posted
The vast majority of the population considers reading an optional time-passing activity. Some even say that it is a mark of laziness; they reference the old saying "Idle hands are the Devil's playground."
I, however, believe otherwise. Books are a tool for mankind, chronicling our history; our mistakes and our successes, victories and losses. They allow, perhaps more than any other media, the expansion of the mind. This expansion not only means a gain of "knowledge," but a stimulis for creativity and overall cognitive abilities.
With this in mind, I present a small but ever-growing list of books that provide a means for the betterment of the mind. While many appear to be dry lecture material, this peels away on a second glance. Take Isaac Asimov's I, Robot, for example. On the surface it appears to be a brief sci-fi story about aritificial intelligence. Upon a closer examination, however, it reveals itself to be a stunningly insightful commentary on the Human mentality. From Mrs. Weston's blatant bigotry to the more subtle statements made by the intricacies yielded by the Three Laws which make robots better humans than humans themselves, I, Robot shows the details of humanity that we may never think about because of society's unspoken consensus.
So, without further ado, the List:
VoltaireCandide Dante AlighieriThe Inferno Aldous HuxleyBrave New World Isaac AsimovI, Robot Plato The Republic George Orwell 1984 Joseph HellerCatch 22 Fyodor Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment Thomas Pynchon The Crying of Lot 49 Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 Karl Marx The Communist Manifesto (Left Blank for a good reason) The Holy Bible (Left Blank for a good reason) The Qu'ran (Left Blank for a good reason) The Book of Mormon (Left Blank for a good reason)Most other religious texts. Why? For the vast majority of humanity, it forms the basis of moral and social structure.
This list is far from complete. There are many literary aficionados that peruse this sight, and I am requesting your input.
Note that I am not asking for your favorite novel or anything of the like. If that is what I wanted, then Mario Puzo'sThe Godfather would most certainly grace the list.
The full list, which is being constantly updated from over 5 input sources, is on my site: www.xanga.com/lot49
[ April 22, 2004, 09:36 PM: Message edited by: HRE ]
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posted
Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut. Gandhi's autobiography. Lonesome Dove, By Larry McMurtry. Of Human Bondage, By W. Somerset Maughm.
The entire Calvin and Hobbes collection, as well.
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posted
Why Farenheit 451? I've never read it. What's it about? Just curious. My kids had to read it for high school, but they never said anything about it when they were reading it.
posted
Also, I'm not looking for Twain et al...I do not wish to stray into popular sci-fi either. I want books that truly make one think.
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posted
Kat, did you like the Life of Pi? I've been thinking of picking it up and I think that you and I have relatively the same taste...so maybe I will now.
Other books to definitely read:
The Screwtape Letters CS Lewis Nicholas Nickleby Charles Dickens Little Women Louisa May Alcott Anne of Green Gables L.M. Montgomery
Those last two are a must even if you ARE a guy. They're just so well done in every way.
posted
For a book that will make you think about capitalist corruption and the horrid effects on society from the mother-infant relationship all the way through international politics, a must read is:
The Politics of Breastfeeding by Gabrielle Palmer.
Shan (well, everyone else is, why can't I?)
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posted
man, I've only read about a third of the books posted so far, and have only heard of half of the others.
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posted
I've heard that Les Mis is only worth reading if you read it in french. Having read it in english I have to say that I don't consider it required reading by any stretch of the imagination in that language.
You know, my dad was a librarian and as soon as he got married he started putting together a library full of the books he thought his children should read. By the time I came around the number totalled over 4000. Sadly, they were all given away when we moved across the country.
It's definately something I want to do for my children, should I ever have any.
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posted
Okay, I'd take off religious texts from that list because they are simply too long - only parts are needed. I'd also (and this is treasonous, I know) not include the Republic, because I think a lot of people would just plain not like it (or understand it if they weren't reading carefully). I'd base my list not only on importance but also on accessibility and readability for the average reader.
Here's my list:
Nonfiction: The Apology by Plato Meditations on First Philosophy by Descartes The Prince by Machiavelli On Liberty by Mill Second Treatise on Government by Locke The Declaration of Independence The Communist Manefesto The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Kuhn The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Goffman Jihad vs. McWorld by Barber Genesis At least one of the four Gospels The Art of War by Sun-Tzu
Fiction: Odyssey Aeneid Romeo and Juliet Macbeth Hamlet Don Quixote Great Expectations or David Copperfield Les Miserables (abridged is okay) Brave New World 1984 Animal Farm The Lord of the Flies To Kill A Mockingbird Tom Sawyer Huckleberry Finn The Lord of the Rings Dune Siddhartha Catch-22 At least one Harry Potter book At least one book by Roald Dahl At least one book by Dr. Seuss
And probably a bunch of other stuff that I haven't read or can't think of now...
And yes, I'd contend all of these make you think. Particularly the Dr. Seuss.
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posted
Harry Potter? Lord of the Rings? Yes, they may make you consider, but that is not the "think" I am shooting for.
