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Looking For Headache Inducers

It's official. By the time I finish reading everything you've all listed (probably in a month or so) I won't have a headache. My head will have exploded! Avas, I look forward to reading everything. Thank you all.

~Josh
 
Beneath the Wheel by Hermann Hesse. It's a book that involves GETTING headaches. Also, it's just a great book which has some thought provoking sections.
 
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid - Douglas R. Hofstadter.

I just saw this thread. All the books suggested are undoubtedly great thought provokers.
BUT
Josh, reading your original post, I believe I have the BEST suggestion by far.
The book I'm suggesting, is so thought provoking, just reading the forward bent my mind.
It's amazing. You won't understand all of it - at least, I didn't, and most people are happy if they get even part of it. It's pure genius. It covers so many topics, in such novel ways, that it will open your mind to concepts you didn't know existed. Especially, if you have a scientific/mathmatic/philosophical streak (helpful, although not mandatory).

You're looking for headache inducers?
Better have a BIG bottle of Excedrin handy.
Example:
The following sentence is false.
The preceeding sentence is true.

If that doesn't get the gray matter churning, then forget this book. But if it does, RUN RIGHT OUT and buy it, with the bottle of Excedrin, right now! (please)
 
In the fiction department, I'd suggest Umberto Eco (speaking of Foucault... but his is another Foucault), James Joyce (you have to either think or give up), Georges Perec (especially A void), Thomas Pynchon, Italo Calvino, Salman Rushdie... and if you want some much lighter brain teasing, Jasper Fforde :)

I'd second Hofstadter too, even though I haven't read it (it's TBR) on the basis of the great things I've heard about it.


*mrkgnao*
 
Definitely try George Orwell - both 1984 and Animal Farm. Wild Swans by Jung Chang is another that made me think. You may also want to try Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - it's along the same lines as 1984
 
Libre said:
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid - Douglas R. Hofstadter.
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I've leafed through this. Looks interesting but dense. Very dense and kinda dry.
 
David Foster Wallace's essays are very thought-provoking. His latest collection is called Consider the Lobster. A few years back, he wrote a tome called Infinite Jest, a book that has stimulated much discussion.
 
ions said:
I've leafed through this. Looks interesting but dense. Very dense and kinda dry.
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Not sure what "dense" means in this context. Difficult to get through? True, it is difficult. That's because it continuously forces you to think outside the box, as they say.
As far as "dry", well, as I said, if the paradox I gave as an example (called the Epimenides two step paradox, or something close) does nothing for you, you might find it dry. It's loaded with that type of thing.
I'm addressing the Original Poster's request. 1984, Animal Farm, Hesse, they'll ALL make you think. ANY book worth its ink is going to do that.
GEB (as it's affectionately called by its legions of followers) induces such mental activity and contortions that it COULD induce headaches. But not painful ones. More in the sense of GROWING PAINS than migrains.
 
Ooh, I've just started to read Habermas and Foucault, and I am really digging them. Might wanna look into them, especially if you're into post-modernism.
 
ions said:
Franz Kafka's works are thinkers too.
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I think that's very true, I often find myself still thinking about parts of his stories way after I've finished the book.
 
beer good said:
What might one start with if one wanted to read something by Foucault?
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Well, we were reading excerpts from Foucault's work Discipline and Punish, and I was certainly interested by the parts chosen in my books. That's a later work, and I'm afraid I'm not the best person to ask about the best Foucault starting point.
 
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