Books that have changed your view on the world...

[Vic]

Pseudo-intellectual crap. If every man was a Howard Roark, Ayn Rand's world would be perfect... except that in Ayn Rand's world, every man was not Howard Roark, and even more so, her world depended on that fact.

What I'm getting at is that you cannot depend on the educated mind while not supporting education for the common people.

Or in the words of the 'evil' founder, Jefferson, "I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power."

Because power there always is, for those who would seize it. And the only way to prevent that is to educate the people against it. If you have another scheme, I await your evidence.

 

[Zebo]

Koran, Sira (life of Mohammed) and Hadith (traditions of Mohammed)

 

[Orsorum]

Originally posted by: Dissipate

Originally posted by: Orsorum
I'm a deeply analytical person, yet you can see by my book choices that most of my influential works relate to religious philosophy or belief. I'm a CPA by trade, and I can assure you that I've had a lifetime's worth of practical training and logic courses, mathematics, science, etc. That is all a foundation for my life as it is now but none of those studies were really life-changing. The Bible, Fear and Trembling, etc., were books that took that foundation of logic and reason and helped me reconcile that to my concept of my Creator.

Never read Atlas Shrugged, don't intend to. I have too many other books to read in my life.

The fact that you believe in a 'Creator' means you didn't learn much in those classes, or they were taught poorly.

Please elaborate.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: Vic

- Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

That is another one of my favorites. I read it for the first time last Summer and thought it was profound.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: Vic
Pseudo-intellectual crap. If every man was a Howard Roark, Ayn Rand's world would be perfect... except that in Ayn Rand's world, every man was not Howard Roark, and even more so, her world depended on that fact.

One of the points of her novels is that people can choose to be rational of they want to.

I'm not sure what exactly you mean when you say, "and even more so, here wold depended on that fact"? When you say "in Ayn Rand's world", what world are you talking about?

 

[Dissipate]

Originally posted by: Orsorum

Originally posted by: Dissipate

Originally posted by: Orsorum
I'm a deeply analytical person, yet you can see by my book choices that most of my influential works relate to religious philosophy or belief. I'm a CPA by trade, and I can assure you that I've had a lifetime's worth of practical training and logic courses, mathematics, science, etc. That is all a foundation for my life as it is now but none of those studies were really life-changing. The Bible, Fear and Trembling, etc., were books that took that foundation of logic and reason and helped me reconcile that to my concept of my Creator.

Never read Atlas Shrugged, don't intend to. I have too many other books to read in my life.

The fact that you believe in a 'Creator' means you didn't learn much in those classes, or they were taught poorly.

Please elaborate.

Making a positive claim about the unknown is a logical fallacy.

 

[JohnnyGage]

Infidel by Ayan Hirsi Ali

 

[Cremaster]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

 

[ModerateRepZero]

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

I already was skeptical that computers/models could quantify risk, but Taleb did an excellent job arguing that the underlying financial markets relied on a theory (specifically Black-Scholes) which encouraged people to take risks under the belief that the chances of a disaster were "rare".

 

[daniel49]

Originally posted by: Doc Savage Fan
I'd say the Bible is #1 and Animal Farm is #2. Both give great understanding and insight into the nature of man.

sounds close to me.
Lord of the flies would be a close second to animal farm?

Chronicles of Narnia were great as are most CS Lewis.

 

[daniel49]

Originally posted by: Drako
Liberalism is a mental disorder

lol, that you mike.

 

[Pocatello]

The Book of Mormon.

 

[Moonbeam]

Anyone have any Books that they have read that have made them reconsider there world view?
---------------
Here's one that describes a change in perspective:

Link

 

[little elvis]

On the Road - Jack Kerouac

Not sure if it really changed my world view or not, but it did plant the travel bug in me.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Dissipate

Originally posted by: RichardE
How goes the pursuit of Anarchy?

Going pretty well actually. I'm involved with The Seasteading Institute.

For someone who believes in a unsustainable ideology you sure do find a lot of fault with other people.

i·de·ol·o·gy
Pronunciation
?noun, plural -gies.
1. the body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc., that guides an individual, social movement, institution, class, or large group.
2. such a body of doctrine, myth, etc., with reference to some political and social plan, as that of fascism, along with the devices for putting it into operation.
3. Philosophy.
a. the study of the nature and origin of ideas.
b. a system that derives ideas exclusively from sensation.
4. theorizing of a visionary or impractical nature.

I am anti-doctrine, anti-myth, anti-social plan. I am anti-ideology as I am anti-religion, for the same reasons: ideologies and religions are based on ad hoc mythologies and narratives. They reject all empirical evidence or testing and claim to find truth. Take the Cult of the Founders for instance. The Cult of the Founders says that the Founders were wise, and because they were wise and they wrote the Constitution, we should obey the Constitution and create a government accordingly. But it is there that they stop searching, and the reason why is because it is an unscientific cult. Ordered anarchy (or as I call it, a polycentric legal order) allows you to experiment with radically different social arrangements, finding what works and what doesn't. It also rejects the idea that law is objective and universal. Saying that the Founders discovered the greatest system of government that could ever be discovered because they were wise is like saying that no one should have ever explored other branches of physics other than Newtonian physics because Newton was wise.

Atheism and ordered anarchy both tie directly into existentialism. You are not a 'child of god,' you are not a 'citizen,' there is no objective truth in the Constitution or the Bible. Essentially, what atheism, ordered anarchy and existentialism say is: you exist first and foremost, and other than that you get to write your own story.

Do you have any suggestions for this thread? Or did you come here to do nothing but troll the reading choices of others?

