I think it's about time we had a P/R recommended reading list. Post books/articles/websites you've read with a short synopsis of what they're about and I'll put them in the top post. If your book/article/website doesn't fit into any of the pre-existing categories then suggest a new category. If the book you were going to recommend has already been suggested then say so. That way I can add your name to the list of people who have recommended it. You can also use this thread to discuss what you're reading, and to discuss the books recommended in the thread. Philosophy Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - http://plato.stanford.edu/ An online encyclopedia of almost any philosophical topic you can think of, written by current academic philosophers from various parts of the world. An excellent resource, and each article has an extence Bibliography/recommended reading list. Run, obviously, by Stanford University. (Recommended by enigma00, Whitefish) Logical Fallacies - http://www.logicalfallacies.info/ All the major fallacies of reasoning presented in a clear and easy to understand way. (Recommended by enigma00) Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius by Ray Monk "Wittgenstein's philosophical writings are very difficult, not only in content but also in presentation. He was always unhappy about committing his ideas to paper, and when he did so, he would set them down in a highly compressed form as numbered notes, sometimes in the form of aphorisms. When he sent the manuscript of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus to Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell, neither of these considerable intellects could understand it (which didn't stop Russell from writing a foreword when it was eventually published.) The 650 pages of Monk's magnificent biography are of course anything but compressed, and allow us to understand how Wittgenstein arrived at his conclusions. Monk writes beautifully, and he sets out the intellectual processes with the utmost clarity; but an additional and very special merit of this book is the skilful interweaving of Wittgenstein's thought and his personality." - Amazon review (Recommended by Whitefish) Ethics Animal Liberation by Peter Singer "This book is widely credited for setting off the animal "rights" movement. Singer really brought the issue into the public arena, and caused people to question their presumptuous beliefs - this book was first published in 1975, and sparked off the writing of literally hundreds of other books about animal "rights". He describes our traditional view of animals as "speciesist" - arbitrarily discriminating simply on the basis of species - comparable to sexist or racist views. In the book he argues rationally and convincingly for animal "rights". Although a work of philosophy, the book is written to be easily accessible to the lay-person." - Amazon review (Recommended by Whitefish) Ethics (Anthology) edited by Peter Singer "This book is not a conventional reader in moral philosophy. To capture the essentials of what we know about the origins and nature of ethics, Peter Singer has drawn on anthropology, history, observation of non-human animals, the theory of evolution, game theory, and works of fiction, in addition to moral philosophy. By choosing some of the finest pieces of writing, old and new, in and about ethics, he conveys the intellectual excitement of the search for basic questions about how we ought to live." - Amazon review (Recommended by Whitefish) Politics An Introduction To Political Philosophy by Jonathan Wolff In my view this is the best one-book introduction to political philosophy. Starting with ancient thought on politics it brings you right up to the most contemporary political debates, including good discussions of Rawls and Nozick. (Recommended by Whitefish) Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction by Will Kymlicka A slightly more difficult book than the previous one, and focused far more on modern developments in political theory. An excellent book though. Read this in combination with the last one and you'll have a good grasp of the broad issues in political philosophy. (Recommended by Whitefish) Economics Bad Samaritans: The Guilty Secrets of Rich Nations and the Threat to Global Prosperity by Ha-Joon Chang The current economic consensus in the western world is that free trade is a good thing for developing nations, increasing overall wealth and prosperity. In this book, Chang argues that neoliberal economic policies stymie rather than encourage development of poor nations, and that the wealthy nations pushing the neoliberal agenda are 'bad samaritans'. (Recommended by Whitefish) A Brief History of Neoliberalism by David Harvey "In this short, but very well written and factual book, Professor David Harvey exposes, through figures and charts, the way in which the current economic system, which manifested itself in the late 1970s, has served very much in the interests of the wealthy, to the detriment of everyone else. He does this through exploring the words that have been used to sell capitalism to the general population of the world, such as "freedom", and "choice" and why they are bogus utopian myths, the way in which it has psychologically penetrated the aforementioned general population, making them think it is the best way of organizing society/the economy, exploring it in theory and in practice and showing how the two contradict, and much more." - Amazon review (Recommended by Whitefish) History Shake Hands With The Devil by Romeo Dallaire "When Lt-Gen. Romeo Dallaire received the call to serve