The eye-openers reading list
 

It occurred to me tonight that there are a hand full of real eye opening books out there that shook my world and reformed my mind into the way it is today. So in an effort to broaden my horizons, and hopefully everyone elses in this forum, I want you guys to post a handful of books/authors that really had a profound impact on who you are and, if you'd like, share how they effected you. As for me:

1) Derrick Jensen, A Language Older than Words & The Culture of Make Believe
These books really rocked my world in that I consider myself to be a political liberal and concern myself with cultural and environmental in the manner befitting a liberal. Well, these books really opened my eyes to the depth of these problems and how in a lot of ways ignorance and hate is a part of our culture. I'd say they are a must read for anyone concerned about the environment or who believes there are problems inherent in our current way of life.

2) Ken Wilber, Integral Psychology & A Theory of Everything
Here it was hard to just name these two and I would highly recommend ANYTHING this man rights. Essentially he is about integrating all facets of our lives together (body, mind, soul, etc) and living in a wholistic (not to be confused with holistic) manner. Rather than seperating or neglating certain parts of our lives at times, he talks about being a whole person all the time. This guy is for anyone who is interested a more universal spirituality or psychology.

3) Carl Jung, The Collected Works of Carl Jung
What can I say? The idea of the collective unconscious just strikes a chord with me and I think that for an early psychologist this guy is right on. Very interesting, very scientific, and very spiritual... right up my ally.

4) Friedrich Neitzsche, The Collected Works of Friedrich Nietzsche
Have to pay lip service to the man who got me interested in philosophy, psychology, etc. in the first place. All of his work and a lot of the work about him going to reward anyone with a very unique mode of thought and ideas. I would recommend starting with something like Thus Spoke Zarathustra or The Gay Science before tackling The Will to Power or On the Genealogy of Morals, but whatever suites your fancy. I recommend Neitzsche to anyone looking to broaden their intellectual horizons.

Anyway, that turned out to be more of a chore than I thought, but feel free to post as few or as many books, authors, movies, etc. as you like. Just anxious to hear what you guys are in to and maybe find my #5.

that Carl Jung book looks very interesting to me. thanks for posting your list!

The Holy Bible, King James version

When I was about 14 I began to question my Christian backround so I read this book cover to cover. Shortly thereafter I began to form a different approach to religion and became mostly agnostic.

Man and Time, by J.B Priestley

This is one of those coffee table sized books with lots of illustrations of time devices and theories of time from various cultures throughout history. I picked it up in a dusty old used book store when I was in high school. The important thing to me was that it was the first time I read about Einsteins relativity theory and changed the way I thought about space and time and the universe in general. I don't recommend this book though, this was 40 years ago and there are far better books on the subject now.

Chaos : Making a New Science, by James Gleick

After reading this book I began to think of nonlinear complex systems as something that we may actually be able to predict some day. I began to understand the beauty of chaos and even if we can't predict it we are at least able to define some of the more complex system's boundarys.
"A Theory of Everything" has been sitting on my shelf for about a year. Maybe now I'll take the time to read it.

Darwin's Dangerous Idea by Daniel C. Dennett
One of the most intelligent men on the planet turns his philosophical eyes towards neo-Darwinism. He clearly and concisely puts forward the case for Universal Darwinism and applies it to many of the problems of philosophy. (Most significantly towards the problem of "meaning"; according to Dennett, meaning itself, like so many other things, evolves). He also elaborates significantly on the implications of memetics and memes. He launches devastating attacks on the critics of neo-Darwinism (most notably Gould & Chomsky Inc.). He also debunks with wonderful clarity, the objections of Penrose et al to "mechanistic" theories of mind, and shows that their arguments are unsubstantiated.
Dennett likens Darwin’s theory to "Universal Acid", which eats through many of our assumptions and rigid thinking. He does all this with the utmost of clarity and rigour: never obscuricant, always profound.

I picked up a book similar to this several years ago. I believe it was called Does God Play Dice? and I can't recall who wrote it. It seemed very interesting since science is kinda a hobby of mind, but when I opened it there were a lot of intimidating equations and charts. But Chaos theory has always interested me so maybe I ought to give it another go around. If it doesn't work is this book of yours in more of a layman's format?

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. It pushed me into studying Philosophy, which I enjoy very much.

MuadDib

It was one of the first popular books on chaos theory. I think it even made the best sellers list. There have been many others published since. I did not think it was too technical. You can read the prologue here. http://www.around.com/chaos.html

I agree wholeheartedly. Excellent book. Having said that, I wasn't aware that Chomsky was opposed to the Modern Synthesis of evolutionary theory.

