This is pretty much every book I’ve read on Philosophy/science/etc. since I joined ILP a couple of years ago. (“Guns germs and steel****” is absent, because my bastard friend keeps forgetting to give it back).
The stars are how good I thought book X was. As usual - One is bad, five is great.
Arabian Nights***. The end of faith****. The Philosophic Dao de Jing (Thanks JT), Grimms fairytales*. Dawkins God*. Life !* Introducing Islam*. Muhammed*. Sophies World***. Great Philosophers*. Confessions of a philosopher*.
Basics of philosophy.
Universe in a nutshell**. Women fire and dangerous things*. The adapted mind****. Survival of the sickest*****. Out of control*****. Breakdown of will****. The brain that changes itself*****. 6 impossble things before breakfast**. They fuck you up*. The lucifer effect**. The man who mistook his wife for a hat**. The emerging mind****.
Shadows of the mind*. Human instinct*****. The selfish gene****. Best of science writing 2006***. Critical mass****. The undercover economist****. The dinosaur hunters**. The english**.
Dream of rome****. The war of the world*****. The tipping point****. Blink****. Oddessy. Iliad. Aeniad. And some crap.
I’m basically looking for some new stuff to read - any suggestions…?
Based on what you liked, I’d say “Genome” by Matt Ridley is a good call.
Also, it is dated now, but “Visions” by Michio Kaku is a good call.
“The Sociobiology Debate” edited by E.O. Wilson is very dated at this point, but still a good read.
The Harvard “X and Ecology” series can be interesting, depending on which tradition you care about and how well done that particular installment was.
Kelly, the author of Out of Control, has written other things, though I haven’t found anything as inspiring as Out of Control. I’d skip his other books, but his lectures are neat.
If you liked the philo DDJ, “Thinking Through Confucius” is by the same people and is basically the same idea. I have some issues with it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good text.
fear and trembling -kierkegaard
the afrocentric idea - asante
the autobiography of malcolm x - malcolm x
a theory of semiotics - eco
exploring phenomenology - stewart/mikunas
epistemology anthology - sosa/kim
the world is flat - friedman
the sneeches - seuss
electric kool aid acid test -tom wolfe
long walk to freedom -nelson mandella
polarity, dialectic and organicity -archie bahm
the love of learning and the desire for god -leclerq
where the sidewalk ends -silverstein
a matter of interpretation - scalia
Read that one. =D> Will look up the others on Amazon and see what I think.
Hey Ice,
Read that one too, and argued my both my sunday school teacher and my religious education teacher into the ground at the age of 14. So I think I’ll pass.
Hey Imp,
“And they realised that no sneeches were the best on the beaches.” Read that one to my son every now and a again, though secretly I admire Mr. MacMonkey McBean for scamming the lot of them.
Will Amazon the others.
Hey Xunzian, I was hoping you’d post, loved “Out of control.”
Will give as many of these as I can afford a bash.
Red Queen by Ridley might actually be more up your alley than any of the books I listed. I haven’t read it, so I can’t vouch for it, but Genome was great so I figure RQ would be too.
Weeell - they didn’t creep into ‘philosophical’ enough to rate. I’m afraid I liked the old Jason and the argonaut films when I was a kid better. Something about epic poetry makes my brain hurt. I read them mainly because, I dunno, they are about as classic as you can get, and every fucker seems to quote passages from them. I’ve tried to sit down and get through Virgo’s Aeniad too, but so far I’ve given up after he dumps Dido and buggers off.
I’m not much for fiction anymore; I used to be, used to believe you could find some truth in fiction, but these days, each story seems the same, and each plot seems to reflect another. Age I suspect, or envy, or something. Whatever, I never get past more than a couple of chapters before something else seems more important.
Evolution and neuroscience and economics/game theory are what rocks my boat att the moment. Even straight philosophy just comes across to me as intellectual frippery - it doesn’t last, and words are flawed - saying “this is so” doesn’t make it so, however cleverly it is said.
you dont just read the bible once. You read it a hundred thousand times and still learn something new every read. Its a definite must have keeper in a library.
Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans, I love them too I’ve read Odyssey and thought that was a fantastic read but I’ve sort of taken a break from The Iliad, just can’t seem to muster the enthusiasm to pick it back up and I agree with you that the only reason it is in my possession in the first place is because they’re ‘about as classic as you can get’ which isn’t really a sufficient reason and having recently recognised this is probably why I want to burn all my books
Having said that I’m now starting to find more freedom within fiction, Huxley’s Island for example inspired many more ideas within me than some dry philosophical text where nothing but the words leave the page but I suppose all this depends on the participants…
I’m with Ceadem, fiction’s rife with philosophy. Good fiction gives me many a thoughtful pause. In that department, I’ve liked everything I’ve read by John Le Carre, and his plots are complicated enough to feel new.
Edging more towards philosophy, but still in fiction, the compilation The Mind’s I, edited by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennet, is a series of fiction stories intended as intuition pumps for philosophical questions, each followed by actual philosophy by one or the other editor. Lighter fare, but engaging.
(Speaking of Hofstadter, Godel, Escher, Bach is incredible, and I am a Strange Loop is towards the top of my to-do list)
In non-fiction, The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong is an interesting history of Abrahamic religions. Her personal background is interesting too. It’s not a genre you listed, but I have similar interests and I found her history compelling (for the most part).
More in the currents you run with, Baboon Metaphysics by Dorothy Cheney and Robert Seyfarth has its moments, and covers evolution, economics, mind, all the stuff you love. Plus, lots of interesting anecdotes about monkeys.
Also, since I’m pretty sure you’re into kink, Dan Savage’s Savage Love is a compilation of sex advice from his column of the same name, but he’s fucking hilarious and often unexpectedly wise.
“An Inquiry into the Good” - Kitaro Nishida
“Philosophy in a Feminist Voice - Critiques and Reconstructions” - Janet A. Kourany, ed.
“Feminism Unmodified: Discourses on Life and Law” - Catherine MacKinnon
I’ve got a few David Lewis articles on game theory. I can email them to you if you want. In one he tries to say that newcomb’s problem and the prisoner’s dilemma are the same thing.
These two sound right up my alley so to speak. “Pretty sure you’re into kink” indeed - I’ll have you know I’m a married man and a pillar of society. :-"
“Strange loop” I’ve heard is a bit loopy, written after the death of his wife, and more wishful thinking than actual thinking, but I might give it a try sometime.
Thanks guys, I’m really grateful for all your suggestions, the trouble with Amazon is there is so much choice you just end up standing there like a lemon, paralyzed by indecision until you realize you’ve just wasted an hour of your life for no return whatsoever - It reminds me of the video shop when I was a lot younger - wander the aisles until you get angry at yourself and swipe the nearest piece of crap available. Do that too often and you end up watching “The three Muskatits” for a laugh, but then find out it’s so appalling even your hardcore pervert friends won’t talk to you anymore.
Yeah, I’ve been thinking about buying that one too. Mind you, might turn me into even more of a raving sexist than I already am…
=D>
I’ve read Odyssey and thought that was a fantastic read but I’ve sort of taken a break from The Iliad, just can’t seem to muster the enthusiasm to pick it back up and I agree with you that the only reason it is in my possession in the first place is because they’re ‘about as classic as you can get’ which isn’t really a sufficient reason and having recently recognised this is probably why I want to burn all my books 