A Little Light Reading
By CRAIG DELLA PENNA on September 14, 2008 at 11:08 PM in Current Affairs
A young colleague asked me to draw up a list of books I liked… he had no idea what he was in for.
Great Books and Shows
I don’t know your level of intellectual involvement, so I’m going from the ground up – no insult intended
Cultural Classics
The Iliad & The Odyssey
Get the translations done by Stanley Lombardo, he’s done them as performance pieces and the language is very modern and non-stilted. These are both extremely important to understanding how we got where we are.
Anaximenes, Anaximander, Heraclitus, Democritus and Thucydides
on general principles, learn about life, the universe and everything.
Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles
Every plot under the sun was invented by these guys.
Plato
Because this is where dialectic begins, this is also where critical thought begins.
Aristotle
Because this is where dialectic ends (until Marx), the man had an opinion on everything – and he was usually right. Defined western thought for a thousand years and more.
Ovid – “Metamorphoses”
The most subtle use of Latin – ever, Dante was right to choose him as a guide.
Julius Caesar
Clear, insightful, explicative… bloody, cruel, awful… brilliant, perceptive, prescient… shall I go on?
Lucretius, Marcus Aurelius
On general principles: Lucretius for the most beautiful Latin ever written and especially Marcus Aurelius ‘Meditations’ for the view of the Empire in Autumn.
Augustine – “The City of God”
To find out how one severely fucked up (probably sexually abused) priest proceeded to fuck up the entire western world for a thousand years or more…
Shakespeare
If you read nothing else, Shakespeare would give you a complete education. Also the most beautiful period of the English language.
Spinoza
Proved you didn’t need god to justify your existence.
Leibniz
Proved you could be god if you wanted to (and re-invented The Calculus on the side – Archimedes did it first).
Adam Smith – The Wealth of Nations
Proved you didn’t have to be god if you understood markets.
BTW “The Invisible Hand” so beloved of ‘free’ market aficionados is mentioned only once in 1200 pages and even then in a very narrow context.
Locke, Hume, Rousseau
Progenitors of the Enlightenment, midwives of the American and French revolutions – some real thought here.
Darwin – The Origin of the Species
Everyone claims to have read this book but very few actually have, beautifully written by an excellent observer. Every religious fanatic should be required to read this, it will pretty much shut them up once and for all.
Nietzsche
High priest of German Romanticism (aside from Goethe), thought deeply, wrote beautifully and was barking mad, nonetheless, read “Genealogy of Morals” and “Thus Spake Zarathustra”
BTW “ubermensch” means “overman” not “superman”. He was referring to the ethical and moral qualities of the evolved human being, the fascist fanatics, as usual, got it completely wrong.
Von Clausewitz
Though a mere lieutenant in the Jaeger-Prussian army, his writings on the principles of war in simple, elegant prose have made him standard reading for warriors for two hundred years.
Bertrand Russell – Principia Mathematica
The last great re-invention of mathematics and written in Latin, no less. He and Alfred North Whitehead pretty much rewrote mathematics from the ground up at the start of the 20th century. Also was the first of the great modern peace activists.
Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky on general principles
That pretty much covers my range of Great Western Thought. There are many more of course, but I think these represent the best of the best. Frankly, I think that anyone who wants to understand our culture should read as many of these folks as they can or just read Will and Ariel Durant’s 26 volume tome “The History of Philosophy” as an alternative.
…now on to more fun stuff
Speculative fiction
The earliest SF writers are an astonishing lot:
Cyrano de Bergerac – From the Earth to the Moon
Jules Verne – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
H.G. Wells – War of the Worlds
But science fiction didn’t really arrive until…
The pulp authors – 30s and 40s authors who wrote the original space operas, cited for their adventurous imaginations not their technical or scientific rigor
E.E. “Doc” Smith
The Lensman series – everything George Lucas ever did, he stole from this.
Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Martian Series – just wonderful, completely off the scale as fantasy
There are many others here worth reading but these two are the class of the field.
The new guard (now old I suppose)
These are the first wave of serious speculative fiction writers who appeared in the late 40s and early 50s. A lot of these authors wrote short stories, novellas and novels that they realized later were connected in some way. You will often find ‘timelines’ with the various stories plotted along the way. These were mostly done after the fact but recognized the natural commonality of the tales. Some of these folks are in here for one or two of their tales only but they deserve their place nonetheless. I haven’t put in many from later periods, partly because I haven’t read them and that is mostly because they are derivative and boring. (So I’m a curmudgeon, sue me).
Arthur C Clarke
‘Childhood’s End’, ‘The Deep Range’, ‘Tales from The White Hart’, ‘2001′
Clarke invented the concepts of: geo-synchronous orbit satellites, re-usable orbital shuttles, tethered lifting ribbons, setting space colonies at the L3 and L5 points, and many other technologies.
Robert Heinlein
‘Stranger in a Strange Land’, ‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’, ‘I Will Fear No Evil’, ‘The Green Hills of Earth’, ‘Starship Troopers’, ‘Friday’, ‘The Tales of Lazarus Long’ and many, many others.
Bob Heinlein is not really a great writer, in fact he’s not a very good writer at all – he is, however, an absolutely wonderful storyteller with a keen eye for human foibles and a fearless advocacy for human freedom.
Isaac Asimov
‘The Foundation Series’, ‘I Robot’ and about 140 other books both fiction and non-fiction
Prolific and sometimes profound Asimov is always interesting. His intelligence and imagination have a huge range and depth.
Frank Herbert – Dune
The Dune series is probably the most complex political SF series ever. Intricate, complex, intriguing and exasperating.
Ray Bradbury
‘R is for Rocket’, ‘The Martian Chronicles’, ‘Dandelion Wine’, ‘Green Hills, White Whale’
Wonderful, evocative writer with a unique style, a peculiar look at the world and an unbounded imagination.
Larry Niven
‘Protector’, ‘Ringworld’, the Polesotechnic League, The Long Night
Great hard science type writer, the description of a realistic space battle complete with Bussard ramjets and using a neutron star in a battle maneuver in “Protector” are priceless.
Orson Scott Card
The Ender series – a series of six (?) books all revolving around a ‘first contact’ gone awry and the ramifications that ensue, “Speaker for the Dead” is especially good. Very empathic, try reading “The Lost Boys” with the knowledge that he has an autistic son.
Note: Quite a few of these authors run hot and cold, some of their books are really great while others are junk. If you’re not sure, ask me.
Robert Silverberg
Wrote three great books: ‘Dying Inside’, ‘The Stochastic Man’ and ‘Up the Line’. The Majipoor stuff is crap.
John Brunner
Great British writer, always provocative, ‘Stand on Zanzibar’, the unbelievably prophetic ‘The Sheep Look Up’ and many more… doesn’t like America very much but his critiques are spot on.