Some of my own recommendations include

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David Landes
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...100754-4128640
Landes sets out to examine, discuss and explain why "Some are so poor and some so rich." This book can be considered a narrative history of the West and how its hegemony over the modern world came about. Erudite, opinionated and very enlightening.

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...100754-4128640
Diamond begins this book trying to answer the question posed to him by a New Guinean friend "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo ["technology"] and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo ["technology"] of our own?" So begins a rollercoaster ride from the evolution of man, the inception of society up to the colonization of the AsiaPacific and Africa. If you've ever wondered why the "West won", then this book is for you. Slightly more readable than Landes's book, it is a deserved winner of the Rhone-Poulenc Science Book Prize

The Third Chimpanzee by [i]Jared Diamond[/b]
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...100754-4128640
Diamond's second book asks the profound question "What is it to be human?" He argues convincingly for chimpanzees to be redesignated as members of the Homo genus and trys to explain why humans are what they are. Very interesting.


There are seveal other history or science books that I could recommend that are not "eye opening" per se, but rather very entertaining and educational. Perhaps another thread.


Mr Mephisto

The Celstine Prophesy

Pale Blue Dot

Dancing Wu Li Masters

Isn't the Celestine Prophesy a bit new agey? Something about gaining enough "vibrations" to raise yourself to the next energy level or something? Sounds almost like Scientology.

Of course, not having read it, I can't criticise it with any real validity. I'm just surprised to see it listed amongst "eye openers".

Please educate us (me?) on this one tecoyah.


Mr Mephisto

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and assorted sequels) by Douglas Adams.

That stuff was crack to a 14 year old public-school student disgusted with the pedestrian shit they put on the reading list. It was one of the first books I really enjoyed reading.

It is "New Agey"....and definately not for everyone. It did however change my path quite profoundly, thus its inclusion in my list.

There are just so many - some of which have been mentioned already, but anyway:

Chaos: Making a New Science - James Gleick
Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos - Roger Lewin
The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World (Penguin Science) - Jack Cohen, Ian Stewart
The Three Pillars of Zen - Kapleau
The Dice Man - Luke Rhinehart
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig
Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov
Hitchikers Guide to The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest - Ken Kesey
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
1984 and Animal Farm - George Orwell
Earthsea Trilogy - Ursula Le Guin

I can recomend anything by Douglas Adams (the Dirk Gently series especially brought up some interesting Philosophical ideas), and the Jack Cohen/Ian Stewart books are unusually good too.

Oh The Three Pillars of Zen! Good one that I shoulda remember, but forgot about. I haven't opened that book in ages. I was really into Zen for a while and that book really helped me discover it. Now I've kinda grown away from it religiously though I still practice it for its spiritual aspects. I suppose my lack of focus on the buddhist underpinnings of zen is why it didn't come to mind immediately for this thread.

I also dug 1984 and Hitchhikers though I wouldn't say either of them profoundly impacted my life in anyway.

God's Debris: A Thought Experiment - Scott Adams
 

Yes, that Scott Adams.

Set aside whatever you might think about Dilbert and read this book. The author's description of it:

I read 1984 at an early age - it made me think - a lot. Same with Hitchhikers, though I suppose that's more of a comfort/enjoyment thing than a life-shaper.

See also:

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Bromeliad Trilogy by Terry Pratchett

Much of the Buddhist side is eroded away, from my limited understanding, Zen could be philosophically closer to a form of Taoism.

Well regardless, I stopped focusing on that side ages ago and mostly do the meditations to center myself as more of a psychological booster.

I read this book on one of my cross country motorcycle trips years ago. I even traveled on some of the route that Persig did. I have to say though that I found his logic on the search for quality rather hard to understand. I did enjoy the book though and contemplated his words during the long days of riding.

Since you put this book on your list would you mind writing a short explaination. I'm just curious. I may reread this book.

Thanks for this thread! It is hard to find good books like these. Lots of interesting things here I'll have to pick up.

Has anyone read "Godel, Escher, Bach"? I'm about to start it, wondering if anyone can give their opinions on it.

Fantastic. Mind-Blowing. One of the most profound books I have ever read. Also wonderfully playful and fun.

Ultimately, the attempted (and largely successful, in my opinion) answer to the question, what is the meaning of the word 'I'?

I may write a more thorough review later.

CSflim, thanks, I'll certainly read it now.

