5 Books to read before I die

OK, so I'm a reader - I read, therefore I'm educated - right? Wrong! I read because

1. I like to dabble in lots of things
2. it makes me look interesting
3. other people's views interest me - it is possible that I may be wrong about some things!
4. I aspire to be someone else
5. I want to appear educated
6. you never stop learning!
7. all of the above!

On my table right now and the reasons why are:

• The Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela
• Now that the Great Madeba has passed on, it's really about time I knew more about this amazing and inspiring man - what made him the man he was and what his legacy will be for both the world at large and for me as an individual
• a copy of The Economist - World in 2014
• this has become an Alley Cat tradition - I have all from 1999! I like to read them the year after to check how right they were, though that's subjective! 
• The current issue I dip into and try to understand - see item 4!
• The Sibling Society, by Robert Bly
• Sadly, this one's now out of print and is a deep and meaningful tome into the kind of society we have already become, with adults behaving like teenagers and teenagers behaving as if they were kids, etc
• a difficult one to read at length as it relies on fables and their relationships to modern contexts, which I do find hard to digest, but the primary message is that we are becoming very much the 'me' generation we thought our teens ought to be, with our "I want and I want it now" attitude to life
• 2 Very Short Introductions to [I include both as one book as they aren't long nor detailed enough to warrant being one book on this list!. Included simply because I want to understand both subjects, just a little bit!
• Economics
• Psychology
• photographer Andy Rouse's signed copy of "Little Owls"
• a beautiful series of wildlife photos of our cutest owl taken by the uber-talented Andy, whose live presentations are at once touching, funny and meaningful with his emphasis on conservation and the advantages of eco-tourism to the countries that promote it
• catch up with Andy and find out about his latest tour dates on his facebook page

Oh - and this one's a bit of an extra 'cos I wanna be down with the kids! The latest issue of 'Power Play' rock & metal magazine. My kids are really into Skillet and I want to give a big thumbs up to the host of Christian heavy rock bands there seem to be around right now! As lead singer, John Cooper said in a recent documentary I caught - "we're heavy metal without the swearing and the drugs!". Even if you're not a Christian, that's a great message!