Phillip K. Dick
You already know him from ‘Bladerunner’, he wrote some great books: ‘Ubik’, ‘A Scanner Darkly’, ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’, wrote some others that are crap: ‘Clans of the Alphane Moon’, etc. Sad to say he kinda went round the bend at the last ‘Valis’ and ‘The Transmigration of Timothy Archer’ are pretty much paranoid-schizophrenic nightmares.
Ursula LeGuin
‘The Earthsea Trilogy’, ‘The Left Hand of Darkness’, ‘The Dispossessed’ A woman’s view on SF. She really understands dragons.
Philip Jose Farmer
‘Riverworld’ and a great many others. Farmer wrote a lot of really out there stuff, alien thought, alien-human sex, underworld/netherworld. Sometimes very erotic, sometimes very disturbing.
R.A. Lafferty
Unique style, off the wall imagination, funny and scary, never what you expected. Mostly short stories, well worth finding/reading.
Harlan Ellison
Insulting, irascible, insanely intelligent. Most famous for ‘Repent, Harlequin, Cried the Tick-Tock Man’
Theodore Sturgeon
Short stories that bite: ‘Occam’s Scalpel’, ‘If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?’ Author of Sturgeon’s Law: “90% of Everything is Crap”, his stuff is in the other 10%.
Cordwainer Smith
Brilliant, odd, funny, awful, charming, gut-churning… just the titles tell a tale: ‘The Burning of the Brain’, ‘Scanners Live in Vain’, ‘The Lady Who Sailed The Soul’, ‘The Ballad of Lost C’Mell’, ‘The Game of Rat and Dragon’. All the stories meld into a timeline/evolution of man and near-man over thirty thousand years of change.
Kim Stanley Robinson
‘Red Mars’ ‘Green Mars’ ‘Blue Mars’ trilogy. How Mars will really be terraformed and the interplanetary politics involved. Very well done, a little dry but essentially a manual for how to do it.
J.R.R.Tolkien
‘The Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy
IF you haven’t read this, read it right away… no the movie doesn’t even come close, in fact, try to forget the movie completely. This is the oldest, and by far the best, of the fantasy genre. It helps that Tolkien was a gifted writer, it helps that he was a professor of linguistics at Oxford, most of all he is original and creates layer upon layer upon layer to give his created world authenticity and credibility.
Robert Jordan
‘Wheel of Time’ series
Not the greatest of writers but I got snagged and if you’ve got a week or two to throw away get the series and read it through, he’s still writing the last two but has amyloidosis and may die before it’s done. Strong on magic and the Source, female characters very strong but basically batshit crazy, pretty much a typical ‘guy’s eye’ view. Some good moments.
Update: Robert Jordan died late last year and the last book of the series is being completed from his extensive notes
George R.R. Martin
“The Song of Ice and Fire’ series
Blood ‘n Guts sword-and-sorcery epic. You can see the denouement a mile off, but it’s the journey that counts. Pretty good characters, involving and interesting, each in their own revolting way. He has a nasty habit of killing off or gruesomely maiming anyone you might actually get to like. The Dragon Empress is a hottie.
William Gibson
‘Neuromancer’ etc
He’s here because he got famous for work that a lot of other people actually did before him, nevertheless his stuff is a good read, in a techno-punk, dystopian sorta way.
Neal Stephenson
‘Snow Crash’, ‘The Diamond Age’, ‘Cryptonomicon’. ‘The Baroque Cycle’
The first three are brilliant, prophetic, warp-speed, up to the nanosecond books chock full of excellent writing, total contemporaneity (wow! what a crappy neologism). What William Gibson wishes he were.
‘The Baroque Cycle’ is a 3,000 page romp through the 18th century, lots of fun characters, oh and BTW you’ll learn about the origins of scientific methodology, modern economics and how to deal with syphilis if you don’t have access to penicillin.
There are others out there working in associated fields, such as:
Graphic novels
Neil Gaiman and ‘The Sandman’ series. Neil is a cult figure for many – not my cuppa
Frank Miller and, basically anything he’s involved in: ‘The Dark Knight’ (Batman), ‘Sin City’, ‘Elektra Assassin’ and many others. Frank’s also a cult figure, I like him.
Movies
‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ intelligent SF (see also ‘This Island Earth’ made in the same year for a hilarious comparison
‘Forbidden Planet’ Monsters from the Id! Aaiieeee!! Still really good SF (although stolen wholesale from ‘The Tempest’) Note the very young Leslie Nielsen in a dramatic role.
‘Alien’ Ridley Scott’s version of: ‘There’s a Mouse in the House’ it’s seven feet tall, drips slime and wants to eat you, nevertheless… it has the all time greatest role for a woman since ‘Ninotchka’ Sigourney Weaver plays Ripley, the uber-competent second mate of the ‘Nostromo’ (look it up, see Joseph Conrad). Makes you proud to be a human being.
‘Aliens’ James Cameron cut his teeth on this one, did Jimmy. Not much for story but it’s in the running for the greatest action flick of all time, and we get to see Ripley be even more heroic.
‘Bladerunner’ Ridley Scott’s staggering SF opus, still arguably the best SF film ever made. Note the very young Edward James Olmos (since Miles Davis’ death, officially the ‘Coolest Man on the Planet’ see below: Battlestar Galactica)
I won’t go on about the films, you’ve probably seen a lot of the newer ones: long on SFX, short on intelligence. The one good thing about low budget films is that they make you think harder.
You might try comparing versions of ‘Solaris’ Tarkovsky vs Clooney, not as lopsided as you might think although Clooney is merely good while Tarkovsky is (was) a genius.
TV
Oddly enough some pretty good SF has leaked through into the boob tube (no, I’m not talking about ‘Blake’s Seven’ or ‘Red Dwarf’)
‘Doctor Who’ is an acquired taste but has some good moments (I prefer David Tenant in the role).
Obviously, ‘Star Trek’ is legendary, you should really watch some of the early episodes, hilarious, complete with space-bimbo of the week. There were some very good ones though: ‘City on the Edge of Forever’ (written by Harlan Ellison, see above) and ‘Space Seed’ with Ricardo Montalban as Khan, one of a genetically enhanced breed of ‘supermen’.
Actually ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ was pretty good as a series, good actors, good writing. See ‘Inner Light’ and ‘Metaphor’ and the dark ‘Yesterday’s Enterprise’.
I liked ‘Babylon 5’ quite a lot but didn’t get excited about ‘Firefly’. I liked ‘Andromeda’ but detested ‘Star Trek Voyager’.
This is a little off topic but I’d like to nominate ‘La Femme Nikita’, the TV series as an actual SF show notwithstanding their conceit that it was real-world, it definitely wins as the most paranoid television series ever shown, the tension was palpable in every episode, every relationship, every movement… the relief when each show was over was like serotonin overload.
