Best books… Ian Mortimer

The author and historian Ian Mortimer selects his six favourite books. His own latest book, The Outcasts of Time, is available from Simon & Schuster at £12.99.

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, 1957 (Vintage £8.99). It’s both history and fiction, interwoven with poetry and philosophy: a great summation of the individual, love and human society, and what they mean to each other.

A Picture History of Archaeology by C.W. Ceram, 1958 (out of print). From about the age of five, the pictures had me spellbound: the ruins of Pompeii, pharaohs’ grimacing corpses, Aztec skulls. Exotic, haunting, and much more powerful than normal history lessons.

Shogun by James Clavell, 1975 (Hodder £9.99). This breathtakingly ambitious novel, which I read as a teenager, deeply affected how I think of historical fiction and its possibilities. I don’t know what I would think of it now, but devouring it aged 15 remains probably the most enjoyable reading experience of my life.

A History of the Crusades by Steven Runciman, 19511954 (Penguin; three volumes, £10.99 each). A schoolmaster introduced me to the works of Runciman at A-level. The wit, the erudition, the sure-footed narrative, the easy, unobtrusive manner – Runciman remains the only historian whose writing style has inspired me.

Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell, 1949 (Penguin £8.99). Growing up I felt I had a kindred spirit in Orwell. The central love story swept me away; more importantly, the novel introduced me to the business of imagining the future and its potential vicissitudes, which are our responsibility.

Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls by Edward E. Leslie, 1988 (Houghton Mifflin £24.91). What makes some survive the most terrible situations – being marooned on a desert island – when others give up? This series of lonely, life-and-death struggles makes you think more on that question.