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Post a book you think everyone should read and say why

Lark

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Fear of Freedom Eric Fromm - I think perhaps people could get a greater insight into themselves and others and stop being assholes and understand what is going on when others continue being assholes.

Our Friends on Frolix Eight PKD - More ideas to the page than I've encountered in many other sci fi books but amidst all that there's a great love triangle and good material on a lot of mundanities, hopes for your kids, obsessive turns, disillusionment with systems or individuals or love and a kind of artificial environment existential turn. Really good entertainment which resonates.
 

ThatsWhatHeSaid

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The Naked Ape - Human Ethologist Desmond Morris connects animal behavior and human behavior. It'll completely change the way you see people and understand society. It helps you wake up to your surroundings. A good way to become more aware of what's happening. Amusing and easy to read.

The World As I See It - It's been referred to as Albert Einstein's autobiography, but it's not. It's a collection of essays, letters, and speeches Einstein authored throughout his life. He shares his views on life, religion, science, pacifism, Zionism, Jewish people, the bomb, and society. The writing is crystal clear and brilliant and all the ideas are still very very relevant. Einstein was so articulate that reading his ideas is kind of like admiring a great work of architecture in the way it's structured and held together. It's magnificent and changes the way you see conflict. It forced me to reassess my values.

The Wisdom of Insecurity - Alan Watts, Buddhist Philanderer, wrote this. He explains what Buddhism is and what it strives for and why. Some of it is esoteric, but much of it is explained very very well with the help of poignant analogies and simple language. He causes you to rethink what you know about people and psychology. This is not a self-help book. It does not teach you how to meditate but will give you great clues and a great feel for it.

Watts will change your perspective on the individual. Einstein will change your perspective on society. Morris will change your perspective on the human race.
 

Aquarelle

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The Racial Contract - Charles W Mills. I copied my reason from Amazon because it's too early for coherent thought and I haven't finished my coffee yet, plus this guy says it better than I ever could:
"It centrally elucidates the ways in which the social contract has unspoken suppositions which in actuality make it a handshake between whites to exploit the lands, labors and bodies of nonwhites.... Mills places his theory firmly within the liberal conception of rights and so explores the ways in which such rights (as to life and labors) have been systematically alienated from nonwhites."
 

KDude

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Please Kill Me - Legs McNeil - Because most people won't live a depraved rock n roll lifestyle (nor should)... but it's kind of funny to read about.

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian - Robert E Howard - Most of REH's original short stories. Serves as a contrast to high fantasy literature. I think Howard's take on that setting is kind of lost.. it's somewhat more hopeless. I prefer fantasy, but Howard's style is kind of interesting too. For stark, living fear, what other writer is even in the running with Robert E Howard? - HP Lovecraft
 

BRMC117

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zombie survival guide- Max Brooks

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For one its a really easy, fast and entertaining read. I found my self falling into each scenario that he would describe. Just love this book.
 

Vie

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I wouldn't necessarily say it is a must read, but I did immensely enjoy the series.
Dennis Lehane's Patrick Kenzie series -- moral ambiguity is this guy's specialty. At the end of each book, you can't help but question your own morals and ethics. Really fucks with your head.
 

Saslou

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I'm going to say the book i'm currently reading .. How long is now? by Tim Freke

It talks about how we live our story based on the concepts we have assigned to our life. He tries to bring another element into it regarding the mystery of life and reality. It's about awakening our consciousness.

Quote .. When i put the mystery of existence into a conceptual box, the magic goes. I stop loving my life and i start just getting on with it .When i step out of my story and into the mystery, it's as if i've suddenly remembered that i'm alive again, and i find myself falling in love with everything and everyone.
I'm conscious of the mystery now, and all of my superficial judgements are dissolving.


:D
 

SecondBest

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Don't know if everyone should be reading it, but it's far and away one of the most truth-saturated books I've ever read.

Simone Weil - Gravity and Grace. The heart of ethics and metaphysics fused into a book of very intense aphorisms.

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Close second is the Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu (Stephen Mitchell) - Pretty much for the same reasons. Beautiful translation.

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miss fortune

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The Joy of Cooking (I'm quite fond of my 75th Anniversary Edition :wubbie:)

The New Joy of Sex (2008 Edition)... because I beleive that everyone should be educated from an early age about how to have safe sex and that it's not a taboo and dirty thing :heart:
 

human101

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voltaire : Philosophical dictionary
Some satirical essays against several aspects of religion ahead of its time written in the 18th century.
 

burymecloser

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A book? A book? How about I name 10, in no particular order, and cut myself off there?

