I'm looking to get into some good books.


I want to get smarter and learn some new things. Gain some new perspectives, aid in formulating some new ideas. Someone recommended the Tibetan Book of the Dead for me...


I'm pretty open. Nothing too advanced, though. I don't even know what to ask for...

Do you want fiction or non ficiton? fiction with bite and philosophy to it or just trashy stuff? Do you want meaning of life philosophy or speculative stuff? Basis of major religions, or derivative basics? easter/ western?
I would suggest The first discourse of the Buddha, and hte tao te ching. And perhaps some nietszhe or however you spell it, everyone has to go through that stage some time. Or perhaps theres Camus. hhmm, so much. perhaps youd better just go get a philosphy history book, get an overview.

Try Albert Caumus; any of his writings could interest you (I'm currently reading "Renegade").

Well, what have you read and what did you like?

Various things I've read/am reading:

Michio Kaku's Hyperspace. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385477058/qid=1057043534/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9212214-4390254?v=glance&s=books) Very nice popularization of +4 dimensional hyperspace theory and Rienmanian geometry. Nothing like cutting-edge physics to twist the mind.

Speaking of twisted minds, Donna Minkowitz's "Ferocious Beauty (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684833220/qid=1057043369/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-9212214-4390254?v=glance&s=books)" is a rather amusing look at the Christian right. I picked this up figuring it'd be a nice, vicious stab at the fundies. Rather suprisingly, she presents the Christians in a very humane way - comparing their motivations and needs to her own. She gets a bit mawkish towards the end - the attempt to be nice and fair gets on one's nerves, and the sermonizing about how wonderfully innoxious S/M is boring after the first page.
Worth the five bucks I spent on it.

For a more radical and anarchic look at pop-culture (and Christians), try Marilyn Manson's Long Hard Road Out of Hell (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060987464/qid=1057044463/sr=2-1/103-9212214-4390254?v=glance&s=books). I've read this at least three times now - excellent. Marilyn combines an exhibitionist's candor with a mordant sense of humour and lots of drugs. Fucking excellent.

Speaking of books I've read many times, guthrie mentioned Nietzsche. I started with Zarathrustra - I find Kaufmann's translation (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140047484/qid=1057044837/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/103-9212214-4390254?v=glance&s=books) to be the best.
I can't even begin to recommend this book. It is amazing, and fucked up my life so totally. Nietzsche was a genius.

Right now I'm reading Sartre's "Being and Nothingness". I've read Nausea (now THIS is a book that fucks with one's head. I read it two days ago during a bad cold. I never thought I'd 'trip' off a book, but I did.) and liked it, so this is next. Good so far (the introduction) and Sandra Lee Bartky's "Femininity and Domination" - quite interesting. She gets below the surface of pop culture and exposes the insidious power structures that govern social interactions.

I am reading a very funny book.

"Throwing the elephant. Zen and the art of managing up". It's about how to manage your boss and your career. Even if you don't agree with the book, you should read it just for laughs.

Originally posted by Xev
For a more radical and anarchic look at pop-culture (and Christians), try Marilyn Manson's Long Hard Road Out of Hell (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060987464/qid=1057044463/sr=2-1/103-9212214-4390254?v=glance&s=books). I've read this at least three times now - excellent. Marilyn combines an exhibitionist's candor with a mordant sense of humour and lots of drugs. Fucking excellent. Awesome choice. I've read this one twice, and it's a really entertaing read. Manson is a fantastic writer with a unique sense of humor. This one is in my top ten reads for sure.

I'll be around shortly with my own recommendations, of course.

im looking to get into some nonfiction

Then theres what sort of non ficiton you want to get into. Nietsche can give you a bit of a headrush before you realise hes also rather nuts and an elitist. Camus can be depressing. I have yet to finish "the outsider" (thats what its called in the UK), partly because its rather dull and pointless.
read some economics, then go and forget about it, cos academic economics is only vaguely useful.

Read as widely as you can. from libraries and borrowed from friends. if it looks interesitng, it likely is, since if your starting from a clean slate, anything can help you work your way to what you want to read/ what you understand and feel at home with best.

Read these:

Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking and Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut.

One non-fiction and one fiction.