10 Books That Will Absolutely Blow Your Mind

Best Mind Blowing Books

1. A Journey Through The Madness Industry by Jon Ronson
2. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
3. Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
4. One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
5. The Book: On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts
6. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
7. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
8. The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
9. The Stranger by Albert Camus
10. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

1. A Journey Through The Madness Industry by Jon Ronson

The most intriguing part of this book is the true story of a man who fakes insanity to get off on an assault charge. But ends up spending many years locked up in a mental health facility.

He tries to prove his sanity, but no one believes him. He acts passively calm and they say that he can’t be sane because he is thriving in the mental hospital.

So he acts angry and tries to prove he doesn’t belong there, and they say his psychosis is progressing. This is where a psychopath test comes in handy.

2. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

An excerpt from the book should tell you why this read is a mind blowing book.

In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in his cosmic loneliness.

And God said, “Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done.” And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close to mud as man sat, looked around, and spoke. “What is the purpose of all this?” he asked politely.

“Everything must have a purpose?” asked God. “Certainly,” said man. “Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this,” said God. And He went away.

3. Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes

(Featured in 9 Thought Provoking Books Everyone Should Read)

This is a wonderful and highly original novel about a mentally challenged man named Charlie who wanted to be smart.

One day, his wish was granted. A group of scientists selected him for an experimental operation which would to raise his intelligence to genius level.

Suddenly, Charlie found himself transformed, and life changed.

4. One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

(Featured in 8 Best Books Which Should NOT Be Turned Into A Movie)

A story which spans many generations, One Hundred Years Of Solitude is a shroud of mysteriousness and magical realism that makes reading it something like stepping into a dream.

There is no one protagonist. The family is the protagonist – the family and the town. Almost all the characters have similar names, and they go through until the seventh generation.

5. The Book: On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts

Watts explains that “The Book is not religious in the usual sense, but it discusses many things with which religions have been concerned.

The universe and man’s place in it, the mysterious center of experience which we call ‘I myself.’, the problems of life and love, pain and death, and the whole question of whether existence has meaning in any sense of the word.”

6. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

This book is a long read but its worth every page. Sigmund Freud called The Brothers Karamazov “the most magnificent book ever written”.

Among other narratives, the book contains a satire of human corruption, a meditation on faith and religious institutions in an age of skepticism.

A murder mystery involving love triangles, a courtroom thriller and in the end a testament to the goodness and bravery humans are capable of.

7. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

(Featured in 7 Books With The Best Plot Twists And Surprise Endings Ever Written)

Fight Club is the story of an unnamed narrator, an insomniac yuppie who spends his days helping insurance companies get out of having to pay their claims.

He wanders through a meaningless life until he discovers the emotional release of attending therapy groups for people suffering from various deadly diseases.

He meets Tyler Durden around this time and it’s Tyler who introduces him to the concept of fighting.

8. The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

(Featured in 10 Greatest Fantasy Books)

The Name of the Wind is very well written. The characters are real, the action is convincing and it has a compelling story to tell.

One of the best things about this book is that the magic is absolutely rooted in the book’s world.

Nothing seems contrived, the consistency is excellent and the world is believable.

9. The Stranger by Albert Camus

(Featured in 7 Best Lines From Books Which Will Stay With You Long After You Read Them)

The Stranger is a haunting, challenging masterpiece of literature.

While it is fiction, it actually manages to express the complex concepts and themes of existential philosophy better than the movement’s most noted philosophical writings.

It’s a fantastic read, especially for contemplating human nature and our roles in the universe, if any.

10. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Hesse’s Siddhartha is a contemporary of Gautama the Buddha. The parallels between the fictional character and the historical one do not end there.

There are striking similarities between their circumstances, their quests and their findings.

The key difference is that while Buddha rises to a higher plain, Siddhartha retains his essential humanity. It superbly conveys that nothing makes a difference, and why that’s okay.