Reading that opens the mind - Books

[midcan5]

I used to do a summer reading list, but forgot till now.

Finished 'Suttree,' Cormac McCarthy; 'Mortality,' Christopher Hitchens; re-read 'The Fall,' Camus, and just finished 'Stoner,' by John Williams. If you read anything this summer read 'Stoner,' it covers human nature simply but profoundly. People living life. One of those books you can't put down. Suttree on the other hand can lose you in words. Even though we forget about death, it's always there. Hitchens was such a great voice.

And this for the readers.

Does Reading Literature Make You More Moral? | Boston Review


"If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking." Haruki Murakami

 

[Mustang]

I used to do a summer reading list, but forgot till now.

Finished 'Suttree,' Cormac McCarthy; 'Mortality,' Christopher Hitchens; re-read 'The Fall,' Camus, and just finished 'Stoner,' by John Williams. If you read anything this summer read 'Stoner,' it covers human nature simply but profoundly. People living life. One of those books you can't put down. Suttree on the other hand can lose you in words. Even though we forget about death, it's always there. Hitchens was such a great voice.

And this for the readers.

Does Reading Literature Make You More Moral? | Boston Review


"If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking." Haruki Murakami

I read "Stoner" early last year. Absolutely a phenomenal book. I can't recommend it highly enough. It's only 278 pages, and it's well worth anyone's time.


Stoner

 

[midcan5]

'What Book Changed Your Mind?'

For myself it was Dostoevsky's novels, Camus, Sartre, Thomas Wolfe, lots more, and in non-fiction, Albert Hirschman 'The Rhetoric of Reaction,' Peter Watson's Ideas, Parfit, Reasons and Persons, Peter Singer, Martin Gardner, Wittgenstein and on and on.... Article linked below.

Sometimes book confirm your suspicions but they do so brilliantly.

'Invisible Hands: The Businessmen's Crusade Against the New Deal' Kim Phillips-Fein
'Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming' Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. M. Conway
'Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West' by John Ralston Saul

Read recently and worth your time.

'The Betrayal of the American Dream Hardcover' Donald L. Barlett, James B. Steele
'A History of Civilizations' Fernand Braudel
'The Pony Fish's Glow: And Other Clues to Plan and Purpose in Nature' George C. Williams


A few look interesting and about topics that fascinate me.

What Book Changed Your Mind - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education

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[midcan5]

"Books had instant replay long before televised sports." Bernard Williams

Summer reading for the informed reader. The ISIS book should have a diagram of connections, what a tangled web the ME is. I like Crawford's view of working with one's hands. Something I still love. The prophets are the new rich and just as off base as the old rich. James Wood's words are worth an afternoon. And fiction as James writes may be the nearest thing to life. Enjoy.

'The New Prophets of Capital' by Nicole Aschoff

'ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror' by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan

'The Nearest Thing to Life (The Mandel Lectures in the Humanities)' by James Wood

'The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction' by Matthew B. Crawford

Fiction: 'Crow Fair: Stories' by Thomas McGuane and all of Cormac McCarthy

'My Struggle: Book 1' by Karl Ove Knausgaard and Don Bartlett ( odd but interesting too)

oldies but goodies

'The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy' Albert O. Hirschman
'Invisible Hands: The Businessmen's Crusade Against the New Deal' Kim Phillips-Fein
'Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West' by John Ralston Saul
'A History of Civilizations' Fernand Braudel
'The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark' Carl Sagan
'Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming' Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. M. Conway
'The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin' Corey Robin

 

[2aguy]

" The Law" by Friedrich Basitate

"The Road to Serfdom" by Friedrich Hayek

"Destructive Generation" by David Horowitz

"Visions of the Anointed" By Thomas Sowell

"Who Stole Feminism" Christina Hoff Summers...

"The Black Book of Communism"

"Animal Farm" George Orwell

"Vindicating the Founders"

 

[midcan5]

'Wry Catcher' As a Camus fan you may find this interesting. Reviewed in NYT today.

The Meursault Investigation' by Kamel Daoud (Author), John Cullen (Translator)

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/b...ef=books&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=

 

[Wry Catcher]

'Wry Catcher' As a Camus fan you may find this interesting. Reviewed in NYT today.

