NationStates Jolt Archive

Ok, here's the deal. For a few days I've been wanting to buy some books. That's all I thought, though. "I think I'll buy some books." Well, now that I have the money I don't know what I want to buy. This is where you all come in. I need some suggestions and I figure you'll have no trouble thinking of something I haven't read. So name a book. Any book. Just don't name a fiction book. This leaves non-fiction, poetry, mythology, and reference books, I guess.

That jogged my memory already. I'm thinking a book by Sylvia Plath. A friend of mine bought one of her collections and I rather enjoyed it.

You can't go wrong with Shakespeare.

no fiction?!? dah...

You can't go wrong with Shakespeare.

Already got what I want. The rest of it is on the intraweb.

roots. and the band played on. pedro and me. the fountainhead. ordinary people. anything written at all by john updike.

The Aenead by Vergil.
The Guns of August by Barbara Touchman
Dreadnought & Castles of Steel (I forget who they're by)
The Illiad & The Odyssey by Homer
Beowulf
Lives of the Caesars by Suetonius

Guns Germs and Steel

Already got what I want. The rest of it is on the intraweb.

Have you read Yvain by Chretien de Troyes? For a 12th century writer it's not bad.

Any of the recent ( after WW2 ) Biographys on Winston Churchill

Not fiction....

hrm. Well, my entire not fiction collection is fairly sparse...

The Analects, by Confucius
The Pelopponesian war, by Thucydides
The Fall of Carthage/In the name of Rome/The complete Roman army by Adrian Goldsworthy
Thus Spake Zarathustra, by Nietzche
The Republic, by Plato
The Interpretation of Dreams, by Sigmund "tell me about your mother" Freud

That's what I have, if it inspires you any.

Collapse or Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

Have you read Yvain by Chretien de Troyes? For a 12th century writer it's not bad.

This? (http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Yvain/) No, I haven't, but I will now. Books that are free are always good suggestions. :)

Guns Germs and Steel

Seconded

Also, the Art of Political Manipulation

Art of War- Sun Tzu
--Ancient book on the art of warfare. If you are interested in business, military, or politics this is a book for you.


The Prince- Nicolo Maccioveli
--Somewhat less ancient book on politics. If you are interested in business, military, or politics this is a book for you. Some people interested in ethics find it interesting.


The Demon-Haunted World- Dr. Carl Sagan, astronomer and physicist.
--Sagan's magnum opus, this book explains and speaks out against paranormalism, pseudoscience, and antiscience, refering to science as a "candle in the dark" and forcasting the possibility of a coming dark age.


America's Secret War- Dr. George Friedman, chairman of Stratfor.
--A book from Stratetgic Forcasting, incorperated's chairman, analyzing the causes of the modern islamic terrorist movement and America's involvement with it. Very non-partisan.


The Skeptic's Annotated Book of Mormon (http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/BOM/index.htm) ;)

The Brick Testament (http://www.thebricktestament.com/) :D

The Commanding Heights: Daniel Yergin & Josheph Stanislaw

The Mystery of Capital: Hernado Desoto

The Road to Serfdom: FA Hayek.

Shake Hands with the Devil, by Romeo Dallaire is a must read for EVERYONE!

Rogue Regime, Kim Jong Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea, by Jasper Becker

This? (http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Yvain/) No, I haven't, but I will now. Books that are free are always good suggestions. :)

Yup. Read it in a European History class and enjoyed it. How much of the book is on that site anyway?

Marcus Aurelius: Meditations

I work at a library.... you really need to get Blink and Freakamonics... they were wonderful non fiction works that really opened my eyes to a few things.

If you are really looking for fun things to read anything by Janet Evanovich is good but try some Greek classics like Homer and Cisero.

Brandawen :)

Freedom at midnight = Larry Collins. India when England leaves.

I was right on time - Buck O'Neal Negro Baseball player. Met him once. Great guy. You could listen to him for hours.

Dark Star Safari. - Paul Theoroux His adventures from Cairo to cape town.

Scorched Earth - Can't think of the authors name. Operation Barbarossa

God's Samurai - Gordan Prange Lead Pilot at Pearl Harbor. It's about Fuchida during and after WWII. He got converted by Billy Grahm(that's the God part).

The Washing of the spears - Donal Morris. England vs the Zulus

A history of the English speaking Peoples - Churchill

If you want science stuff I can suggest that. My thing is more about primatology though.....

Name a book. Any book.

