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Im ashamed to say that I gave up on page 30. I swore to get back to it at some point but right now I wasnt too fascinated with a weird guy who loves nothing more than touching dirty, wet pieces of paper I know there'd be some "sense" unfolding later on..but bah..not now

Yeah, I was going to say, it's not really an "introduction" to existentialism. You probably need a good grounding (and interest!) in existentialism/phenomenology to get the most out of it.

But seriously, I reccomend you try and read it again and take good notice of the way Roquentin (the main character) sees things, especially later on. It's a bit slow, but Satres writing style is brilliant imho and if you know what you're meant to be looking for, it's pretty easy to look at the world in a completely different way once you've finished.

saudi arabia and the politics of dissent...

the psychological assessment of political leaders ...edited by jerrold m. post, md

and..

the satanic verses...by salman rushdie

COSMOS BY CARL SAGAN (astronomy/philosophy)

Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges (literature)


The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (lit)

quote:

Originally posted by DaveSaenz COSMOS BY CARL SAGAN (astronomy/philosophy) Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges (literature) The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (lit)

you underlined the book titles--how fastidious of you

I was going to post in this thread before but never got around to reading through the whole thing to see if my suggestions had all ready been post. Here’s what I recommend, in no particular order:

Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser
Details the woes of fast food with out just being an anti-McDonalds rant. If you’ve ever eaten or plan on continuing to eat fast food, give this a read.

Them – John Ronson
John Ronson is an “investigative journalist” similar in style to Louis Theroux (sp??). This book is about his dealings with extremists from all walks of life. Islamic, Neonazi etc etc.

Candide –Voltare
This, despite being an C18th book, is still highly amusing and very relevant. It’s the tale of Candide’s adventures around the world – however it’s not the adventures themselves which are important, it’s what things represent and what you learn from inference in the dialogue between the people. Apparently Voltare had a lockup in the Bastille because of this book which at the time really set the cat among the pigeons.

Currently I’m reading Stupid White Men by Michael Moor. Though I don’t agree with all he says and all his ideas, on the whole it’s very good. The “Dow wow wow” chapter, is incredibly accurate and I particularly liked the list of Bushes “achievements” in office. Makes me glad I don’t live in America, yet also makes me worry that the UK doesn’t end up the same way.

quote:

Originally posted by Spin Doctor Currently I’m reading Stupid White Men by Michael Moor. Though I don’t agree with all he says and all his ideas, on the whole it’s very good. The “Dow wow wow” chapter, is incredibly accurate and I particularly liked the list of Bushes “achievements” in office. Makes me glad I don’t live in America, yet also makes me worry that the UK doesn’t end up the same way.[/COLOR]

I like Michael Moore a lot (a Michigan guy makes good! Yay ) and love his films, especially Roger & Me and Bowling for Columbine...but....

I dislike the way he comes across in his books. His message is the right one, but when he refers to Bush Jr. as "the Thief in Chief" for one easy example, he makes a point, but at the cost of credibility.

To me he ends up sounding like nothing more than the US left wing version of Rush Limbaugh, and as such he can be taken less seriously than he should be.

quote:

Originally posted by Trancer-X Look into the "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" if you want something sketchy to ruminate over.

Extremely important work for anyone interested in studying the Holocaust/Shoah as well...this book was widespread in Germany and Europe during the Nazi time period and was one of the things that Hitler and the rest of the NSDAP knew of, believed in, and referenced regularly....

The Bet, Anton Chekhov. Short read can be found on the net.

On the Psychology of Military Incompetence

by Norman F. Dixon



started just after christmas time, and only now starting to knuckle down to finish it. very interesting read.

quote:

Originally posted by sifntj0r On the Psychology of Military Incompetence by Norman F. Dixon

Sounds like an alternative title to Catch-22 to me!

Alriiighty! I was shopping yesterday and here it is:

Plato, not Prozac - Lou Marinoff ("Philosophy as curing medicine for everyday life")
Naked - David Sedaris (a fun book which, i assume, most of you have surely heared of once)
Goedel, Escher, Bach (fucked up 800 pages monster packed with riddles and theories concerning logic, molecularbiology, arts philosophy and everything else our minds have created over the past ten thousand years looks like this book will be a challenge for my entire life-time )
Wind-up bird chronicle - Haruki Murakami (Supposed to be a wondeful very fantastic novel which combines eastern and western philosophical ideas)

Very good for my 12 hour trip to Tiesto In Concert next Saturday

People, States, and Fear: An Agenda for International Security Studies in the Post-Cold War Era


by Barry Buzan.

Buzan is the head of International Studies at the University of Copenhagen. This is an academic text, but extremely readable and almost essential for understanding recent developments in world politics. The newest version is from 1991 making it somewhat old, but the theories are playing out before our very eyes.

I wish that everyone here could read this before discussing anything here, tho that is unlikely as its hard to get your hands on this book.

Remember Be Here Now by Ram Dass (Richard Alpert)

I really enjoyed it. It's funky, thought provoking, real and honest.

James Redfield

James Redfield - The Celestine Prophecy

for those that were interested in reading on existentialism, i thought Notes From the Underground by dostoevsky was pretty good...

and for those that enjoyed Catch-22, you'll probably like The World According to Garp by john irving. (and it mentions one of dostoevsky's works in there too... ^^)

well, yep.

oh, and for people interested in religion-type things, Exodus by leon uris. i'm in the midst of reading, the beginning wasn't bad; it might not appeal to all... but it's been recommended to me by two people, so yeah.

well .. i know it's not a book, but an excellent site at that with some great reading:

www.religioustolerance.org

my appologies if it's been posted before!

quote:

Originally posted by MisterOpus1 *John R. Gribbin - In Search of Schrodinger's Cat -> Quantum physics will turn your world upside down!

i'm a third of the way through this and its mind blowing... the universe is so cool

Phheewww..So I finished "Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" by Haruki Murakami and have to say that read ing it was definitely a unique experience. I can't really say it has a point, at least not ONE big point, its just way too complex and and crazy to be summed up in one, two notions. Soo....if you like movies like Mulholland Drive, are interested in the philosophy of modern Japan and wanna learn a bit about the Russian-Japanese war----this is your book. I'll definitely enter the labyrinth that is it's "plot" again and again.
Being impressed by this Jap. author (who, to my "relief" is a very "Western" author who doesn't deal with Geisha and Samurai clishes but portrays a modern globalized Tokyo) I started readin his love story "Norwegian Wood" an so far I'm equally satisfied. Beautiful although I'm usually not the guy to read romantic stories,,,,in fact it's much more than that

The Art of Happiness - His Holiness the Dalai Lama & Howard C. Cutler M.D


Excellent book written by The Dalai Lama and a psychiatrist, very intresting view points. Its a combination of scientific physciatry and counsiling using buddhist teachings on how to live your life, and make it better and etc...

I'm reading a book called the Overview Effect written by Frank White. It's currently out of print, so it might be a litte hard to find. In it, there are many really interesting interviews he conducts with many of the first and most prominent astronauts/cosmonauts. Great read!

Last summer I read Justice by Dominick Dunne. In it he basically uses several different scenarios to show how the U.S. Judicial system is unfair. Very interesting and moving read.

A really good book I've read recently was "The Red Queen - Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature", by Matt Ridley... while I didn't actually agree with everything he said, I still enjoyed it.

Oh, and - love this thread!

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. An awesome read into the world of robotics (Fiction).

Reading a book called "The Arabs". Teaches you sooo much about the Middle East. Highly recommend it.

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