Microwave Posted July 6, 2014 Posted July 6, 2014 I apologize if a similar thread exists already, but I couldn't find one. Do you have any book recommendations? What are some of your favorites? What are some must read books? Thanks!
500 Posted July 6, 2014 Posted July 6, 2014 What parameters are you looking for (entertainment, self-help, education, ect)?
NameName Posted July 6, 2014 Posted July 6, 2014 Depends on what your reading level is. Fiction or non-Fiction, what genres? My favourite are the "My Side of the Mountain" series by Jean Craighead George
Demosthenes_ Posted July 6, 2014 Posted July 6, 2014 If you want a short read "The Great Gatsby" or "The Tao of Pooh." If you want a medium length read "We the Living", "Pride and Prejudice", "Age of Innosence" or "Native Son." For a long read I would go with "War and Peace", "Mein Kampf" or "The Bible." I do not necessarily agree with everything the books suggest, but they all make you think.
Kevin Beal Posted July 7, 2014 Posted July 7, 2014 Non-fiction books that I think are important The Origins of War in Child Abuse by Lloyd DeMause The Drama of the Gifted Child by Alice Miller On Truth: The Tyranny of Illusion by Stef-dawg Real-Time Relationships: The Logic of Love also by Stef Dawg Mind, Language and Society: Philosophy in the Real World by John Searle Blink by Malcolm Gladwell What Our Mothers Didn't Tell Us by Danielle Crittenden Breaking from Your Parents by Daniel Mackler
jpahmad Posted July 7, 2014 Posted July 7, 2014 For god's sake, will someone read The Magus and discuss it with me?! 1
Microwave Posted July 8, 2014 Author Posted July 8, 2014 Thanks for all the great suggestions so far! I know my question was pretty broad, but I don't necessarily have specific parameters; just anything that you think is a great book (whether you agree or not with the message, fiction/non-fiction, any genre, etc.). I went through most of my life not reading too many books, and I really want to start reading more. I'd rather delve right in and be as efficient as possible by getting to the best books first. I'm going to make a spreadsheet and put each suggestion in it. Thanks again!
mangodrink Posted July 18, 2014 Posted July 18, 2014 Welllllllllllllll... since you didn't specify I'll try and list some of each genre.Non-fiction: Fingerprints of the Gods(ancient civilization speculatory type book), Lost City of Z(guy gets obsessed with old timey explorer Percy Fawcett and his idea of there being a formerly huge city within the Amazon rainforest. Very interesting.) Regular fiction: The Brothers Karamazov or basically anything by Dostoevsky. He's kinda a good writer. Atlas Shrugged because if you are a human you should read this book.Fantasy: Malazan Book of the Fallen(this series is 10 books long, 9 of which are massive tomes. But if you're interested at all in fantasy this is as good as it gets) Sci-fi: The Forever War(vietnam in space. Probably still the best sci-fi novel I've read. Fairly quick read as well), Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy(good mostly harmless fun)
StylesGrant Posted July 18, 2014 Posted July 18, 2014 William Gibson's books Blood Meridian and other books by Cormac McCarthy Crime and Punishment Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Goeth's Faust The Omnivore's Dilemma Starved and Stuffed The hidden battle for the world food systems The Heretic's Guide to Global Finance
Clay Posted July 18, 2014 Posted July 18, 2014 The Moons is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein is an excellent sci-fi book about a Lunar Society engaging in a Libertarian Revolution against the Governments of Earth, in the future.
Brentb Posted July 18, 2014 Posted July 18, 2014 I highly recommend these by Stef: Everyday Anarchy Practical Anarchy Real Time Relationships On Truth Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville - this is one of the most brilliant pieces of political science literature. De Tocqueville visted the United States from France in the early 19th century on a commission to observe and report back on the U.S. prison system. In addition to that, he wrote his observations of American society as a whole, and the problems that it would likely see. It gives a vision of what a society with a very small or no government looks like, while also giving the prophesy of where we are today. "The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money." "Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom." "The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens." “What good does it do me, after all, if an ever-watchful authority keeps an eye out to ensure that my pleasures will be tranquil and races ahead of me to ward off all danger, sparing me the need even to think about such things, if that authority, even as it removes the smallest thorns from my path, is also absolute master of my liberty and my life; if it monopolizes vitality and existence to such a degree that when it languishes, everything around it must also languish; when it sleeps, everything must also sleep; and when it dies, everything must also perish?There are some nations in Europe whose inhabitants think of themselves in a sense as colonists, indifferent to the fate of the place they live in. The greatest changes occur in their country without their cooperation. They are not even aware of precisely what has taken place. They suspect it; they have heard of the event by chance. More than that, they are unconcerned with the fortunes of their village, the safety of their streets, the fate of their church and its vestry. They think that such things have nothing to do with them, that they belong to a powerful stranger called “the government.” They enjoy these goods as tenants, without a sense of ownership, and never give a thought to how they might be improved. They are so divorced from their own interests that even when their own security and that of their children is finally compromised, they do not seek to avert the danger themselves but cross their arms and wait for the nation as a whole to come to their aid. Yet as utterly as they sacrifice their own free will, they are no fonder of obedience than anyone else. They submit, it is true, to the whims of a clerk, but no sooner is force removed than they are glad to defy the law as a defeated enemy. Thus one finds them ever wavering between servitude and license.When a nation has reached this point, it must either change its laws and mores or perish, for the well of public virtue has run dry: in such a place one no longer finds citizens but only subjects.” It's kind sobering to read de Tocqueville's words, since he was almost like the Molyneux of the 1840's and in the end though, de Tocqueville's work and observations seem to have made no difference.
Raquel Posted July 22, 2014 Posted July 22, 2014 *The Psychology of Man´s Possible Evolution *The Death of Ivan Ilych *Crime and Punishment *Integral Spirituality *The China Study *Freedom from the known *Zorba the Greek
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