A connoisseur's list of favorites: Benedikt Weibel shares his treasure trove of books

Discover "Adventure reading" now

To the book

Reading a book is like a journey into the unknown. When you open the first page, a new world opens up - open, promising, full of possible emotions and insights. Where it leads remains hidden at first: into the realm of non-fiction, into the abysses of the thriller or into the timeless depths of the classics. It is precisely this uncertainty that makes reading an adventure.

This anthology brings together a hundred books that exemplify this richness. They have not been chosen at random, but are the result of years of intensive study, careful reading and intellectual penetration. Each work is seen as a cosmos in its own right, as the bearer of an unmistakable voice. "Every book has a soul", wrote Carlos Ruiz Zafón - a thought that serves as a guiding motif for this collection.

The aim of this volume is to get as close as possible to these souls. Authors are given space to speak for themselves, to make their thoughts, attitudes and literary intentions visible. The result is not merely a list of great titles, but a polyphonic conversation about literature, about language, about thinking and feeling in stories.

It becomes clear what immeasurable wealth lies hidden between two book covers - and to what extent reading can contribute to personal development. Books do not appear here as consumer goods, but as a formative experience, as an intellectual and emotional resource.

This anthology is both an invitation and a seduction: an invitation to get involved with literature, to let yourself drift, to be challenged. Those who read it are reminded that books are far more than texts - they are encounters.

TO PERSON

Benedikt Weibel was head of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) from 1993-2006. As a journalist, he writes columns. He has also published numerous books, including "Simplicity - the art of reducing complexity" (Zurich 2014); "Das Jahr der Träume. 1968 und die Welt von heute" (Zurich 2017); "Wir Mobilitätsmenschen. Ways and wrong turns towards sustainable transportation" (Basel 2021).