Best essays & correspondence books according to redditors
We found 809 Reddit comments discussing the best essays & correspondence books. We ranked the 366 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 809 Reddit comments discussing the best essays & correspondence books. We ranked the 366 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
> Thoughts & Ideas By Albert Einstein
I believe you mean "Ideas and Opinions" by Einstein :)
Link for anybody interested!
This debate is older than time, and kin of your finest kind, Sir R.A. Fisher settled this debate centuries ago... scientifically!!! You cannot tell the difference in a double blind study.
I definitely recommend buying it in paperback "Ideas and Opinions
Book by Albert Einstein" http://www.amazon.com/Ideas-Opinions-Albert-Einstein/dp/0517884402?ie=UTF8&keywords=ideas%20and%20opinions&qid=1464431639&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1
It’s a bit eccentric, but Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer is a fun read and has a ton of great writing advice geared towards fantasy and speculative fiction.
One of the great investigative journalists, writers and speakers of the 20th and 21st centuries. I recommend having a ready of his books of essays, e.g. Arguably.
He spent a massive amount of time actually on the ground in places like Kurdistan, Iraq, Cuba (immediately post-revolution, leading in great part - along with the writing of Orwell and various dissidents - to his disenchantment with communism), and so many other places. He was also tremendously well-read and well-informed, as you'll see when reading his essays.
He was a leftist who despised the Clintons for their conduct (his book: No One Left to Lie To) but unfortunately died before this last election - his writing on Trump would've been gold, as would his struggle over the lesser of two evils. He was not afraid to break with the left on different issues, e.g. Iraq, because he'd spent so much time on the ground in Iraq and Kurdistan and had done so much research into things there, and he was greatly disappointed in the post-war rebuilding efforts that followed the removal of Saddam Hussein, but he was in Iraq at different times to see and celebrate progress where it happened (e.g. elections).
He read every word George Orwell wrote (that's available, even later-found letters and diaries). He was basically against dictators and despots everywhere.
In later times he was famous for speaking out against religion, especially where it was also despotic. This is what most people on the internet seem to know him for (hence the often vociferous attacks against him), but this was a small part of his career over his lifetime.
Really, you do yourself a great service by reading his books of essays, very few of which are about religion but most of which are very, very interesting. My father is a conservative Christian, yet he greatly enjoys reading Hitchens' essays!
From the UK deputy PM at the time of Hitchens' death:
>One unexpected tribute came from deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, who worked as an intern for Hitchens years ago. Hitchens was, he said, "everything a great essayist should be: infuriating, brilliant, highly provocative and yet intensely serious".
>"My job was to fact check his articles. Since he had a photographic memory and an encyclopaedic mind it was the easiest job I've ever done," said Clegg. "He will be massively missed by everyone who values strong opinions and great writing".
It's available free online, but I've def got a hard cover copy on my bookshelf. I can't really deal with digital versions of things, I need physical books.
Check out The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century.
Show, don't tell.
Francine Prose put it better than I can in her analysis of Dulse, by Alice Munro.
>Finally, the passage contradicts a form of bad advice often given young writers—namely, that the job of the author is to show, not tell. Needless to say, many great novelists combine "dramatic" showing with long sections of the flat-out authorial narration that is, I guess, what is meant by telling. And the warning against telling leads to a confusion that causes novice writers to think that everything should be acted out—don't tell us a character is happy, show us how she screams "yay" and jumps up and down for joy—when in fact the responsibility of showing should be assumed by the energetic and specific use of language. There are many occasions in literature in which telling is far more effective than showing.
source
Why pick and choose when with wikisource you can have them all for free?!
I began with On The Shortness of Life and then bought Letters from a Stoic. I haven't been disappointed yet.
>Adam is the creator of The Wertzone, a ten-year-old blog dedicated to all things Science Fiction and Fantasy. He is also a moderator at Westeros.org, is the retired founder of the Game of Thrones Wiki and has worked with HarperCollins on their Song of Ice and Fire website and mobile apps. He is the author of "An Unreliable World", an essay in the "Beyond the Wall" collection, and is currently writing "A History of Epic Fantasy". As well as A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones he writes widely about science fiction and fantasy in print, on TV, in film and in video games.