The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins
What is DNA? Easy!...we all know that DNA is the mechanism by which we, and other living creatures, reproduce. Right? Wrong! Utterly wrong. WE are the mechanism by which DNA reproduces itself. It is from this viewpoint that we should look at nature when we endeavour to understand her secrets. Richard Dawkins, perhaps the greatest populariser of evolutionary biology, elaborates on this idea in his first and most critically acclaimed book.
When we examine a creature in nature we may find altruism towards its fellows. Is this for 'the good of the species'? Richard Dawkins demolishes this argument and in its place shows how selfish gene theory alone can explain this, and so many other of the novel things one finds in nature, from sexual politics to brotherly love.
(Make certain you get the second edition. The additions are very worthwhile).
This certainly is a book which counts as an eye-opener.


EDIT: And I should point out, as it is something that has been misrepresented on numerous occasions, that no, selfish genes are not genes for selfishness.

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

I'll second that.

Two books by Randel Helms that explore the history of early Christianity and the methods behind the writers of the books of the New Testament. Maybe the best analyses of Christianity for the layman ever written:

Gospel Fictions
Who Wrote The Gospels

Sure, love to - it's been a while, and I don't want to spoil it for anyone, (so skip the next few lines if you want to read it for yourself without my take on things in the back of your mind)


The story tells the story of this mans quest to find truth and meaning - in his earlier years he stumbles across a paradox - when he discovers the answer to the paradox, it forces him to struggles with his ego. He achieves a level of understanding, and is then forced to recoil from it. It is only at the very end of the book that he again becomes whole.

Much of the book deals with the nature of 'classical' with the romantic thought, and explains in depth the differences of these two approaches, and how 'Quality' is a means by which one can bridge the gap between the two.

What is quality? How can we define it? The point is we can't, we shouldn't, it's something beyond categorisation. Much of the explanations of quality don't come from the detailed explanations in the book, but from descriptions of moments that pass while they are on their trip. So when he describes a landscape through which they are travelling, it is just as important as when he's explaining the difference between groovy people and squares.

It's not all Philosophy, in fact, it's more a narrative of a deeply personal journey, one that is of the utmost importance, and which in the end comes to a wonderful conclusion.

But I'm in no way entitled to describe what the story is about - I just hope I haven't put anyone off. It stands on its own as a marvellous and enjoyable book, that brings a tear to my eye every time I read it.

The text of the book is available at the following address...

http://www.virtualschool.edu/mon/Quality/PirsigZen/

In addition to the King James edition, I recommend the New Jerusalem translation, and while we're at it whatever translations you can get a hold of. Studying the New Jerusalem version compared to the King James and others was a jarring and unforgettable history lesson.

Thanks Fourtyrulz. I just spent a few hours reading comparisons between the different Bible versions and find that the NJ version is certainly easier to understand than the KJ version. My purpose in reading the Bible when I was in my teens was not so much for absolute accuracy but more to determine the nature of the Jewish tribal god and whether to accept his word and his son as my religion.

The NJ translation seems to try and interpret the scripture as gender neutral whereas I believe the oldtimers who wrote it were very sexist and wrote what they meant. To me it is like re-writing Mark Twain and replacing all the racial slurs with the more accepted nowadays African American. I would rather read what Twain actually wrote instead of a modern politically correct version. Other than that, from what I have read the NJ version is probably a more accurate interpretation than the KJ one.

It's alive!!! Oh God it's alive!!!

I've been wondering, what are some good books on quantum theory? Such as loopholes in space and the string theory, lately this stuff has been fascinating to me and I need some further reading.

What a great list! I'm adding them to my "to read" list. Here's a few that shaped me:

Communist Manifesto - Carl Marx
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Death Be Not Proud- John J. Gunther
The Art of Happiness - Dalai Lama
The Diamond Sutra
Tao Te Ching
Mahabarata
Psalms
The Jesus Sutras: Rediscovering the Lost Scrolls of Taoist Christianity - Martin Palmer

Prayers of the Cosmos-niel klutz

fascinating read....highly recommended

First of all "The Holy Bible", I prefer the NIV for reference, but "The Message" is an excellent paraphrase and is easy to read.

Secondly, "1984" by Orwell. I read it several years ago and had never imagined a world like that; and now I think I can see it approaching.

Finally, while not world changing, "The Foundation Trilogy" by Isaac Asimov may be the best science fiction I've ever read.

Fortyrulz, have you read "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene?

You can watch the NOVA special based on Greene's book on the PBS website, linked below.
The Elegant Universe
It is 3 hours long but you can watch it in 5 to 10 minute sections. It is quite entertaining and a great illustration of much of what is covered in the book.

George orwells 1984, anthony burgess - a clockwork orange, hate to admit it but "to kill a mockingbird" has stayed with me, never would have read it if I wasn't forced to at school though, the teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda has changed the way i deal with anger and in search of schroedingers cat by John Gribbin opened up my eyes to quantumn physics and made me question a lot of what i take for granted

I'm surprised Brave New World only made this list once. I read that in 8th grade and it's stuck with me ever since.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman is another one that's stuck with me. In my mind the best piece he's written yet, it had me looking around corners for weeks, just wondering... It's also the book that got me hooked on coin tricks.

