Here are 19 books that The Third Realm fans have personally recommended if you like The Third Realm. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Hum

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From Christopher's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Unknown Author Why Christopher loves this book

A mother raising young kids in a late-capitalist AI dystopia. You feel for the protagonist, but the final message is hopeful.

By Helen Phillips ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Hum as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Most Anticipated Book for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Goodreads, LitHub, and Book Riot
A Best Book of the Summer for Esquire, Electric Lit, and Town & Country
A People Book of the Week

From “one of our most profound writers of speculative fiction” (The New York Times),this “tense dystopian thriller” (Time) and “tender portrait of love and care in an uncertain world” (Esquire) is an urgent and unflinching portrayal of a woman’s fight for her family’s security in a world shaped by global warming and rapid technological progress.

In a near-future world addled by climate…


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of The Morning Star

Paul Collier Author Of Left Behind

From Paul's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Paul's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Paul Collier Why Paul loves this book

Knausgaard makes the ordinary extraordinary. In this book he takes ordinary people and plunges them in a time of extraordinary events. The overall effect is a mounting sense of entanglement, bewilderment, and a fragile struggle to preserve hope. I found it spell-binding. I initially read it in 2021, but re-read it this year so that I could read the grand sweep of all three volumes together.

By Karl Ove Knausgaard , Martin Aitken (translator) ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Morning Star as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Experience a major new literary universe in the making

'I read The Morning Star compulsively and stayed awake all night after finishing it' Brandon Taylor

Nine lives will be forever changed . . .
One long night in August, Arne and Tove are staying with their children in their summer house in southern Norway. Kathrine, a priest, is flying home from a Bible seminar, questioning her marriage. Journalist Jostein is out drinking for the night, while his wife, Turid, a nurse at a psychiatric care unit, is on a nightshift when one of her patients escapes.

Above them all, a…


Book cover of The Wolves of Eternity

Paul Collier Author Of Left Behind

From Paul's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Paul's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Paul Collier Why Paul loves this book

This is the middle volume of the Morning Star trilogy. The characters pick up on some of those in volume 1, and then recur in volume 3. Each book is a world in itself, but cumulatively they became addictive for me. In ten years I will reread them hoping that I have forgotten many of the subtle nuggets of detail and enjoying them all again.

By Karl Ove Knausgaard , Martin Aitken (translator) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Wolves of Eternity as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The future is no more, and eternity has begun.

It's 1986 and a nuclear reactor has exploded in Chernobyl. Syvert Loyning returns home from military service to live with his mother and brother on the outskirts of a town in Southern Norway. One night, he dreams of his late father, and can't shake him from his mind. Searching through his father's belongings for clues and connections, he finds a cache of letters that lead to the Soviet Union.

In present-day Russia, Alevtina is trying to balance work and family. She has always sought the answers to life's big questions, but…


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Book cover of Trusting Her Duke

Trusting Her Duke by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.

Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…

Book cover of Godwin

Dalton Conley Author Of The Social Genome: The New Science of Nature and Nurture

From Dalton's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Dalton's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Dalton Conley Why Dalton loves this book

This is Joseph O'Neill's best book yet (he's also the author of The Dog and Netherland, among others). It's a gripping tale of global sports capitalism that shades into neo-colonialism. The characters are so vividly drawn -- and come from three different continents. Both narrators have compellingly unique voices.

By Joseph O'Neill ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Godwin as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'A fantastic novel, brilliantly crafted' MARCUS DU SAUTOY

'Enthralling ... not to be missed' GUARDIAN

'A meticulously constructed marvel' WASHINGTON POST

'I wish there were more books like this' ELIF BATUMAN

The return of Joseph O'Neill, with a story on the scale of the international phenomenon Netherland: the odyssey of two brothers crossing the world in search of an African football prodigy who might change their fortunes.

Mark Wolfe, a brilliant if self-thwarting technical writer, lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Sushila, and their toddler daughter. His half-brother Geoff, born and raised in the UK, is a desperate young football…


Book cover of A Little History of Philosophy

Sue Prideaux Author Of I Am Dynamite! A Life of Nietzsche

From my list on philosophy and humanity’s search for meaning.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am fascinated by humanity’s search for meaning. That is what I am exploring as I read philosophy and as I write my biographies of extraordinary individuals. Sue Prideaux has written award-winning books on Edvard Munch and his painting The Scream, the playwright August Strindberg, and the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. She acted as consultant to Sotheby’s when they sold The Scream for a record-breaking $120 million.

