I am gratified with the list of books offered to me so far for my trip to Armenia.  There are some excellent suggestions.  Some I've already read, such as Landes Wealth and Poverty of Nations and Bernstein's You Can't Say That!  (Both, btw, are highly recommended.)  The Wacky Hermit suggests Peter Balakian's latest book The Burning Tigris, which is an excellent choice.  I've read a good bit of Balakian already, but not that one yet.  That at least reminds me to discuss a little of the Armenian genocide during my trip.  Her argument is the most persuasive so far, though a book that captures the experience of diaspora in Armenia might be Michael Arlen's Passage to Ararat or watch either Ararat or perhaps Calendar by Atom Egoyan.

Michael Lopez sent me a list of 25 atop the one in the comments he left, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.  Penraker offers Colossus by Niall Ferguson.  I confess to being underversed on Ferguson and that sounds like a decent choice, but is that the best book to read first by him? I had planned some day to read Empire.  Scholar Dave thinks I should read more baseball, and another reader suggests the Long Gray Line. 

I'm taking suggestions for another couple of days.  Let me be clear that the final arbiter is me; there will be no  traffic-inducing polling.  Persuasive argumentation please in comments or email.