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The Master and His Emissary, by Iain McGilchrist. In short, it explains in great detail how the left and right hemisphere of the brain are essentially two separate brains with two different worldviews that work together and inhibit one another to get things done, and how many, if not most, of our psychological and social problems stem from the issues that arise simply because of their different, incompatible worldviews. It is without a doubt the most interesting book I’ve ever read, with lots of implications for our world, but the number of people who would be straight up interested in this subject on face value seems very limited.
The Saga of Pliocene Exile / Galactic Milieu series by Julian May. The best sci-fi books I’ve ever read for world-building and plot. Written in the '90s, hardly anyone remembers them, despite their success at the time.
They took a long time to write. One my friends was planning to break into May’s house and read her notes if she died before finishing.
I remember in the GM series, she always ended the books on a cliffhanger, which may have been a brilliant marketing ploy but was simultaneously terrifying.