But pride of place for best TV SF ever must go to ‘Battlestar Galactica’ (no, not the original series done back in the eighties, although watching that one is absolutely hilarious, I fall off my chair every time they push the “Turbo” button on the Vipers). The new one is fabulous, highly charged, rife with conflict, brilliantly written, superbly acted and confirms that Edward James Olmos (as Commander Adama) is the “Coolest Man on the Planet” (the honor used to belong to Miles Davis but even Miles can’t hold onto this one when he’s dead). To get a feel for this show see the episode “33 Minutes”, after your heartbeat slows down and you stop sweating, give me a call.
That’s about all I can think of for now, I’ll send more if/when I smack myself in the forehead and say ‘Why didn’t I think of that one!”
Once again, you may know all of these, I certainly don’t mean to presume that you don’t and no condescension is either overt or implied.
Have fun,
Craig
There definitely will be more added to the list, as I went over this several more candidates appeared iin my memory…
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Gee, that’s a great reading list for a lifetime, but I hope somebody fixes the html coding on this article before it consumes the whole blog!
Thanks for the reading list, Craig. There are a number of books I still need to crack open and finish.
Off topic, but here are links to view the entire CNN documentary “Sarah Palin Revealed.”
I have not watched this program yet, but based on the reaction from the O-bots, it seems the show was pretty good and fair to Sarah.
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeJgeXezX-k
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVveB6TWhes
Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDcdJzgyyCY
Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6a55xK6-XU
Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6WknJWb_bg
Part 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCtk8caODZ4
Great list, but notice any gender gaps in it?
My thought exactly!
That was my first thought, especially during this election year & what it has revealed about gender myopia.
How is it that Rassmussen found 75% of Democrats in Alaska regard Gov. Palin favorably, yet everyone the NY Times quotes has negative comments? How did the NY Times manage to find the five people or so who don’t like Palin?
One day a fourth-grade teacher asked the children what their mothers did
for a living. All the typical answers came up – teacher, nurse, businesswoman,
saleswoman, doctor, lawyer, and so forth.
However, little Justin was being uncharacteristically quiet, so when the
teacher prodded him about his mother, he replied, Well my mother’s an exotic dancer in a cabaret and takes off all her clothes in front of men and they put money in her underwear. Sometimes, if the offer is really good, she will go home with some guy and stay with him a ll night for money.
The teacher, obviously shaken by this statement, hurriedly set the other
children to work on some exercises and then took little Justin aside to ask him, ‘Is that really true about your mother?’
‘No,’ the boy said, ‘She works for the Democratic National Committee and
is helping to get Barack Obama to be our next President, but I was too
embarrassed to say that in front of the other kids.
rotflmao
too funny
I guess I have different taste
My favorite books are
A History of Time by Stephan Hawking
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
and Einstein for Dummies
I rarely read books anywhere but online anymore.
You did list some of my other favs (Shakespeare, Darwin, A Clarke, Heinlen)
What is the purpose of posting this poorly formatted article here? I really don’t see the point of it and I find it rather trivial and circumspect. Sorry.
Nice list, but wasn’t that Vergil that was Dante’s guide? Just asking?
You forgot the Karma Sutra.
:- )
This must be a list of books for normal people that have pride in country and know their heritage.
If this list was for Obamabots the authors would be..
Karl Marx
Adolf Hitler
Sal Alinsky
James Cone
“If this list was for Obamabots the authors would be..
Karl Marx
Adolf Hitler
Sal Alinsky
James Cone”
LOL, you forgot Dreams from my Father and The Audacity of Hope, both of which were written by The One.
Okay, this is the single most moronic comment I have ever read on NQ. Congratulations! You take a seriously impressive reading list — which has precisely nothing to do with politics — and instantly reduce it to the usual Obama-hating drivel.
Excuse us, but Obama really does have a Messiah complex.
Is he Hitler? No. But he most certainly is a race-baiting jerk of epic proportions.
Whatever. I’m sitting here reading about McCain’s history of malignant skin cancer and the fact that he hasn’t released his medical records. Oh well, maybe Sarah Palin will know something (anything) about foreign policy before he dies.
Question sf..
At what age did Obamas’s mother and father die.
Last time I looked McCain’s mother was doing pretty good for 96
Oh yeah, like that’s a relevant consideration for a 72-year-old man who has had FOUR malignant melanomas.
Personally I don’t believe the guy will live to see 80, which makes Palin’s high-school level knowledge of the relevant issues kind of important.
I don’t think either one of them can survive the debates, personally. McCain is losing it, and Palin doesn’t have it at all, in that setting.
Lets not forget who is running for the number one position.
The choices are clear.
An American hero who places country before party country before self and will never surrender American interests in the world
vs.
An Ant-American racist who promises defeat and retreat in the world who’s only experience was as a communist/community organizer handing out leaflets.
Those are not facts; they are your (ridiculous) interpretations of these two people. Luckily, very, very few people share those beliefs.
Believe what you want sf..
Ha Ha!!!
Very, very few? What planet are you on? Does your tv work? Obama is losing groung, and McCain is gaining and I might add surpassed your fool.
PS…McCain won’t have any trouble with the debates, and neither will Palin.They are both fully functional on their own brain power without the use of a teleprompter. Did you miss the Debates last spring? BO was AWWWWful.
“Personally I don’t believe the guy will live to see 80, which makes Palin’s high-school level knowledge of the relevant issues kind of important.”
Oh, well, if it’s that much of a concern, I am sure Obama can give her his 300 foreign policy advisers when she becomes president. Who needs experience when you have advisers, right?
We shall see grasshopper.
You have been wrong most of the summer sf.
McCain is sly fox and your guy took the bait.
I need a leader that can outsmart the enemy.
McCain used Romney as a decoy and look what you got…Biden..What a total bore!!
Where are your polls now!!
As for the debates…McCain always wins the debates..You’re toast!!
“Palin’s high-school level knowledge of the relevant issues kind of important.”
I think this is a bit of hyperbole.
Frankly I don’t think either Palin nor Obama are qualified to be POTUS and “leader of the free world”. But Palin is more qualified to be VP than Obama is to be POTUS. She has EXECUTIVE EXPERIENCE, where he has only legislative.
He’s been on the national stage for only less than 4 years, three of which he’s been running for Prez. In the Illinois St. Senate, he voted present 130 times.
As for foreign policy:
1. He doesn’t know that Russia, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has veto power.
2. He’s threatened to bomb Pakistan.
3. He’s flip-flopped on Iran, once calling it NOT a threat to now calling it a grave threat.
4. Barack O’Bullshit’s breathtaking FISA flip-flop,as well as the 130 “present” votes in the Il. State Senate, tells you how he really would have voted for the authorization to go to war in Iraq, if he had been in the US Senate in 2002.