Posts: 515 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams
It doesn't make you think; it makes it so you don't have to. It made sense out of so much nonsense that only religious works could be considered decent competition.
quote:Also, I'm not looking for Twain et al...[] I want books that truly make one think.
Doesn't Twain make you think? Even if it doesn't make you think now, it definitely made people think when it was first published. Or are you only talking about "authors that were good when they were underground"?
posted
I thought you wanted insight on the human mentality? Both Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter do an excellent job of that.
Posts: 2432 | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
Hmmm...let me clarify, to the best of my abilities. I am looking for books that give you mental stimulation, that require you to think, imagine, and philosophize on your own, especially about mankind or society. I may be wrong, but I do not think that the mass-produced, form-fed Harry Potter books match this. While Lord of the Rings is an excellent work of fiction, by far one of my favorites, I don't think that it fits here anymore than the DragonRiders series would.
Huckleberry Finn and some of Twain's other works I could agree with. What I mean by that comment is that I'm not looking for your American Literature Summer reading list.
I never said that sci-fi is not to be included. Again, I need to clarify. Everyone has a favorite novel. I do not want them. Unless, of course, they fit the above description.
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posted
If, on the other hand, you're really interested in smart sounding books so chicks while talk to you while you read them in the coffee shop while sipping your specialty coffee, Harry Potter will probably attract a wider audience than Lord of the Rings.
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Why would "I, Robot" or "The Inferno" make you philosophize more than Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings?
The Lord of the Rings is about the human individual's desire for adventure, as well as the nature and character of good and evil. It's hard to miss these themes as you read through.
Harry Potter is about identity and belonging, the value of imagination, and (like many hero tales) the difference between vice and virtue. It's comparable (although it gives very different answers to these questions) to books like The Catcher in the Rye or The Chosen which follow young protagonists along similar (although less fantastical) journeys.
I think you may be looking for books in which intellectualist authors have attempted to insert hidden messages and meaning. However, that would overlook those stories in which powerful messages and meaning is more naturally included just by the sheer power of the story itself - a greater feat I think, as it's not so hard to insert your opinion into a novel.
posted
So you're looking for books that approach human society from a philosophical/theological/scientific point of view? (also, what xaposerT said about intellectual authors inserting their world views into the stories)
How about Camus' The Stranger?
Also, I second Of Human Bondage (although I don't know if it belongs on the list 100%). It's truly a masterpiece.
posted
Incidently... The Prince, Meditations on First Philosophy, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Animal Farm, Don Quioxte, and The Lord of the Flies are DEFINITELY the sort of books you are looking for, even if not the others on my list.
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A book that engaged me as a youngster (dunno how appropriate it is for any audience as I haven' read it since 5th grade) was "My Side of the Mountain."
Actually, on that note, now that I've mentioned it, is this the kind of thing I'd go back and hate upon reading it as an adult? (like the star wars phenom?) Anyone happen to know?
posted
I would like to contend for Les Miserables, unabridged, in English as I cannot read French. If one is looking for a nice plot and such, the abridged version is fine, and the unabridged version is both annoying and boring. However, if one approaches the unabridged version as a treatise on human nature and the inherent problems of society, it is truly amazing definitely one hundred percent belongs. As for the English, I read an old translation, it might have been the original, but I can't remember, and it was still an amazing book. I can't compare it to reading it in French, as I haven't, but the English is just fine.
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posted
It sound like HRE should be polling lit majors, not the general population of Hatrack.
I have read about half, or maybe slightly more than half of the books mentioned (I told you I read a lot), and I do understand what you mean when you say that you aren't looking for a favorites list. Every person has a list of favorites, and the lists never, ever agree. The last list of influential (I think that is what you are aiming for) books I saw was the list(s) published in 2000-2001, and the list(s) included most of the books already mentioned.
In all three of the lists LOTR was the number one choice, must to the dismay of Collage Lit elitists everywhere.
I found many of the so-called classics a bore, both for their poor writing styles as for their pedantic preachings. It is easy to forget that most of these books were written hundreds of years ago, and were the first of their types, or nearly the first...and they have been imitated so often (and poorly) that they often seem cheesy and ring false.
Dumas was an original, but how many rip-offs of COMC has the modern reader been subjected to these days? Too many to count. Every detective story seems to remind me of Doyles books, and if one more person tells me how wonderful it can be to be completely selfish I will kill Ayn Rand myself (that is if she wasn't already dead).
I,Robot was pulp fiction when it was written, and Tom Sawyer (and Huck Finn) were lambasted when first released. A Brave New World never even contemplated computers or Nuclear Power.
All "classics" must stand the test of time, and the scorn of "intellectuals". Not all that glitters is gold, either. Some of the so-called classics don't ring true to me, but that is as it should be.
My point was that any book, from almost any genre, can make you think. If it doesn't, the problem is with your mental skills, not necessarily with the book itself.