Sue's book list on philosophy and humanity’s search for meaning

Sue Prideaux Why Sue loves this book

Nietzsche said; “Today’s philosophers enjoy the divine principle of incomprehensibility.” This clearly written book takes the opposite tack. If you’re terrified of philosophy, this is the book for you. A great book to get the kids interested in the subject.

By Nigel Warburton ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Little History of Philosophy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For readers of E. H. Gombrich's A Little History of the World, an equally irresistible volume that brings history's greatest philosophers to life

"A primer in human existence: philosophy has rarely seemed so lucid, so important, so worth doing and so easy to enter into. . . . A wonderful introduction for anyone who's ever felt curious about almost anything."-Sarah Bakewell, author of How To Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer

Philosophy begins with questions about the nature of reality and how we should live. These were the concerns of Socrates, who…


Book cover of How to Live: Or a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer

Guy McPherson Author Of Killing the Natives: A Retrospective Analysis

From Guy's 3 favorite reads in 2023.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Professor Teacher Adventurer Traveler Researcher

Guy's 3 favorite reads in 2023

Guy McPherson Why Guy loves this book

In this book, Bakewell describes the philosophy of Michel de Montaigne in, as she writes, one question and twenty attempts at an answer.

Although I spent much of my time during the early 1990s reading philosophy, I read little of Montaigne’s work. I had focused on the writing of the ancient Greeks and, as a result, I had failed to notice the important work of Montaigne. Bakewell’s clever, question-based approach is engaging.

I strongly recommend it, even if you are familiar with philosophy and Montaigne’s abundance of writing.

By Sarah Bakewell ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked How to Live as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

How to get on well with people, how to deal with violence, how to adjust to losing someone you love? How to live?

This question obsessed Renaissance nobleman Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533-92), who wrote free-roaming explorations of his thought and experience, unlike anything written before. Into these essays he put whatever was in his head: his tastes in wine and food, his childhood memories, the way his dog's ears twitched when it was dreaming, events in the appalling civil wars raging around him. The Essays was an instant bestseller, and over four hundred years later, readers still come to…


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Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

Book cover of In the Land of the Cyclops

Sue Prideaux Author Of I Am Dynamite! A Life of Nietzsche

From my list on philosophy and humanity’s search for meaning.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am fascinated by humanity’s search for meaning. That is what I am exploring as I read philosophy and as I write my biographies of extraordinary individuals. Sue Prideaux has written award-winning books on Edvard Munch and his painting The Scream, the playwright August Strindberg, and the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. She acted as consultant to Sotheby’s when they sold The Scream for a record-breaking $120 million.

Sue's book list on philosophy and humanity’s search for meaning

Sue Prideaux Why Sue loves this book

Nietzsche said; “Art is the supreme task, the truly metaphysical activity in this life.” The relationship between life and art has always been a tough issue. Even more so today, in our unsettling age of post-truth and celebrity culture. Knausgaard writes not to provide answers, but to teach us to ask the proper questions of the time we live in.

By Karl Ove Knausgaard ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked In the Land of the Cyclops as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A brilliantly wide-ranging essay collection from the author of My Struggle, spanning literature, philosophy, art and how our daily and creative lives intertwine.

In the Land of the Cyclops is Karl Ove Knausgaard's first collection of essays to be published in English, and these brilliant and wide-ranging pieces meditate on themes familiar from his groundbreaking fiction.

Here, Knausgaard discusses Madame Bovary, the Northern Lights, Ingmar Bergman, and the work of an array of writers and visual artists, including Knut Hamsun, Michel Houellebecq, Anselm Kiefer and Cindy Sherman.

