Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb — The Canon of Medicine
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) · 11th century
He wrote the medical standard work taught for 600 years across Europe and the Orient. As a Kurd living between worlds, Avicenna is not merely history — he is evidence.
Library
Library
Books, films and ideas — the ones that shaped me.
Not a complete list. Not required reading. Only what truly left something behind — in thought, in feeling, in the way I work. Alongside these is a reading list: books that may open up new perspectives.
Islamic Golden Age Science
Three men who reimagined the world — centuries before modernity claimed the idea as its own.
Al-Kitab al-Mukhtasar fi Hisab al-Jabr
Al-Khwarizmi · 9th century
The man who gave the world algebra. His name became 'algorithm'. Every AI model that exists today carries part of his DNA.
Abu Rayhan al-Biruni — Polymath
Al-Biruni · 11th century
Mathematician, astronomer, anthropologist, physician. He measured the Earth before Europe understood what it was standing on.
Physics & Mathematics
Minds that did not fit their time — and changed time precisely because of it.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Richard Feynman
Physics as a philosophy of life. Curiosity as the only religion.
A Beautiful Mind
Sylvia Nasar
John Nash. Genius, madness, equilibrium. A life that shows the mind as both the most dangerous and most beautiful place.
The Man Who Knew Infinity
Robert Kanigel
Ramanujan — with no formal training, from India, he transformed mathematics. Origin is not a boundary.
Medicine & Science
Books that show science at its strongest when it remains human.
The Emperor of All Maladies
Siddhartha Mukherjee
A biography of cancer. Science that remains human.
Being Mortal
Atul Gawande
What medicine cannot do — and what it must do anyway.
The Body
Bill Bryson
The human body as nature’s greatest wonder. Every page an opening.
Technology & Hacking
Understanding systems — from within.
The Art of Intrusion
Kevin Mitnick
Hacking is not merely criminality — it is the deepest form of understanding a system.
Ghost in the Wires
Kevin Mitnick
An autobiography about systems, boundaries and the question: what is actually forbidden?
Tesla: Man Out of Time
Margaret Cheney
Nikola Tesla — the man who invented the future and was forgotten for it. Until the world needed him.
Identity & Migration
Books I did not merely read — but, in a way, lived.
Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi
Iran, childhood, exile — in images. Close to my own story.
The Stranger
Albert Camus
The feeling of never quite belonging. I know it.
Man's Search for Meaning
Viktor Frankl
Finding meaning — even when everything collapses.
Films & Series
Not just popcorn entertainment. Films and series that ask a question without handing us an answer.
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Ron Howard
Nash. Mathematics. Madness. Beauty.
The Imitation Game (2014)
Morten Tyldum
Alan Turing — the man who helped end the Second World War and was punished for who he was.
The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015)
Matt Brown
Ramanujan. Intuition beyond proof.
Interstellar (2014)
Christopher Nolan
Physics as poetry.
Ex Machina (2014)
Alex Garland
AI, consciousness, ethics — in 108 minutes.
Persepolis (2007)
Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi
Animation. Iran. Truth.
Breaking Bad (2008–2013)
Vince Gilligan · Series
A transformation through small decisions. About power, self-deception and the consequences of one's actions.
Better Call Saul (2015–2022)
Vince Gilligan & Peter Gould · Series
Between ambition, loyalty and self-invention. A story about how decisions become an identity.
Inception (2010)
Christopher Nolan
Dreams, memory and the power of an idea. A play on perception and reality.
The Matrix (1999)
Lana & Lilly Wachowski
What is reality when perception can be manufactured? About freedom, control and the choice to look more closely.
Reading list · Thinking & Connections
A selection for further reading — about nature, systems and decisions.
Thinking in Systems
Donella H. Meadows
How feedback, delays and interactions shape the behaviour of systems. An introduction to thinking in connections.
A Brief History of Time
Stephen Hawking
Space, time and the origins of the universe. The great questions of physics made accessible.
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman
About intuitive judgements, deliberate reasoning and the limits of our confidence in decisions.
Reading list · Meaning & Inner Life
Different voices on conscience, encounter and living with awareness.
Confessions
Augustine
An examination of the self through memory, time, guilt and the search for direction.
The Gāthās of Zarathustra
Zarathustra · Translation and commentary: Stanley Insler
Ancient hymns about truth, good conduct and responsibility. A scholarly edition for deeper study.
I and Thou
Martin Buber
Relationship as the starting point of thought. About genuine encounter and the difference between a counterpart and an object.
The Bhagavad Gita
Traditional text · Translation: Eknath Easwaran
A dialogue about action, inner clarity and responsibility in the face of a difficult conflict.
The Dhammapada
Traditional teaching verses · Translation: Valerie J. Roebuck
Short verses about attention, compassion and the connection between thought and action.
This list keeps growing. Not everything that shaped me can be measured in titles.