You'll find that I'm biased toward fiction. I don't believe there's any lesson about humanity that can't be taught more effectively and more interestingly by a talented fiction writer.

=====

The Analects of Confucius - There is an enormous amount of wisdom collected here. If you've never read this, you're really short-changing yourself. Fortune cookies got nothing on this.

The Bible - There is a lot of wisdom collected here -- the Sermon on the Mount alone -- and there is no one who won't benefit from understanding Christian scripture. This is almost certainly the most influential book ever written.

The Qur'an - Similarly, it is immensely valuable to understand Muslim scripture, particularly in the context of contemporary arguments about what is and is not religiously required of Muslims. The Hadith is a good idea for the same reason.

The Iliad - Apart from the Christian Bible, probably the most influential piece of literature ever written. Almost everything you've ever read was directly or indirectly influenced by this in some way.

All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque - The greatest war novel ever written, and the greatest novel of any kind I have ever read. No matter what you believe, it should change the way you think about war. If I really was picking just one book, this would probably be it.

The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien - An accessible epic about love, war, and the end of magic. A devastatingly effective parable its author always insisted wasn't really a parable. It's inspiring, depressing, fantastic, realistic, touching, heart-breaking, and substantially different than the movies. As a side note, I despise Peter Jackson. He is a shitty director, and I am not willing to allow for a difference of opinion on this. If you think otherwise, you're a fucking moron and I hope you choke on a celery stick.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey - Mock if you must, but there are a lot of really good ideas here. Since this is a typology forum, though, I'll post the caveat that I'm not sure how realistic it is for certain types to take the advice herein, even if they recognise the advice as good.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde - As a parable, it's a little heavy-handed, though the metaphor is striking and easy to understand, and the moral is a positive one. Wilde's prose is wonderfully clever, and his characters are superb. Lord Henry is one of my favourite characters from any work of fiction.

Republic, by Plato - Without any doubt, the most brilliant piece of literature in human history. Anyone with the most meager interest in politics and/or human nature should read this. Take your fucking time, though -- really absorb what the author is teaching you, and be prepared to wade through a lot of metaphor.

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley - Scarier and more prophetic than 1984. Permit me to quote the foreword of Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse In The Age Of Show Business.
We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn't, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.

But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another -- slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preocuppied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny 'failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions.' In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.

This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.
Nothing is more important than making sure we understand who is really in control and what is really happening as a consequence.
 

human101

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Bertrand Russell - Why Im Not A Christian
Brave piece of work considering his background and the time he produced it. Has the famous russell v copleston radio debates which you can listen to on youtube.
 

Lark

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You've listed less fiction than fact, why do you think you're biased towards fiction?
 

burymecloser

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You've listed less fiction than fact, why do you think you're biased towards fiction?
Is this to me? The Covey is non-fiction, the first three I guess it depends on your POV, the rest are fiction. That's at least 60% fiction by my count.

Also, I devour fiction and I very seldom read full-length non-fiction books.
 

zoossii

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Anything by Kurt Vonnegut. His best novels, however, are generally considered to be Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast Of Champions, and Cat's Cradle. They're generally quick reads and offer a zany bag of satire and commentary on society, government, etc, and surprisingly enough it doesn't come across as complete blather. Intriguing and entertaining at the same time. Also pretty good anti-war fiction.
 

DJAchtundvierzig

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The Glass Castle (A Memoir) by Jeannette Walls

I can't think of any reason to read it except for the fact it is a great book and truly inspirational.
 

r.a

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Anything by Kurt Vonnegut. His best novels, however, are generally considered to be Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast Of Champions, and Cat's Cradle. They're generally quick reads and offer a zany bag of satire and commentary on society, government, etc, and surprisingly enough it doesn't come across as complete blather. Intriguing and entertaining at the same time. Also pretty good anti-war fiction.

YES!!

Sirens of Titan is my favorite novel.

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Geek Love would be my second favorite novel.

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^this book broke my heart and i loved every second of it.

my main suggestion, (especially to the know-it-alls and assumption-makers who flood this site) would be The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz.

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read, understand and practice the ideas brought forth in this short and simple book and life will become much easier.

i probably need to read that shit again, too.
 

Neutralpov

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I just read The Four Agreements yesterday and I highly recommend it as well. Especially for feelers.
 
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