These essays beautifully capture Knausgaard's ability to mediate between the deeply personal and…


Book cover of Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World

Britta Stumpp Author Of The Everywhere Spirit

From Britta's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Britta's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Britta Stumpp Why Britta loves this book

He shall have dominion also from sea to sea…

My husband, Adrian, has long defended Christianity, even during times when I was deeply opposed to it. Raised within the LDS tradition, he eventually reached a breaking point—a moment of clarity in which he recognized that the structure he had grown up in no longer aligned with his values. He felt overwhelmed by its pressures, contradictions, and judgments, and ultimately chose to walk away. Yet, throughout our life together, he consistently returned to the foundational messages of Christianity, revisiting them with me even when I refused to listen. I, who grew up with my own unique spiritual trauma, was deeply committed to being anti-Christian and perfectly comfortable dabbling in a variety of Eastern philosophies.

However, two family members started going to a non-denominational church and invited me. Realizing I was being the bigot this time, I decided to try it out…

By Tom Holland ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Dominion as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A "marvelous" (Economist) account of how the Christian Revolution forged the Western imagination. Crucifixion, the Romans believed, was the worst fate imaginable, a punishment reserved for slaves. How astonishing it was, then, that people should have come to believe that one particular victim of crucifixion-an obscure provincial by the name of Jesus-was to be worshipped as a god. Dominion explores the implications of this shocking conviction as they have reverberated throughout history. Today, the West remains utterly saturated by Christian assumptions. As Tom Holland demonstrates, our morals and ethics are not universal but are instead the fruits of a very…


Book cover of Grand Hotel Abyss: The Lives of the Frankfurt School

Sue Prideaux Author Of I Am Dynamite! A Life of Nietzsche

From my list on philosophy and humanity’s search for meaning.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am fascinated by humanity’s search for meaning. That is what I am exploring as I read philosophy and as I write my biographies of extraordinary individuals. Sue Prideaux has written award-winning books on Edvard Munch and his painting The Scream, the playwright August Strindberg, and the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. She acted as consultant to Sotheby’s when they sold The Scream for a record-breaking $120 million.

Sue's book list on philosophy and humanity’s search for meaning

Sue Prideaux Why Sue loves this book

Nietzsche said; “To greatness belongs dreadfulness, let no-one be deceived about that”, while he watched the rise of German nationalism with horror. This is a book about the Frankfurt School of Philosophers who got together in the 1920s to try to find answers to the rise of fascism in Europe. Brave voices, their words tell us a lot about how we arrived at where we are today.

By Stuart Jeffries ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Grand Hotel Abyss as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This brilliant group biography asks who were the Frankfurt School and why they matter today In 1923, a group of young radical German thinkers and intellectuals came together to at Victoria Alle 7, Frankfurt, determined to explain the workings of the modern world. Among the most prominent members of what became the Frankfurt School were the philosophers Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Herbert Marcuse. Not only would they change the way we think, but also the subjects we deem worthy of intellectual investigation. Their lives, like their ideas, profoundly, sometimes tragically, reflected and shaped the shattering events of…


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Book cover of Old Man Country

Old Man Country by Thomas R. Cole,

This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.

In these and other intimate conversations, the book…

Book cover of The Marrow Thieves

Anton Treuer Author Of Where Wolves Don't Die

From my list on indigenous empowerment.

Why am I passionate about this?

I think about the positive identity development of Native youth all the time and not just because I am an educator and author. I love my Ojibwe language and culture, but I want to turn Native fiction on its head. We have so many stories about trauma and tragedy with characters who lament the culture that they were always denied. I want to show how vibrant and alive our culture still is. I want gripping stories where none of the Native characters are drug addicts, rapists, abused, or abusing others. I want to demonstrate the magnificence of our elders, the humor of our people, and the power of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Anton's book list on indigenous empowerment

Anton Treuer Why Anton loves this book

Cherie Dimaline's book really spoke to me because, in addition to great story-telling, it sets Native people in a post-apocalyptic setting.

As Native people, we are so often portrayed as ancient rather than modern. So this work connected the ancient and the modern in a novel way. With relatable characters searching for family and community, it was relatable and real even in the world the book describes.

By Cherie Dimaline ,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked The Marrow Thieves as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream. In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden-but what they don't know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves.

"Miigwans is a true hero; in…


Book cover of Hum
Book cover of The Morning Star
Book cover of The Wolves of Eternity

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