93 Books Like Caesar

This book appealed to our spirit as travelers and explorers.

We read it after a trip to Ushuaia, Argentina—close to where the story of Endurance unfolded. We found in this story the essence of what it means to be human—to take on big, hairy problems, to expect the unexpected, and to survive against impossible odds.

What stayed with us is how human character is revealed in the most adverse situations, and how, when we are faced with life and death, nothing is truly right or wrong, only choices that must be made to survive.

I’d already bought the book when we decided to drive from our home in Sonoma, California, to visit friends who live in the San Juan Islands off the Washington Coast. I packed the book but also downloaded the Audible version. We started listening as we got on the road. I never opened the book.

It’s just a great story set in the time my parents were in high school and college. It was a world with which I was made familiar by their stories. The main character’s difficult early life resonates with anyone who has listened to the greatest generation talk about what it was like growing up during the Depression.

Yes, the action during the rowing was exciting, but I enjoyed the development of the characters, especially Joe Rantz, and his personal challenges and victories, more than all competition scenes.

A classic American story following Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery from Virginia to the Pacific Coast and back again in the very early 1800s.

This book needs to be read not only by those interested in history but by all who would understand the origins of our nation. The complex personalities of Lewis, Clark, and Thomas Jefferson, who envisioned the journey come through in living color. 

Albert Einstein transformed our understanding of reality. In 1905 alone, the annus mirabilis, he published four different papers that were going to shake up the foundation of physics. But who was the man behind the special and general theories of relativity? The man who, albeit a genius, could not find a job as a professor in Switzerland because he was Jewish? The man who wrote a contract that forbade his wife from being in the kitchen when he was there? The man who married his cousin?

If you want to find out Einstein’s life story and what made him who he was, read this delightful biography by Walter Isaacson (who also penned biographies of Steve Jobs and Elon Musk).

This book is from the Asterix series and in general when you read Goscinny's books, you will not regret it, as it will inspire you with many ideas.

He was able to create humor from humans, animals, inanimate objects, and all elements of the story.

As for this book, I chose it because of the events taking place in Egypt, also because of the coherent plot, fast-flowing events, sense of humor, and new ideas. As usual in this type of book, there are some historical facts, but the general structure of the story is fictional.

The historical facts here are Queen Cleopatra VII, Julius Caesar, and the relationship between them, while the rest of the events are fictional and comic.

This was the first book that made me realize druids had been real, and that entire belief system was nearly—in historical chronology—stamped out by the Roman Empire. The story focuses on a young druid, Ainvar, who befriends Vercingetorix, the Celtic warrior who was brought to Rome in chains by Julius Caesar. While the setting is in Gaul, I began to understand the beliefs of the druid life that was very nearly lost. Where Rome’s war with the druids of Gaul was bloody and decisive, the Irish conversion took a different path. I wanted to find out why the two histories, the change from druid to Christian, was so dramatically different.

I think this is the single best edition of Julius Caesar’s original compositions: the footnotes, maps, battle diagrams, and appendices offer a treasure trove of information for the Roman history buff without overwhelming the casual reader.

(I had a particular interest in Appendix C, on “Roman Calendars, Dates, and Time,” where I learned that the main reason winter operations rarely occurred in ancient warfare was the inability to feed their animals.)

The translations struck me as contemporary sounding yet never sacrifice accuracy for clarity. I recommend this book as a perfect gateway for the fan of ancient Rome to enter the realm of authentic ancient Roman literature.

In many ways, this book started my writing career. I picked up this novel in an airport on the way to our honeymoon destination and found myself so inspired by Margaret George’s wonderfully emotive writing that I dreamed of writing a book.

I was also inspired by the tragic ancient queen whose war with Rome changed the course of Western civilization. Love her or hate her, Cleopatra is the most famous woman in history, and this novel beautifully illustrates her bravery, intelligence, and romantic heart.

It’s dramatic, well-researched, and a big, beautiful saga that you can sink into.

This is my favorite of McCullough’s Masters of Rome series. Though fictional, they are impeccably researched, rendering the collapse of the Republic in truly astonishing detail. McCullough manages to render the twists and turns of Roman politics in a way that a reader can not only follow them, but understand why they mattered so much. You’ll feel as though you are right there in the Forum or the dining-room with Caesar, Antony, Pompey, Servilia, Fulvia, and the rest. McCullough’s vivid prose drives home that these were real people, living real lives, with the same petty concerns and daily frustrations as all of us, even when they were also shaping the fates of nations.

It would seem strange not to include at least one work on Julius Caesar in any list of recommended reading on the Republic’s fall, and Stevenson’s book strikes just the right balance between Caesar’s career and the wider Republican background against which Caesar must be set. The challenging evidence for Caesar’s life and motivations is presented with great clarity, including his own writings, and so too are the often contradictory judgments made by modern scholars. Stevenson taught me during my MA at the University of Auckland, so I was delighted to see this book appear, and he has provided an invaluable contribution to the ongoing debates over Caesar’s responsibility for the Republic’s collapse and the transformation from Republic to Empire.