Yep, I suggest Machinery of Freedom

That's hilarious. You get to put on your pants right leg or left leg first.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Dissipate

Originally posted by: Orsorum

Originally posted by: Dissipate

Originally posted by: Orsorum
I'm a deeply analytical person, yet you can see by my book choices that most of my influential works relate to religious philosophy or belief. I'm a CPA by trade, and I can assure you that I've had a lifetime's worth of practical training and logic courses, mathematics, science, etc. That is all a foundation for my life as it is now but none of those studies were really life-changing. The Bible, Fear and Trembling, etc., were books that took that foundation of logic and reason and helped me reconcile that to my concept of my Creator.

Never read Atlas Shrugged, don't intend to. I have too many other books to read in my life.

The fact that you believe in a 'Creator' means you didn't learn much in those classes, or they were taught poorly.

Please elaborate.

Making a positive claim about the unknown is a logical fallacy.

That is a positive claim about the unknown so it must be a fallacy.

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam

Originally posted by: Dissipate

Originally posted by: RichardE
How goes the pursuit of Anarchy?

Going pretty well actually. I'm involved with The Seasteading Institute.

For someone who believes in a unsustainable ideology you sure do find a lot of fault with other people.

i·de·ol·o·gy
Pronunciation
?noun, plural -gies.
1. the body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc., that guides an individual, social movement, institution, class, or large group.
2. such a body of doctrine, myth, etc., with reference to some political and social plan, as that of fascism, along with the devices for putting it into operation.
3. Philosophy.
a. the study of the nature and origin of ideas.
b. a system that derives ideas exclusively from sensation.
4. theorizing of a visionary or impractical nature.

I am anti-doctrine, anti-myth, anti-social plan. I am anti-ideology as I am anti-religion, for the same reasons: ideologies and religions are based on ad hoc mythologies and narratives. They reject all empirical evidence or testing and claim to find truth. Take the Cult of the Founders for instance. The Cult of the Founders says that the Founders were wise, and because they were wise and they wrote the Constitution, we should obey the Constitution and create a government accordingly. But it is there that they stop searching, and the reason why is because it is an unscientific cult. Ordered anarchy (or as I call it, a polycentric legal order) allows you to experiment with radically different social arrangements, finding what works and what doesn't. It also rejects the idea that law is objective and universal. Saying that the Founders discovered the greatest system of government that could ever be discovered because they were wise is like saying that no one should have ever explored other branches of physics other than Newtonian physics because Newton was wise.

Atheism and ordered anarchy both tie directly into existentialism. You are not a 'child of god,' you are not a 'citizen,' there is no objective truth in the Constitution or the Bible. Essentially, what atheism, ordered anarchy and existentialism say is: you exist first and foremost, and other than that you get to write your own story.

Do you have any suggestions for this thread? Or did you come here to do nothing but troll the reading choices of others?

Yep, I suggest Machinery of Freedom

That's hilarious. You get to put on your pants right leg or left leg first.

What do you do after you get dressed?

 

[XMan]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Koran, Sira (life of Mohammed) and Hadith (traditions of Mohammed)

Same here, I particularly liked the part about your wife being a tilth, and scourging her. My wife . . . not so much.

Originally posted by: JohnnyGage
Infidel by Ayan Hirsi Ali

Yes. I'd go so far as this should be required reading in any women's studies classes.

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: Drako

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: Drako
Liberalism is a mental disorder

Good to know that those who founded this country (who defined themselves as liberals) were retarded.

LOL, obviously you have not read the book.

The founders of this country called themselves liberals. The foremost thinker among them, Thomas Jefferson, credited the founder of the liberal enlightenment, John Locke, for his philosophies.
Think about it for a minute... if they were conservatives, they would never have rebelled against the king.

All you've shown us here is how badly you've been brainwashed by the propaganda of neoconservatism.

Have you been to the Jefferson memorial? No self-respecting progressive would come near such a loony fundy!

 

[shortylickens]

Starship Troopers.
I got out of boot camp in sept 97, and the movie hit theaters right after that. I couldnt believe how awesome the special effects were and how bad the acting/story was. As I was walking out I heard an old guy saying how it was insulting to the book.
Could not believe they made that movie from a book, so I had to go check it out.
Wonder what life would have been like if I'd read it before boot camp, or never at all.

 

[BeauJangles]

Atlas Shrugged and The Great Gatsby are the two that come to mind first.

 

[Muse]

The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand

The Book - Alan Watts

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Brigandier
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Family Happiness by Leo Tolstoy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell
Paradise Lost by F. Scott Fritzgerald

That's all I can think of now, but I'm sure many more of the books I've read have altered my perception on what the "real" world is.

Kudos. I've always believed that if a book isn't capable of changing (at least augmenting) your world view, it may not be worth picking up. Of course, there are worthwhile books of a different sort, but my favorite books stick with you, make you vibrate on a level you've never experienced.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: miketheidiot
atlas shrugged?

*facepalm*

I know, I know. I haven't read a word of it and to a lot of people Ayn Rand is embarrassing, some kind of weird right wing thing. However, I was absorbed by The Fountainhead and the incredible number of mentions of Ayn Rand here is considerable testament to her power. I'll have to get ahold of Atlas Shrugged.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: leingod86
I find the fact that the majority of books presented in this thread are related to politics or religion rather than critical thinking or reasoning telling regarding the priorities of the average (American) person.

No, the average person contributing to this thread.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: leingod86
Why? How does one deduce the nature of God? If one does somehow assess it, how does it affect the logical processes that were required to discover it?

There's a song: God Isn't Real by Robbie Fulks. Nice. I am a big Robbie Fulks fan. A billboard here in South Berkeley has a huge defacement in spray paint taking up > 1/2 the billboard:

God is Fake!