Most classic lit is passed down from teacher to student because it made an impression on the teacher (long before elitest sentiments could have set in). Same goes for SF (see "I, Robot").
fallow
PS "thanks to Mr. G. for opening my eyes"
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posted
Here's my contribution for now. Some of these are books I read in an honor seminar called "The Quest for Wisdom" in college. Others are just books and stories that resonated and made me think.
- Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse - I Ching - Tau te Ching - the entire Twilight Zone opus, by Rod Serling - Night, by Elie Weisel - I, Rigoberta Menchu, by Rigoberta Menchu - Black Elk Speaks, translated by John Neihardt - Autobiography of a Face, by Lucy Grealy - On the Road, by Jack Kerouac - Maus, by Art Spiegelman - Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
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posted
Everyone should be required to read Le Petit Prince about every five years beginning at age twenty. Posts: 4292 | Registered: Jan 2001
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I also nominate the play A Man For All Seasons I forgot who wrote it? Anyway...it's about Sir Thomas More.
Posts: 25 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I disagree, fallow. A lot of my teachers seemed to think that because it had been on the "list" for so many years, it MUST be good. When I began to disagree they basically told me that I should stop thinking and just take their word for it....not in so many words, btu that was the just of it. Whenever I came up with a new take on meanings, or symbolism, they would say "Well if that were true, then someone would have thought of it years ago." (yes that is an actual quote!).
Intellectual snobbery is alive and well, and mores the pity.
Also, I DO like quite a bit of the classics; it just seems to me that if Tom Sawyer, or A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court made me think, then they should be included, and they are in my list.
It just seemed he was saying "Well, anything that makes you think. Except vulgar, popular things like LOTR, Twain; but I, Robot and Brave New World are OK because they are MY picks. Any book at all, but not...."
posted
I don't think I do see, kwea, or, at least, that wasn't my experience. I had some teachers/profs that tossed out "standards" as readings of the week, but I also had teachers who just heaped on the reading material, I think, hoping that the student would learn to read, critically, and hopefully take something home, whether it was their (the teacher's) philosophy or something they (the students) found themselves within that mountains of text.
posted
Moby Dick Herman Melville The Holcroft Covenant Robert Ludlum Social Forces Edward T. Devine The Court and the Constitution Archibald Cox Take a Chance to be First Warren Avis The Gospel of the Redman Ernest & Julia Seton Human Destiny Lecomte du Nouy Dante's Divine Comedy Trans.: Rev. Henry Cary Discovering Matthew Ed: Floyd Thatcher Does Anybody Have a Problem With That? Bill Maher Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined Drew Carey Great Dialogues of Plato Rouse Fugitive from The Cubicle Police Scott Adams Seven Years of Highly Defective People Scott Adams Leadership Prayers Richard Kriegbaum They Call Me Sparky Sparky Anderson & Dan Ewald
Wow, I know that's not all of the literature I own, but those are some of the most mind provoking books I have. Aside from Louis L'amour, OSC, Ben Bova, and much more. My book list is still incomplete. I'm behind by about four years on my list. I need to update it someday.
Posts: 2208 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Man, I smelled all the pretentiousness through my computer, somehow.
Anyway, Atlas Shrugged is absolutely required reading whether or not you like it. The fact that it's a great story aside, the Library of Congress ranks it right behind The Bible in its list of most influential books of all time.
And so far, I'm the only one on Hatrack who will admit to enjoying it. It's easily in my top 5. As is The Fountainhead.
And I'll second (or third) Catch-22 and Siddhartha.
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quote: While Lord of the Rings is an excellent work of fiction, by far one of my favorites, I don't think that it fits here anymore than the DragonRiders series would.
I can see what you're saying with regards to being able to find intellectual stimulation from basically any book. Anything can make you think, not just the prescribed books that civilization seems to think are *important*.
However, there are certain books that are inherently more thought provoking than others. For instance, the Lord of the Flies speaks far more to the human condition than does the novelization of the movie Underworld, for instance.
What HRE is trying to get at, I think, is an "agreed upon" list (as far as that's even possible) of books that get at the essence of the human spirit and the meaning of human existence. "Required" reading in a sense of books that help to provide a better sense of self, and of one's place in the world. Books that make you a more complete person for having read them.
To that end, certain great books fall short of the cut. Tolkien is a great read, and the books are chock full of literary symbolism and all manner of ponderables. However, one doesn't come away from the trilogy with any sort of new worldview or greater philosophical understanding of self, or of the human condition.
Contrarily, let's look at one you disparaged. Brave New World, though somewhat dated in terms of available technology, has become even *more* thought provoking and apropos in a world where such genetic manipulation of embryos is more and more possible and where sexual mores have lessened considerably. It's disturbing how closely Huxley's world parallels our own, even more now than when it was written. Does this mean it's as fun and exciting as LotR? Not at all. But BNW is far more likely to force a reader to examine the world around them and their place in it than LotR is.
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