BTW, the corporate media and the MoveOn.org idiots like Rachel “Bro’s Before Ho’s” Maddow, deliberately mischaracterized, i.e. lied by omission, about Hillary’s 2002 vote on Iraq. Never mind that Bill Clinton has repeatedly pointed out that Sen. Chuck Hagel, who voted for the “Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002“, was AGAINST the war from day 1–AND STILL IS. Indeed, Hagel has explicitly said the only reason why he voted for the resolution is because he got personal assurances from Bush-Cheney & Condi that force would be the LAST RESORT and NOT the first.
Hagel is a conservative Republican, a former CEO, and is a highly decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam War. He’s not exactly a naive person.
Bush conned everyone, from Hagel to Kerry… to Edwards… to Biden… to Hillary. Normally, you expect the “bad guys” to try to fool you, but NOT your own God damn president!
If McCain dies, Palin can appoint someone with experience as VP. Like Obama for example… No wait, he doesn’t have any experience…
Oh goodness. What illusory delusional bullshit. And moreover: people judge on character. Obama has none; he absolutely cannot debate (as we saw many times including Killadelphia) and Ted Kennedy’s chauffeur is only more pathetic.
Obama’s behind in all the polls. In many demographics he’s dropped TWENTY POINTS in a matter of weeks. It’s OVER. McCain is already the next president.
Give it up.
As for Sarah Palin you bigot..
At least I know where she stands on the issues particularly Iraq.
You on the other hand have proven to me that you and Obama both wish defeat for America.
Let us know when you get around to vetting Obama — I know you have only had a couple years but the election is very close.
Sf, over a thousand pages of his medical records have been made public. NYT from Sep 15.2008
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DEFD7133EF935A35751C1A96F958260
He released all of his medical records. What the hell rock have you been living under. Email Dr. Sanjay Gupta who looked through every single page for CNN and his report was almost embarrassing. McCain is healthy you dolt!
BTW, why didn’t Obama release medical records? He only gave a letter from his doctor. (Probably Dr. Axelrove or Dr. Ayers)
Why did Barfy make a big stink about Clintons records as first lady and then he doesn’t release his records from Columbia, Annenberg Challenge, etc.
What about his thesis on How to disarm the soviet union? I think with what is going on with Russia and Georgia, I might like to read that thesis!
Mc Cain has released over a thousand pages of medical records. Obama has released one letter from his doctor.
SFH – go pollute someplace else.
No thanks. Where are McCain’s medical records? Or don’t you idiots even care?
I would love to see a President Palin!!
First thing she would do is make you pull up those baggy ass pants and get a job.
LOL Okay Seattle, I have to give you credit, that was mildly funny.
My pleasure sf!
sfhillary, he has released his medical records. I suggest you learn to google.
sfhillary, I’ll help you out.
(http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/05/23/mccain.health.records/)
I understand Obama just brought a note from his doctor.
hmmmmm, crickets
sfh,
I’m on your side here. We should not contaminate discussion about “Craig’s list” with the presidential election. We should enjoy this respite and do a bit of canon construction.
It is worth noting the gender gap. Notwithstanding, Craig’s list is an artifact of his experiences. In order to provide gender inclusive canons in the future, whose works should be included? Un coup d’oeil I’d add Wollstonecraft, van Bingen, de Beauvoir, Jane R. Martin (Reclaiming a Conversation), Rachel Carson, Evelyn Fox Keller, Mary Shelley, and Margaret Atwood. These works should be seen as filling out the canon, not as female add-ons.
Orwell, E.F. Schumacher, and Lovelock (Gaia Hypothesis), and Heraclitus strike me as worthy candidates for inclusion.
I don’t want to hog, so I’ll stop here.
Shalom
SM
Ha! LOLZ
SF Hillary, it pains me no end–because I despise your candidate (I’m from Illinois and I know who and what he is)–but I have to agree with you on this point.
It’s a great list, and I’d forgotten how many I’d read and long since forgotten, but to reduce it to a cheap and profoundly dimwitted political slam is, well, cheap and profoundly dimwitted.
Video linking Obama to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge in his own words on WTTW Chicago.
http://www.classicalvalues.com/archives/2008/09/corruption_erup.html
I would add Sun Tzu’s Art of War to your list
One of my favorites…I wonder if we would be in such a mess if today’s kids were required to read this list and be required to take a Critical Thinking classe before graduating high school?
PS. I adore Ridley Scott so much that I named my son after him. Ridley Spencer, after Spencer Tracy. Ok, so, Inherit the Wind blew my mind as a child, while Bladerunner and Alien freaked me out when I was 10.
He mentioned Bladerunner in his list (Phillip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?).
Strawberry, I also love Inherit the Wind. Was the blowhard orator supposed to be William Jennings Bryant and the lawyer representing the teacher, Clarence Darrow? Blowhard orators have so little to offer.
Great pull.
I attended High School in Fairfax Co. VA., and we did read most of those books as required reading (with the exception of the numerous scifi choices), and although I believe most of the choices were extremely well recommended, I would also include various religious titles on that list, and omit some of the science fiction. The Bible, The Torah, and The Koran can offer wonderful insight into what the World believes and why. Remember Holy Wars are being waged now, and have always been fought. I think in this day and age knowledge of the Religions of the various countries is more important to World knowledge than the aforementioned titles. After you obtain that knowledge, then work your way down the list.
BTW, when Darwin’s theory of evolution became just a theory to me was when I laid eyes on my first son, I can truly say God was never real to me until I realized that only a God could create human life. IMHO, and that’s all the proof I need.
I agree. In this regard, I’d also add Taber’s The War of the Flea and Jonathan Shay’s Achilles in Vietnam. The latter is a must read for preparing Americans to welcome and heal the soldiers who will be returning from combat.
R A Lafferty was it him who wrote The Eleven Day Disappearer?
Gotta watch Eureka on the SciFi channel Tuesday evening.
A good companion for the political farce going on today is: Aristophanes, Lysistrata.. It is the funniest play that I have ever read.
A modern autobiography that is very good is “Walking with the wind” by John Lewis.
Compare “V For Vendetta” (granted, a movie) with today’s political scene.
Ovid did not guide Dante through the Inferno and Purgatorio.
Virgil did.
You’re absolutely correct, my bad… but it should have been Ovid, it would have been a much more interesting tour, I think.
Dante guided Fellini thru 8½.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmEqBdde5H0
—opening dream sequence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9TD4vy9RnI
—Ride of the Valkyries
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpN3M_CeurQ
—misogynistic vision of an angel, Claudia Cardinale.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YozQlhdu4QU
—Asa nisi masa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th85Meqfh5k
—The Descent into Hell. The strongest and most obvious connection to Dante is here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFmNE07-wGQ
—The Harem scene. Misogyny as art. So many movies and directors try to copy the so many iconic images and sequences of this scene. And they never succeed. I always get off from watching this scene. Excuse me, but I need to take a cold shower.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgvrJU64E_Y
—drive to nowhere with Claudia Cardinale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdGrOjAQ_gs
—Finale, the spaceship (dream) and the circus (reality)
————–
Many have suggested that Fellini was copying Joyce, who in turn copied Homer & Shakespeare. No, he was copying Dante.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceGxYrRaqxE&NR=1
—The entire harem scene. Meant to link this rather than the short clip above.