>Some of you all from /r/asoiaf might know Adam from some of his work on ASOIAF such as:
For Nietzsche, or for life in general?
I'll assume the first one. Read these in the order given:
Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist, Walter Kaufman.
Thus Spake Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche
On the Genealogy of Morals, Friedrich Nietzsche
Beyond Good & Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche
I would highly recommend getting the Kaufman translations. Thus Spake Zarathustra is collected in The Portable Nietzsche and Genealogy of Morals is collected together with Ecce Homo. Once you've read the ones I've listed, you'll already have his other important books if you want to read them. I'd read the Kaufman book first for two reasons: Understanding Nietzsche life and times helps to contextualize his philosophy, and Kaufman is terrific biographer, plus Kaufman gives a thorough overview of Nietzsche's ideas. And sometime it really helps to have a map of the territory before you plunge into the abyss. Nietzsche can be very challenging, especially to the 21st century reader.
Whew, okay. Pulled out my actual computer to answer this.
So, a lot of what I could recommend isn't short stuff you could read in an afternoon because 1. it's depressing as fuck, and 2. it's likely heavy with the sheer volume of references wherein at least one book attempts to bludgeon you with the facts that "this was depressing as fuck." Frequent breaks or alternating history-related books with fiction/poetry/other topics is rather recommended from my experience. Can't remember if I got onto this topic through Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States or Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong or just some random book found in the library.
The very clean cut, textbook Wikipedia definition of "sundown town", aka "Don't let the sun set (down) on you here.", (Ref: BlackThen.com), is:
> sometimes known as sunset towns or gray towns, are all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States that practice a form of segregation by enforcing restrictions excluding people of other races via some combination of discriminatory local laws, intimidation, and violence.
For my intro into the subject however, read Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America. This is a very emotionally draining, mentally exhausting book though, frequently with lists of atrocities in paragraph form. I think it's an important read, one which frankly should've been covered my senior year of highschool or so, but it's a difficult one. Also on my reading list is The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration which is a surprising and sneakily hopeful title for such a depressing topic, so only guessing the narration may be somewhat more accessible.
Also, 'cause I totally didn't run to my kindle app to list out titles before fully reading your post, here's some below, and relisted one above, by timeline placement, best as can be figured. These might not be the best on each topic, but they're the ones available to my budget at the time and some are still on my reading list.
The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion
Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America
The Mis-Education of the Negro
At the Dark End of the Street: A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power
Assata
Revolutionary Suicide
Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion
Sister Outsider
See also:
Black Street Speech: Its History, Structure, and Survival
Women, Race, & Class by Angela Y. Davis
Black Feminist Thought
Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations by Bell Hooks
Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
I interpret it along the lines of John Gardner's idea being the narrative dream. Here is something from The Paris Review that digs into it, but he also covers it in The Art of Fiction.
That's the big question, isn't it?
I find that the best response to the pointlessness so far has been reading The Myth of Sisyphus. The book by that name is worth reading, but that's a lot to ask of a stranger. The essay by that name, from the book is about a 10-15 minute read, and very poetic.
Camus makes a compelling argument that there is no point to life, that everything we do is ultimately meaningless once we die, and that this point of view liberates us to try and make the most of our lives anyway.
>The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
Of course, feeling the way you do is also just part of being in your early 20's and in college.
South of the Frostfangs, you have "The Gorge"
This is essentially a Grand Canyon-style gorge with a river at the bottom. In short, climbing the wall would be easier than repelling down the gorge, sailing across the river, and then climbing up the other side.
Westwatch-By-The-Bridge is not named so for shits and giggles. It is the site of the Bridge of Skulls. The Bridge of Skulls has a long history of being the source of many wildling vs. Night's Watch battles (and where the Lord of Bones began his famous uniform). For years, the NW has held off the wildlings in this funnel of a bridge that crosses the gorge.