White Noise by Don Delillo. Amazing book. Got me into plenty of debates with my parents and teachers on the subjects of life, worth, death, and a handful of other universally pertinent issues. (Note: Not even remotely the same thing as the movie of the same title... In fact, I hate that they do because people kept asking me recently if it was the book the movie was based on.)

Great thread - my reading to do list has doubled in the last 10 minutes. In the spirit of staying true to the thread topic, I must lead with...

1. The Amazing Spider-Man, Stan Lee - Quite simply, the books I sat and poured over while other kids watched t.v. and threw Jarts at each other. My 2 book/week habit started here.
2. Johnathon Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach - thrown at me when I was 12 or 13, and he was the James Dean of birds. I decided it was cool that I did my own thing... this also sent me down the road of all of Bach's books that still mean the world to me.
3. The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran
4. A Book of Dreams - Peter Reich, John Lennon's favorite book. I have read it 10 times, easy, and I am still not quite sure what I should be getting from it. It keeps me fascinated like the girl who just wants to be friends.
5. Memnoch the Devil - Anne Rice, I know, I know. But if you were to read 1 Anne Rice this is the one.

Thanks for the link. I just watched the first three chapters. Fantastic!

Foucalt's Pendulum by Umberto Eco

This book is incredibly well written. The author is nothing short of genius. Be warned, it is very thick reading, and may start to make your head hurt. But, if you like to think while you read, this is the book for you.

Weren't there a lot more than three? I loved Foundation.

Also, I'd like to place the book that my tag-line came from.

Principia Discordia

All Hail Discordia!

Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

This book should be required reading for those who consider themselves human.

Second the <i>Principia Discordia</i>, also the <i>Illuminatus Trilogy</I> and the <i>Schroedinger's Cat</i> trilogy.

<i>G&ouml;del, Escher, Bach</i> is a book that I have probably read three times, if you count getting anywhere from a half to two thirds of the way through it 5 or 6 times. Excellent, mind bending, thought changing book, but I have never been able to finish it (probably time to take another crack at it.)

<i>The Lord of the Rings</i>. If you have never read it, it is mind blowing in scope and conception and complexity (though occasionally mind numbing in writing style.)

<i>Dune</i>. I have read over 20 times. Until recently, every time I read it I would find something else in in. Herbert pulls off almost the same trick in <i>The Dosadi Experiment</i>

<i>Lord of Light</i>: I can't explain. It's fiction, and science fiction at that, but it formed a lot of my character.

<i>Small Gods</i>: The best book I have ever read on the nature of religion and faith. It is devilishly strange that it should be one of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels and an unabashed work of humor.

<i>The Tao of Physics</i>: Strong medicine for a technically bent recovering Catholic School boy.

<i>The Plague</i>: What does being a good man mean?

<i>Rats, Lice, and History</i>: A biography of Typhus

<i>What If</i>: Understanding history by speculating on what would have happened if things had happened differently.

<i>Prometheus Rising</i>: Leary and Crowley (and Aristotle and Freemasonry), distilled and presented in such a way as to entertain, educate, instruct, and improve people who don't go in for that kind of soft-headed stuff.

<i>Great American Eccentrics</i>: Short (one or 2 page) biographies of America's Crackpots, Oddballs, and Mad Geniuses from from Colonial to the 70's.

<i>The Quick and Dirty Guide to War</i>: Where will it happen, when, and why, by a fellow who ought to know.

<i>Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas</i>: Best advertisement there ever was both for and against drug use. Also, <i>Hell's Angels</i>, for some serious journalism.

Candide by Voltaire
Gulliver's Travels by Swift
Complete Short Stories by Mark Twain

Can't leave off good satire...

Swift's "A Modest Proposal" is also eye opening and a rollicking good read too.

I think the Bible is an amazing book, not for the religious content, but for the social applications, and for its amazing stories. And I'm sure that everyone has heard exactly that a million times.

George Orwell - 1984 is also an amazing, amazing book. So are many of the other 'classic' utopian fictions, like Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, and that other one I can't remember the name of (damnit!). Of the three 1984 impacted me the most, I think it was brilliant.

I see American Gods on this list, and that makes me happy, I enjoyed that book a lot.

Also, the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis is a really good book about struggles in Christianity and temptation. It's humourous, too! If you're able to read that book without taking it in a strictly religious context, I think it was ana amazing read, and can show everyone at least half a dozen ways to improve their character and their outlook on life without ever touching religion.

