• Welcome to League Of Reason Forums! Please read the rules before posting.
    If you are willing and able please consider making a donation to help with site overheads.
    Donations can be made via here

** STICKY ** Suggested Reading

mknorman

New Member
arg-fallbackName="mknorman"/>
Hi All,

This is just a place to put any books you'd recommend or, I guess, specifically recommend against. Try to keep your contributions novel, interesting, or otherwise relevant.

Oh, and do have a quick look-around to see if your favorite has already been recommended a gazillion times. Feel free to 'second' other's suggestions if it will add to the discussion, but possibly refrain from doing so if the title in question has already been seconded a bunch of times.

In other words, use your best judgment.

Or else!
 
arg-fallbackName="mknorman"/>
Re: Recommended reading

And, the reason why I made this thread:

Extracted from theowarner's vid:

The Genealogy of Morals
Beyond Good and Evil
The Gay Science
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Ecce Homo
The Will to Power
The Anti-Christ

theo says: "[T]hey are foundational reading for anyone interested in surviving modernity."

I've read BG&E, EH, TGoM, and 1/2 of TSZ. I'd reccommend BG&E first, just because it is the most approachable. EH was fun for Nietzsche's egotism, and useful for his summaries of his works. The first two chapters TGoM were very approachable, but the third, On Ascetic Ideals, was a bit of a rough go. TSZ is a trip.

Theo liked TWtP. My instinct is to avoid it until you've read the others, as it is a posthumous compilation of his notes assembled by his sister. As such, it contains things, so I'm told, that run counter to Nietzsche's philosophy. Nietzsche is difficult enough without that added confusion.

Oh, and get Penguin Classics of these where you can. The appendices are fantastic!
 
arg-fallbackName="PJDesseyn"/>
Re: **Sticky** Suggested Reading

A great, simple book on Evolution, for those who can read Dutch:
"Kaas & de evolutietheorie" by Bas Haring.

I doubt there's an English version, but if there is, then it translates into "Cheese and the evolution theory"

It's a simple, down-to-Earth explanation of Evolution, without invoking complex science that nobody understands. Great to recommend to the younger audience (12-18?)
 
arg-fallbackName="acerba"/>
Re: **Sticky** Suggested Reading

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontà«.
The Ender books from Orson Scott Card.
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice.
Story of O by Pauline Réage. It should be noted that the Story of O is NSFW and is probably something you wouldn't want your parents to know you read.
The Conan stuff by Robert E. Howard.
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein.
The Visit by Friedrich Dà¼rrenmatt.
Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind.
And, of course, the obligatory Shakespeare recommendation. Othello, Hamlet, and Much Ado About Nothing are my favorites.

I've also heard good things about the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett, but I haven't gotten around to reading them.
 
arg-fallbackName="desertedcities"/>
Re: **Sticky** Suggested Reading

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Ben Franklin (duh)
Reflections on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind - Herder
Treatise on Human Nature - Hume
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding - Locke
Common Sense - Paine
Essay on Man - Pope
The Social Contract - Rousseau
Democracy in America - de Tocqueville
The New Science - Vico
Candide - Voltaire
The Human Comedy - Balzac
Faust - Goethe
The Philosophy of History - Hegel
Critique of Judgment - Kant
The World as Will and Idea - Schopenhauer
The Ring of Nibelungen - Wagner
Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky
Remembrance of Things Past - Proust
The Act of Creation - Koestler
 
arg-fallbackName="Sir Pwn4lot"/>
desertedcities said:
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Ben Franklin (duh)
Wouldn't it make it a biography if he wrote it? Pedant alert!

The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene

If you don't know how to get your foot into the door as far as theoretical physics is concerned this is a good place to start. I'd recommend it to anyone from senior school to tertiary student. I read this little number when I was in year 8, and I've recently re-read the thing, it's what got me interested into Physics.

Letter to a Christian Nation - Sam Harris

A timeless classic. I'm always admired Harris' less condescending attitude towards theists, he just get's straight to the point and doesn't bother with any of the insults. Beware this isn't going to make you feel necessarily superior to Christians or anything, at least not to the degree that Dawkins will, but it's a good read none-the-less.

The Blind Watchmaker - Richard Dawkins

Even though this was written a year before "Of Pandas and People" started replacing Creationism with Intelligent Design it still manages to destroy their entire argument, which is an epic accomplishment on Dawkins' part, but also a testimony to the fallacious nature of their hypothesis.

The Lord of the Rings Series

How can you not include LOTR on a book list? Even if you've seen the film you still must read the saga in it's original glory. I still don't get why they didn't just use Gandalf's huge eagle to fly them into Mount Doom in the first place but every story has it's problems I suppose.