as force commander of the UN intervention in Rwanda in 1993, he thought he was heading off on a modest and straightforward peacekeeping mission. Thirteen months later he flew home from Africa, broken, disillusioned and suicidal, having witnessed the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandans in only a hundred days. In "Shake Hands with the Devil", he takes the reader with him on a return voyage into the hell of Rwanda, vividly recreating the events the international community turned its back on. This book is an unsparing eyewitness account of the failure by humanity to stop the genocide, despite timely warnings." - Amazon review (Recommended by Whitefish) The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X "From hustling, drug addiction and armed violence in America's black ghettos Malcolm X turned, in a dramatic prison conversion, to the puritanical fervour of the Black Muslims. As their spokesman he became identified in the white press as a terrifying teacher of race hatred; but to his direct audience, the oppressed American blacks, he brought hope and self-respect. This autobiography (written with Alex Haley) reveals his quick-witted integrity, usually obscured by batteries of frenzied headlines, and the fierce idealism which led him to reject both liberal hypocrisies and black racialism." - Amazon review (Recommended by Whitefish) A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn "Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of - and in the words of - America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. As historian Howard Zinn shows, many of America's greatest battles - the fights for fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women's rights, racial equality - were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance. Covering Christopher Columbus's arrival through the Clinton years A People's History of the United States, which was nominated for the American Book Award in 1981, is an insightful analysis of the most important events in US history." - Amazon review (Recommended by Whitefish) A People's History of the World by Chris Harman "From earliest human society to the Holy Roman Empire, from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, from the Industrial Revolution to the end of the millennium, Chris Harman provides a brilliant and comprehensive history of the planet. Eschewing the standard histories of "Great Men," of dates and kings, Harman offers a groundbreaking counter-history, a breathtaking sweep across the centuries in the tradition of "history from below." In a fiery narrative, he shows how ordinary men and women were involved in creating and changing society and how conflict between classes was often at the core of these changes.While many pundits see the victory of capitalism as now safely secured, Harman explains the rise and fall of societies and civilizations throughout the ages and demonstrates that history never ends." - Amazon Review (Recommend by Whitefish) Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower by William Blum isn't an especially engrossing read from cover to cover, but it provides a laundry list of American meddlings that took place over the past century and puts this country's current international standing into proper perspective. It was originally reccommended by none other than Osama bin Laden, so I think that says everything right there. (Recommended by Slacks) The Battle Against Intervention, 1939-1941 by Justus D. Doenecke It's a slim work that can be considered a primer on noninterventionism during the Second World War (he's also penned much larger books on the same subject.) It lays out the points of contemporary politicians, thinkers, and organizations such as the America First Committee and the Keep America out of War Congress, all of which have been largely ignored or slandered in popular American history. (Recommended by Slacks) Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond According to the author, an alternative title would be A short history about everyone for the last 13,000 years. The book is not simply an account of the past; it attempts to explain why Eurasian civilizations, as a whole, have survived and conquered others, while attempting to refute the belief that Eurasian hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral, or inherent genetic superiority. Diamond argues that the gaps in power and technology between human societies originate in environmental differences, which are amplified by various positive feedback loops, and that even when cultural or genetic differences have favored Eurasians (for example Chinese centralized government, or improved disease resistance among Eurasians), these advantages were only created due to the influence of geography and were not inherent in the Eurasian genomes. (Recommended by Rochallor) Science Physics Hyperphysics - http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html This Website explains in a hypertext format most basic concepts of physics. Areas of particular interest include Radioactive Dating and Cosmology. (Recommended by XJDenton) Principles of Radioactive dating - http://www.gpc.edu/~pgore/geology/geo102/radio.htm Basics of the methods used in radioactive dating. (Recommended by XJDenton) The Age of the Earth - http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-age-of-earth.html Reasoning for the Earth to be 4.5 billion years old. Well referenced and provides alot of further reading. (Recommended by XJDenton) Biology Evolution For Creationists - http://www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/evolution.html Outlines