As far as sailing goes, it becomes a bit tricky, logistically, for White Walkers (Others). The Others have minions called "Wights". These are people who have been turned to the Others' cause via death and reanimation. They're semi-intelligent zombies with no recollection of their past. In order to sail a fleet across the Bay of Ice, they'd expose themselves to those northern waters that are very treacherous, as well as risking a landing among the Mountain Clans of the North (landing on Mountains is not fun). They would need to sail much further south in order to make it worth while, putting them very near to Winterfell loyalists and again, being met with opposition.
Finally, you have the Bay of Seals. This bay is notoriously awful to cross. The waters are choppy and sink ships brave enough to conquer it more often than not, and there are rumors of beasts living in the waters there. If anyone were to brave the waters of The Bay of Seals, they would be seen by the towers at Eastwatch and met on shore with forces.
In short, The Wall works in conjunction with several "natural" barriers preventing Wights, White Walkers, and Wildlings from going around it. The only sure-fire way into Westeros is to go through The Wall.
EDIT: For more in-depth looks into the geography, literary context, and connections in the books, check out Beyond the Wall. It's an excellent read that can answer a lot of questions you might have about the series/lore.
I will always recommend John Gardner's The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers - he gives a wonderful overview of fiction writing, offers writing exercises, points out common errors that beginner writers make (as well as how to correct them), and discusses some basic writing theory. There's a lot to learn from that book, and a lot to revisit.
Concerning plotholes … do you know how many of them are in JKR’s novels? Yes, you know. Is she one of the most successful writers of all times? Yes, she is. Case closed.
What really matters is the story. Yes, it should be consistent, but reader will survive even Remus Lupin forgetting it is a full moon night (think about it; how probable it is?), if the story is captivating enough.
When you have an idea, sit down write it down. Let it stew for two weeks (so you mostly forget what it is about), then read it again. Do you like it as it is? Publish it! Do you know how to correct it? Do so! Are you bored? Drop it! Lather, rinse, repeat.
Read this. Morale of the essay is: write, write, write. Don't correct yourself and produce more stories. If you write 52 stories a year, one of them should be readable (that's for professional writers, of course, if it is your hobby you do along The Real Life, numbers are smaller, i.e. you need more years to write that one good story).
Hard Times by Studs Terkel. Many books by him, actually.
https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Times-History-Great-Depression/dp/1565846567
You should read "Beyond The Wall" by James Lowder. It's a collection of work analyzing the ASOIAF universe, one of the essays covers PTSD in the book series. I highly suggest it to any fan.
Link: http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Wall-Exploring-Martins-Thrones/dp/1936661748/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375998654&sr=8-1&keywords=beyond+the+wall
Edit: added a link
This week I finished the first book in the Hyperion series. Solid reading experience was loving all the stories that the travelers were telling. The only thing is now I don't really know if I want to continue the series right away, which is fine maybe I will later. As a stand alone story it isn't the strongest which makes me want to continue because everything in this book is basically background information for the series ahead. I don't really know why I picked it up because I already knew I didn't want to be wrapped up in a long series, but I did and I'm glad I did. But I gotta say I love the exotic planets in this book there is a lot beauty in these words.
Another little note is that this was the longest book I have read on my kindle I have only been using the thing for shorter books because I was still getting used to it. But gotta say I love that damn device.
O.K. on to the book I finished this morning just so I could talk about it at length Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them. Alright I stumbled along this book on amazon and was drawn in by the names of the chapters, take a look inside the book on the amazon page and look at the table of contents. Simple concepts like words and sentences start the thing off and it moves into the bigger concepts of literature later. This really drew me in I thought about how in my high school AP English class we talked about the more "hidden meanings" in the books we were reading and just thinking how I would have never have picked up on that and how much I must miss in literature.
