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wtf is mind-expanding-books?

hackerkid/mind-expanding-books — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-24

13,719JavaScriptAudience · generalComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

TL;DR

Community-curated reading list of book recommendations across 25-plus categories, startups, philosophy, science fiction, history, and more, sorted by Goodreads rating so you can find a worthwhile book fast.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Curated book list
      Goodreads ratings
      25 plus categories
    Non-Fiction
      Startups and Business
      Philosophy
      Science and Medicine
      History
    Fiction
      Science Fiction
      Fantasy
      Mystery
      Classics
    Use Cases
      Find next read
      Topic deep dives
      Contribute books
    Audience
      Curious readers
      Founders and PMs

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Browse highly-rated startup and business books sorted by Goodreads score to find your next read.

REASON 2

Discover fiction recommendations across genres like science fiction, mystery, fantasy, and classics.

REASON 3

Find philosophy and psychology books to expand your thinking on logic and decision-making.

REASON 4

Contribute a book recommendation to the community list by following the guidelines in the repo.

What's in the stack?

JavaScript

How it stacks up

hackerkid/mind-expanding-booksnovnc/novncshipshapecode/shepherd
Stars13,71913,70913,734
LanguageJavaScriptJavaScriptJavaScript
Setup difficultyeasymoderateeasy
Complexity1/54/52/5
Audiencegeneralops devopsdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
License information is not mentioned in the explanation.

Wtf does this do

Mind-Expanding-Books is a community-curated reading list hosted on GitHub. It collects book recommendations across a wide range of subjects and presents them in tables sorted by Goodreads rating. The goal is to help someone who wants to find a worthwhile book but is not sure where to start. The list is organized into more than 25 categories covering non-fiction and fiction alike. Non-fiction sections include Startups and Business, Philosophy and Psychology, Autobiographies and Biographies, History, Science and Medicine, Logic and Problem Solving, Politics, Economics, Gender, Race, Education, Writing, Health, Design, Travel, Language, Nature, and Art. The fiction section is broken further into Classics, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Humor, Mystery, Science Fiction, Horror, and a Miscellaneous group. A shorter section covers Shakespeare and one covers Theater and Film. Each entry in the tables lists the book title, author, a Goodreads rating as a hyperlink to the book's page, and the publication year. The business section alone includes well-known titles such as Shoe Dog, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, The Lean Startup, and Creativity Inc., alongside less obvious picks. Ratings are drawn from Goodreads community scores and generally run from around 3.9 to 4.5 across the list. The repository accepts contributions. A contributing guidelines file explains how books are evaluated and added. The list follows the format common to the broader GitHub awesome-lists ecosystem, which collects curated resource lists on any topic. The README is a long document given the number of books listed across every category. The full README is longer than what was shown.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
From the mind-expanding-books list, give me the top 5 highest-rated startup books and a one-sentence summary of what each is about.
Prompt 2
I want to read more about logic and problem solving, which books from the mind-expanding-books list should I start with and in what order?
Prompt 3
Build me a 3-book reading plan from the mind-expanding-books list for someone who wants to understand economics and political systems.
Prompt 4
I want to add a book to the mind-expanding-books repository, explain the contribution process and the exact table format I need to follow.
Prompt 5
From the mind-expanding-books science fiction section, which titles are most relevant to someone working in the tech industry?

Frequently asked questions

wtf is mind-expanding-books?

Community-curated reading list of book recommendations across 25-plus categories, startups, philosophy, science fiction, history, and more, sorted by Goodreads rating so you can find a worthwhile book fast.

What language is mind-expanding-books written in?

Mainly JavaScript. The stack also includes JavaScript.

What license does mind-expanding-books use?

License information is not mentioned in the explanation.

How hard is mind-expanding-books to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is mind-expanding-books for?

Mainly general.

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