So you delve into the mind of a creator – and you attempt to divine what he meant. And if you’re right? What does that give you?
It gives you nothing. Americans love glass onions.
Ender Series Rocks changed the way I looked at the universe.
Always liked the Once & Future King….Aaaaand I think Swift should be in consideration….
I loved the Once & Future King, but the rest of the books listed are way above my pay grade.
yea!!
I love your list! Especially the ancients.
You could offer MAs with this reading list. And that would be a good thing.
Have everyone read them and the original languages? PhDs!
The book that has had the most influence for me and why I’m so engaged in politics is..
The Glorious Burden…The American Presidency
by Stefan Lorant
ok, definitely a different post.
greeks, romans and sci-fi…alrighty then.
I do feel, since women have gotten such a hard time this political season, that I should point out that the first science fiction story is held to be Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. A wonderful book.
Actually, it’s held to be the first horror story (if you discount the tales of the brothers Grimm). Cyrano de Bergerac is credited with the first SF story, a couple of hundred years earlier.
I did include Ursula Leguin and there are many other women SF writers who are well respected – I just haven’t read them.
Last, there are many women SF writers who have chosen to use male pen names or a-gender appellations; J.O. Jeffords is actually Isaac Asimov’s wife and, for all I know R.A. Lafferty may be a woman.
It seems that woman-identified writers don’t sell as well in some genre fiction, a rather sad comment on gender politics in our culture.
from wikipedia…
Most notable of all is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, first published in 1818.[12] In his book Billion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss claims Frankenstein represents “the first seminal work to which the label SF can be logically attached”. It is also the first of the “mad scientist” subgenre. Although normally associated with the gothic horror genre, the novel introduces science fiction themes such as the use of technology for achievements beyond the scope of science at the time, and the alien as antagonist, furnishing a view of the human condition from an outside perspective. Aldiss argues that science fiction in general derives its conventions from the gothic novel. Mary Shelley’s short story “Roger Dodsworth: The Reanimated Englishman” (1826) sees a man frozen in ice revived in the present day, incorporating the now common science fiction theme of cryonics whilst also exemplifying Shelley’s use of science as a conceit to drive her stories. Another futuristic Shelley novel, The Last Man, is also often cited as the first true science fiction novel.[12]
Ah, dueling Wikipedia entries…
Hector Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac (6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655)
Though not as famous as his classical contemporaries, Bergerac was a successful writer. The playwright Molière even borrowed a scene from Le Pédant Joué. Bergerac’s most prominent works are his duo of proto-science fiction novels,The Other World: The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon (1657) and “The Comical History of the States and the Empires of the Sun” (incomplete at his death) which describe fictional journeys to the Moon and Sun. The methods of space travel he described are inventive, often ingenious, and sometimes rooted in science. They reflect the materialist philosophy of which Bergerac was a devotee. It should be noted, however, that Bergerac’s primary purpose in writing those early science fiction novels was to criticize subtly the anthropocentric view of our place in creation, as well as the social injustices of the 17th century. “The Other World” was subjected to censorship.
… I chose my ‘first’, you chose yours; de gustibus non disputatem
Glad you see Augustine for what he was. I think I read somewhere that he didn’t like St. Patrick’s growing authority and following and so told the Pope to marginalize him before he relocated Rome to Ireland.
So after you read Augustine – “The City of God” read the most beautiful prayer ever. The earliest version of “The Breastplate of Saint Patrick” you can find. It can make your spirit soar.
Great post- I have always been a fan of Dune- has one of the best philosophies regarding fear:
” I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. ”
– Frank Herbert- Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear.
I use this as a teaching tool.
I’d like to add an author for consideration: Jospeh Campbell
and a breaking news somber note that may be encouraged by someone to write about in tandem to the elections- Lehman Brothers has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. The fed will meet this week Tuesday and so far, will accept equities in the primary dealer credit facility.
WTF?
Meanwhile, Lehmann Brothers is filing Chapter 11.
Our country is in a shit load of trouble.
That’s exactly right! It’s been brewing all Sunday with fed meetings that no one is talking about! , there are at least 20 people I know who are now out of a job!- pack and up leave by Wednesday.
From The List:
Darwin – The Origin of the Species
Everyone claims to have read this book but very few actually have, beautifully written by an excellent observer. Every religious fanatic should be required to read this, it will pretty much shut them up once and for all.
Actually, I’m a bit suspicious as to whether the author of this list has actually read this book. The CORRECT title is “The Origin of Species” (only one “the”, not two).
Orson Scott Card
Yeah. Read this man if you want to support someone who’s publicly stated his opposition to same-sex marriage and gay rights. Many of his longtime fans who were, incidentally, gay have turned against him, even to the point of stating that had they known of his beliefs, they wouldn’t have supported him. Most have expressed confusion because some of his characters were gay/lesbian or gay-friendly. (Apparently, Card’s anti-gay activism is a result of his Mormonism.)
Neil Gaiman and ‘The Sandman’ series. Neil is a cult figure for many – not my cuppa.
Not quite understanding. Have you actually read “Sandman” or not? If you haven’t, how do you recommend it? (It IS the single greatest comic-book/graphic novel series in history. It is much more fulfilling if you’re fully versed in comics history–especially DC Comics–but many of the stories require no more comics’ knowledge than an episode of “Gilligan’s Island”. There are two significant stories connected to Shakespeare–takes on “A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream” and “The Tempest”–as well as the fabulous “Ramadan” story which deals primarily with the Baghdad of legend, specifically “The Arabian Nights” period.) Aside from “The Sandman”, Gaiman has written a pair of novels, “American Gods” and “Anansi’s Boys” which deal with mythology, especially as it deals with American history; both of these are mandatory reading along with “The Sandman” for the mythic themes (start with “The Sandman” and proceed to the novels). Gaiman’s also written a number of short stories, the best of which would be “Murder Mysteries” (the story primarily deals with a murder in Heaven), and, for those who enjoyed the movie, Stardust, Gaiman was the author of the original illustrated comic book limited series.
Actually, I have in front of me Edward Wilson’s compilation “From So Simple A Beginning” which contains the four great Darwin works. In fact we are both wrong, the correct title is “On the Origin of Species”
I recommended Orson Scott Card not because of his politics – with which I do not agree – but because, IMO, he’s written some good SF novels. I don’t think his Mormonism is any more or less ridiculous than Scientology, or Christianity for that matter. I’m sorry to discover that he’s actively anti-gay, not surprised to hear it’s connected to his religious beliefs.