So I bought the book and gotta say I feel like a better reader now, well I haven't read anything since I finished it but still. She goes in detail about the subject of each chapter and looks at lots and lots of examples so be prepared to read lots passages from lots of books....lots. Then she dissects them and brings to light those things I would have missed. After doing this time and time again I feel like I now know what to look for. Really if you want to make your reading comprehension better or feel like you are missing something when it comes to reading I recommend the shit out of this book. Just be ready to learn when you pick it up it isn't dense by any means but you do have to get into a bit of a student mindset to get into it. Also there is a little list at the back of "books to read immediately" I indulged myself and bought three of them in the physical format, I can't wait to read them.
I didn't get this book for the writing insights, not my thing, I do feel that it would have benefited me if I was a writer but I'm sure there are better things to learn from for writers. But as a non-writer I feel like if I started now I would have a better idea of what to do with my words then I would have before I read this book.
Very much so! From the blackened teeth to Noh plays, he describes the ideas of hiding the flaws in the dark and blackness to highlight the beauty and art. In short, the essay/book details and reminisces about a time before electricity when all the Japanese arts were perhaps more elegant and pure (in his reasoning). Ranging from architecture to the performing arts, he even details the lacquer-ware in candlelit restaurants which were all created to fill a low-light shadow filled world which the gold flecks would create subtle flickers of beauty, only to be later ruined in a light soaked world of the light bulb. It is an incredibly fascinating read and highlights artistic choices across all Japanese culture that were influenced by the world of shadow.
I highly recommend reading the full In Praise of Shadows essay which is here in pdf form or you can purchase it on Amazon here.
Paris is Burning
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0100332/
Fire: A Queer Film Classic (Queer Film Classics) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1551523639/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_P7ukDb6Q2VNFG
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (Crossing Press Feminist Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1580911862/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_f-ukDbTQWFZDW
On Our Backs
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Our_Backs
New Queer Cinema: The Director's Cut https://www.amazon.com/dp/0822354284/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_1uvkDbZXMAFN7
Here's one by my queer cinema professor back in the 90s. https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=381
Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them (P.S.) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060777052/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_b7szDbY7MJ13P
In Praise of Shadows, "An essay on aesthetics by the Japanese novelist, this book explores architecture, jade, food, and even toilets, combining an acute sense of the use of space in buildings. The book also includes descriptions of laquerware under candlelight and women in the darkness of the house of pleasure."
Albert Einstein was very left wing. If you want to read more of his non-physics opinions, I recommend a book I once knew as "The Ideas and Opinions of Albert Einstein," but which now seems to have been shortened to "Ideas and Opinions."
He made quite number of memorable statements. He had no use for the military:
> This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor. That a man can take pleasure in marching in fours to the strains of a band is enough to make me despise him. He has only been given his big brain by mistake; unprotected spinal marrow was all he needed. This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them! How vile and despicable seems war to me! I would rather be hacked in pieces than take part in such an abominable business. My opinion of the human race is high enough that I believe this bogey would have disappeared long ago, had the sound sense of the peoples not been systematically corrupted by commercial and political interests acting through the schools and the Press.
source
Unprotected spinal marrow! Hacked to pieces! Colorful words, for sure.
Sometimes he sounded like a gnostic:
> A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.
source
He's interesting reading, if nothing else. A side of Einstein we rarely hear about today.
It doesn't deal with just one book, but Reading like a Writer tells how to analyze books yourself.
Great quote. Orwell was a commie but he was redpilled on most social issues. One of the few honest men. I have a fantastic book of all his essays in chronological order https://www.amazon.com/Essays-Everymans-Library-Contemporary-Classics/dp/0375415033 Really worth it
I heard someone say once that you need to understand the rules before you can break them the right way. Anyway, I found these books helpful. I would never adhere to their advice exactly, but I did learn a lot from all of them and combine it with my own personal style:
John Gardner - The Art of Fiction
A bit dated, but it still does a good job of laying out what it means to write fiction. He has some good suggestions for exercises at the end.
Anne LaMott - Bird By Bird
Half craft, half inspirational. I'm not usually big on sappy, inspirational shit, but I loved this book and found it very helpful.
James Bonnet - Stealing Fire From the Gods
Focuses on the elements of great stories in film and books.
John Trimble - Writing With Style
This is a great overview of the technical side of writing well. The best I have found.