The perfect follow-up to Guns, Germs and Steel:

The Birth of Plenty, by William Bernstein (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0071421920/002-0632848-8481611?v=glance)

From Publishers Weekly
Rather than dry academic analysis, Bernstein, in his second book (after Four Pillars of Investing), has created a vital, living text-a cogent, timely journey through the economic history of the modern world. He identifies institutions ("the framework within which human beings think, interact and carry on business") as the engines of prosperity. Boiled down to four (property rights, the scientific method, capital markets and communications), these institutions come from ideas and practices that bubbled forth over the course of hundreds of years. Bernstein is clear in explaining that the civilizations that develop and implement these systems thrive, and that those that do not, perish. The Spanish empire, for example, had most of these but lacked effective capital markets. When the gold from the New World dried up, the empire essentially went broke. By 1840 the British had all of these institutions in place, economic growth exploded and the lot of the common man was immensely improved. Today, the U.S. faces the challenge of sustaining prosperity in the face of rapid technological change. Though fairly Eurocentric in focus, Bernstein's narrative tracks the development of these essential ingredients to prosperity over a global landscape-the great dynasties of China get plenty of attention here, as do the Japanese. Solid writing and poignant assessments of the economic players throughout time give texture and flavor to Bernstein's argument: he describes the medieval relationship between the various European kingdoms and the Vatican as "a holy shakedown racket." Packed with information and ideas, Bernstein's book is an authoritative economic history, accessible and thoroughly entertaining.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

If you want science stuff I can suggest that. My thing is more about primatology though.....

When I said anything, I meant it. Science stuff would be nice. I ran in to The Road to Reality (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679454438/qid=1127360696/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-1215390-3716041?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) in the library last week, but despite my interest I didn't bother to check it out. I paged through it and figured that I really don't know enough about calculus to gain enough knowledge from the book to do it justice. Perhaps I should buy that book and a good calculus book?

Yup. Read it in a European History class and enjoyed it. How much of the book is on that site anyway?

It ends with the line "Thus Chretien concludes his romance of the Knight with the Lion; for I never heard any more told of it, nor will you ever hear any further particulars, unless some one wishes to add some lies." I assume that is the end of the version you read. I don't know how complete the rest of the text is. I'm sure it's a nearly perfect version at worst.

I would suggest Das Kapital.

How about C++ for Dummies. You learn a skill.

To name a few:

The Unabomber Manifesto: Industrial Society & Its Future (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0963420526/qid=1127360543/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-3908189-4854216?v=glance&s=books) ("Unabomber FC", "Fc" [Theodore John Kaczynski]) - available in full online

Dead Cities: And Other Tales (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1565848446/103-3908189-4854216?v=glance) (Mike Davis)

Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader : North Korea and the Kim Dynasty (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312322216/qid=1127360477/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-3908189-4854216?v=glance&s=books) (Bradley K. Martin)

The Whale and the Supercomputer : On the Northern Front of Climate Change (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0865476594/qid=1127360950/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-3908189-4854216?v=glance&s=books) (Charles Wohlforth)

In the Blink of an Eye (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0738206075/qid=1127361029/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/103-3908189-4854216?v=glance&s=books) (Andrew Parker)

When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/050005116X/qid=/sr=/ref=cm_lm_asin/103-3908189-4854216?v=glance) ( M. J. Benton/Michael J. Benton/Michael Benton)

I'll put in another vote for Guns, Germs and Steel and add the following to that pile:

The Bell Curve
Freakonomics

How about Fast Food Nation? I think it can start to repeat the same things throughout the book but it certainly makes its point.

Parliment of Whores, P.J. O'Rourke
Eat the Rich, P.J. O'Rourke
everything else by P.J. O'Rourke

A History of Warfare John Keegan

Confederates in the Attic, Tony Horwitz

I;m a Stranger Here Myself, Bill Bryson

It ends with the line "Thus Chretien concludes his romance of the Knight with the Lion; for I never heard any more told of it, nor will you ever hear any further particulars, unless some one wishes to add some lies." I assume that is the end of the version you read. I don't know how complete the rest of the text is. I'm sure it's a nearly perfect version at worst.

Well my translation is different then that but yes the book ends that way. I prefer my translations ending: "So ends The Knight of the Lion, A story told by Chretien, For nothing more's been heard of it, And no one will ever tell more - Unless he feels like lying." Translated by Burton Raffel.

