I’ll answer in the spirit of such open endedness in the question with some that I hope could approach having near universal appeal, along with short explanations why. Preference will be books that have more than one strain of appeal.

• The Old Man and the Sea. Hemingway. A short, easy read of courage matched with capability; of perseverance and persevering sense of honor and dignity. Great adventure and excitement scenes at sea.
• Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. Stephen Ambrose. Besides the adventures of the journey, there are the goals and the monumental personalities that made this mission such an icon of heroic effort.
• Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions. Charles Gallenkamp. Exciting Indiana Jones type adventure of a dynamic naturalist and his great expedition. It is a fun story and inspiring biography.
• A Rage to Live: A Biography of Richard and Isabel Burton. Mary Lovell. This was as stellar couple that gobbled up life and forged a love of legendary status. And what adventures of science and exploration!
• Exploration and Empire: The Explorer and the Scientist in the Winning of the American West. William Goetzmann. So many grand characters —their stories and exploits—in bringing the lands from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean into the American main. Strategies and ambitions of America’s westward expansion. A very serious scholarly work presented in exciting prose.
• Hatchet. Gary Paulsen. Written for young adults, this is about the most exciting survival story that I’ve ever heard. A primer in absolute resourcefulness.
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Robert Pirsig. An individual’s account of genius and madness, of being a father and trying to be a messenger to humanity. A sojourn into the heart of reconciling romantic and classical thought.

The hard part of writing a book isn’t getting published. It’s the actual writing. In this article, I offer 10 steps for writing a book along with 10 bonus steps.

As the bestselling author of five books, I can tell you without hesitation that the hardest part of a writer’s job is sitting down to do the work. Books don’t just write themselves, after all. You have to invest everything you are into creating an important piece of work.

For years, I dreamed of being a professional writer. I believed I had important things to say that the world needed to hear. But as I look back on what it really takes to become an author, I realize how different the process was from my expectations.

To begin with, you don’t just sit down to write a book. That’s not how writing works. You write a sentence, then a paragraph, then maybe if you’re lucky, an entire chapter. Writing happens in fits and starts, in bits and pieces. It’s a process.

The way you get the work done is not complicated. You take one step at a time, then another and another. As I look back on the books I’ve written, I can see how the way they were made was not as glamorous as I once thought.

How to really write a book

In this post, I’ll teach you the fundamental steps you need to write a book. I’ve worked hard to make this easy to digest and super practical, so you can start making progress.

And just a heads up: if you dream of authoring a bestselling book like I have and you’re looking for a structured plan to guide you through the writing process, I have a special opportunity for you at the end of this post where I break the process down.

But first, let’s look at the big picture. What does it take to write a book? It happens in three phases:

• Beginning: You have to start writing. This sounds obvious, but it may be the most overlooked step in the process. You write a book by deciding first what you’re going to write and how you’re going to write it.
• Staying motivated: Once you start writing, you will face self-doubt and overwhelm and a hundred other adversaries. Planning ahead for those obstacles ensures you won’t quit when they come.
• Finishing: Nobody cares about the book that you almost wrote. We want to read the one you actually finished, which means no matter what, the thing that makes you a writer is your ability not to start a project, but to complete one.

Below are 10 ridiculously simple tips that fall under each of these three major phases plus an additional 10 bonus tips. I hope they help you tackle and finish the book you dream of writing.

Phase 1: Getting started

We all have to start somewhere. With writing a book, the first phase is made up of four parts:

1. Decide what the book is about

Good writing is always about something. Write the argument of your book in a sentence, then stretch that out to a paragraph, and then to a one-page outline. After that, write a table of contents to help guide you as you write, then break each chapter into a few sections. Think of your book in terms of beginning, middle, and end. Anything more complicated will get you lost.

2. Set a daily word count goal

John Grisham began his writing career as a lawyer and new dad — in other words, he was really busy. Nonetheless, he got up an hour or two early every morning and wrote a page a day. After a couple of years, he had a novel. A page a day is only about 300 words. You don’t need to write a lot. You just need to write often. Setting a daily goal will give you something to aim for. Make it small and attainable so that you can hit your goal each day and start building momentum.

