Books Don Draper Read That Everyone Else Should Read Too

1 . The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe

In Season 1, episode 6, Don reads this iconic novel about ambitious career girls in New York City in bed on Mother's Day. Then Don and Betty talk about the film of the same name featuring Joan Crawford.

2 . Exodus by Leon Uris

In the same episode, Don receives this novel about the founding of the State of Israel from clients who are trying to bring greater tourism to the country.

3 . Meditations in an Emergency by Frank O'Hara

In Season 2, episode 1, a bar patron is reading the book as Don has lunch. They strike up a conversation about it , and later we see Don with his own copy of O'Hara's book, in his study at home.

4 . The Chrysanthemum and the Sword by Ruth Benedict

In Season 4, episode 5, Don reads this book to prepare for business with potential Japanese clients from Honda.

5 . The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John Le Carre

In Season 4, episode 13, Don is reading this 1963 Cold War spy novel in bed when Megan returns from a night out in Los Angeles.

6 . The Fixer by Bernard Malamud

In Season 5, episode 7, Don reads this fictionalized version of the Beilis trial, a famous case where a Jew unjustly imprisoned in Tsarist Russia. When Megan sees it, she tells Don he doesn't have to alter his literary choices to impress her father.

7 . The Berlitz Self-Teacher: French

Later in the same episode, Don takes a break from work to learn a little French as Megan's parents are in town. 'A' for effort, Don!

8 . Odds Against by Dick Francis

This novel is the first of Francis' works to feature Sid Halley, champion steeplechase jockey turned investigator. In Season 5, episode 9, we see Don reading it (where else?) in bed.

9 . The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

Forget the trashy fiction. In Season 6, episode 1, Don reads this tome on a Hawaiian beach while thinking of Sylvia.

10 . The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry

In Season 6, episode 7, we see Sylvia reading this while she waits for Don throughout the episode. Later, Don takes Sylvia's book and tries to read it while on his way to a meeting with Mohawk Airlines in Ted Chaough's plane.

11 . Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth

This novel tells the humorous monologue of "a lust-ridden, mother-addicted young Jewish bachelor," who confesses to his psychoanalyst in "intimate, shameful detail, and coarse, abusive language." Don reads it in his much smaller new office in Season 7, episode 4.

12 . The Godfather by Mario Puzo

In Season 7, episode 13, Don is reading this book while killing time in his hotel room, just before he meets his young doppelganger, Andy.




The Importance of Reading Books
• A book is a treasure chest.

• Although we can learn in many ways, books are the best and cheapest means of acquiring knowledge.

• Every one that reads has the power to magnify himself, better the ways in which he lives, to make his life healthy, happy and totally fulfilled.

• Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

• Readers are leaders.

• Don't just read to get by but read to gain in-depth knowledge. Know it better than anyone but let it not puff you up.

• Read to give your mind a chance to luxuriate.

• Books give you a shot in the arm to speak nineteen to the dozen and be up and up.

• Books are for reading not for decoration.

• From the leaves of a book you can turn a new leaf.

• Books make a man.

• Book power helps you overcome the past, change your situations, fight new obstacles and make better decisions.

• The reading of book opens up worlds of information and greater possibilities.

• In reading a work of genius, you discover your own forgotten/neglected genius.

• A book is not only a friend, it make friends for you.

• A book is a living voice one shall listen to.

• Reading supplies mental bread for your imagination to feed on and bone for your imagination to chew.

• The fame that beauty or riches bestow is fleeting and frail; mental excellence is a splendiferous and magnificent long lasting possession.

• It is mainly through books that we commune with great minds. In good books, immortals talk to us, bless us with their priceless thoughts, and pour their souls into ours.

• The ability to read and understand can open any door you chose to go through.

• Reading is not always easy, not always fun or appealing, but is very necessary.

• One of the amazing things about learning is that knowledge not only translates from one area to another but is also an avenue that leads to understanding and insight.

• When you have possessed knowledge from a book with your mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you impact the knowledge to others you are enriched three fold.

• If you commit yourself to reading books, increasing your knowledge, only God limits how far you can go in life.

• A book is a great gift you can give to anyone.

• I thank God for books.

Books are powerful source of motivation and self improvement.