common fallacies that claim to "Debunk" evolution. Minimalistic and well suited for beginners to the subject of the theory of evolution. (Recommended by XJDenton) The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins "The Ancestor's Tale takes us from our immediate human ancestors back through what he calls ‘concestors,’ those shared with the apes, monkeys and other mammals and other vertebrates and beyond to the dim and distant microbial beginnings of life some 4 billion years ago. It is a remarkable story which is still very much in the process of being uncovered. And, of course from a scientist of Dawkins stature and reputation we get an insider's knowledge of the most up-to-date science and many of those involved in the research. And, as we have come to expect of Dawkins, it is told with a passionate commitment to scientific veracity and a nose for a good story." - Amazon review (Recommended by Whitefish) Psychology The Feeling of What Happens by Antonio Damasio The most intriguing unsolved problem in psychology may be the origin of consciousness; here, a noted neurologist proposes that the root of the answer lies in emotion. In Descartes' Error (1994), Damasio argued that the attempt to treat reason and emotion as separate entities was a profound mistake. Now he argues that the body's ability to sense and react to its own processes and its environment holds the key to consciousness. The problem of consciousness can be broken down into two related problems: how the brain engenders images of the outside world and how it engenders a sense of self. In other words, we need to know not only how the brain creates a "movie" from its sensory data, but also how it generates the "audience" that watches the movie. Damasio distinguishes between core consciousness, the nonverbal awareness of one's state of being, and extended consciousness, which entails a sense of other times and places, and which evolves over the lifetime of the creature possessing it. Damasio argues that most higher organisms possess core consciousness and many possess some form of extended consciousness; but in its highest manifestations, such as art and science, extended consciousness is characteristic of humanity. The author fleshes out his arguments with case histories and our current knowledge of the physiology of the brain. Damasio is particularly concerned to distinguish his views from the classical model of consciousness as a sort of miniature person inside the brain. He insists on the role of emotion in the responses of core consciousness to its experiences in creating extended consciousness, which in one sense is core consciousness augmented by memory. While his argument demands close attention, its well worth the effort to follow him. Its clear that he has his finger on many of the key issues of the origins and meaning of consciousness in this fascinating study. (Recommended by Pnoom!) Religion Atheism - http://www.religioustolerance.org/atheist.htm Part of a very large website that deals with religion as a whole (in quite a fair way, I should imagine; note the URL, it is not doublespeak), this particular section deals with Atheism, an often VERY misunderstood kind of belief. (Recommended by enigma00) Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion by David Hume In the posthumously published Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, the Enlightenment philosopher David Hume attacked many of the traditional arguments for the existence of God, expressing the belief that religion is founded on ignorance and irrational fears. Though calm and courteous in tone – at times even tactfully ambiguous – the conversations between Hume’s vividly realized fictional figures form perhaps the most searching case ever mounted against orthodox Christian theological thinking and the ‘deism’ of the time, which pointed to the wonders of creation as conclusive evidence of God’s Design. Hume’s characters debate these issues with extraordinary passion, lucidity and humour, in one of the most compelling philosophical works ever written. (Recommended by Whitefish) Arts Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud I seriously recommend this book to anyone interested in visual art of any kind. It's about comics, but it's philosophical in its depth. I actually want to re-read this book having studied Wittgenstein; I think there are interesting comparisons to be made between what Wittgenstein says about pictures, and what McCloud says about the way meaning is communicated in picture form. Don't be put off if you're not into comics (I'm not). This book will do a great job of helping you understand movies as well (for example). (Recommended by Whitefish)
Rouge State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower by William Blum isn't an especially engrossing read from cover to cover, but it provides a laundry list of American meddlings that took place over the past century and puts this country's current international standing into proper perspective. It was originally reccommended by non other than Osama bin Laden, so I think that says everything right there. and as far as specific history goes, I also suggest The Battle Against Intervention, 1939-1941 by Justus D. Doenecke. It's a slim work that can be considered a primer on noninterventionism during the Second World War (he's also penned much larger books on the same subject.) It lays out the points of contemporary politicians, thinkers, and organizations such as the America First Committee and the Keep America out of War Congress, all of which have been largely ignored or slandered in popular American history.