3. Set a time to work on your book every day

Consistency makes creativity easier. You need a daily deadline to do your work — that’s how you’ll finish writing a book. Feel free to take a day off, if you want, but schedule that ahead of time. Never let a deadline pass; don’t let yourself off the hook so easily. Setting a daily deadline and regular writing time will ensure that you don’t have to think about when you will write. When it’s time to write, it’s time to write.

4. Write in the same place every time

It doesn’t matter if it’s a desk or a restaurant or the kitchen table. It just needs to be different from where you do other activities. Make your writing location a special space, so that when you enter it, you’re ready to work. It should remind you of your commitment to finish this book. Again, the goal here is to not think and just start writing.

Phase 2: Doing the work

Now, it’s time to get down to business. Here, we are going to focus on the next three tips to help you get the book done:

5. Set a total word count

Begin with the end in mind. Once you’ve started writing, you need a total word count for your book. Think in terms of 10-thousand work increments and break each chapter into roughly equal lengths. Here are some general guiding principles:

• 10,000 words = a pamphlet or business white paper. Read time = 30-60 minutes.
• 20,000 words = short eBook or manifesto. The Communist Manifesto is an example of this, at about 18,000 words. Read time = 1-2 hours.
• 40,000–60,000 words = standard nonfiction book / novella. The Great Gatsby is an example of this. Read time = three to four hours.
• 60,000–80,000 words = long nonfiction book / standard-length novel. Most Malcolm Gladwell books fit in this range. Read time = four to six hours.
• 80,000 words–100,000 words = very long nonfiction book / long novel. The Four-Hour Work Week falls in this range.
• 100,000+ words = epic-length novel / academic book / biography. Read time = six to eight hours. The Steve Jobs biography would fit this category.

6. Give yourself weekly deadlines

You need a weekly goal. Make it a word count to keep things objective. Celebrate the progress you’ve made while still being honest about how much work is left to do. You need to have something to aim for and a way to measure yourself. This is the only way I ever get any work done: with a deadline.

7. Get early feedback

Nothing stings worse than writing a book and then having to rewrite it, because you didn’t let anyone look at it. Have a few trusted advisers to help you discern what’s worth writing. These can be friends, editors, family. Just try to find someone who will give you honest feedback early on to make sure you’re headed in the right direction.

Phase 3: Finishing

How do you know when you’re done? Short answer: you don’t. Not really. So here’s what you do to end this book-writing process well:

8. Commit to shipping

No matter what, finish the book. Set a deadline or have one set for you. Then release it to the world. Send it to the publisher, release it on Amazon, do whatever you need to do to get it in front of people. Just don’t put it in your drawer. The worst thing would be for you to quit once this thing is written. That won’t make you do your best work and it won’t allow you to share your ideas with the world.

9. Embrace failure

As you approach the end of this project, know that this will be hard and you will most certainly mess up. Just be okay with failing, and give yourself grace. That’s what will sustain you — the determination to continue, not your elusive standards of perfection.

10. Write another book

Most authors are embarrassed by their first book. I certainly was. But without that first book, you will never learn the lessons you might otherwise miss out on. So, put your work out there, fail early, and try again. This is the only way you get better. You have to practice, which means you have to keep writing.

Every writer started somewhere, and most of them started by squeezing their writing into the cracks of their daily lives. That’s how I began, and it may be where you begin, as well. The ones who make it are the ones who show up day after day. You can do the same.

The reason most people never finish their books

Every year, millions of books go unfinished. Books that could have helped people, brought beauty or wisdom into the world. But they never came to be. And in one way or another, the reason is always the same: the author quit.

Maybe you’ve dealt with this. You started writing a book but never completed it. You got stuck and didn’t know how to finish. Or you completed your manuscript but didn’t know what to do after. Worse yet, you wrote a book, but nobody cared about it. Nobody bought or read it.

I’ve been there before.

In fact, the first couple books I wrote didn’t do that well at all — even with a traditional publisher. It took me years to learn this, but here’s what nobody ever told me:

Before you can launch a bestseller, first you have to write one.

What I mean by that is so many writers sit down to write their masterpiece, assuming that’s all there is to it. Just sit down and write. But as I’ve studied the world’s most gifted and successful authors, I’ve noticed this is not what the masters do. They are far more intentional than simply sitting and letting the words flow.

