
Under The Radar Exposure to a broad range of microbes can enhance our immune system, especially during childhood
-
George Floyd: Did Black Lives Matter fail?
Feature The momentum for change fades as the Black Lives Matter Plaza is scrubbed clean
-
National debt: Why Congress no longer cares
Feature Rising interest rates, tariffs and Trump's 'big, beautiful' bill could sent the national debt soaring
-
Bryan Burrough's 6 favorite books about Old West gunfighters
Feature The Texas-raised author recommends works by T.J. Stiles, John Boessenecker, and more
-
Tash Aw's 6 favorite books about forbidden love
Feature The Malaysian novelist recommends works by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and more
-
Richard Bausch's 6 favorite books that are worth rereading
Feature The award-winning author recommends works by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and more
-
Marya E. Gates' 6 favorite books about women filmmakers
Feature The film writer recommends works by Julie Dash, Sofia Coppola, and more
-
Laurence Leamer's 6 favorite books that took courage to write
Feature The author recommends works by George Orwell, Truman Capote and more
-
Amor Towles' 6 favorite books from the 1950s
Feature The author recommends works by Vladimir Nabokov, Jack Kerouac, and more
-
Susan Page's 6 favorite books about historical figures who stood up to authority
Feature The USA Today's Washington bureau chief recommends works by Catherine Clinton, Alexei Navalny, and more
-
Ione Skye's 6 favorite books about love and loss
Feature The actress recommends works by James Baldwin, Nora Ephron, and more