Psychology recommendation: Antonio Damasio - The Feeling of What Happens The most intriguing unsolved problem in psychology may be the origin of consciousness; here, a noted neurologist proposes that the root of the answer lies in emotion. In Descartes' Error (1994), Damasio argued that the attempt to treat reason and emotion as separate entities was a profound mistake. Now he argues that the body's ability to sense and react to its own processes and its environment holds the key to consciousness. The problem of consciousness can be broken down into two related problems: how the brain engenders images of the outside world and how it engenders a sense of self. In other words, we need to know not only how the brain creates a ``movie'' from its sensory data, but also how it generates the ``audience'' that watches the movie. Damasio distinguishes between core consciousness, the nonverbal awareness of one's state of being, and extended consciousness, which entails a sense of other times and places, and which evolves over the lifetime of the creature possessing it. Damasio argues that most higher organisms possess core consciousness and many possess some form of extended consciousness; but in its highest manifestations, such as art and science, extended consciousness is characteristic of humanity. The author fleshes out his arguments with case histories and our current knowledge of the physiology of the brain. Damasio is particularly concerned to distinguish his views from the classical model of consciousness as a sort of miniature person inside the brain. He insists on the role of emotionthe responses of core consciousness to its experiencesin creating extended consciousness, which in one sense is core consciousness augmented by memory. While his argument demands close attention, its well worth the effort to follow him. Its clear that he has his finger on many of the key issues of the origins and meaning of consciousness in this fascinating study. fantastic thread
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (History) Had a nice little summary typed up, but fucking college internet died, so I lost it. Here's Wikipedia: According to the author, an alternative title would be A short history about everyone for the last 13,000 years. The book is not simply an account of the past; it attempts to explain why Eurasian civilizations, as a whole, have survived and conquered others, while attempting to refute the belief that Eurasian hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual, moral, or inherent genetic superiority. Diamond argues that the gaps in power and technology between human societies originate in environmental differences, which are amplified by various positive feedback loops, and that even when cultural or genetic differences have favored Eurasians (for example Chinese centralized government, or improved disease resistance among Eurasians), these advantages were only created due to the influence of geography and were not inherent in the Eurasian genomes. tl;dr Really interesting book. Discusses the superiority of European societies over the rest of the world. and how it was caused by factors dating from the end of the Ice Age including favorable geography and fauna.