Every great writer needs a system they can trust. You and I are no different. But an author’s system for how they produce bestselling book after bestselling book is not always the easiest thing to access. So, as a matter of survival, I’ve had to figure it out for myself and create a clear book-writing framework that works. This is what I call the “Write a Bestseller Method” which helps me get a book written and ready to launch.

This is the part that I never learned in any English class. Producing work that sells is not just about writing what you think is good. It’s about finding an idea that will both excite you and excite an audience. It’s about being intentional and thinking through the whole process, while having proper accountability to keep you going.

In other words, the writing process matters. It matters a lot. You have to not only finish your book but write one worthy of being sold. And if you want to maximize your chances of finishing your book, you need a proven plan.

Writing books has changed my life. It helped me clarify my thinking, find my calling as an author, and has provided endless opportunities to make an impact on the world and a living for my family.

Bonus: 10 more writing tips!

If you need some help staying motivated, here are another 10 tips to help you keep going in the process:

11. Only write one chapter at a time

Write and publish a novel, one chapter at a time, using Amazon Kindle Singles, Wattpad, or sharing with your email list subscribers.

12. Write a shorter book

The idea of writing a 500-page masterpiece can be paralyzing. Instead, write a short book of poems or stories. Long projects are daunting. Start small.

13. Start a blog to get feedback early

Getting feedback early and often helps break up the overwhelm. Start a website on WordPress or Tumblr and use it to write your book a chapter or scene at a time. Then eventually publish all the posts in a hardcopy book. This is a little different than tradition blogging, but the same concepts apply. We created a free tool to help you know when your blog posts are ready to publish. Check out Don’t Hit Publish.

14. Keep an inspiration list

You need it in order to keep fresh ideas flowing. Read constantly, and use a system to capture, organize and find the content you’ve curated. I use Evernote, but use a system that works for you.

15. Keep a journal

Then, rewrite the entries in a much more polished book format, but use some photocopies or scans of the journal pages as illustrations in the book. You could even sell “deluxe” editions that come with photocopied versions of the journal.

16. Deliver consistently

Some days, it’s easy to write. Some days, it’s incredibly hard. The truth is: inspiration is merely a byproduct of your hard work. You can’t wait for inspiration. The Muse is really an out-of-work bum who won’t move until you do. Show her who’s boss and that you mean business.

17. Take frequent breaks

Niel Fiore, the author of The Now Habit, says, “There is one main reason why we procrastinate: It rewards us with temporary relief from stress.” If you’re constantly stressed about your unfinished book, you’ll end up breaking your schedule. Instead, plan for breaks ahead of time so you stay fresh: minute breaks, hour breaks, or even multiple day breaks.

18. Remove distractions

Try tools like Bear or Scrivener to let you write in a totally distraction free environment. That way, email, Facebook, and Twitter won’t interrupt your flow.

19. Write where others are writing (or working)

If you’re having trouble writing consistently by yourself, write where other people are also working. A coffee shop or library where people are actually working and not just socializing can help. If you’re in a place where other people are getting things done, then you’ll have no choice but to join them.

20. Don’t edit as you go

Instead, write without judgment first, then go back and edit later. You’ll keep a better flow and won’t be interrupted by constant criticism of your own work. And you’ll have a lot more writing to edit when it’s time to do so.

It’s not just about the writing

Most books go unfinished. That’s the reality. And those that do get finished quickly fade into anonymity amongst the hundreds of thousands of new books that are published every year.

If you want to be different, you’re going to need a plan. I’ve tried to share that with you in this post. But maybe you want to not only get your book done, but you want to make sure it’s something worth selling. You want a proven plan, something you can trust — checklist that ensures you will get the work done.

The Write a Bestseller program is just that.

Remember: Before you can launch a bestseller, you have to write one. Fortunately, I’ve broken down my process piece by piece — this is what I’ve learned from publishing five books and from talking to many of the world’s bestselling authors.

In this program, I share with you exactly what it takes to write a bestselling book and why this is something you need to be thinking about from Day 1. This quick but thorough online course will help you:

• Figure out how to come up with a compelling idea for a book and turn it into something people will want to read
• Finally finish that book manuscript you’ve been playing with for years
• Follow a proven plan to write not only a good book but one that will continue to sell

This is a simple and reliable tool for exporting product reviews from Amazon.

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P.S- They din't explained this in terms of technicalities.

