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Good Books?

I've always liked The Series Of Unfortunate Events...series. XD

But I really love the Maximum Ride Series by James Patterson.

Go human-avian hybrids, haha.

-Terywj
 
GBH713 said:
Can someone recommend a few introductory-level logic and/or philosophy books?
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bertrand russell's history of western philosophy is really good. he's a funny dude, and a very sensible one - and he's one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century, so he's speaking from a position of knowledge. he wrote it during the second world war, so he doesn't get into anything past dewey. (there's a chapter on logical analysis, but no wittgenstein yet, which is a great shame. and there's nothing on frege, and for some reason he completely skips over kierkegaard? odd, because i feel like kierkegaard should appeal to russell.)

it's a long read, and it can be very dry (the section on medieval and catholic philosophy is a slog), but i don't know of any work that offers a more sensible, critical and, where biased, openly biased view of philosophy. there isn't any worship in russell's writing, if there's a hole in a philosopher's logic, he will tear it wide open.

you will also want to read something to cover kierkegaard, wittgenstein, sartre, derrida, quine, russell himself, and a few other important dudes so maybe a primer on 20th century philosophy will suit your needs. a lot of critics believe (to a large extent i agree) that russell pretty severely misunderstands or misrepresents kant, so read some other sources on him.

don't be daunted, the study of philosophy is going to completely change your way of thinking and your critical thinking abilities. nothing is more worthwhile than acquiring at least a cursory knowledge of its history.


ANYWAY this seems like a good time to say: hey akuchi! once you said schopenhauer was a cunt, and i said "hey schopenhauer wasn't a cunt :(" guess what, turns out he was a total cunt

dude pushed an old woman down a flight of stairs because she was in his way

i rescind my poor past judgments re: schopenhauer, akuchi
 
A million little pieces- James Frey (Very interesting although fabricated memoir)
Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser (I'm not a big fan of the demonization of corporations, but it is nice to read investigative journalism once in a while)

For a bit of classical stuff I want to read
Perpetual Peace- Emmanuel Kant
 
I'm reading The Complete Game by Ron Darling. So far it's a really well written baseball book about life on the pitching mound. Not only Met fans should enjoy this, but any baseball junkie should.
 
The Sword of Shanara (or something like that) was a good boo kI read about twoyears ago. Deals with magick, different human races, and some omniprescent evil guy whose name I can't recal. Still a good read, though.
 
I had to read the following books for my school's summer reading:

From Baghdad With Love ~ Jay Kopelman

Frankenstein ~ Mary Shelley

The Samurai's Garden ~ Gail Tsukiyama

All were good books. But Jay Kopelman's writing style kinda takes the enjoyment out of reading the book.
 
Personally, I enjoyed Unwind by Neil Schusterman to no end. It's a SciFi-esque piece with a lot of controversial subjects in it, such as the ethics of abortion and the existance of spirit. At the same time, it reads a lot like your standard action book. It's not incredibly long either; a bookworm like me can read it in two days, and an average reader can do it in a week.

Seconding The Neverending Story as well. Though some aspects of the second half can get annoying, the first half is very enjoyable.
 
A song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. Truly one of the greatest fantasy epics.

And yeah, pretty much anything by Stephen King, especially The Stand and The Shining.
 
Xia said:
The Sword of Shanara (or something like that) was a good boo kI read about twoyears ago. Deals with magick, different human races, and some omniprescent evil guy whose name I can't recal. Still a good read, though.
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In that series somewhere was one of the most graphic torture and murder scenes that I ever came across. It gave me horrible nightmares as a child.

It shows how good the author is, I guess.
 
House of the Scorpion is an easy reading filled with colorful dialogue; a cloned boy out of many is spared from being harvested for organs.
 
Fantasy/Nightmare said:
@Xia: House of the Scorpion was amazing. Saw it at the library yesterday and thought about rereading it.

