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Looking For Headache Inducers

AlphaOmegaX

AlphaOmegaX

New Member
Right now I am looking for a really great book or two that will make me think. I want to read something that doesn't necessarily have to be fiction or romance or anything. I just want to read a great book that makes me think about life in general. A book that makes me look at life different and makes my brain contemplate the different meanings of the words contained in the text. I read The Art Of War and it made me think. What others are out there?

~Josh
 
Well, you can't go wrong with philosophy if you're looking for something to stimulate the mass of gray matter we call a brain.

Kierkegaard: Fear and Trembling
Nietzsche: The Genealogy of Morals

I have a good collection of Marx's writings, so if you're looking for an interesting read, I'd try to find some early writings... "Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts, maybe even "The German Ideology," something before he ventures into economics. There's plenty of philosophical debates, just pick the one most pertinent to you...

I'm personally a big fan of sociology writings as well, especially Georg Simmel and C. Wright Mills.
 
I would recommend "Being and Nothingness" by Sartre or "Walden" by Thoreau.
These are two books that made me thinking about the world and let me have a different view.

Greetings
 
Sigmund Freud is someone who caused a paradigm shift that you might be interested in.
 
For fun, the essays of Roland Barthes are thought provoking. The early collection called Mythologies is a good start.

And though I would definitely not call them headache-inducing, the essays of Richard Feynmann are brilliant and funny and come from a pointedly scientific perspective. "Surely you must be joking, Mr. Feynmann" is the first most people read.
 
If you have more of a postmodern fiction taste, try White Noise by Don DeLillo. I think his style of writing is very intelligent, thought-provoking, and best of all, accessible. He has interesting themes in there about fear and death and lots of smart, witty commentary on middle American life as well. Great book. However, it might not give you a headache.

Margaret Atwood did give me a headache but I felt it was really worth it. Try The Handmaid's Tale if you're up for some crushing dystopian literature, (with strong feminist themes) featuring extremely clean, beautiful writing.
 
Thank you all. I'm actually organizing these into a spreadsheet so I can begin reading them. More suggestions are welcome.

~Josh
 
a spreadsheet?? i jot books i want to read down on whatever piece of paper is closest. sometimes my hand even.

if you haven't read 1984 yet i would suggest that.
 
In terms of 'thinking' books, 'A Prayer for Owen Meany' really made me think. It's not 'headache' material exactly, but is certainly thought provoking.

Try '1984' by George Orwell. It'll make you think, especially in today's world.
 
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