Road to equality

Woman's Evolution - Evelyn Reed How patriarchy evolved Exerpts from Chapter 10
Cracking the Armour Michael Kaufman Power, Pain and the lives of men	Out of Print
The Woman's Encyclopedia - Barbara Walker Myths and Secrets
No Gods No Masters - edited by Annie Laurie Gaylor Writings by early feminists
The Firebrand - Laurel Collins Relates to Feminist Lucy Stone's courageous life

Science Fiction and Great Adventure

Small Gods - Terry Pratchett
make a god

Valhalla Rising - Clive Cussler
myth, magic and mystery

The Smoke Jumper - Nicholas Evans
adventure, nature, compassion

Your Inner Fish - Neil Shubin

nature, archaeology, adventure

Endless Forms Most Beautiful - Sean B.Carroll

Wonders of Science

Krakatoa - August 27, 1883 - Simon Winchester
The day the world exploded

The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins
the universe came to be

The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins
overcoming love, sex, and violence

River Out of Eden - Richard Dawkins
a metaphor for DNA

Questioning the Millennium - Stephen Jay Gould
just when did which millennium begin

The Symbolic Species - Terrence W. Deacon
language development mystery

How The Mind Works - Steven Pinker
evolution of our remarkable minds

The Blank Slate - Steven Pinker
The Modern Denial of Human Nature

The Alchemy of the Mind - Diane Ackerman
the marvel and mystery of the brain

History

2000 Years of Disbelief - James A. Haught
Famous People with Courage to Doubt

Why I Am Not A Muslim - Ibn Warraq
history of a dominant religion

Blood Rites - Barbara Ehrenreich
origins and history of the passions of war

Leaning Into the Wind - Women of the West
real life stories from those who live there

Who Wrote the Bible? - Richard Elliott Friedman
authors meticulously traced through history

The Botany of Desire - Michael Pollon
a plant's eye view of history

Dawn Before The Dawn - Geoffrey Ashe examines concepts of ancient wisdom

Seven Day Circle - time tells

Commentary

The New Nuclear Danger - Helen Caldicott
greed and power in the real world

Nickeled and Dimed - Barbara Ehrenreich
living on minimum wage

Buck Up, Suck Up - James Carville & Paul Begala
...and come back when you foul up

Stupid White Men - Michael Moore
...other sorry excuses for the state of the nation

The New Nuclear Danger - Helen Caldicott
greed and power in the real world

Fiction

Half-Moon and Empty Stars - Gerry Spence
reality check

P is for Peril - Sue Grafton
chalk up another for Millhone

The Furies - Suzy McKee Charnas
Rabid, man-hating, post-apocalyptic crap-fest

Q is for Quarry - Sue Grafton
dig not the past for rocks

Whispers - Dean Koontz

Not all books cost money.

There is a VAST library of free (electronic) books available from Project Gutenberg

I *urge* you to look through the index and download as many of these books as you wish.

Of course, this will make it easier for you to read them, but it will also help ensure that they are remain free as in "freedom", not just as in "zero cost."
Even though there isn't much chance that these works will ever be taken away, that's not a foregone conclusion. Books by authors as famous as Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) are routinely "banned".
Once you download them, you can view them on your computer, laptop, palmtop or even print them (although that can be a hassle.)

Additionally, the fine people at O'Reilly distribute a small number of free (mostly technical) books at http://www.oreilly.com/openbook/

And, some of the authors at Baen distribute an ever changing free selection of (mostly Sci-Fi) books at http://www.baen.com/library/.
This catalog changes as authors feel appropriate, so you might want to grab copies of books you like when they are available and check back from time to time to see what else appears!

 
They also have some very interesting articles explaining WHY it is a GOOD idea for living authors to distribute some of their books for FREE! Read the main page for their free library and look over these lengthy discussions.

I've been downloading books from all three of these sources into my Palm Pilot so that I can carry five or six books with me wherever I go. It sure makes waiting to pick up my kids more enjoyable!!

Today, I'm reading "The Tank Lords" by David Drake.   I also enjoyed his story "An Oblique Approach" which is set in fifth century Rome.

I've also read "Free as in Freedom" which is a biograpy of Richard Stallman. He is a leading advocate of Free Software which is a VERY important movement and laid the groundwork for other projects like GNU/Linux and hundreds of others that you've probably NEVER heard of but use everyday. (hint: Most of the internet is powered by free software, influenced or even written by Mr. Stallman!)