I guess I should have said "refrain from mentioning well-known books." I just despise it when I ask someone for a suggestion and they say "I hear Twilight/Harry Potter/Da Vinci Code/[insert obvious book title here] was good."
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Is house of scorpion the one with the opiates and whatnot?
Because I was literally JUST trying to remember the name of THAT book to recommend it :(

Also Tom Robbins is one of my favorite authors, and jitterbug perfume is one of my favorite books.
Immortality, hot sex, perfume, mardi gras! 8D
And ya can't go wrong with Kurt Vonnegut - The Sirens of Titan actually made me bawl at the end. ;____;
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe is fantastic, it's quite popular and was even made into a movie but still is unknown compared to HP/Twilight so it's worth mentioning.
 
Thanks for that, Heartbreak. I've ordered A History of Western Philosophy. I've seen some books by the other people you recommended at my local library and online and I'll probably read them after I finish AHoWP. I've wanted to get into philosophy for a while but I was always unsure about where to start.
 
keep an eye out for these two (imperial comes out tomorrow!):

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Anything by Richard Laymon. He's definitely one of my favorite authors. He writes horror. Some of his stuff are just slashers, but some of them are more paranormal, like Resurrection Dreams That book's one of my favorites. Kinda reminds me of Pet Sematary by Stephen king though.

And I'll have to agree with Leonard. The House of the Scrorpion's an amazing book. I read it in 7th grade on vacation and it had a huge impact on me. It's really deep for a young adult book and symbolizes discrimination and shit. Even if it's below your reading level pick it up.
 
Frederick Coplestone's A History of Philosophy is generally considered the fairest and most complete history around. It's 11 volumes, so I wouldn't recommend it for 'light reading' (I haven't read any of it myself), but perhaps a library near you has some volumes of it. I suspect it neglects Heidegger, his interlocutors, and the structuralists (Lévi-Strauss and Saussure in particular), all of whom are essential for understanding such 'movements' as neopragmatism and post-structuralism, and, indeed, practically all subsequent developments in Continental philosophy.

Also, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy are excellent resources, although they lack articles on many subjects.
 
Bumping this thread because I'm making it a goal to read 100 books by the this time next year. I'm mostly looking for "classics" that everyone should have read or should read, but if you can get me some interesting non-fiction books, then that's fine too!

Obviously, I should list some books I enjoyed to make it easier. Here's a few off the top of my head: Grendel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Alchemist, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Count of Monte Cristo, No Longer Human, Clockwork Orange.
 
Tangerine said:
Bumping this thread because I'm making it a goal to read 100 books by the this time next year. I'm mostly looking for "classics" that everyone should have read or should read, but if you can get me some interesting non-fiction books, then that's fine too!

Obviously, I should list some books I enjoyed to make it easier. Here's a few off the top of my head: Grendel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Alchemist, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Count of Monte Cristo, No Longer Human, Clockwork Orange.
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absolutely admirable goal

this list will give you a broad grounding in the classics of western civilization that will benefit you for the rest of your life

and most of them are pretty fun to read!

homer odyssey, iliad
plato republic, the four books comprising the trial and death of socrates, etc. you could probably cover the complete works of plato, most of his books are very, very short and easy-reading.
aristotle nicomachean ethics, poetics, physics, metaphysics (again, all rather short)
virgil aeneid
malory le morte d'arthur
milton paradise lost
dante divine comedy
chaucer the canterbury tales
shakespeare hamlet, macbeth, king lear, romeo and juliet, plus any others you wish
goethe faust
cervantes don quixote
 
I'm going to say right now the Republic by Plato is very thought provoking. I had to read it for my philosophy class, and it's very very good. It'll sometimes mind fuck you.
 
I love the original novel of "The Princess Bride". The author claims that the book was read to him as a child. Now he's reading it by himself for the first time and discovers that the romantic adventure is really a long, boring political satire. So the book is actually his "edited version" and the parts where he talks about what he cut out are hilarious.
 
I think that the Dean Koontz book, "Odd Thomas" is very good. It keeps you on your toes throughout, and it is a nice short read, at just 273 pages. I would also suggest reading "Roots", an amazing story of heroism and loss in the life of an ordinary slave, working on a plantation.
 
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