my recommended book list: Category: World History? These books cover various categories from mass psychology, ancient history, predictive programming for the future, freemasonry, geo-politics, psycho-politics, and so on. Basically, the history of the 'new world order', it would take me ages to write a synopsis for each, but the titles for the most part should give away the main content, and some are very popular books that are just very intriguing propaganda that fits right in with the subject ie Wizard of Oz. * The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters by Frances Stonor Saunders * Albert Pike "Morals and Dogma" * Plato "The Republic" * The Communist Manifesto * America BC by Barry Fell * The Shape of Things to Come - by H. G. Wells * In the Minds of Men by Ian T. Taylor * Impact of Science on Society by Bertrand Russell * The Next Million Years by Charles Galton Darwin * Anglo-American Establishment by Carroll Quigley * Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time by Carroll Quigley * The Open Conspiracy by H. G. Wells. * The Prince by Nicholo Machiavelli * 1984 by George Orwell (the book) and (the movie) * Between two Ages by Zbigniew Brzezinski * Education and the Good Life by Bertrand Russell * Agenda 21, www.un.org * United Nations Human Settlements Program * Roads to Freedom: Socialism, Anarchism & Syndication by Bertrand Russell * The second genesis;: The coming control of life by Albert Rosenfeld * The Ghost in the Machine by Arthur Koestler * Spycatcher, by Peter Wright * An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Malthus * Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison : A True Story of Abuse and Exploitation in the Name of Medical Science, by Allen M Hornblum * Frankenstein by Mary Shelley * The Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum * Towards a new beginning by Mikhail S. Gorbachev * 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke * Earth Rising: The Revolution, Toward a Thousand Years of Peace by Nick Begich * Books by Francis Bacon * Books by John Dee * The New Atlantis by Francis Bacon * Deadly Allies : Canada's Secret War, 1937-1947 by John Bryden * Future Shock by Alvin Toffler * The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler * NATO and Europe by André Beaufre * Animal Farm by George Orwell * Millennium: Winners and Losers in the Coming World Order by Jacques Attali * The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives by Zbigniew Brzezinski * The Fringes of Power: The Incredible Inside Story of Winston Churchill During WW II by John Colville * My Life by Leon Trotsky * The Fringes of Power: Downing Street Diaries 1939-1955 by John Colville. * Seven Pillars of Wisdom by Lawrence of Arabia * The Old Testament * Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison * Man and superman a comedy and a philosophy By Bernard Shaw * An Unsocial Socialist by Bernard Shaw * The Handmaid's Tail by Margaret Atwood * Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson by Thomas Jefferson * Das Kapital by Karl Marx * Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man : Critical Edition by Marshall McLuhan * The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell by Bertrand Russell * The Secret Destiny of America by Manly P. Hall * World Brain by H. G. Wells * The Final Days by Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein * The Fifth Man: The Soviet Super Spy by Roland Perry * Worlds in Collision by Immanuel Velikovsky * The New Testament of the Bible * The First Global Revolution by Alexander King, Bertrand Schneider * e-topia by William J. Mitchell * The Babylonian Talmud * I, Robot by Isaac Asimov * The Giver by Lois Lowry * Virtue and Terror (Revolution!) by Maximilien Robespierre * Inferno by Dante * Hamlet by William Shakespeare * Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke * The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin * Orientations by Ronald Storrs * A Short History of the World by H.G. Wells * Silent weapons for quite wars by William Cooper * A World Without Women: The Christian Clerical Culture of Western Science by David F. Noble * If I Were an Animal by Prince Philip * Books by Henry Kissinger * Philip Dru Administrator : a Story of Tomorrow 1920 - 1935 by Edward Mandel House * THE BOOK OF THE DEAD The Papyrus of Ani by E. A. WALLIS BUDGE * History Begins at Sumer by Samuel Noah Kramer * Straight and Crooked Thinking by Robert H. Thouless * The Balfour Declaration (1917) * Books by Arnold J. Toynbee * LEGACY OF MALTHUS by Allan Chase * The Age of Faith (The Story of Civilization, Volume 4) (Story of Civilization) by Will Durant * Ages in Chaos by Immanuel Velikovsky * Armand Hammer: The Untold Story by Steve Weinberg * The Moses Mystery: The African Origins of the Jewish People by Gary Greenberg * The Golden Bough by James George Frazer * The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop * The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal by Desmond Morris * Goethe's View of Evil and the Search for a New Image of Man in Our Time by Alan P. Cottrell * 3001 The Final Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke * The Undiscovered Self by C. G. Jung * Peoples of the Sea by Immanuel Velikovsky * Thirteenth Tribe by Arthur Koestler * The Other Side of Deception: A Rogue Agent Exposes the Mossad's Secret Agenda by Victor Ostrovsky * By Way of Deception: The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer by Victor Ostrovsky * The Intimate Papers Of Colonel House by Edward Mandell House * Letters of Thomas Jefferson by Thomas Jefferson * The Final Days by Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward * A Short History of the World by H. G. Wells * Proofs of a Conspiracy by John Robison * The Scientific Outlook by Bertrand Russell * The Trap by Sir James Goldsmith * Wall Street & the Bolshevik Revolution by Antony C. Sutton * Vodka Cola by Charles Levinson * The Memoirs Of Sir Ronald Storrs by Ronald Storrs * Human Agenda by Roderic gorney * The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty by Peter Collier & David Horowitz * Trading With the Enemy: An exposé of the Nazi-American money plot, 1933-1949 by Charles Higham * The Crime and Punishment of I. G. Farben by Joseph Borkin * Novum Organum by Francis Bacon * The Cocktail Party by T. S. Eliot * Movie Lot To Beachhead: The Motion Picture Goes To War And Prepares For The Future by Editors Of Look Magazine * Hollywood Babylon: The Legendary Underground Classic of Hollywood's Darkest and Best Kept Secrets by Kenneth Anger * Forbidden Archeology: The Full Unabridged Edition by Michael A. Cremo * The Fugu Plan: The Untold Story of the Japanese and the Jews During World War Two by Marvin Tokayer
God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens. "If you are a religious apologist invited to debate with Christopher Hitchens, decline." -Richard Dawkins
I'll second this. Not only is it chock full of pretty fascinating stories, it does a better case of invalidating of Christianity that Richard Dawkins ever did. Also: Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon David Simon is the guy who wrote The Wire, so yeah. This (and his other book The Corner) were the main influences for that show. Homicide recounts Simon's stint as a police reporter following the Baltimore PD Homicide Department for a whole year. It's both one of the most uplifting and depressing books that I've ever read. It gets into a bit more stuff than ever got into The Wire, most depressingly the complete apathy of jurors in trials.
Feeding Frenzy: How Attack Journalism has Transformed American Politics by Larry J. Sabato Not exactly light reading but a scholarly book on how the media latches on to small, insignificant stories and uses them to ruin politicians. Drug Crazy: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out of It by Mike Gray A history of the last 100 years of American drug policy and its effects on the rest of the world and America itself, combined with suggestions on how we can successfully end the war on drugs and introduce a more sane, humanitarian system for the entire world. Breaking Rank by Norm Stamper A book by the former Seattle Chief of Police on various issues of American police and civil rights, condemning our current system of police financing (in many states) and many individuals within the police system itself.
Well, you can certainly invalidate the text of the Bible by examining its contradictions. I can't invalidate your personal opinion of what Christianity is based on the dogma you've been told by your pastors and your personal beliefs based on your idea of what your relationship with God is, however.
You can invalidate the Bible as a historical document, sure. But you can't invalidate it as literature.
I don't know how you can make that claim, considering you've never even read the Bible in its original language.
I thought I posted this in here already but anyways David Foster Wallace is really smart and I like this article. It's about John McCain running for president in 2000. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/18420304/the_weasel_twelve_monkeys_and_the_shrub/print
That's like saying you can't comment on the literary aspects of Crime and Punishment because you've never read it in Russian. I.e., it's fucking retarded
Sorry about the blatant troll in the above post that started this shitstorm. I posted that immediately after a particularly fiery Bible argument with my humanities class and was still pissed off. I'm a douche. But anyway: I agree with this. Surely, not every translation of everything is perfect (and a true perfect translation is probably impossible), but translations of the biblical stuff have gotten better and better and are probably incredibly accurate nowadays. The historical elements particularly, I would think would be most accurate, being basically a list of events.
