[Books] Somethings to read before you die.

[Plaguies]

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
1984 by George Orwell
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Elements of Refusal by John Zerzan
The Culture of Fear by Barry Glassner
Industrial Society and Its Future (aka Unabomber Manifesto) by Ted Kaczynski
The Fall of America (a collection of his poetry) by Allen Ginsberg
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Family Happiness by Leo Tolstoy
Animal Farm by Orwell
Howl by Allen Ginsberg
Atlas Shrugged -Ayn Rand
The Fountainhead- Ayn Rand
Brave new world - Aldous Huxley
Johnny Got His Gun- Dalton Trumbo
Wealth of Nations- Adam Smith
Candide- Voltaire
Capital- Karl Marx
Lies My Teacher Told me- Loewen
A Peoples History of the United States- Zinn
Endgame-Derrick Jensen
The Case For Socialism= Alan Maas
Fuck the System- Abbie Hoffman
Steal This Book- Abbie Hoffman
Various Chomsky


Just a list of some of my favorite books. Just thought I would share it with you guys, feel free to comment or make suggestions.

[gherkin]

I found that Ayn Rand made me not really care about living. I'm not sure it should be on a list that could be taken as "Hey you got cancer, here's a to do list"

At least, "Things to do before you die" usually imply impending death (<2 yrs) in my mind.

[Plaguies]

I found that Ayn Rand made me not really care about living. I'm not sure it should be on a list that could be taken as "Hey you got cancer, here's a to do list"

At least, "Things to do before you die" usually imply impending death (<2 yrs) in my mind.

A good portion of the books on that list are sad and depressing, because a good portion of it is true.

[Deleted]

Wow. Our reading tastes are almost exactly alike. Another Rand book to check out (that I'm sure you've read already) is Anthem. Short book. You can probably finish it in one sitting.

[Plaguies]

Wow. Our reading tastes are almost exactly alike. Another Rand book to check out (that I'm sure you've read already) is Anthem. Short book. You can probably finish it in one sitting.

Yeah Ill check it out, I like Rand although i dont agree with her completely. Its nice to read something from her that isnt over a thousand pages long.

[Elanale]

Ayn Rand books are something you really have to read if you want to be completely insufferable for like a week afterward.

I'm noticing hardly any of those books on that list are fun. The closest is... Fahrenheit 451? Jesus, dude. I can understand some of those (not Randian, god, never Randian) being books to read before you die, but where is the joyful stuff to counterbalance it?

[Dekki]

A lot of that is Postmodern diatribes about how life is pointless - not my cup of tea, but someone has to be a nihilist (or maybe no one, bah dum tis)
My list (mostly entertainment-type stuff):
Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card
Any BPRD/Hellboy you can get your hands on - Mike Mignola and crew are great writers, I eat their stuff up all the time.
Chusingura <- A Japanese puppet play about Samurai, pretty nifty - I'm a history dork.
Can't think of any others (well, non-history things that really depend on your tastes)

[Olyeg]

I didn't see it on the list, but one of my favorite is To Kill a Mockingbird

[dgarner32]

harry potter anyone?

[Elanale]

harry potter anyone?

Harry Potter is fun. Not absolutely essential to read before you die... or then again, maybe it is. It IS a major cultural reference point these days. You're more likely to fail to get a joke because you've not read Harry Potter than you are to fail to get a joke because you've not read The Fountainhead.

Edit: a more meaningful "happy" thing to read before you die would be the Tao Te Ching. I myself am an atheist, but even I find the gentle, poetic lines of this taoist work to be soothing and life-affirming.

[yovmit98]

The Dwarves

http://books.google.com/books?id=PKe...page&q&f=false

Pretty cool fiction read.

[Plaguies]

Eh I made of list of more intelligent books rather than fun books. I enjoy books with deeper meaning or information. I do like a story book here or there, but im quite the liberal reader.

[Elanale]

Eh I made of list of more intelligent books rather than fun books. I enjoy books with deeper meaning or information. I do like a story book here or there, but im quite the liberal reader.

But all of your books are deeply cynical and at times downright unpleasant. Do you believe there can be no deeper meaning or significance in a work that is not negative?

[xylophone]

I'm being forced to read Ishmael for my Cultural Geo class, i find myself rolling my eyes every other paragraph. Why doesn't the guy practice what he preaches? If humans are destroying the world why doesn't he do his part by running off into the woods and living like one of his "Leavers"? Its the whole do as i say not as i do BS like Al Gore preaching global warming and then jumping in his Escalade or w/e and taking it to the airport where he rides a private jet that creates more emissions in a couple flights than you or i make in a year?

[edarlitrix]

All stories, novels and possibly essays by the subsequently mentioned authors should be required readings:

H.P. Lovecraft
Jack London
L.M. Montgomery
Charles Dickens
Lewis Carroll
Arthur Conan Doyle
Beatrix Potter
Robert Louis Stevenson
J.R.R. Tolkien
J.K. Rowling
Plato
Aristotle
Socrates (Generally what you might find on him that was written by his contemporaries)
Archimedes
Nicolaus Copernicus
Galileo Galilei
Isaac Newton
Walter Scott
Louisa May Alcott
George Orwell

[Plaguies]

But all of your books are deeply cynical and at times downright unpleasant. Do you believe there can be no deeper meaning or significance in a work that is not negative?

I do, but Ive yet to find something.

---------- Post added 2010-12-11 at 01:34 AM ----------

I'm being forced to read Ishmael for my Cultural Geo class, i find myself rolling my eyes every other paragraph. Why doesn't the guy practice what he preaches? If humans are destroying the world why doesn't he do his part by running off into the woods and living like one of his "Leavers"? Its the whole do as i say not as i do BS like Al Gore preaching global warming and then jumping in his Escalade or w/e and taking it to the airport where he rides a private jet that creates more emissions in a couple flights than you or i make in a year?

Ishmael is actually my favorite =/

[Elanale]

Again, I recommend the Tao Te Ching, if you want something with meaning that isn't a path to despair.

[Plaguies]

Again, I recommend the Tao Te Ching, if you want something with meaning that isn't a path to despair.

Ill give it a read.

If you're complaining about the depressing topics of the books thats teh point. The books are meant to express and expose sad truths about our modern world, or at least the direction in which it is headed. Im a bit of a downer yeah, but when you take a wider look at the modern world, you'll realize how screwed up it is. The books are sad yes, depressing. But Im the kind of person who is addicted to knowledge, only through different points of view do we discover just that. I strongly suggest those titles as somethings to read before you die. I read them from the age of 16-20, and ill say that these books made me open my eyes to some very sad truths about our world, depressing at first, but youll get over it.

[Deleted]

Children of the Lamp by P. B. Kerr

[Cossa]

George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, starting with A Game of Thrones

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game (at least the first one, though Ender's Shadow was quite good too imo)

Ken Grimwood's Replay

would all be on my required reading list.