Ai Weiwei's Reading List

“It confirmed in me how powerful those words printed on paper, and the images in between, could be,” says the artist and human rights activist, whose new book is “Human Flow: Stories From the Global Refugee Crisis.”

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By the Book: Ai Weiwei (2020)

NYT By the Book column (2020-12-31).

Source: www.nytimes.com

Permanent Record

Edward Snowden · Buy on Amazon

"The last great book I read was "Permanent Record," by Edward Snowden."

The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again

Andy Warhol · Buy on Amazon

"I also like Andy Warhol's writing, which was easy to read for a non-English speaker."

Existentialism Is a Humanism

Jean-Paul Sartre · Buy on Amazon

"Philosophy and individual freedom are topics that touch me and one small book I had read was Jean-Paul Sartre's "Existentialism Is a Humanism.""

Life on the Mississippi

Mark Twain · Buy on Amazon

The Good Soldier Svejk

Jaroslav Hasek · Buy on Amazon

""The Good Soldier Svejk," by Jaroslav Hasek, has stuck with me."

Favorite books (2023)

Favorite books recommended by Ai Weiwei, as compiled by radicalreads.com. Source article: https://radicalreads.com/ai-weiwei-favorite-books/.

Source: radicalreads.com

The Communist Manifesto

Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx (also rec’d by Angela Davis ) · Buy on Amazon

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism

Vladimir Lenin (also rec’d by Angela Davis ) · Buy on Amazon

Leaves of Grass

Walt Whitman (also rec’d by Bob Dylan , Bruce Springsteen , Lisa Simpson & Maya Angelou ) · Buy on Amazon

The Trial

Franz Kafka (also rec’d by Philip Roth , Richey Edwards & Robert Smith ) · Buy on Amazon

Tao Te Ching

Lao Tzu (also rec’d by Bruce Lee , Jack Dorsey & Viggo Mortensen ) · Buy on Amazon

A Brief History of Time

Stephen Hawking (also rec’d by Herbie Hancock , Malala & Richard Branson ) · Buy on Amazon

"It is one of the most important interpretations and helps us understand the relationship between mankind and the universe. What we do cannot be dissociated from this interpretation, as it provides us with the biggest picture of what the universe is like."

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