Two books which I've found to be great reads regardless of whether you're interested in the subject matter or not are Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy and William Manchester's The Arms of Krupp.

Since everyone is recommending all the very most pretentious books on the planet, incuding anything by Homer, Im gonna go the opposite route, and suggest something actually fun to read.

The Chronicles of Amber.
By, Roger Zelazny.

Probably on par with LOTR in its field, although better written.
If you like sci-fi/fantasy, you should own these books.


Im surprised no one mentioned "War and Peace", or something equally as silly.

There are several non-fictions books I would suggest:

Endurance
It's the story about a failed expedition to Antartica that got trapped and spent a year on the ice flows. It's a story about their survival. It's a really good book and a great story.

Shake Hands with the Devil
This is a really depressing book about the Rwandan Genocide. It made me hate the West for a while. It's written by the UN Force Commander there and is from his point of view why the UN and the world failed to act. Excellent book, I had to set it down several times, because it got to me so much.

Killing Pablo
Interesting book about America's hunt by Pablo Escabar. If you don't know he was the most wanted man in the world for a while. It's about both his rise to power and then his fall.

The Dominion of War
It makes the arguement that America is defined by war by exmaining certain individuals throughtout the history of America. From Champlian to Washington to Jackson to MacArthur to Powell. If you're interested in US history or military history, I would suggest it.

Im surprised no one mentioned "War and Peace", or something equally as silly.

Someone might say "Tale of Two Cities" however. :rolleyes:

Oh, I should add: Any book by Joseph Heath (economics married with philosophy), particularly The Efficient Society

Since everyone is recommending all the very most pretentious books on the planet, incuding anything by Homer, Im gonna go the opposite route, and suggest something actually fun to read.

The Chronicles of Amber.
By, Roger Zelazny.

Probably on par with LOTR in its field, although better written.
If you like sci-fi/fantasy, you should own these books.


Im surprised no one mentioned "War and Peace", or something equally as silly.

Well, he did specify non-fiction and mythology. Which may be why some of the pretentious titles are showing up.

Watership Down.

The Gulag Archipelag by Alekzandr Solzhentisyn

Im surprised no one mentioned "War and Peace", or something equally as silly.
What's so silly about that?
and to eliminate BackwoodsSquatches' surprise, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

1) The Story of Philosophy, Will Durant (mentioned previously, and insisted upon here.)

2) Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner (also mentioned previously.)

3) Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music (and why we should, like, care), John McWhorter.

4) FOUND magazine

Wanna know how come?

1) A synopsis of pre-twentieth century philosophy written, with clarity and wit, by a man both learned and passionate. Doesn't feel stuffy or overwrought at all. I can only handle a couple of pages at a time, simply because it inspires so much thought, whether you agree with the "great minds" or not.

2) An incredibly quick read, filled with interesting tid bits and socio-political insights. As usual, though, take everything with a grain of salt.

3) Of possible interest to anyone who speaks english, especially in the U.S. Also involves a fair amount of history, from a less than typical perspective.

4) Because everything else is so unbearably pretentious. This mag offers the voyeur in you a peek into the day-to-day lives of ordinary folks, as seen through the bits and pieces they've lost, left behind, or thrown away over the years. Sometimes touching, sometimes hilarious, usually just weird. I like it.

I wonder, why are we avoiding fiction? Surely not because fiction contains no true insights into our world, our society, our lives. Especially when you consider that poetry is just prose with a few different rules. Or that the best fiction is at least partially non-fiction (informed by the experience of the author, if nothing else). And if you accept that, then why not this: the best non-fiction is often flavored with fiction. Without the color commentary of the author, biographies, autobigraphies, essays and commentaries would be awfully dry.

Maybe we should just judge each work on its merits, rather than arbitrarily classifying it according to which library shelf it rests upon.

Not that that's what we are doing here, of course.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Well, he did specify non-fiction and mythology. Which may be why some of the pretentious titles are showing up.


Did he?

Damn.

I must have missed that.

Hmm...Now I feel silly.

Quickly, some one slap me!

What's so silly about that?
and to eliminate BackwoodsSquatches' surprise, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy


How bout becuase that damn book is the dreariest fecking read ever committed to paper?

Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica.

Italo Svevo, "Zeno's Awareness". And you tell me what it's like: I've been trying to find it for SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO long...

The Web of Life, by Fritjof Capra ... a MUST read for anyone with vision!

I just finished reading Jung Chang's biography of Mao. If that's too heavy try reading her book "Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China" to see the effects of Mao's regime at a grass roots level.

