Reddit mentions: The best books about gandhi

For AI, I have to recommend The Jesus Incident by F. Herbert. It will also fulfill your Machiavellian theme.

On philosophy, I really love Social and Political Philosophy edited by J. Somerville and R. E. Santoni. It's a collection of "readings," important chapters of everyone from Plato to Ghandi. I especially like the sections on Thomas Jefferson, and Rousseau. Marx, Hitler, and Lenin are also in it but so are Gandhi and Dewey; Machiavelli, too. You should at least take a look at it. The Walter Kaufman book Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre is also darned good.

Also, although not on your list, Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction is a great read about evolution, and the first part is a sort of biography on Darwin on how and why he came up with the theory (I thought this was a humorous part of the book) and the book in its entirety is about evolution, but it's also a great narrative story, and i guarantee you will learn a lot.

There's a couple of novellas, Taratuta / Still Life with Pipe, that come together by a South American writer named Jose Donoso that are more or less about art and existentialism, but they're super easy to read but also philosophical. I just mention them if you're interested in novellas. And if you're going to read fiction, I would love to suggest Milan Kundera's The Art of the Novel, which is a collection of his essays explaining how and why he creates art. It's interesting and not dry at all and it may help you appreciate plot, metaphor, etc, on your 52 book journey.

Social and Political Philosophy. Is the best place to start in my opinion. A lot of good excerpts that would give you a good understanding of where the major thinkers stand of various political and social issues. You can go on from there once you've decided what thinker interests you the most.

Also, take a look at:

Political Thinking by Glenn Tinder

Matt Lawrence's Like a Splinter in Your Mind: The Philosophy Behind the Matrix Trilogy - This is a MIND-BLOWING book!

>For your information, almost all of what Gandhi preached was inspired from the Bible.

Brother, have you read Gandhi's writings on the Bhagavad Gita? He wrote one of the greatest modern commentaries, and perhaps in Indian history, on the Gita, in which he explains how his belief in the principles of ahimsa (non-violence and love) and satyagraha (peaceful civil resistance) are rooted in Krishna's teachings.

http://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-According-Gandhi/dp/1893163113

>Today the Gita is not only my bible or my Koran; it is more than that--it is my mother. I lost my earthly mother who gave me birth long ago; but this eternal mother has completely filled her place by my side ever since. She has never changed, she has never failed me. When I am in difficulty or distress, I seek refuge in her bosom.

>When doubt haunts me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and when I see not one ray of light on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagavad Gita, and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. My life has been full of external tragedies, and if they have not left any visible and indelible effect on me, I owe it to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.

It wasn't until I read Gandhi's book on the Gita that I understood the foundational principles of Hindu philosophy, beyond all the ostentations, the rituals, and the meaningless divisions of caste. That sort of empty dogma does nothing but obscure the very simple, but still profound, message that Krishna delivers in the Gita. He tells us that every living being springs out of Brahman, that eternal, infinite, and transcendent spirit. And that we have to love each other and Him, and strive in the service of others, to recognize that oneness. This is the path of bhakti yoga that Gandhi practiced all his life.