On to Neil Gaiman. I recommended him because he’s very much respected and influential in the SF/graphic novel community. And I have actually read a number of the ‘Sandman’ series – just couldn’t get into it. I also read ‘American Gods’ and was underwhelmed, hence my statement: “not my cuppa”, once again – de gustibus…
OK…I just read them all…whats next..??
Anybody who likes E. E. Smith “can’t be all bad”. You might try David Eddings. “Swords and Sorcery.” He writes entertaining characters. Also, if you like books-into-movies (Phillip K. Dick), don’t forget “We Can Remember it For You Wholesale”.
Robert Jordan is deceased. His son helped finish the last installment of his Wheel of Time Juggernaut.
The battle of The Calculus was between Leibniz and Sir Isaac Newton, not Archimedes. Both published their systems and Newton got his published first and thus first claim to it.
Leibniz Notation is indispensible to Calculus from Single-variable to Multi-variable to Differential Equations, Vector Analysis, Non-linear Dynamics et.al.
I’ve practically absorbed all your list and then some. I’d suggest H.G. Wells, “The History of Everything.”
Aleister Crowley’s “Diary of a Drug Fiend,” or “Magick without Tears”, to “Moonchild” and much more have such deeply philosophical and command of the English language that even a Dogmatic Greek Orthodox Christian would have to begrugingly admire.
You left out Sir Richard Francis Burton whose translations of The Kama Sutra, to the Thousand Nights and a Night, Arabian Nights, to his incredibly rich and in-depth writings of his being the world’s foremost secret agent for the British and more during the mid 19th century seem to have been lost on all who think the Middle East is worth converting to Democracy.
Clive Barker’s works are incredibly engrossing and challenging to the human spirit.
The writings of Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Sir Thomas Paine, James Madison, so on and so forth are all treasures.
Tad Williams is another writer of today’s Sci-fi that Heinlein would find enjoyable.
Jaqueline Carey’s “Kushiel’s series” is quite refreshing.
Robert Anton Wilson (RAW) works [Cosmic Trigger, The Illuminati Trilogy, Ishtar Rising, et.al” should be required reading to challeng one to observe the Media through the eyes of a Skeptic.
On and on.
Nice to hear about works I’m not familiar with.
Archimedes actually developed the principles of The Calculus, but the knowledge was lost. Isaac Newton did indeed develop his system before Liebniz – but kept it secret for many years. Leibniz published first, Newton then embarked on a twenty-year campaign to prove he came up with the idea first. The Royal Society eventually supported him and, since we speak English, his claim triumphed. Liebniz notation, and even descriptive nomenclature dominates The Calculus – Liebniz’ term, Newton called it ‘Fluxion’ I believe.
Aleister Crowley may be a master of the English language but I’ll leave him to his admirers – de gustibus… once again
Burton was an amazing man, quite the writer and damn his wife for burning most of his works before his body was cold…
Clive Barker is admired by a lot of folks, just not my cuppa…
I agree about the founding fathers, and I’m really sorry that Jefferson was stuck in Paris when the Constitution was being written, I think we’d be in a lot better shape today if his hand had been in that document.
I’ve not been introduced to the rest, thanks for mentioning them.
Never Mind…A nice young man working his way through High school just came to My door and sold me the Complete set of the Harvard Classics..
Where would the world be without Books..
Oh..I know..Now it the Computer and the http://WWW..but I know that Bomber Bill Ayers is making sure Our gets get the Right material to read in School..
You can’t go on the internet unless you can read..at leat enough to know how to get to My Space anyhow…
Education..thats the Key..
What Light through Yonder WINDOWS shine..??
It is the gutenberg project in the east with free downloads of books past copyright !!!!!
yay yay
and they can be downloaded to my Kindle too!
how totally kewl is that!
Jane Austen dontcha know
:0)
I was disappointed that Babylon 5 didn’t ever get the kind of following that Star Trek has, since I think B5 had better written material. So I’m happy to see that someone else out there likes it
oh I LOVE Babylon 5!! did you get the DVD one off they released recently?
I LOVED early farscape too before they sexed it all up, tanked the ratings and killed it
why must they mess with a good thing, why o why?
Babylon 5 is my all time favorite for sci fi series, followed closely by the Stargate SG1/Atlantis series. And based on some of the authors you mentioned I would also recommend David Eddings the Belgariad/Mallorean series, and most of all Anne McCaffreys Pern series. Since I began reading those 2 authors series, I have reread the books at least every other year.
PODvet!!
I just added a comment at the bototm and you have it here!!
yes David Eddings (and LEIGH who cowrote!!)
YES Dragonriders of Pern
AND DONT FORGET MERCEDES LACKEY AND VALDEMAR!!!!!
Lehman says it will file for bankruptcy
This is an other reason why we can’t have Obama win. We can’t have high taxes go into effect at a time like this.
Exactly!!!
The great depression was caused by reactionary politics.
The imposition of higher taxes and tariffs on trade.
This is the wrong time for tax increases..Period!!!
Of course Anti-Americans such as Pelosi and Obama would welcome a great depression and retreat and defeat in Iraq.
That is the only way they can have their socialist revolution!
Hey did’t you hear? Obama has flipped on the taxes, too. Yep. He now says he would have to delay putting back into place Bush’s tax cuts and cutting taxes for middle America. Yep. Just the other day. Flipped. Personally I think that is actually a smart move, but my point is that no democrat has any reason whatsover to vote for the man. He has gone back on every single promise he made to them!!!!
He can’t save his ass this late in the game no matter what he does!
Richard Bach..
“Jonathan Livingston .Seagull”
“Illusions..The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah..”
May we always believe in MAGIC..
The Magic of the MIND..
It takes us on All Our Adventures..
May all of Yours have Happy Endings..
Goodnite..
I agree with many of your choices…top notch and certainly life alluminating books. But may I repectfully propose that you read “Liberal Fascism” by Jonah Goldberg–the most important book I have EVER read.
As a teacher of college Amercian/European history for 14 years , I have always felt that something fundamentally was lacking in the consesus understunding of the last 300 years of Eurocentric history. Strangely, the historic “facts” never quite added up for me. For example:
–I always felt a touch shaky on the topic of how did Democrats and Republican end up having the views, values, and platforms they do? And how did these logically evolve out of pre-French Revolutionary European social theory.
–Why did Marxism and Fascism and Nazism alway seem so similar to me yet were discribed so widely as opposite political phenomena?
–Why do liberals call “conservatives” “Fascists” if most of them vehemently demand less Goverment in their lives?
–Why do todays Liberal profess Adoration for JFK if G.W. Bushes polices and views are so very similar?
–Why are “Conservatives” called “war mongers” when all devestating wars of the 2oth century were started or entered into by Democrat Presidents (except for the UN mandated Desert Storm?
