NationStates Jolt Archive

They can be fiction, non-fiction, comics, or whatever. But be sure to provide author and title.

My list:

1. The Case Against the Fed by Murray N. Rothbard
2. What Has Government Done to Our Money? by Murray N. Rothbard
3. America's Great Depression by Murray N. Rothbard
4. History of Money and Banking in the United States by Murray N. Rothbard
5. More Liberty Means Less Government: Our Founders Knew This Well by Walter E. Williams
6. Inside American Education by Thomas Sowell
7. The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation As a Basis for Social Policy by Thomas Sowell
8. Marxism: Philosophy and Economics by Thomas Sowell
9. The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America: A Chronological Paper Trail by Charlotte Thompson Iserbyt
10. None Dare Call it Education by John Stormer
11. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
12. The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek
13. On the Disadvantages of Being Educated and Other Essays by Albert Jay Nock
14. Theory of Education in America by Albert Jay Nock
15. Our Enemy, the State by Albert Jay Nock
16. Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis by Ludwig von Mises
17. The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality by Ludwig von Mises
18. Human Action by Ludwig von Mises
19. The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve by G. Edward Griffin
20. Antitrust: The Case for Repeal by Dominick T. Armentano
21. Crisis and Leviathan by Robert Higgs
22. Costs of War by John V. Denson
23. Making America Poorer: The Cost of Labor Law by Morgan O. Reynolds
24. Basic Economics by Clarence Carson
25. Basic Communism by Clarence Carson
26. How Capitalism Saved America: The Untold History of Our Country, from the Pilgrims to the Present by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
27. The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy by Thomas Woods, Jr.
28. FDR’s Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression by Jim Powell
29. Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand
30. The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand
31. The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression by Stephane Courtois, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Panne, and Andrzej Paczkowski
32. The Harsh Truth About Public Schools by Bruce N. Shortt
33. The Law by Frederic Bastiat

-Otherland series by Tad Williams.
-Anything by John Steinbeck.
-Any Mumin-book by Tove Jansson.

:)

So, basically you're recommending a list of 33 books that are all more or less entirely focused on America and American politics to an international audience..... self-centered much? ;)

They can be fiction, non-fiction, comics, or whatever. But be sure to provide author and title.

My list:

31. The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression by Stephane Courtois, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Panne, and Andrzej Paczkowski

Have you actually read this one? o_0

Obviously, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

hmm.. anyone can recommend a good book about politics that is fiction? I'm not that much of a bookaholic so it's hard for me to pint out the fictions and non-fictions in that list :D

Have you actually read this one? o_0

Yes, why? Interestingly, it was written by left-wing ex-Marxists.

-Otherland series by Tad Williams.
-Anything by John Steinbeck.
-Any Mumin-book by Tove Jansson.

:)
I love Tove Janson and the Mumin-troll books. You're so cool now*you*:cool:

Obviously, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

ARE there any other books?

Hm, it's hard to recommend anything without knowing what general genre or even fiction of non-ficiton. There's alot of good books out there.

hmm.. anyone can recommend a good book about politics that is fiction? I'm not that much of a bookaholic so it's hard for me to pint out the fictions and non-fictions in that list :D

Read any Orwell?

The Bible, multiple authors
The Koran, multiple authors
- both great works of fiction!!!

They both tend to drag on a little though...

The Bible, multiple authors
The Koran, multiple authors
- both great works of fiction!!!

They both tend to drag on a little though...

Prove they're fiction. Oh, wait. You can't.

Prove they're fiction. Oh, wait. You can't.

The obligation is not on me to prove they're fiction. They talk about things that cannot be proven as fact, merely believed upon blind faith. Therefore they cannot be classed as non-fiction (lack of provable facts), hence the genre of fiction suits them perfectly...

The obligation is not on me to prove they're fiction. They talk about things that cannot be proven as fact, merely believed upon blind faith. Therefore they cannot be classed as non-fiction (lack of provable facts), hence the genre of fiction suits them perfectly...

They can be neither proven nor disproven. They technically wouldn't fit under fiction or non-fiction.

They can be neither proven nor disproven. They technically wouldn't fit under fiction or non-fiction.

Actually, they would fit the description of Fantasy literature quite well....

Oryx & Crake by Margret Atwood
Gods' Debris by Scott Adams

Anything by Michael Moorcock, though primarily the Books of Corum and the Books of Elric of Melnibone.

They can be neither proven nor disproven. They technically wouldn't fit under fiction or non-fiction.

Sort of like the Da Vinci Code huh?

