If you are lucky, you can find a book store with books from this series from Penguin called Great Ideas. I was reading this one from Orwell today.
Penguins refers to them as books, but in a number of cases they are excerpts or essays or something short of a book. But this is quibbling. They are a nice price and the design of the books is superb. The size of them makes them perfect for short trips. And since there are so many of them, you are bound to find at least one that you want to read. For more info, see Great Ideas – Penguin Books
Smart People I Know 
Indeed, they are the best. I have a goal to read all of them within the next 365 days. Is that ambitious?
(BTW: Currently reading Friedrich Nietzsche “Man Alone With Himself”. And looking forward to George Orwell’s “Why I Write”.
What a great idea! Perhaps you should blog about it as you go along. For example, check out this tumble log: 52books.tumblr.com to see how somehow had a similar project. People would benefit from your comments on the books, and you would benefit from being able to go back and see what you enjoyed and accomplished!
Good luck!