Graham Duncan Book Recommendations & Book Mentions
This list consists of recommendations or mentions of books spotted in media, social media accounts, podcasts or other public websites.
Graham Duncan on X
Compulsively seeking new ways of seeing reality

Liquid Life
Zygmunt Bauman
Zygmunt Bauman describes an ability to master and practice the "art of liquid life”: an “acceptance of disorientation, immunity to vertigo and adaptation to a state of dizziness, tolerance for an absence of itinerary and direction, and for an indefinite duration of travel.” 1/
Paperback, 2005
$22.95$11.48 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success
Phil Jackson
I just reread Eleven Rings, when you put @bgurley podcast w/ @patrick_oshag together w/ this one, their shared vibe reminds me of Phil Jackson’s description of Chicago Bulls circa 1995 w/ a mood of “innocent wonder” & the strong belief that “life is great” https://t.co/ZTJYJeQ1SN
Paperback, 2014
$19.00$9.50 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Outline
Rachel Cusk
@LauraBehrensWu Most of the dialogue in the novel Outline takes place between two passengers on a plane and it's oddly riveting...audiobook also well read. Try the first two pages and see if you get hooked. Outline: A Novel by Rachel Cusk https://t.co/c8HyzuzszH
Paperback, 2016
$18.00$9.00 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Iberia
James A. Michener
“The Japanese have a word which summarizes all the best in Japanese life, yet it has no explanation and cannot be translated. It is the word shibui, and the best approximation to its meaning is 'acerbic good taste.'" -James Michener in his novel Iberia
Paperback, 2015
$24.00$12.00 + Free shipping50% off your first book
The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds
Michael Lewis
“Reality is a cloud of possibility, not a point.” - Amos Tversky I was recently skimming The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis and hit a rich vein of Tversky quotes (from him and about him) that capture his unusual way of being in the world:
Paperback, 2017
$17.99$8.99 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
David Epstein
Good nuance to add to the theme of life as a game: Much of the world is “Martian tennis.” You can see the players on a court with balls & rackets, but nobody has shared the rules. It is up to you to derive them & they are subject to change without notice. - David Epstein, Range
Paperback, 2021
$20.00$10.00 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Bring Up the Bodies
Hilary Mantel
@auren Simon Vance reading Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel is amazing & made me try your proposed strategy since I thought I might listen to him read the phone book. But if the narrator is prolific, as Vance is, it gets random fast. Who did you hear that prompted the question?
Paperback, 2021
$20.00$10.00 + Free shipping50% off your first book
V.
Thomas Pynchon
"Life's single lesson: there is more accident to it than any man can admit to in a lifetime and stay sane." Fausto Majistral, in Thomas Pynchon's V (h/t @mkonnikova The Biggest Bluff)
Paperback, 2005
$19.99$9.99 + Free shipping50% off your first book
The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip
George Saunders
@zackkanter The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, actually a model of management, explained by @nikocanner : https://t.co/4vzSFhBRFb The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip by George Saunders, children's book (age 5-10) that's the best thing on Gappers I've seen😃, then also autonomy vs community.
Hardcover, 2015
$22.00$11.00 + Free shipping50% off your first book
Mortals
Norman Rush
“His ambition still had a clean smell” is a good line by George Packer re: Richard Holbrooke early in career. Reminds me of a line in Norman Rush’s novel Mortals: “She could be loving a clean heart, the lightness of being that a clean heart gives the voice, the eyes.” https://t.co/seGLkIGwLq
Paperback, 2004
$19.95$9.98 + Free shipping50% off your first book