Fiction: S: (n) fabrication, fiction, fable (a deliberately false or improbable account)

Prove they're fiction. Oh, wait. You can't.
Another o_0
edit, I mean..many people live up to 400 years in Old Testament. That's not fiction?

Yes, why? Interestingly, it was written by left-wing ex-Marxists.
It's way too long, boring and doesn't even answer the basic question. What is Communism? It just lists all the crimes made under the term, it doesn't try to explain why the crimes were committed. The book claims (lets you understand) that Communism is a power structure that leads into terror by government. I don't think that any communist would agree with that.

Prove they're fiction. Oh, wait. You can't.It's quite hard to prove any books are fiction. After all we dont know the nature of our universe. Middle earth might actually exist somewhere for all we know.

Sort of like the Da Vinci Code huh?

lol

Im fairly sure Moses lived to be over nine hundred years old... Entirely probable I say!

They can be neither proven nor disproven. They technically wouldn't fit under fiction or non-fiction.

Actually, they fit perfectly well under fiction.

Another o_0
edit, I mean..many people live up to 400 years in Old Testament. That's not fiction?

Extremely unlikely, and probably fiction, but nobody can really prove or disprove it. Hell, the very existence of most people in the Bible probably is unproveable.

Sort of like the Da Vinci Code huh?
Hehe.
Welcome to NS, if such curteousy hasn't already been afforded you.
*bows*

Extremely unlikely, and probably fiction, but nobody can really prove or disprove it. Hell, the very existence of most people in the Bible probably is unproveable.
Oh, in that sense. In other words, there are no facts.

Extremely unlikely, and probably fiction, but nobody can really prove or disprove it. Hell, the very existence of most people in the Bible probably is unproveable.

Which, considering the massive influence some of them had according to the bible, can itself be seen as prove that they are most likely fictional.

If they had existed, and if events had taken place as described, it is rather odd that there are no records of it in , say, the Egyptian records of the time. One would think that Joseph or Moses, being such important characters in Egypt according to the bible, would have been mentioned somewhere....

Neal Stephenson:

Cryptonomicon
(about 1250 times more intelligently written, than all the Dan Brown stuff raked together);

The Baroque Cycle trilogy (Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World), a fine next-to-3000 page read;

www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/403-8281284-5551659
or
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/202-7914044-9818220?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=blended&field-keywords=neal%20stephenson

Im fairly sure Moses lived to be over nine hundred years old... Entirely probable I say!I've always suspected they may have confused years and months.. 900 years vs 900 months=75 years, the latter makes much more sense.

Could everyone stop shitting about the bible just for once and get on with what this thread is about?

Thank you.

Hehe.
Welcome to NS, if such curteousy hasn't already been afforded you.
*bows*

Please to be here, thank you.

Could everyone stop shitting about the bible just for once and get on with what this thread is about?

Thank you.

Hey, fair go. Even Magdha, the person who opened the thread, has been getting in on it. If you don't like it, start your own "bible-free" thread.

Could everyone stop shitting about the bible just for once and get on with what this thread is about?

Thank you.
heh, well IMO it's recommended reading.

I recommend all (national) epics (mythologies, what ever you call 'em), Gilgamesh, Iliad, Popol Vuh etc

Another few books I can recommend:
"Principia Discordia", by Malaclypse the Younger (free in its entirety on the web, but I have an actual DTF booklet.
"What does a martian look like", by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen. It's a popular scientific discussion of xenoscience with frequent reference to science fiction. In fact, I can recommend just about anything Ian Stewart has written or coperated on, like the "Science of Discworld" series, "The magical maze" (math & puzzles) and "Does god play dice" (chaos theory).
"Jennifer Government", by Max Barry. (Well obviously). "Syrup" was a nice read as well, and I have great hopes of his newest book "Company", once it comes out in paperback and I can afford it.
The Discworld series of novels, by Terry Prattchet. Thouroughly enjoyable fantasy/humour. I think there's 33 or so in the series now. I have a long way to go :p

And I didn't even like reading up untill a few years ago..

hmm.. anyone can recommend a good book about politics that is fiction? I'm not that much of a bookaholic so it's hard for me to pint out the fictions and non-fictions in that list :D


Jennifer Government and Company by Max Barry

Semi fiction, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail by Hunter S Thompson

and in other genres

Lila by Robert M Pirsig


Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - by Mark Haddon

Of Mice and Men - by John Steinbeck

Almost everything by Charles Dickens

Hitchhiker: A Biography of Douglas Adams - by M.J. Simpson

Something Wicked This Way Comes - by Ray Bradbury

Arthur & George - by Julian Barnes

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian -by Marina Lewycka

Labyrinth - by Kate Mosse

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets - by Eva Rice

Empress Orchid - by Anchee Min

Stuart, A Life Backwards - by Alexander Masters

Actually, they would fit the description of Fantasy literature quite well....