The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.
Both a poem and a book explaining the poem more fully, a very quick read so it's good for a glance. I really enjoyed her explanation of the line in her poem "...if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy." Changed my perspective :)

Its quite an odd book. I couldn't get into it to be honest but a friend (theoretical physicist) couldn't stop raving about it. Godel's incompleteness theorem rocked his world.

I would say that "Understanding Power" by Noam Chomsky is a real eye-opener.

I had to search for this thread, it's a shame! Fall semester is right around the corner and I need to re-stock my bookshelves.

I'll throw in:

The Lies My Teacher Told Me
Lies Across America

both by James W. Loewen

Great ones also include for me;
"The Source" by James Michener.
"Rolling Thunder" by Doug Boyd.
"The Road Less Traveled" by M. Scott Peck, M.D.
"Finding Your Way Home" by Melody Beattie
and
& a fav...."The Vein of Gold" by Julia Cameron. Author of "The Artist's Way."

And all books written by Kurt Vonnegut...for grins and artistic wizardry.

I just found this through a del.icio.us linky, and it is making my face melt off.

I might try to start a new thread to discuss it, as that is what the author wants us to do; He gives the book away for free in .pdf format (and explains that it is easiest that way since it would be the hardest book in the world to market.)!

You can follow THIS LINK to download the book.


/ben scampers off to find more time to read this book

I often see people rank American Gods by Neil Gaiman highly, but I read this book and I thought it was aweful! Seriously, the plot really has no flow in the book - everything happens just because (a sort of deus ex machina per page) with one god leading the main character haphazrdly around the country. As a horror book I think it fails, as a thriller it fails, and as a homage to various mythologies it is ok, but reading actual legends and myths might be a better approach.

Gravity's Rainbow blew me away - the wierd mixture of physics/probability theory/messed up writing and plot.. tough read tho.

Since this is philosophy - Nietzche (Beyond Good and Evil) was my eye-opener.

Been meaning to re-read the Foundation Series...

Plowing the Dark by Richard Powers is wonderful. It has two stories going on at the same time that are seemingly unconnected, but when you think about it, they merge together perfectly. It is about the future, cyber-creation, war, isolation, and art... especially art. It can be difficult to start, but once you get into the book, it's wonderful. I can't remember the ending of the book. I didn't get it. Perhaps I should read it again.

Thoughts Without a Thinker by Mark Epstien is introducing me to Buddhism. It's an interesting and easy read, discussing the relationship between Buddhism and Psychoanalysis. It may be one of the most pragmatic books I've read, even if it's not fun to write essays on.

My two books that really changed stuff for me are.

Sophie's World: This book brought me into the front of philsophy and really schooled me in it.
Atlus Shrugged: It also really brought me more into philosophy.

Just my little list of books.

A number of good books listed already, one more I would recomend.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress-Robert Heinlein

In college I was in a "history of the novel" class. It was 1984. So we read the novel. How could you pass up that kwinky dink?

I enjoyed Hitchhiker's Guide and Forrest Gump. There's a sci-fi work I read some time ago. It was funny and had to do with racing space ships? I think. Too long ago, and I only read it once. It was enjoyable. Sorry. Can't recall the title and don't have it with me. At my in-laws.

I enjoyed The Hobbit much more than the Trilogy.

Mere Christianity by Lewis. And Screwtape.

And of course I think everyone can benefit from reading the Bible. Nice to see there are some others who think so, even if we might differ on the reasons and the relative benefits. Blessings...

Even easier is this: "The Bible's Greatest Stories", by Paul Roche. It's the entire bible put into readable prose--only 500 pages. King James may sound good in little pieces, but trying to read it as a story is a real pain.

Classic Kurt Vonnegut--Breakfast of Champions, Slaughterhouse 5, Welcome to the Monkey House, Cat's Cradle, ect.

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn will blow the mind of anyone who's grown up with Dead White Male history text books.

There are books that are fun to read, and there are books which must be read. People's History must be read. I don't give unequivocal recommendations often.

I recommend this version in particular.

I'll second your opinion, allowed/directed me in examining my relationships with others and understanding why I acted the way I did/do. Great read.

I'll agree if you approach the Bible as a story, you're likely to encounter difficulties.

I try to keep in mind ~ 2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. ~ when I read.

I'm read the Bible because I believe it's God's Word. It's ALL inspired, and all His Word, so it's all "profitable" but it's not all given for the same reason. There are 4 broad purposes of God's Word outlined here. What I hope as I come to and then away from each "encounter" with the Word is that I will become more "mature" ["perfect"] and better equipped to do good.