The main thing though: READ A LOT OF FICTION. You should read much more than you write. No one ever became a great writer by sitting around and reading about writing, but it can help you zero in on what to look for in the fiction of others.
Hope that helps.
People of the Book is almost pornography for bibliophiles. This book had me seriously considering going back to school to learn about document preservation.
I went through a period of wanting to read a lot of books about books about a year ago. I think I even have an old submission in r/books on the same subject. Here are a bunch of books I still have on my amazon wishlist that date to around that time. This will be a shotgun blast of suggestions, and some may be only tangentially related, but I figure more is better. If I can think of even more than this, I'll edit later:
The Man who Loved Books Too Much
Books that Changed the World
The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages
How to Read and Why
The New Lifetime Reading Plan
Classics for Pleasure
An Alphabetical Life: Living It Up in the World of Books
The Library at Night
The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop
Time Was Soft There
I have even more around here somewhere...
Edit: Ok, found a couple more....
Among the Gently Mad: Strategies and Perspectives for the Book-Hunter in the 21st Century
At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries
Candida Hofer
Libraries in the Ancient World
The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read
A Short History of the Printed Word
Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption
Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work
The Book on the Bookshelf
A History of Illuminated Manuscripts
Bookmaking: Editing, Design, Production
Library: An Unquiet History
Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms
A Passion for Books: A Book Lover's Treasury of Stories, Essays, Humor, Lore, and Lists on Collecting, Reading, Borrowing, Lending, Caring for, and Appreciating Books
A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books
And yet I still can't find the one I'm thinking of. Will get back to you...
Fuck yeah, I found it!
That last is more about the woman who own the store than about books, but it's awash in anecdotes about writers and stories we all know and love. Check it out.
It used to be standard practice to buy the following two volumes ed. and trans. by Kaufmann:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Portable-Nietzsche-Viking-Library/dp/0140150625
http://www.amazon.com/Writings-Nietzsche-Modern-Library-Classics/dp/0679783393
Together, they contain almost all of Nietzsche's works.
Edit: Notable absences are The Gay Science and Will to Power.
For stuff by Schopenhauer, start with Essays and Aphorisms. It's a good starter because it presents Schopenhauer's thoughts on a wide variety of topics, and it also has a solid Introduction by R.J. Hollingdale.
For stuff about Schopenhauer, start with Schopenhauer: A Very Short Introduction. In addition to being a great short reference, the VSI books have good "Further Reading" sections at the end with more scholarly books that delve further into the topic.
Happy reading!
most people did not lose their jobs during the great depression (75% employment rate). many people weren't affected much at all.
i'm no expert on the great depression, but i did read this book and found it quite fascinating how disparate the hundreds of personal stories and experiences were.
Nietzsche sees that civilization is in the process of ditching divinity while still clinging to religious values, and that this egregious act of bad faith must not go uncontested. You cannot kick away the foundations and expect the building still to stand. The death of God is the most momentous event of human history, yet men and women are behaving as though it were no more than a minor readjustment. Of the various artificial respirators on which God has been kept alive, one of the most effective is morality. It does not follow, that goodness, justice and wisdom are chimeras because the existence of God is a chimera. Perhaps not; but in Nietzsche’s view it does not follow either that we can dispense with divine authority and continue to conduct our moral business as usual. Our conceptions of truth, virtue, identity, and autonomy, our sense of history as shapely and coherent, all have deep-seated theological roots. It is idle to imagine that they could be torn from these origins and remain intact. Morality must therefore either rethink itself from the ground up, or live on in the chronic bad faith of appealing to sources it knows to be spurious. In the wake of the death of God, there are those who continue to hold that morality is about duty, conscience, and obligation, but who now find themselves bemused about the source of such beliefs. This is not a problem for Christianity—not only because it has faith in such a source, but because it does not believe that morality is primarily about duty, conscience, or obligation in the first place.