The Meursault Investigation' by Kamel Daoud (Author), John Cullen (Translator)

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/b...ef=books&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=

Thank you, an interesting read. I read "The Stranger" first in a Freshman Humanities course and next in an upper division Philosophy course (Existentialism). I've read both the Myth of Sisyphus and The Rebel (in parts) several times and each time another beam of light opens my eyes to the genius of Camus' intuition.

 

[midcan5]

I have often wondered how Jimmy Carter would have governed had he won the second time? Reading 'Liberty Under Siege: American Politics, 1976-1988' by Walter Karp reminded me of how a president often has to fight his own party to accomplish anything. Oligarchy fights against change and Carter an outsider wasn't strong enough to fight power. This was the beginning of money controlling Congress through lobbying and election requirements.

One of the best books I've read this past year was how racism mutated into a tool used to cut off your nose.... or get elected....

At bottom is a book on mass murder I have not read it yet. This topic is interesting but so difficult to comprehend. Read 'Columbine' by Dave Cullen if the topic and all its complexity interests you.

'Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class' by Ian Haney López

'It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism' by Thomas E. Mann, Norman J. Ornstein

'What Terrorists Want: Understanding the Enemy, Containing the Threat' by Louise Richardson

'Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free' by Charles P. Pierce

'Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming' by Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. M. Conway

More history worth a look:
'American High: The Years of Confidence, 1945-1960' by William L. O'Neill
'A Bubble in Time: America During the Interwar Years, 1989-2001' by William L. O'Neill
Coming Apart: An Informal History of America in the 1960s' by William L. O'Neill

'One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway' By Asne Seierstad. Translated by Sarah Death.

In Fiction this looks interesting? 'The Door' By Magda Szabo. Translated by Len Rix.

"Books had instant replay long before televised sports." Bernard Williams

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[midcan5]

I am rereading sections of Peter Watson's 'Modern Mind'. This book should be required reading for everyone. Check it out.

Amazon.com: The Modern Mind: An Intellectual History of the 20th Century (9780060084387): Peter Watson: Books

I may include some quotes in a thread on history.

 

[midcan5]

Addendum for the readers, conservative and libertarian snowflakes beware, you may think and that would really confuse you.

"If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for? A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us. That is my belief." Franz Kafka

Understand America today:

The View From Flyover Country: Essays by Sarah Kendzior by Sarah Kendzior
Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild
Invisible Hands: The Making of the Conservative Movement from the New Deal to Reagan by Kim Phillips-Fein
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer
Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild
White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg
The Making of Donald Trump by David Cay Johnston
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming by Naomi Oreskes
The Plot to Hack America: How Putin’s Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election by Malcolm Nance
The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy by Albert O. Hirschman

Psychology

House of cards : psychology and psychotherapy built on myth by Robyn M. Dawes
Rational Choice in an Uncertain World: The Psychology of Judgement and Decision Making by Reid Hastie

Racism

White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America by James Forman Jr.
Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class by Ian F. Haney-Lopez

"Only in America can you find so many angry people claiming to love their country, while hating almost anyone in it." Don King

Interesting and Deep

'Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle' by Daniel L. Everett
'Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers' by Robert M. Sapolsky
'Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis' by J. D. Vance
'One of Us: The Story of a Massacre in Norway - and Its Aftermath' by Seierstad, Åsne and Sarah Death
'On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century' by Timothy Snyder


"The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading." David Bailey
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[midcan5]

Some suggestions for reading in the new year, please be aware should you accept the challenge of reading a few of the books listed below you will be changed. Proceed with caution. Great Holiday gifts too.

“One must be careful of books, and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.” Cassandra Clare

Alpha order. Various topics.

'Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle' by Daniel L. Everett
'Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis' by J. D. Vance
'Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain' David Eagleman
'Merchants of Doubt' by Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. M. Conway
'On Human Nature' by Edward O. Wilson
'On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century' by Timothy Snyder
'One of Us: The Story of a Massacre in Norway - and Its Aftermath' by Seierstad, Åsne and Sarah Death
'Paul Farmer: Servant to the Poor' by Jennie Weiss Block
'Prehistory: The Making Of The Human Mind' by Colin Renfrew
'The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark' Carl Sagan
'The Modern Mind: An Intellectual History of the 20th Century' by Peter Watson
'The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy' Albert O. Hirschman
'The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science' by Will Storr
'Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West' John Ralston Saul
'World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech' by Franklin Foer
'Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance' By Robert Pirsig

Check Goodreads for reviews, many of the books below are challenging and they will change you and change the way you see.