That's an interesting take. I studied OT and Christian theology (classes, not as a major) at a Methodist university and the approach was much more philosophical than absolute. As far as reading, I prefer the new standard revisions, and I think it makes a fine story, although some books are much more instructive, interesting, etc. Job is my favorite.

Maus I & II – Art Spiegelman, the only books I’ve read that are centered on the survivors of the holocaust instead of those who died.

Dropsie Avenue – Will Eisner, traces a neighborhood from farmland, to small suburb, to ethnic neighborhood, to tenements, to bombed out, to urban renewal, to ethnic neighborhood.

Siddhartha – Herman Hesse, disregards formal belief systems in favor of following your own soul.

Crime and Punishment – Dostoevsky, a truly smart and “worthy” man is free to do what ever the hell he wants, until he drives himself crazy with paranoia.

The Jungle – Upton Sinclair, one of the most heart breaking love stories wrapped in an indictment of the meat packing industry

Jay, for a time I studied to be a pastor in the United Methodist Church. This was before I was born again. I'm sure there are some Bible Christians in the UMC, but my own experience was that education not salvation was stressed, and I never heard the Gospel as I understand it today proclaimed. I did meet some very nice people, and in fact many of the folks who attended the church I did when I first went to college demonstrated a very kind love towards me in many things.

However, I'd agree that by and large the Bible is not taken literally by many in the UMC, and in fact, by many mainline denominations. Not raising a criticism, just a point of observation and agreement.

Whether you accept it literally or not will go a long way towards what impact it has on you and you allow it to have. I suppose it also comes into a decision about what translation you trust as God's Word kept intact for your native tongue.

I'd be interested to know what you appreciate about Job?

My favorite portion of Scripture is the Sermon on the Mount, as found in Matthew chapters 5 - 7.

Blessings.

Any chance somone could organize a list of all mentioned books and categorize them, like spiritual, fiction, science, etc. Sometimes I'm in the mood to pick up a certain type of book, and since I've only heard of maybe 30% of these books, it'd be nice to know ahead of time :)

I echo the comments made earlier about Jung and Nietzsche. I read a few things by them in my late teens and they, along with copious amounts of drugs, really broadened my way of thinking. I only have a couple of additions that haven't been mentioned.

One is The Tibetan Book of the Dead, which I read over the course of a couple years. It basically details Buddhist ideas of how to prepare for death, and what awaits after. I don't consider myself to be a Buddhist, but this book definitely opened my eyes as far as what I knew about ideas of various religions, and the world in general.

The other is The Art of War, which is read more by business-types for strategy nowdays, but I found to be applicable for any type of situation that calls for overcoming of some kind of obstacle. It advocates total awareness, winning without confrontation, and other things I just never thought to do prior to reading it.

As Requested - A compilation reading list


http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=100427

The list has been made a Sticky at the Top of the Philosophy Forum

I was wondering if instead of just posting a title, everyone could post a little about why they see the book as "eyeopening". I've read some of these books and didn't find them enlightening in the least, so I was hoping to gain some insight.

Cheers.

I will add:

Lipstick Traces: The Secret History of the 20th Century by Greil Marcus This book traces the history of anti-art up from the Dadaists, through the Surrealists, the Situationists all the way through to punk. It was one of those books that I read at just the right moment. A lot of the things that I had been thinking about at the time came together in this book. It is a great read for anyone interested on pop culture and the history of where it comes from...

Man and his symbols, Answer to Job - Carl Jung In answer to Job, Carl Jung looks at the psychological implications of Job Believing in a just God, based off Job's declaration "I know my redeemer lives"

Till we have faces - C.S. Lewis The plot is borrowed from Greek Mythology

Martian Chronicals - Ray Bradbury I love Ray Bradbury's imagery, and delusions

Flatland -elloitt? - fiction,when things don't make sense, maybe you're 2d expirencing the 3d passing through your 2d plane.

Ishmael - Daneil Quinn: fiction, An ape seeks human student to learn how the ape became concious, and how the ape sees Our role in life, and religion

Abbott. Good book.

Scientific Method - Sir Karl Raimund Popper (Till this day one of the best books about scientific theory)

Open Society and Its Enemies I & II - Sir Karl Raimund Popper (Both parts, but mainly the second part is great to understand which theories caused partly the takeover of Hitler in 1933)

Against Method - Paul Feyerabend (A great critic of Poppers Critical Rationalism.)

Man in the Age of Technology - Arnold Gehlen

Discipline & Punish : The Birth of the Prison - Michel Foucault (In my opinion the best analysis of might)

2 pages of this thread, and only one mention of this book? That's just wrong. This book is great!
It really gives a good theory of life before, during and after(!) humanity.

Like CSflim says, the author challenges the human-centric view that abounds in our civilization...
It really is a good book and I'd recommend it to anyone!