Yeah, but the ending is so predictable, and the characters so one-dimensional. Personally I'll await the sequel.

Yeah, but the ending is so predictable, and the characters so one-dimensional. Personally I'll await the sequel.
The Koran? The Book of Mormon?

It's a big franchise, that.

The Koran? The Book of Mormon?

It's a big franchise, that.

Ohhh, so the author does other books in the series? Are they any good?

Do you know that when I first read that I thought it said 'The Book of NORMAN'

:rolleyes:

THE DISPOSSESSED BY URSULA LE GUIN
Read it, learn about Anarchism, you won't be disapointed.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

and

The colour of magic by Terry Pratchet

Oh and many others, but read these first. After that you will understand what you want to read.

Has anyone read Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy?
I've read it several times, and I'm still not entirely sure what to make of it...

Jennifer Government and Company by Max Barry

Semi fiction, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail by Hunter S Thompson

and in other genres

Lila by Robert M Pirsig


Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett

Good Omens is one of my favourite books ever... Perfect mix of two very different authors, methinks :)

I also read each of the discworld novels as they are released. Can't get enough of Pratchett, it would seem :p

Prove they're fiction. Oh, wait. You can't.
so you are saying because i cant prove that there are no people shoooting lasers at big teddy-bears, star wars is non-fiction

Anything by Jonathan Ames, but if you like fiction go with "Wake Up, Sir" and if you prefer nonfiction go with "What's Not To Love?" He is a comedy writer.

For those unfamiliar with Kurt Vonnegut, or who have only read Slaughterhouse 5, go with "Breakfast of Champions."

...might I add that these books are best read by liberals.

'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell for a basic introduction into the ideas and arguments for socialism (as opposed to the fear mongering in the OP).

'The Republic' by Plato.

Anything by Bertrand Russell.

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson published by Universal Press Syndicate.

Revelation Space- Alastair Reynolds

Really good scince fiction.

Jack Vance's: The Dying Earth and, especially the Cugel books: The Eyes of the Overworld, and Cugel's Saga. Rhialto the Marvelous also in the series, is quite good.

The Three Musketeers, and The Count of Monte Cristo.

A Grammar of Motives by Kenneth Burke (Or, if you need a slower, less "jargonized" introduction to the study of the rhetoric of everyday and everyone, Rhetorical Criticism by Sonja Foss)

Also, for Lord of the Rings fans, Letters of JRR Tolkein (I forget who assembled them), a collection of a lot of the letters Tolkein wrote in his adulthood. Very interesting.

so you are saying because i cant prove that there are no people shoooting lasers at big teddy-bears, star wars is non-fiction

It is non fiction, its a historical docu-drama.

Anything by Bertrand Russell.

Principia Mathematica, 3 vols, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Second edition, 1925 (Vol. 1), 1927 (Vols 2, 3) is pretty heavy going though.

My recommendations:
Non fiction - Godel Escher and Bach an eternal golden braid: Douglas R Hofstadter

Fiction - Giovanni Guareschi's Don Camillo stories.

Anything found here (http://baen.com/library/).

Ishmael and My Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn

For fantasy novels - I'd recommend Anne Bishop's books, particularly the Blood series.

The Dark Tower Series - Stephen King

Anything and everything you can get your hands on by Neil Gaiman - comics, novels, children's books - everything. My fiance and I have an entire Gaiman shelf. Particular emphasis on Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and the Sandman comics.

Ishmael and My Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn

For fantasy novels - I'd recommend Anne Bishop's books, particularly the Blood series.

The Dark Tower Series - Stephen King

Anything and everything you can get your hands on by Neil Gaiman - comics, novels, children's books - everything. My fiance and I have an entire Gaiman shelf. Particular emphasis on Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and the Sandman comics.

Woohoo!

For some reason, I didn't have you pegged as a Gaiman fan...

Unfortunately, most of my Gaiman is about 4000 miles away... which is sad, and I'm finding it hard to replace in rural Georgia.

I have a full Sandman collection 'over there' except for "Endless Nights", which is the only one I have over here. I also collect the other 'Endless" stuff when I can - which has all been comics except for the "Death" books. Also - I have anumber of the "Dreaming" and "Books of Magic" book editions - although, since I moved over here nearly half a decade ago, I'd imagine both collections are now sadly behind the times. I even have the JLA comic that had Sandman in it....