The Harry Potter Series

The first real series of books I ever read. I was 8 years old and had already read the first 4, then the movie released. Not necessarily the most intelligent of books, but a good, nostaligic read none-the-less.

No Country For Old Men

Yes, I know it's a movie, and an excellent one at that. The character development is what makes it shine, yyou really feel for the characters. Also, the gore is nice.



Hope people can recommend me some.....
 
arg-fallbackName="Billah"/>
I very rarely read novels, but I read all of Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" yesterday and I thought it was amazing, I read all 460 pages in one sitting, definitely recommended.
 
arg-fallbackName="Aught3"/>
Sir Pwn4lot said:
desertedcities said:
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Ben Franklin (duh)
Wouldn't it make it a biography if he wrote it?
No.

A good reading list though, apart from the Harry Potter books which were crap. Especially the last few :x
 
arg-fallbackName="derkvanl"/>
acerba said:
The Ender books from Orson Scott Card.
I love them. Ender's game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide

I like to read trilogies I think :lol:

Null-A trilogy - AE van Vogt
Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, The Rise of Endymion - Dan Simmons
The Jesus incident, The Lazarus effect, The Ascension factor - Frank Herbert / Bill Ransom
Helliconia (spring, summer, winter) - Dan Simmons
 
arg-fallbackName="GegoXAREN"/>
Any thing that pops out of Alistair Reynolds ass...
The Revelation Space series are so good it hurts...
 
arg-fallbackName="5810Singer"/>
Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart, and Jack Cohen: The Science of Discworld Series.

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Science_of_Discworld

Briefly, the books alternate on a chapter by chapter basis between a fictional story by Terry Pratchett, and factual chapters written by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, which discuss the scientific/political/historical concepts raised by each previous chapter.

The books are very entertaining, highly informative, and full of eye-openers.

BTW here's some info about Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stewart_(mathematician)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Cohen_(scientist)
 
arg-fallbackName="MaliceJones"/>
Even though I get a lot of feminist bashing for it, I have to go with my foreposters in recommending Nietzsche.

Not much has delighted me like Ecce Homo, the first and recent thing I read by him, and I intend to take on the Zarathustra next. It is very refreshing to read someone who does not apologize for being intelligent, who dares to and sees his purpose in offense and does not defend himself all the time.
And should any female readers care to discuss it, I shall willingly provide my take :cool:

Other than that, I love Hermann Hesse's Glassperlenspiel (Glass Bead Game), but I don't know about the translation, I'm afraid. As I am a translator by profession, I'm quite aware of the detrimental effects that translations can have on the impression a text makes.

Other writers I love and recommend:

- Alex Haley (e.g. The Autobiography of Malcolm X)
- James Baldwin (Another Country)
- Richard Powers (Galatea 2.2)
- Margaret Atwood (Oryx and Crake)
- Tim O'Brien (The things they carried)
- Bill Bryson (The complete Notes)
and Stephen Clarke (A year in the Merde). For the fun of it ;)
 
arg-fallbackName="Cafeeine"/>
Isaac Asimov, "I, Robot" specifically but really anything of his is good.

Robert A. Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love"

Jerry Coyne's "Why Evolution is True"
 
arg-fallbackName="MRaverz"/>
Bill Bryson - A short history of nearly everything,
Matt Ridley - Genome,
George Orwell - 1984,
 
arg-fallbackName="infectingthecrypts"/>
Re: Recommended reading

mknorman said:
And, the reason why I made this thread:

Extracted from theowarner's vid:

The Genealogy of Morals
Beyond Good and Evil
The Gay Science
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Ecce Homo
The Will to Power
The Anti-Christ

theo says: "[T]hey are foundational reading for anyone interested in surviving modernity."

I've read BG&E, EH, TGoM, and 1/2 of TSZ. I'd reccommend BG&E first, just because it is the most approachable. EH was fun for Nietzsche's egotism, and useful for his summaries of his works. The first two chapters TGoM were very approachable, but the third, On Ascetic Ideals, was a bit of a rough go. TSZ is a trip.

Theo liked TWtP. My instinct is to avoid it until you've read the others, as it is a posthumous compilation of his notes assembled by his sister. As such, it contains things, so I'm told, that run counter to Nietzsche's philosophy. Nietzsche is difficult enough without that added confusion.

Oh, and get Penguin Classics of these where you can. The appendices are fantastic!


Forgot Twilight of the Idols.

And to all: I'd recommend getting the Kaufmann translations and Kaufmann's "Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist."
 
arg-fallbackName="tangoen"/>
I would suggest "Day of the Triffids" John Wyndham or "Spin" Robert Charles Wilson for good sci fi novels.
 
arg-fallbackName="lrkun"/>
I suggest the following books:

1. Being Logical by D.Q. McInery
2. This is Water by David Foster Wallace
3. The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (I think this is available on the net, but a book is neat to have).
 
Back
Top