The silmarillion - J.R.R Tolkien

Edit: The selfish gene rules, an amazing book, the rest of his works are right up on top of my new purchase list.

Wow! I can't believe this thread is still kicking around. I'm so proud! :p

I couldn't agree more with you here though. That book was excellent. I'd also recommend The Blind Watchmaker, again by Dawkins. He is just such a brilliant and knowledgable writer, plus he can put things into terms laymen can really understand. I think he has come further than almost anyone in demystifying modern science, which is something I really get behind.

1984 and Animal Farm - George Orwell (Eric Blair)

As mentioned before. I just read Animal Farm yesterday in 5 or 6 hours. It is very quick and easy, but interesting to read. Animal Farm was supposed to be about the Communists rise to power in Russia, but it could easily be interchanged with China.
I wish it wasn't true, but the world we live in could be summed up with 1984 discribing the USA and UK police states and always at war with a different enemy, and with Animal Farm being the former Russia and China. I just wonder what other books he would have written if he didn't pass away.

Now don't get me wrong. I love JRR Tolkien's stuff including this one, but the Silmarillion, as much as I enjoy it, is exactly the opposite of an eye opening book. Unless one is fully awake when reading it, one is likely to toddle off to the land of Nod apace.

Great ideas, and brilliant conception, but dry as the heart of the Namib in places.

Pierre Bourdieu's la Distinction made me see things differently, especially the middle class bohemian world I usually inhabit. The book is famous for the idea of "cultural capital", but the more general point that cultural judgements are part and parcel of class society made more of an impact on me. We tend to exempt our own judgements from these sorts of observations; we think that our judgements are rational and self-evident in some universal sense. La Distinction made me more self-critical. But you might say that Flaubert's Bouvard et Pécuchet did the same thing.

Aside from that, the eye-openers for me have generally been the classics, especially Hegel, Marx, and Being and Time. Hegel's Phenomenology because it's so audaciously totalising and Marx for showing how the mundane can be immensely important. These are such lame summaries. I think books like these are "eye-openers" precisely because they are too complex and too rich in observations to summarise easily..

What's odd is that philosophy up to Hegel really doesn't cut it for me. I can't say that Plato, Aristotle, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Zhu Xi or even Descartes, Spinoza, or Kant had the same impact on me. Interesting? Of course, and sometimes they have eye-opening observations on each other, but there's not the same wow. The one exception might be Confucius' Analects which presents an atheist, realist morality. Confucius is conservative and authoritarian, but the Analects presents a counterexample to the notion that authority is a prerequisite for civilised behaviour. This is more explicit in Mencius, which is why Mencius was banned even under regimes which claimed to hew to Confucian orthodoxy.

I'd also add Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution because despite the author's orthodox interpretation, his account of the events shows how fluid the situation really was. Trotsky wants to say something else, but his book shows how revolution was exactly that fluidity. Amusing polemics, too.



But really, all books ought to open your eyes to something, even if it's only the author's methodology or the use of a certain word or phrase. Then there's Ulysses, the Crying of lot 49...

Some of the books that were eye openers for me are already listed on this page but a few that are worth a look are the following. Each of these has an interesting set of values and ideas. I think they're all worth a read if you've got the time for them. I'll add more to this list later when I'm next to my bookcase.

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein

Hmm. A few.

Artificial Life, by Steven Levy. Old (early '90s), but still a great introduction for laymen like me. What a great story, well explained, about scientists who sought to simulate life in a computer environment. And then began to suspect that the algorithms they were developing the same algorithms used by life itself, and in the evolution of life forms. Life is math, and math is life.

West with the Night, by Beryl Markham. So beautiful it should be read aloud. It's a memoir about the coming of technology and the modern world to a very ancient land -- big game hunting, empires, expatriate nobility, airplanes, native cultures, rogue cheetahs, horse racing. Touches on so many questions of modern life without even trying to, while telling the huge story of one person's huge life. Aside from that parts of this book remind me a lot of the original Star Wars -- including the damned barroom scene. Only real.

900 Grandmothers, by R.A. Lafferty. Lafferty was a popular fantasy writer in the '60s. His stories are part fantasy, part humor, part satire, and part American folktale, full of grotesques and crazy computers and gods and weird conspiracies -- and wisdom. Nobody writes like him, before or since. Neil Gaiman, take a number.

The Bridge, by Hart Crane. Book of poetry from the 20s (still in print); Crane was a poet who tried to meld technology and city life into wild lyrical poems about the past, present, and future. He missed as often as he hit, but there are some great ones, too, images like subways of thought rocketing through "the interborough fissures of the mind." Lovely.

Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume II. I got my copy in college; we covered about 1/4 of it. I took it home and read the rest myself. The best review of 19th and early 20th century English literature and poetry there is; your doorway to other worlds, especially the romance poets. I memorized Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" because of this book.

The Power of Myth - this book is a transcript of the Moyers interviews of Joseph Campbell during the last two years of Campbell's life. His discussion of mythology and its role in human history is truly enlightening...the videos of the interviews are even better, if you can get your hands on them.

The essays of Ran Prieur opened my eyes to a lot of new perspectives on this world.

The Invisibles is mindfuckingly awesome, especially after researching all its references and inspirations.

Robert Anton Wilson's books are great, and so is Terence McKenna's work if you're into psychedelics and/or wild metaphysical speculation at all.

These are just the things that have been blowing the lid off my mind lately.

Somehow missed this thread....but how come none of you mentioned On the Road by Jack Kerouac or The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger? Did no one find these books incredibly important when they were growing up?

My Ishmail

Very Deep. Gets into the diffference between the old tribal society and today's society with food being kept under lock and key

There was a literature article in Time Magazine last week asking "Who's the voice of this generation?". Salinger was on the list of previous voices. My favorite quote from the article: "The paradox of every Voice novel is that it brings a generation of readers together around the idea that they alone are the single badass misfit truth teller in a world of phonies."

I thought that the protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye was a whiner with no motivation.

OK, so he obviously didn't represent you in your teenage angst (if you had any?) but On The Road is equally potent, for me, being reread as a adult and many people I know feel the same. However, I'll concede that Catcher is not necessairly an "eye-opener" as required by this thread.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is a book I've read, and reread many times and each time I find it refreshing. It should probably be on the list.

The best book I've ever read is Anthem by Ayn Rand. The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged are wonderful books, but Anthem is the individualists philosophy boiled down to the basics. Her books have played a huge role in how I see the world ever since I read them. I never thought much about how people treated each other and what their motivations were before reading Ayn Rand. Atlas Shrugged also defines why I love capitalism so much. ^_^

Note: Just to make things clear, this love of captialism does not include America's current corrupt captialism. Companies and consumers both run to the government to regulate the other in America, and that is not the way captialism is supposed to work.

A couple more I've read recently:

1) The Power of Now: by Eckhardt Tolle - religiously neutral but discussing the spirituality of no-time. Past and Future are simply constructs of the ego mind and the source of much of our pain.

2) A Course in Miracles - this book will blow your mind. If you like the New Thought of Christianity.

3) Lost Christianities by Bart Ehrman - a collection of the lost gospels and gnostic texts of early pre-orthodox Christianity.

along these lines I reccomend "The Rebel Sell" aka "Nation of Rebels" by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter. I can't say that it was an "eye-opener" for me personally, but it perfectly articulated a wide range of beliefs that I already had, and stated them much better than I could ever manage.

Bruce Lee's notes, volumes 1-7.

You'd be very suprised how similar martial arts principles and philisophical ideas can be (a majority of the time they are one in the same). Completely practical philosophy for everyday thought; a must read if you have the time.

The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
By: Matt Ridley

A very good read and an eyeopener on the basic nature of humans. How does it work and what makes it work. This book along with Richard Dawkins The Selfish Gene have been the most influential books on my perspective of the human being.

The Biography of Edward James Olmos

A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawkings (black hole thermodynamics compared to music, good stuff :D)

I strongly second this.

Plus, I'll add:

• The Dhammapada (The sayings of Gautama Buddha; the Thomas Cleary translation with notes is fantastic; this is a cornerstone to my morals.)
• Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (It raises classic moral questions. It's unfortunate that the story was appropriated by 20th century pop culture.)
• England, England, Julian Barnes (It challenges your sense of reality and your need for nostalgia.)
• Et Tu, Babe, Mark Leyner (Unconventional, unforgettable fiction; puts pop culture through the wringer; a prime example of meta-fiction.)
• Songs of Innocence and Experience, William Blake (Haunting, persistent, timeless, sublime.)
• Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Marks the shift in poetry from the divine high-style to the human; it's accessible, evocative, and a fine sample of Romantic literature; Wordsworth's capacity for perception is influential and inspiring, and it will stick with you for a lifetime.)

You know what? These rules suck. I posted a possibly helpful link to some and I can't? I don't like or accept such rules.

Hi Mayflow... its to protect the board from spammers.

If you can send me a PM with the link, I'd be happy to review it and post on your behalf.

the Grapes of Wrath
1984
Les Miserables
the Ender series greatly helped me open up to philosophical theories.
plato
and i know this is such a cliche but the catcher in the rye also.