A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century (1978), by Barbara Tuchman, is a fascinating and readable study of Europe in the 1300s.

In 1993, noted historian of philosophy Frederick C. Copleston published the second volume of his History of Philosophy, which covers the philosophy of the Middle Ages, including discussions of both Roger Bacon and William of Ockham.

Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories (1986) provides an excellent introduction into Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary sleuth.

Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, translated into English by William Weaver in 1989, is another philosophical novel, investigating the secrets of the Knights Templar.

Jorge Luis Borges's Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings (1962), edited by Donald A. Yates and James E. Irby, contains some of Borges's most influential stories, including "Death and the Compass," "The Garden of Forking Paths," "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote," and "Tlön...