Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: What Are the Books Everyone Should Read?
dpu writes "Part of my New Year's resolution is to encourage reading as a hobby in those around me — especially my friends' children (ages 2 to 22), but my wife and I as well. There is a lot of 'classic' literature out there I'm familiar with, and will be promoting to the short masses here (Fahrenheit 451, To Kill A Mockingbird, In The Heat of the Night, Huckleberry Finn, Cryptonomicon, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, A Wrinkle In Time, When Rabbit Howls, etc.), but I know many of you are much better read than I am. What recommendations would you make? What are the books that everyone should read? I don't care if it's been banned by schools, burned by communists, or illuminated by 15th century monks. If you think everyone around you should read it, I'd love to know about it."
Posted too quickly and should have said why...
Stranger in a Strange Land - really stretches your mind. What is religion? What is humanity? Little questions like that.
Ender's Game - A great morality play; and a very exciting read.
Slaughterhouse Five - (or really anything and everything by Vonnegut. The guy is a great master, and every one of his books will open your mind.)
The Hobbit - Okay, not Sci Fi, but a great book on greed. Pure and simple. Or perhaps not so simple.
Aristoi - A deep look into a future of plenty, where society needs rigid controls to prevent a nano tech disaster. Also great insights into mind-computer interfaces and where they can lead.
Consider Phlebas - A different take on a future of plenty, where society is so advanced, the artificial intelligences we have developed treat us like their pets.
Steel Beach - Yet another take on a future of plenty, more near-term, and about the angst it can engender.
The Peace War - Just read it.
Here are a few that are mentioned because of importance, or don't first come to mind.
1: The Bible (because good or bad, it influences our society.
2: The Koran (similar to #1)
3: 1984
4: Brave New World
5: The Magna Carta
6: Dale C. Carson's "Arrest-Proof Yourself". This is an important book in the US to learn and understand. People may not agree with it, but it is how things function.
7: Applied Cryptography
8: Atlas Shrugged (one should sometimes read stuff just to show the errors in thought to boost critical thinking.)
9: Communist Manifesto (same as #8)
10: Wealth of Nations (same as #8 and #9)
1: The Bible (because good or bad, it influences our society.
The Bible doesn't influence our society because of what it says, but because of what people that haven't read it think it says. Reading the bible can also be detrimental to your religious faith. But a big benefit is that with a thorough knowledge of the bible, you can really annoy any missionaries that knock on your door. I think I have managed to get on some sort of black list, because I have noticed several groups of clean cut bible carrying young men visit my neighbors but skip my house.
"1984" by George Orwell, which could be renamed "2014"