What are your favorite books?

brent

tomscharbach multiple shifting narratives a device I haven't seen much of, coupled with "nothing much happens" leaves me STOKED to read--sounds so creative. thank you for that, it's appreciated.

nazar

infinitymdm

Emotional blackmail by Susan Forward, but it turned out not to be my case.

hdansin

WetGeek

I don't know enough Spanish to say either, but I have to say that his run on sentences are some of the most entertaining I've ever encountered. I imagine they're even better in the original language.

hdansin

brent

For sure, Grapes is very heavy, but so is the subject. Personally I will never forget it, and I think about it often, particularly the end scene, the turtle, and the man at the campfire who talked about watching his family starve. "The Red Pony" pony is another one that falls in that category for me. I find that Steinbeck either wants to have a good time and celebrate life (Cannery Row), or he wants to punch you in the gut -- but the punch in the gut is usually for a good reason that you come around to later.

Never heard of Wayward Bus! I recently rented some short fiction of his and really enjoyed "The Pastures of Heaven," a series of interconnected stories about different people who are doomed by their contact with a certain family. The family isn't really evil, just the harbinger for bad things to come. Great read, if a bit morbid/sad. But it's Steinbeck, so it comes with the territory.

infinitymdm

There's a ton of great stuff here. I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised to see that a community dedicated to free (as in speech) software leans heavily into philosophy 😁

Once I'm finished with my current book (Anathem by Neal Stephenson) I think I'll tackle His Dark Materials by Pullman. Based on a cursory glance at the Wikipedia page, it seems to be a sort of antithesis to Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. After that I'm not sure. There's so much good stuff in this thread that I'm honestly at a loss for where to start!

Thanks to all of you for your responses. I've got quite a bit of reading to do!

badbrainz

The Art of Dreaming by Carlos Castaneda
A Separate Reality by Carlos Castaneda
all his other books

infinitymdm

Today I finished reading another book that I'll probably have to add to my collection: Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Very good if you're mathematically minded, especially if you're interested in philosophy of physics. The author plays with words in a truly creative way that I haven't seen in anything else I've read so far.

While on the topic, I feel obligated to bring up another excellent series that hasn't yet been mentioned in this thread. I highly recommend Dune by Frank Herbert. It, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, and God Emperor of Dune are definitely worth a read.

brent

infinitymdm when I'm feeling happy, I've noticed, I will work anathema into my vocabulary. (I have no idea how that works). It means counter to or opposite of generally. but anathem? is that a word? an anthem it looks like, especially if an anagram. I can tell by the title this guy likes wordplay. I certainly do.
It was your astute observation that much of the forum loved their philosophy. But the philosophy of physics? what the heck is that? don't answer I'll imagine it!

infinitymdm

brent The definition is one of the first things you'll see in the book:

Anathem: (1) In Proto-Orth, a poetic or musical invocation of Our Mother Hylaea, which since the time of Adrakhones has been the climax of the daily liturgy (hence the Fluccish word Anthem meaning a song of great emotional resonance, esp. one that inspires listeners to sing along). Note: this sense is archaic, and used only in ritual context where it is unlikely to be confused with the much more commonly used sense 2. (2) In New Orth, an aut by which an incorrigible fraa or suur is ejected from the math and his or her work sequestered (hence the Fluccish word Anathema meaning intolerable statements or ideas).

... there's a lot to parse there, but you learn the vocabulary over the course of the book. (If I were being a bit snarky, I might add that definition (1) has a bit of a Protan-Halikaarnian bias 😉)

As for your second question, concerning philosophy of physics, a decent answer can be found on Wikipedia. I'll let you handle that as your own curiosity motivates you.

tomscharbach

I want to add "A Game of Inches" by S.R. Doss to my list, having re-read it over the weekend. It is a multifaceted look, in novel form, at the way in which random chance changes the course of our lives. Looking back at my own life (76 years and counting) Doss's insights run true -- the course of my life changed many times because of a chance encounter or chance opportunity.

bleh

Narnia by C.S. Lewis- I started this fantasy series right before the first movie and have good memories of these books. I'm pretty sure it was the first book series read. Really need to revisit it.
Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa- I haven't finished it, but it's very good. It's Japanese historical fiction based off a historical figure. I wouldn't have touched any historical fiction before this. It's a shame people in the west would rather read the manga adaptation "Vagabond" which is exceedingly mediocre in my opinion.
Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi- Yes they're manga books, sue me. Recently I've been getting more and more into manga, not a big fan of the 2000's era, but I like a lot of what came before and after. People often compare manga to western comics, but they're nothing alike. HxH volumes are easily the most misunderstood piece of fiction in popular media, people still think Dragonball was a huge influence on it, which isn't entirely true.

People were talking about Don Quixote earlier, can't believe I had a massive brain fart all this time and didn't realize it's original language is Español. Gotta re-read this in the original text.

I also started getting into philosophy. I can't find a decent starting point for the life of me. I started with "The Critique of Pure Reason" I really liked it but decided to start another book because I kept coming across words I had to look up. I then tried "Nicomachean Ethics" but most of the things said I already know. Does anyone know some philosophical works that are as immersive as popular media?

brent

bleh Does anyone know some philosophical works that are as immersive as popular media?

No. Can't think of one philosopher that is immersive as popular media. You always have to do the work with them. Kant even went over my head in places. But I do prefer my philosophy contemporary and with a vernacular I understand...
Nietzsche (geneology of morals, most all else)
Jung (everything)
Michel Foucault (panoptic tower)
Jacques Lacan (stunning philopsher see his Purloined Clinic)
Julia Kristeva (Black Sun)
Slavoj ZizeK (welcome to the desert of the real is 2002)
--some of these writers were psychoanalysts who fancied themselves philosophers. and to claim I understood all I read would be ludicrous. these guys live to complicate🙂

ps--I hear great things about contemporary Allan Watts but I never read him although I'm told I should

2 cents

infinitymdm

bleh Does anyone know some philosophical works that are as immersive as popular media?

If you play video games, there's a JRPG series called Xenoblade Chronicles that I can highly recommend - especially the 1st and 3rd games. They don't dig into their philosophical themes as directly as I would like, but they play with all sorts of ideas about the nature of the world and humanity's place in it. Those games leave you with a lot to think about.

Staudey

bleh Does anyone know some philosophical works that are as immersive as popular media?

I don't know how good the English or Spanish translations are, but I think Nietzsche could fit that desire. Something like "Die fröhliche Wissenschaft" or "Also sprach Zarathustra" perhaps.

bleh

brent Thanks for the recommendations!

By immersive, I did not mean easy. There has been a lot of fiction that despite the difficulty, is pretty immersive, I was hoping some philosophy would have replicated the idea: easy to get into, but difficult to master. I've heard people say Moby Dick, The Silmarillion, and The Metamorphasis are all difficult, but that mostly depends on the person and where they're at in their life.

brent

bleh but that mostly depends on the person and where they're at in their life.

absolutely correct. in that case I will stand by that list as easy to get into maybe never intended to master! the rest as you say is subjective depending on phase of life. I always could follow and enjoy and 'get' Kafka but the Melville made my eyes glaze. While many will have the opposite experience. The beauty of art.

inkbug

Adams, Douglas
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

I'll find myself re-reading this one every couple of years.

Rushdie, Salman
The Satanic Verses

Had quite an impact, but I don't see myself going through it a second time.

Vowell, Sarah
Unfamiliar Fishes

[deleted]

Por si las voces vuelven - Ángel Martín

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