The star of Doogie Howser MD, and the long-running CBS sitcom, How I Met Your Mother, Neil Patrick Harris is not one to be pigeonholed. In recent years the actor has ranged widely, from a very convincing creep in the big screen adaptation of Gone Girl to Hedwig, an East German transgender glam rock singer in the Broadway smash, Hedwig and the Angry Inch. His lifelong obsession with magic resulted in a the mesmerizing sleight-of-hand magic show, Nothing to Hide, which he directed, while his NBC variety show, Best Time Ever, revels in his love of pranks and pratfalls.

Below are Neil Patrick Harris’s favorite books, available to purchase as a set or individually.