5 Books I Couldn't Do Without

A good book is rich, entertaining, or even informative; A truly great book is all of these and also shapes the way you perceive yourself and the rest of the world. Great books shapes whole cultures, personalities and attitudes towards life itself.

I was never a very good reader as a child, preferring to keep my hands glued to a SNES, Playstation or N64 controller. The only masterpiece I ever knew back then was Mario Kart. But as I got older, towards my late teens, I began to appreciate the value of a truly classic read (although I do still frequent video games consoles more often than I probably should), and this simple enjoyment of reading the result of someones experiences and energy, pored in ink onto a few hundred small pages, is possibly what guided me towards completing a degree in English & History. The words within a magnificent book are skillfully tailored to paint a canvas so spectacular, you can't help yourself but be swept up into their mesmerising spell. So in no particular order, in homage to some of the very best books that I have been lucky to dip my mind into, I bring you 5 books that without, I wouldn't be the same person you see here today.

Rinse & Repeat: Libya and the Mistakes of History

Well it didn't take them long, but Cameron, Sarkozy and Obama have got themselves stuck into a nice, juicy war. It's headline-grabbing stuff and mainstream papers like The Sun are having a field day, pumping the public full of patriotism in support of our air strikes on Gaddafi and his forces as he continues to brutalise his own people and stifle the rebel movement. Colonel Gaddafi has been transformed into an international pariah (again) in the space of time it takes to fire a Patriot missile into Tripoli.