"The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading." David Bailey

 

[Wry Catcher]

In re Deer hunting with Jesus: "“The four cornerstones of the American political psyche are 1) emotion substituted for thought, 2) fear, 3) ignorance and 4) propaganda”

Seems to be taken from the threads and posts of the United States Message Board, generally.

 

[whitehall]

The key to a good reading experience is to ignore the critics and the alleged experts as well as the angry social scientists and arcane college professors and read what everyone else seems to enjoy on the best seller list.

 

[longknife]

The key to a good reading experience is to ignore the critics and the alleged experts as well as the angry social scientists and arcane college professors and read what everyone else seems to enjoy on the best seller list.

I don't believe in bestseller lists and completely ignore critics. Most are paid and the lists are only for small, selected markets. The best way to find a book's popularity is checking the number on Amazon.com and the other booksellers.

 

[midcan5]

For the serious person puzzled by human behavior see the books above on Human Nature by Wilson and the Prehistory book. And if you have ever wondered why you are who you are, see book and video below. And get a DNA test, it is fascinating stuff.

Anther book to read: 'Robert Plomin on Blueprint: how our DNA makes us who we are'

 

[fncceo]

Opened my mind ...

 

[midcan5]

LOL

One writer I missed in the list above is Robyn M. Dawes' 'House of cards : psychology and psychotherapy built on myth'. Fascinating read on a topic that enters the lives of so many families. House of cards : psychology and psychotherapy built on myth by Robyn M. Dawes

Also check out 'Rational Choice in an Uncertain World: The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making' Reid Hasti / Robyn M. Dawes. If that topic is of interest. Rational Choice in an Uncertain World: The Psychology of Judgement and Decision Making by Reid Hastie

And humor is a must if we are to remain human. I liked George Saunders early stuff but later work seems strained. Saw this today, Sam Lipsyte, 'Hark' may check it out. Kurt Vonnegut is still funny and readable too.

I love books on life and work different from ours, may check this out, Doug Bock Clark, 'The Last Whalers'.

This site was inspiration for repost: 13 Books You Should Read This January

Happy another year.

 

[midcan5]

If you want a real challenge I have an author - I should have listed above not sure how I had missed him - for you all. William T. Vollmann. I have been re-reading 'Rising up, Rising Down'. The abridged edition. Vollmann will challenge you in a way you have never been challenged before. I've read several of his other books, but I'll leave it there for now.

Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means by William T. Vollmann

"Just for the hell of it, try to love someone as unlike you as possible." William T. Vollmann


People often mention Rand so I thought I'd add this review.

"Out of a lifetime of reading, I can recall no other book in which a tone of overriding arrogance was so implacably sustained. Its shrillness is without reprieve. Its dogmatism is without appeal. In addition, the mind which finds this tone natural to it shares other characteristics of its type. 1) It consistently mistakes raw force for strength, and the rawer the force, the more reverent the posture of the mind before it. 2) It supposes itself to be the bringer of a final revelation. Therefore, resistance to the Message cannot be tolerated because disagreement can never be merely honest, prudent, or just humanly fallible." Whittaker Chambers

Whittaker Chambers 1957 Review of Ayn Rand

 

[fncceo]

"It supposes itself to be the bringer of a final revelation. Therefore, resistance to the Message cannot be tolerated because disagreement can never be merely honest, prudent, or just humanly fallible."

I agree...

 

[Mindful]

The key to a good reading experience is to ignore the critics and the alleged experts as well as the angry social scientists and arcane college professors and read what everyone else seems to enjoy on the best seller list.

I don't believe in bestseller lists and completely ignore critics. Most are paid and the lists are only for small, selected markets. The best way to find a book's popularity is checking the number on Amazon.com and the other booksellers.

I like looking around bookshops. Holding a book between my hands.

Usually, "The Book" will jump out at me.

One such example, I've just started "Seratonin". By Michel Houellebecq.