Bill Clinton recently sat down with Ann Curry of The TODAY Show for a one-on-one to go over his top 5 book recommendations for the holiday season. In part 1 he joins The Office star Mindy Kaling and they each rhyme off their quick top 5. Clinton also elaborates on his thoughts of the dangerous power transition currently underway in North Korea (you can watch part 1 by CLICKING HERE). But in part 2 which I’ve attached below, Clinton elaborates more deeply on each book. The following are the 5 books (in order of preference) Clinton recommends most highly as not only Christmas gifts for your loved ones, but for yourself as well:
1. Jerusalem by Simon Sebag Montefiore (purchase and preview on Amazon)
2. Lincoln by David Herbert Donald (purchase and preview on Amazon)
3. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (purchase and preview on Amazon)
4. The Way Of The World by David Fromkin (purchase and preview on Amazon)
5. The Cure At Troy by Seamus Heaney (purchase and preview on Amazon)
In the following interview, Clinton walks the viewer through each book and why they resonated so strongly with him. He also gives some insight into the current Republican presidential nomination marathon and why he feels the long, drawn-out process is so important. He compares the process to a lengthy bloody battle which provides a much stronger clarity when choosing the one person who is not only the most intelligent, but the most resilient as well. He then speaks about the people in his life who first ignited his passion for books when he was young. That passion, he confesses, has also led to a love of crime fiction — his guilty pleasure and “adrenaline fix”.