A History of War by John Keegan.

Awesome book, although some of his anthropological arguments seem somewhat strained. Nevertheless, very cool.

And Plato's Republic. Get it in the penguin published Desmond Lee translation, because the foreword is almost as good as the book itself.

The Bell Jar's a good place to start with Plath, though it's a memoir rather than poetry. (I much prefer her husband's poetry myself.)
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
Beowulf.
The Tain.
The Mabinogian.
The Eldar Eddas.

I would recommend "Rubicon", by Tom Holland.

It's a book about the Roman Republic. It talks how Rome was proud of being a republic, how much did romans hate kings, how did they believed in a "merit-for-rich" system but said it was "opportunities for everybody", how they thought they were the Chosen People by the Gods to spread their civilization throghout the World, how conquered the world with PREVENTIVE WARS, and how their system failed when they thought Caesar was sent by Gods.

Ain't it interesting?

The Web of Life, by Fritjof Capra ... a MUST read for anyone with vision!
I would have suggested The Tao of Physics, but yeah, at least one book of Capra's would be recommended.

One other recommendation I could make would be The User Illusion: Cutting Consiousness Down To Size by Tor Norretranders.

"Quarks & Leptons" by Halzen and Martin.

Hey, you said "any" book!


P.S.
Nicolo Maccioveli
That is "Niccolo' Macchiavelli".

The Story of English: Robert McCrum et al. Story of English language and how it came to dominance. Very interesting read.

What Killed Jane Austen?: Very lighthearted book about various interesting ailments of famous people throughout history.

Box the Pony: Leah Purcell. This is a one-woman autobiographical play about Leah Purcell's life growing up as an aboriginal woman in Australia. Really amazing story.

Really interesting books.

The History of Britain books by Simon Schama. Very readable. He's also done one on England, America and the slave trade which I'm quite tempted to get, but I'm wading through three other books at the moment so it will have to wait.

On the BBC theme (History of Britain was a BBC series) the Blue Planet is just awesome.

A Not-So-Distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor
by Joseph Nevins


Indonesia's Secret War in Aceh
John Martinkus


West Papua and Indonesia since Suharto: Independence, Autonomy or Chaos?
by Peter King

A history of the English speaking Peoples - Churchill




Definitely seconded, it is lengthy, - very - but well worth it.

Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Never buy a book by John Steinbeck or Pearl S. Buck...they are awful.

A History of War[fare] by John Keegan.




Another wonderful book.

"Truth or Dare" by Starhawk.

CONTINGENCY CANNIBALISM :
Superhardcore Survivalisms Dirty Little Secret


by Shiguro Takada


This twisted, tongue-in-cheek look at cannibalism as a last-resort survival option analyzes real-life case studies and historical episodes of cannibalism. Then it examines the hard-core decisions and gruesome details one must know in order to partake in this grisly practice. Recipes included.

Try reading "The Murder of Liftuvyxiaglrdkelfiotoyppyfe" by Poeiglutykdle the Polymorphous. They sell it in bookstores all across the Senev and Rajev Sectors. Of course, if you happen to be one of the poor unlucky people who lives in Tishnav or Ksarav, you're out of luck. Sorry. :\

(If you don't know which sector you live in, the 49th through 616th Universes are located in Senev, the 617th through 1025th and 1st through 48th in Rajev. The 1026th through 1880th are in Tishnav and the 1881st through 2476th are in Ksarav. 2477th is the "unaffiliated" Universe.)

The Demon-Haunted World- Dr. Carl Sagan, astronomer and physicist.
--Sagan's magnum opus, this book explains and speaks out against paranormalism, pseudoscience, and antiscience, refering to science as a "candle in the dark" and forcasting the possibility of a coming dark age.



Damn got my favorite, though Pale Blue Dot is also very good. For non-fiction religious can't go wrong with anything by Karen Armstrong. For science, A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, for Politics/Humor America The Book: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by the writers from the Daily Show.

hmm...Well, if you would like an amazing play to read, I suggest Marat/Sade by Peter Weiss. Its full title is The Persecution and Assasination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of Monsieur de Sade, and is a very very...different...play existing on 3 planes at oce (the plane of the french revolution, of 13 years after the revolution, and of the performance date). All three planes intertwine, and at times all three exist at once. really amazing.

Also, The Aeneid of Virgil, Ovid Metamorphoses, and Dantes Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso