-
Welcome
to BookAndReader! We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!
Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.
recommend a book plz
- Thread starter davio28
- Start date
bobbyburns
New Member
try who moved my cheese? I'm pretty sure it's the best philosophy book ever. yep, I'm sure.
mehastings
Active Member
bobbyburns said:
You're joking right?
bobbyburns
New Member
yes, but only in an I'm-an-awesome-guy-that-understands-and-likes-philosophy-and-looks-down-on-people-who-don't kinda way.
Are you looking for a fictional book in the vein of being philosophical or are you looking for academic work?
The latter is naturally going to be kind of dry but if that's what you're looking for, I'd simply get a "Dummies Guide to Philosophy" type of book to start with. That's not meant to be patronizing, I didn't make up the title! Point being, find out which schools of thought appeal to you to direct your reading. I personally enjoy existentialism <sic>, but it might not be your bag.
For fiction, I have no idea. Lots of people read Ayn Rand I guess ::Slacker shrugged::.
The latter is naturally going to be kind of dry but if that's what you're looking for, I'd simply get a "Dummies Guide to Philosophy" type of book to start with. That's not meant to be patronizing, I didn't make up the title! Point being, find out which schools of thought appeal to you to direct your reading. I personally enjoy existentialism <sic>, but it might not be your bag.
For fiction, I have no idea. Lots of people read Ayn Rand I guess ::Slacker shrugged::.
mehastings
Active Member
bobbyburns said:
Well, of course. Just as long as you don't actually really love that corporation churned bullsh*t. I took a class in college where we talked about how it was written for corporations to use when downsizing and redistributing older employees during mergers. Somehow it became a huge bestseller. Probably because the illiterate American workforce can't handle anything more complicated than a story about mice. In fact, I find it hard to really classify this as philosophy. Unless you are going to put Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus and He Just Not That Into You in that category as well.
mehastings
Active Member
You could always try Aristotle Would Have Liked Oprah. It wasn't really in depth and there were a lot of generalizations. I guess I would only suggest it to someone looking for something really really basic.
bobbyburns
New Member
philosophy is bullshit.
ebolamonkey
New Member
Sergo said:
But there must be something respectable...
I respect you, you respect me.
We are respectable people.
(Funny Russian joke)
Philosophy is subsidary to science. Although the early philosophers were rooting logic for discovery now the philosophies are just strange.
Tao Te Ching is a good book.
Da Mo's Yi jin jing and Si xui jing is probably another good one.
-E
ebolamonkey
New Member
Wolhay said:
Wolhay == SS?
The.Zahir
New Member
I agree, "Sophie´s World" is a great book.
But also any book by Paulo Coelho, in particular "The Alchemist" - if one is reflecting on one´s path in life - or "The Manual of a Light Warrior" - if one is in need of inspiration and encouragement. In fact, it does not even have to be the paper version, the online Coelho stories (all for free) are very great reads, too!
"God always offers us a second chance in life."
By the river Piedra...
http.//www.warriorofthelight.com
But also any book by Paulo Coelho, in particular "The Alchemist" - if one is reflecting on one´s path in life - or "The Manual of a Light Warrior" - if one is in need of inspiration and encouragement. In fact, it does not even have to be the paper version, the online Coelho stories (all for free) are very great reads, too!
"God always offers us a second chance in life."
By the river Piedra...
http.//www.warriorofthelight.com
Chixulub
New Member
davio28 said:
Hmmm. Those are two VERY broad fields.
Some books that made an impact on me and the way I think that might fall under the philosophy category:
'Anarchy, State and Utopia,' by Robert Nozick
'In Defense of Anarchism,' by Robert Paul Wolff
'Human Action,' 'Socialism' and 'The Theory of Money and Credit' by Ludwig Von Mises (which are really economics texts, but as they deal heavily with Marxism, which derives so much from Hegel, I'm including them).
Also, in the same area as Mises but maybe more accessible, 'The Road to Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek.
If you want more straight Western Civilization I & II type stuff, Camus and Sartre will give you the basics in existentialism; Soren Kirkegaard too. Nietsche was fun for me, but that was 8th grade, and I thought Marx & Engels were fascinating at that age. Michael Bakunin and Lysander Spooner tend to get short shrift in the entry level college courses, but offer challenging reads. And Frederick Bastiat's 'The Law' is a must read, who back in the mid-19th Century had already figured out what would prove to be the 20th Century's hard lessons in Socialism/Communism.
Most people find the essays too dry, which is why sometimes it's easier to absorb the concepts in the context of a story. Which is what Camus and Sarte's fiction/playwriting was all about. Likewise, Ayn Rand's novels, for all their faults, make a good primer on objectivism (a peculiar philosophy that combines atheism and the free market).
For that matter, the thing that made Philip K. Dick a great writer was the way he took on theological and philosophical debates using science fiction to illustrate the arguments. Or look at the way Tom Wolfe and Philip Roth tend to use their novels as a platform to teach a Great Books course. ‘A Man in Full’ is a reasonably good introduction to the Stoics.
Hope this helps. As far as psychology goes, the pop-psych stuff tends to strike me as moronic, the academic stuff as tedious, so I can't give you a lot of insights there. If you like Freudian theory, Eric Erickson wrote some interesting case studies. I recall 'Classic Theories of Child Development' from my college days as being tolerable.
Some people enjoy reading Jung's books, but I've never been able to hang with one long enough to form an opinion.
If there's a specific area of psychology you're curious about, a lot of times that guides what you want to read. If you're interested in sociopaths, there's a ton of true crime that can make for fun reads. At least until you start to notice how similar most serial killers are. A lot of what makes Thomas Harris and Stephen Graham Jones' serial killer characters so compelling is they aren't killing as a sexual act. As bizarre as that is, by the time you've read ten or fifteen serial killer bios, you start to realize that they're almost all about sex.
Here endeth the over-long post that may not even answer your question...
Russells History of Western Philosphy is quite possiby the best suggestion I have seen so far here! I recently finished this massive tome and found it to be one of the most fascinating reads i have had in years.
I am now moving onto Nitchze whom i find has some v interssting things to say - 'the antichrist' being a particular example.
Lisa
I am now moving onto Nitchze whom i find has some v interssting things to say - 'the antichrist' being a particular example.
Lisa