Before, I just chalked these very large inconsistencies in our collective understanding of history up to anomaly! Well…today I have to thank Jonah Goldberg in particular for a brilliant piece of intellectual work that no self-professed intellectual and Liberal should go without reading……….”LIBERAL FASCISM”.
Having read it, I must admit to feeling seriously embarassed for having been an intellectual zombie. But at least I know I was not alone.
…and NO. I’m not taking this opportunity to bash Liberals since I always thought of myself as well meaning Liberal too. But NOW, I’m a real Liberal…I no longer self-censor certain thoughts nor do I any longer respect the taboos of todays il-liberal Dogma (eg. on race and gender relations, or contempt for conservative thought). Things finally make sense….simple logical sense and I feel much more free. I’LD LIKE MY WELL-INTENTIONED PEERS TO BE SO AS WELL.
I’m sick of the impass our political system is facing, where everyone who disagrees in a “fascist”. As long as we Americans fail to understand the historic forces to which we are subject we will NEVER break free of imposters like Obama or Bush–or for that matter Hitlers, Stalins, Mussolinis, Pol Pots, Chavez, Bin Ladens, Maos etc.
Remember, people have a tendency to become that which they fear…for that reason alone it is worth looking into for any Liberal.
Again the book is “Liberal Fascism” by Jonah Goldberg.
Thanks for your time.
sorry for the typo……. I meant “illuminating”.
Aren’t we overlooking the current War in Iraq?
WW2 began with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, so the argument that a democratic president started it would be a stretch. (Although we’d admittedly come to the defense of Britain before our involvement officially commenced. I’d stand behind FDR on that one.)
I believe serious U.S. entanglement in Vietnam began during the Eisenhower administration.
I’m not clear myself on the seeming paradox of conservative thinking about government. They seem to want less, but simultaneously seem to be drawn to the idea of obedience to authority. My own perception is that contemporary conservatives are more inclined to want to impose their own standards of private conduct upon others than liberals–whether or not the conduct in question has significant public consequences. I suppose I’m tend to see emphasis on authority and and the impulse to impose one’s on standards on others as fascist characteristics–particularly when the tendencies become increasingly intrusive into my private world. Why, for example, should the government be able to imprison me or take my property without due process if I decide I can responsibly engage in occasional marijuana use? How is this their business? Conservative thinking is that a state cannot even allow a doctor to perscribe it for a terminally ill patient.
That’s not a major issue with me or anything. Just a random example.
Uh…prescribe. I need sleep. A good night to all, regardless of political stance…
Good night, sweetie. Sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite.
“I’m not clear myself on the seeming paradox of conservative thinking about government. They seem to want less, but simultaneously seem to be drawn to the idea of obedience to authority.”
Wow, that’s like totally deep.
Personally, I buy into Chomsky’s take on this: They’re “status quo extremists” rather than actual “conservatives”.
….I said 20th century
I’m sorry, but I don’t understand why the labels are so important. We grow up with certain values, but they can evolve over time with experience and education. Communism as a concept is not evil. Capitalism as an ideal is not entirely good. Revolutions historically lose their way and are perverted by the very idealist who initiated them. Very few live up to the promise. Nationalism is instilled in school children, which makes it easier for governments to control the population no matter what the system of government. The US Constitution was written with a Republic in mind, but a centralized government means more power in fewer hands. The two principle parties in this country have changed philosophies over the period of our history and they divide the population by creating bigotry and using it to obtain or maintain power. What has happened this year is staggering, but not necessarily a bad thing. Truth is the enemy of the state. I don’t remember who said that. Goering or Goebbels. Truth is power and that is why our government lies. A year ago I was a Democrat and have called myself that for thirty five years. I believed in the superiority of my ideas and ideals. Pro choice, pro gun control, pro environment, protection of civil liberties, every vote counts, universal health care, respect for women and all minority groups, anti war, economic parity. All of those things are principles I have believed in and believed the Democratic Party represented. Now I believe these issues are used by politicians to gain power and have no meaning to them. If long time Republicans were honest with themselves, they would see how their values have been shaped and the issues can be defined or discarded by their leaders when inconvenient. I am expected to vote for my party under threat of losing all I believe in, but it is all a big lie. There is a horrible partisan hatred seen all over the Internet until it takes the breath away. It is vile and it is being used and encouraged by both parties using labels.
I beg you all to read the book before discussing it…..otherwise we’d be talking apples and oranges without purpose and without meaning. Thanks
“Liberal Fascism”
…and absolutely not!! Eisenhower did NOT start any millitary movement into this country–JFK did. JFK started his support of Catholic leaders in South Vietnam. He was Catholic and a populist liberal and vehemently anti-marxist. But Eisenhower did however diplomatically support the s. Vietnam gov diplomatically and economically….but that’s a far cry from initiating hostilities.
….After JFKs death, Johnson seriously escalated the situation into the Quagemire we know of today. Nixon actually started wrapping the war up successfully until Watergate was hoisted on the scene.
Craig,
Because your list is well done and inclusively far reaching, I think it is a mistake to leave out the approximately 30 volumes of the sage C. G. Jung. Depth Psychology is not to everyone’s taste, but since many of us know the general meaning of extrovert, introvert, thinking type, feeling type, etc., few know these terms/concepts are directly from Jung’s 1921 book Psychological Types. Additionally, in Jung’s works, there is much more of his brilliant and relevant thought about archetype, complex, shadow, anima, animus, etc.
I thought about adding in Jung – I agree he is a protean thinker and writer. I think that, for me, he is too close to contemporary for the historical perspective I was attempting to present. I left out a number of thinkers who are still having a direct effect upon us: Marx, Engels, Kant, Heidegger, Buber, Wittgenstein, Foucault, even Sartre. And this doesn’t even reflect the thoughts of Dostoevsky, Borges, Joyce… the list goes on and on and on…
I suppose I’ll have to start that second list sooner rather than later!
If anyone is looking for a brief escape from political coverage, ABC “Primetime” will examine the evidence for UFOs Tuesday, September 16 from 9:30 – 11:00 p.m. ET.
Silverberg’s novella 7 “American Nights” is an interesting tale.
I would definitely add SF author Gene Wolfe to the recommended list. Personally, I think “The Book of the New Sun” trilogy is one of the finest science fiction works ever written. It’s way up there in terms of its literary merit, too. The guy is a living master. The trilogy consists of The Shadow of the Torturer, The Claw of the Conciliator, and The Sword of the Lictor. Strong, highly imaginative stuff, with tremendous depth.
Nice list, but for fuck’s sake, truncate it on the first page of the blog.
Yeah, no shit.
Otherwise we’ll have to call in Jesse Jackson to cut Craig’s nuts off.
Although it’s category is officially ‘anime’, “Cowboy Bebop” is a sci-fi of a different speed, accentuated by the very cool music in the opening sequence and through out the series.