I have answered similar question -Imtiyaz Alam's answer to How does Goodreads make book recommendations?

Anyway, here we go again -

The recommendations you see in your updates feed are based on Goodread's recommendations engine. You’ll see two types of recommendations in the updates feed: based on books you recently shelved, and books from your recommendations page. Goodread engine supposes that these recommendations will help you discover more books.

How can we improve our recommendations?:

1) Rate more books. The more we rate, the better the results!

2) Update your favorite genres.

3) Categorize your books by creating shelves such as science fiction or history. Goodread recommend based on each shelf you create!

4) Click "Not interested" for recommendations that you don't like. They'll be less likely to show you similar books in the future.

If you write a book recommendations, start with its title, author and the main reason why you liked the book. For example, 'I loved the eighteenth Harry Bosch novel by Michael Connelly because Harry Bosch is a well-rounded character...'

Don't give too much of the plot or storyline away - look at the back of the book and see how much they have said. Base your summary on that. For example. 'When a young journalist is found murdered in riots, the case isn't solved for twenty years. Until Harry Bosch opens the file again.'

If people want to know the plot or storyline, they'll buy the book. What they want from you is whether it is well-written, well-plotted and whether it suits them. So you could add with 'This is a good choice for anyone who enjoys crime fiction.' If there's something about the book that makes it unsuitable for a certain kind of reader, say that too.

You may not like the book, but it is polite to respect the writer. 'I didn't like this book because I thought it was badly plotted' is acceptable. 'This book is complete trash - I don't understand why it ever got published' isn't helpful.

Always try to find at least one thing you do like in a book you review negatively, and - if justified - mention anything you don't like in a book you're reviewing positively. Good luck.

There are two options:

1. Google Play books
2. Kindle

Now, both are equally good and you can use any one of them. But, kindle by Amazon has its own devices to read the e-books. (For which you have to spend ₹ 5k–12k ) These devices are specifically designed for reading and are very suitable.

Both, of the apps allow us to upload our own books downloaded via internet in formats like pdf(both), mobi(kindle) and epub(play books).

Both the apps has their own book store. While, you will find all the famous books on both the stores of the apps but a vast variety can be found only on the kindle store.

If you are willing to pay some money on the device like kindle than you can go for kindle.

But, if you want to use the app on your mobile or other device you can go for Google play books and can sideload books. (I use play books.)

There are several Book Recommendation Engines available on internet, these have witnessed a growth with increase in e-commerce based home book delivery systems like Flipkart.com (product).

Another such start-up which showed tremendous growth is Goodreads.

It is a social network for readers and writers. Much like Facebook, it offers users a profile or an online bookshelf which can be used to categorize books as being read, currently-reading, owned etc. On the basis of the books read and the books which the user is currently reading, accounting for the factors like genres of the books, that user mostly delves himself in, the website offers personalized book recommendations. User can also check the books currently being read all around the world by its members.

A site where one can look for recommendations for books, tools, and software libraries?

Yes, Quora comes to mind.

First, ask a specific question about it, or do a search.

For example, if I search for Books on programming, I get an extensive number of results from which I can pick questions or answers that appeal to me.

Another way of searching in Quora is by using Google Search as follows:

books on programming site:quora.com 

Quora has topics about anything I can think of.

Second, subscribe Spaces or Topics of you interest.

For books on programming I would start with "Computer Programming Book Recommendations", which currently has 275 thousand followers.

See link below:

Computer Programming Books

Good question!
Please be safe out there…

If you like A Song of Ice and Fire, you'd like The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. I personally think this series is actually better in A Song of Ice and Fire on a few aspects:

• The plot is tighter, it wrapped up nicely in 3 books, with great closure to almost every major characters.
• There's no good or evil characters, there're GREAT characters and you can't tell which one is author's favorite (yes GRRM, we get it, you like Sam and Arya).
• The world creation is great, you end up with a vivid fantasy world full of real conflicts yet none of the wordy (and seemingly unnecessary) description of banners and minor houses.
• Magic is introduced and practiced in a realistic way (none of the Harry Potter parallel world stuff).

What do you think of the Prince of Thorns? I'm getting a bit fed up with my recent streak of urban fantasy and want to pick up some high fantasy. So I'm choosing between Prince of Nothing and Prince of Thorns...