American actor Matthew Modine’s Twitter bio says much of what one needs to know about his line of thinking: “We are constrained by nothing more than ignorance. Question everything,” it reads — his thirst for a continued grasp of life evidenced by the choices in his One Grand list below. Modine, who has been nominated for two Golden Globes (for his work in And the Band Played On and What the Deaf Man Heard,) currently appears as Dr. Brenner — tormenter and ‘papa’ to Eleven in Netflix’s Stranger Things, streaming now. In Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, Modine played Vannevar Bush.

Below are Matthew Modine’s favorite books, available to purchase individually or as a set.