Plouffe: Jump! Media: How high?
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/obama-jump-media-how-high/
Video: The Lying King
http://hillbuzz.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/the-lying-king/#comment-3047
Craig, thanks for the list. There are many I haven’t read and my eyes tend to get tired these days and I doubt there are audios for most of them. I don’t read Latin, but I read the English version of The Odyssey. This is probably irreverent, but I loved the movie,”Oh Brother Where Art Thou”.
In college I read Plato’s Republic and I have thought so many times in the last eight years on his idea of people getting the government they deserve. However, since I didn’t vote for Bush either time, I’m not sure how I deserve what has happened. The inductive and deductive reasoning he outlines is something which should be required reading.
I am not a huge fan of Sci Fi, but my husband is and I have read a few. Stranger In A Strange Land is not well written, but it is a wonderful book. There is book by Robert McCammon, Swan Song, with an interesting concept. After a nuclear war, the survivors develope a scab covering on their bodies and when the winter is over the scab falls off. Underneath is a physical representation of what the person is like inside. It would be so much easier if we could immediatly know what kind of person a candidate is by their physical appearance, wouldn’t it?
Excellent list.
Not nit-picking, but Jules Verne wrote both “From the Earth to the Moon”, and “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”.
I didn’t this book… but it’s a must:
Ayn Rand: Atlas Shrugged
And considering how we may be on the verge of socialism here, i am going to re-read it.
Uh, don’t you realize that Greenspan and who knows else in the fed government were card-carrying members of the Rand fan club in their youth, and that we have been living out Rand’s bizarre fantasies about ‘the rules for public finance in a truly free society’?
For some free sf&f eBooks try
http://www.baen.com/library/
lots of DRM free books in multiple formats.
I am ALL OVER THAT!! THANK YOU!!
W00T!!!!!!!
In my opinion, the greatest science fiction novel of all time is Solaris, by the Polish writer Stanislaw Lem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk_fPi-24Iw
My pick for greatest sci fi novel by an American would be Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon.
The second incarnation of Battlestar is like the first incarnation of Obama: overrated, overdone, overblown and full of itself. Good metal Cylons, though.
Good grief, Craig. I applaud your reading list!
I have spent this entire summer reading through every book ever written by novelist Alan Furst. It’s been a brilliant journey so far. I’ve experienced Europe, Russia, Eastern Europe and the pre-WWII era like never before, and it’s given me quite a few insights into the current historical period.
I highly recommend Alan Furst! Great historical fiction! I’m so hooked, I hate to get to the end of his list of books.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/alan_furst/index.html
oohhh thanks, you know what else I just got into that is fabulous?
this series with literary detectives tracking characters?
jasper fforde!!
book one: the Eyre Affair
review here:
http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/popgb/ffordej1.htm
Oh if you’re interested in great fiction and early political justice issues (similar but much worse that todays Euro-American problems)….fantastic read to enlighten us on early industrial 1800’s continental europe is the epic, multi-novel about the Rougon and Maquard famillies….by Emile Zola.
You’ll see how far we’ve come….yet how same we still are. These are afterall the human conditions and issues that gave motivation to Marxist Philosphy.
Craig!!!
You have clearly been raiding my library :0)
I met Robert Jordan, God Bless Him, and a wonderful man he was. Wheel of Time is OUTSTANDING. I am eagerly awaiting the 12th, yes 12th and final book being written from his extensive notes which included his desired plot ending…also companion reads include New Spring, which is a prequel and outlines how Lan met Moraine :0)
I would add a few important sci fi/fantasy authors who should be read:
Anne McCaffrey- Dragonriders of Pern series
Mercedes Lackey- anything Valdemar, I like Vanyel the best personally, that would be Magic’s Pawn, Magic’s Promise, Magic’s Price….
David Eddings – great intro to Fantasy, and Lester Del Rey personally handled these back in the day sigh, miss him: The Belgariad, the first 5 books. The Mallorean, the second set and then the Elenium-Sparhawk series (unrelated series) EXCELLENT writing- begins with The Diamond Throne, LOVE the orders of knights in fantasy setting, just love it
speaking of knights, Morte D’Arthur by Mallory should be required reading and while we are there
how about some:
Marion Zimmer Bradley!! Mists of Avalon!
and of course then we must must add on Mary Stewart’s trilogy on Merlin :0)
The Crystal Cave
The Hollow Hills
the Last Enchantment
Lest we forget!!
Barbara Hambly!!!!!! totally Rocks–HARD!
I would begin with the Darwath Trilogy:
The Time of the Dark
the Walls of Air
and the Armies of Daylight
and take it from there, highly addictive and Hambly has other genres that include a wonderful series kicked off with a Free Man of Color a suspense series, excellent work..but dont get me off on mystery and suspense or we will use all the bandwidth
these are just some of my faves that didnt make it onto Craig’s list, and should be MUST READS!!!
:0)
This thread is a waste of space and time. Buh-bye. Good night and good luck.
yes you better get back to grand Theft Auto 27!!
ah, the list from Gender Gap. jeez, Jane Austen is the mother of all modern romantic comedy, and more poetry please, say, oh, Emily Dickinson.
your list is instructive and a welcome discussion away from politics.
but back on that, has anyone else noticed that the Matrix seems like
the source of Obama speak “I know you are out there. I know you are
afraid of change.” from the end of the movie as Neo narrates.
oh, and love your inclusion of Solaris on the list. even the Soderbergh version is really thought provoking.
yes and Tennyson also, someone mentioned Shelley above, Mary tho’ how about Percy? Keats! Byron, love the sentimentalists :0)
ohh but Nathaniel Hawthorne! American Drama! O Neil! soo much, ahh I love a good book thread
The Lombardo translations of the The Odyssey and The Illiad suck. Yes, they’re very modern, but that’s precisely why they suck. They were written so teenagers could relate to Homer but they don’t give the feel of Homeric language or cadence.
You’d be better rewarded reading the Richmond Lattimore translations.
Good list though.
Just thought I would point out that Von Clausewitz was a Major General not a Lieutenant. His father was a Lieutenant.
I also suggest a Daily reading of NO QUARTER..
It has the Best writers and commentators (TATERS) on the Internet…Spinach for the Soul..
The Best Brain Food to come from Cyberspace…
And Yes Alice..there are Unconventional Flying Objects.. and they are not Weather Ballons..
This is my Quest..to Read Read NO Quarter..Pray for susan and her cats..and Watch the MAGIC ~ACT..and to reach The reachable Star…
Warp Speed Mr. Johnson…Warp Speed…
Oh Yes…and Send Me my NEW Decoder Ring…will You please…
Nice to see my father Cordwainer Smith and the other science fiction greats right up there with the classics!
Eric…
I appreciate your effort and the quality of the information you provide. Hopefully you can find the time to visit my site….