>If atheism is true, it is far from being good news. Learning that we’re alone in the universe, that no one hears or answers our prayers, that humanity is entirely the product of random events, that we have no more intrinsic dignity than non-human and even non-animate clumps of matter, that we face certain annihilation in death, that our sufferings are ultimately pointless, that our lives and loves do not at all matter in a larger sense, that those who commit horrific evils and elude human punishment get away with their crimes scot free — all of this (and much more) is utterly tragic.
Honest atheists understand this. Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche proclaimed the death of God, but he called it an “awe-inspiring catastrophe” for humanity, which now faced the monumental task of avoiding a descent into nihilism. Essayist Albert Camus likewise recognized that when the longing for a satisfying answer to the question of “why?” confronts the “unreasonable silence of the world,” the goodness of human life appears to dissolve and must be reconstructed from the ground up.
Nietzsche hated Christianity, of course, but he also hated post-Christian sentimentality. The corrosive power of his critique, is not necessarily a bad thing for Christianity. In fact, by forcing people to face the implications of what they already believe (or, more precisely, what they fail to believe), this has the effect of shearing away the last vestiges of Christianity as a religious ideology for the bourgeois social order. In so doing, it may reveal the orthodox Christian faith in its true radicalism:
>If religious faith were to be released from the burden of furnishing social orders with a set of rationales for their existence, it might be free to rediscover its true purpose as a critique of all such politics. In this sense, its superfluity might prove its salvation. The New Testament has little or nothing to say of responsible citizenship. It is not a “civilized” document at all. It shows no enthusiasm for social consensus.
Here's Noah Lukeman on the semicolon in A Dash of Style:
> The primary function of the semicolon is to connect two complete (and thematically similar) sentences, thereby making them one. . .[G]rammatically the semicolon is never necessary; two short sentences can always coexist without being connected. Artistically, though, the semicolon opens a world of possibilities, and can lend a huge impact. In this sense, it is the punctuation mark best suited for creative writers.
Lukeman quotes John Trimble:
> The semicolon is efficient: it allows you to eliminate most of those conjunctions or prepositions that are obligatory with the comma--words like whereas, because, for, or, but, while, and.
And he quotes Lewis Thomas:
> Sometimes you get a glimpse of a semicolon coming, a few lines farther on, and it is like seeing a wooden bench just at a bend in the road ahead, a place where you can expect to sit for a moment, catching your breath.
John Gardner is a master of punctuation. He uses the em dash, parentheses and semicolons like a champ. To me it evokes a voice that's closer to how thoughts emerge than does the simple declarative statement, which makes my brain happy. One man's luscious thought is another's tortured prose. Here's an excerpt from The Art of Fiction:
> Thus it appears that to make us see and feel vividly what his characters see and feel--to draw us into the characters' world as if we were born to it--the writer must do more than simply make up characters and then somehow explain and authenticate them (giving them the right kinds of motorcycles and beards, exactly the right memories and jargon). He must shape simultaneously (in an expanding creative moment) his characters, plot, and setting, each inextricably connected to the others; he must make his whole world in a single, coherent gesture, as a potter makes a pot; or, as Coleridge puts it, he must copy, with his finite mind, the process of the infinite "I AM."
You might get something out of this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Sisyphus-Other-Essays/dp/0679733736/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291401881&sr=8-2
"According to Camus, suicide was a sign that one lacked the strength to face "nothing." Life is an adventure without final meaning, but still, in Camus' eyes, worth experiencing. Since there is nothing else, life should be lived to its fullest and we should derive meaning from our very existence. For Camus, people were what gave life meaning. However, in the moments following the realization that one will die, that one's descendants will die...in fact, that the earth will die, one senses a deep anxiety. And, as an atheist, Camus doubted meaning beyond this life."
Wonderbook is fantastic and seems like exactly what you're looking for. It's less about the mechanics of writing than jumpstarting creativity, and thinking of really wild things that will resonate with imaginative readers.
Or, another step removed, flip through books on myth or architecture or geography and find one with a lot of really wild photos that make you think of ideas. That's what I've been doing lately.