I'm not normally a comic collector... but I make a special exception for Gaiman and Gaiman-related material.

Have you seen the BBC mini-series of "Neverwhere"?

Have you seen the Gaiman movie "Mirrormask"?

The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan
Blinded by the Right by David Brock
The Age of Sacred Terror by Daniel Benjamin and Steve Simon
Against All Enemies by Richard Clarke
The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker
What Went Wrong by Bernard Lewis
The Five Gospels and Honest to Jesus by Robert Funk

That should be enough for now.

Woohoo!

=)

For some reason, I didn't have you pegged as a Gaiman fan...

My fiance introduced me to Gaiman with Neverwhere and then the Sandman Comics. Then I read American Gods. From that point on, I've devoured everything I could find by him, as well as some of the splinter series from Sandman (I'm a big fan of Thessaly and Death, hehe).

Unfortunately, most of my Gaiman is about 4000 miles away... which is sad, and I'm finding it hard to replace in rural Georgia.

Just to put you on a heads-up, there's a serious chance that Gaiman may soon be visiting rural Georgia to help in the defense of a guy I know who owns a comic book store. I'll be sure to give you a heads-up if he does end up coming, because a big part of the plan would be for fans from all over GA to flock there and draw attention to the case.

I'm not normally a comic collector... but I make a special exception for Gaiman and Gaiman-related material.

I'm not either, although my fiance is. And he's got me started on a few titles. =)

Have you seen the BBC mini-series of "Neverwhere"?

No! Do you know where I could get a copy?

Have you seen the Gaiman movie "Mirrormask"?

Yup, and I've got a copy of the book. I wanted to see it in the theater, but it was only in one venue in all of Atlanta - and then for less than a week =(. So I rented it when it came out.

Crime and Punishment-Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The World is Flat-Thomas Friedman
Fathers and Sons-Turgenev
Frankenstein-Mary Shelley
Ender's Game-Orson Scott Card
2001: A Space Odyssey-Arthur C. Clarke
Heart of Darkness-Joseph Conrad
Lord of the Rings (entire series)-J.R.R. Tolkien
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas-Hunter S. Thompson
The Bible (King James)-Various Authors
I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell-Tucker Max



I like how I ended my list...

No! Do you know where I could get a copy?


Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000A14WF/qid=1148058697/sr=11-1/ref=sr_11_1/002-4065352-1103243?n=130)

My fiance introduced me to Gaiman with Neverwhere and then the Sandman Comics. Then I read American Gods. From that point on, I've devoured everything I could find by him, as well as some of the splinter series from Sandman (I'm a big fan of Thessaly and Death, hehe).


Oh, that reminds me... I think I have #2 and #3 of a (the?) Thessaly series. I also have a 'manga' Death/Sandman book, by the same woman who draws the 'lil Endless' stuff.


Just to put you on a heads-up, there's a serious chance that Gaiman may soon be visiting rural Georgia to help in the defense of a guy I know who owns a comic book store. I'll be sure to give you a heads-up if he does end up coming, because a big part of the plan would be for fans from all over GA to flock there and draw attention to the case.


Do give a heads up... I'd be keen to be there, and my wife is also a big fan...


No! Do you know where I could get a copy?


Only the usual... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000A14WF/104-5051979-6262349?v=glance&n=130... you MIGHT be able to get a store to order it for you... Sam Goody are supposed to be getting me a copy of "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead"...


Yup, and I've got a copy of the book. I wanted to see it in the theater, but it was only in one venue in all of Atlanta - and then for less than a week =(. So I rented it when it came out.

Excellent film. Much underrated.

Dostoyevski and Tolstoy, great minds on paper. :)

Philosophy:

Posterior Analytica by Aristotle
Second Treatise on Government by John Locke
Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals by Immanuel Kant
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
The German Ideology by Karl Marx
A Theory of Justice by John Rawls
Trotsky and the Wild Orchids by Richard Rorty

Political Non-Fiction:

The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek
What's the Matter with Kansas by Thomas Frank
Inequality Matters by various authors

Fiction:

Eh, not really interested in fiction, but I can make a few recommendations

MacBeth by William Shakespeare
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

The "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman.

Awesome. Really good books.

Recomended reading? The Marketing of evl, David Kupelian. The Bible. For a view on how messed up marxism/communism is, Read the communist manifesto by Marx-I did.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett

YES! Awesome book.

-The Wars- Timothy Findley