He actually wrote about his perspective on religion in his book Ideas and Opinions. I haven't read it myself, but a friend told me he had some interesting insights on Judaism. Amazon also has a collection of his writings on Cosmic Religion and Other Opinions and Aphorisms. Seems like the information is there if people are interested in his religious views.
The best book I've read about fiction storytelling is The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner.
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Fiction-Notes-Craft-Writers/dp/0679734031/ref=pd_sim_14_4/181-9489318-3098806?ie=UTF8&dpID=512pUzVt5EL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL320_SR206%2C320_&refRID=00V0DM1NAD4BBQB3C05P
Gardner was a legendary, I think, writing teacher and author. The short story-writer Raymond Carver used to credit his old professor with his understanding of writing, the discipline and the whole approach to the task of being a writer. Anyway, it's great!
Schopenhaur is my favorite philosopher/writer. His writings are genius. I read http://www.amazon.com/Essays-Aphorisms-Penguin-Classics-Schopenhauer/dp/0140442278/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410879540&sr=1-1&keywords=schopenhauer after a suggestion here on TRP and I plan to read his main work, http://www.amazon.com/World-Will-Representation-Vol/dp/0486217612/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410879540&sr=1-3&keywords=schopenhauer when I find the time. My recommendations to everyone: read him, it is very, very pleasant literature.
For lay readers, "The Lady Tasting Tea" gives a nice non-technical overview of the development of the field of statistics.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Lady-Tasting-Tea-David-Salsburg/0805071342
Econometrics and statistics classes are probably the most useful. I think more economics students would benefit from how economists and social scientists actually work with data. Try to read as many academic papers as possible. Most will be too difficult for first-year students, but some, especially in applied fields like labour economics might be clear enough for you gain a high-level understanding of how the authors approached a particular problem.
Much of what we do is just very applied social science. "Mastering 'Metrics" provides a nice overview of some the techniques used by social-science researchers, and is a good complement to traditional econometrics/statistics textbooks.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Metrics-Path-Cause-Effect/dp/0691152845
I got this a while ago. I talks about worldbuilding, but also a load of other things.
The chapters are:
It's 360 pages and features loads of different perspectives and guest writers who give their opinion on topics and their way of handling them. There is also a lot of artwork. Almost every page has art on it to support the subject at hand. I think it's really good.
The Harlot By the Side of the Road: Really good read about sexuality, feminism, and power in the bible. Highly recommended and quite entertaining. The author translates stories like what happened with Lot's daughters into modern language, then gives as much historical context as possible. He then talks about similar themes in other biblical books and talks about current and old interpretations and sometimes translations.
Starship Troopers: Loved it! I'd heard it was different than the movie, and it really is. Most of the themes are the same, and you get a ton more context and history on the world/society. This is the first Heinlein book I've read that didn't require mindset adjustment time to deal with the way women are portrayed and treated.
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A bunch of random essays. Some I've liked, some I thought were dumb. I like the book of essays format, I don't feel as completionist with each one as I do with a normal book.
Conflict Communication (ConCom): A New Paradigm in Conscious Communication: I picked this up after the safety pin discussion came out. The discussions I had at the time made me realize that I have no deescalation skills, and I realized that I'd feel more secure in general if I learned some. I'm still on the theory of the book and am really enjoying how it's making me look at things differently.
Example: When you call someone a racist and ignore everything they have to say about anything, even unrelated stuff, are you then using the same mindset as a racist that does the same thing with a slur? Both are actions that other a person via name calling, and reduce that person's entire being down to a single trait.
He does talk about lizard and monkey brain, which maybe isn't super scientific, but I find the logic pretty easy to follow.
Sartre presented a lecture called "Existentialism and Humanism," which can now be found in print as Existentialism is a Humanism. It's almost like an Existentialism manefesto, per se. The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus is a good treatise on existentialism (Absurdism, really, but it'll do).
I would not hesitate to start reading fiction novels that have Existentialist themes. Camus' The Stranger, Sartre's Nausea, and Dostyevsky's Notes From the Underground are just a few that will find your studies well.
As for secondary literature, the only text I can knowledgeably recommend is Existentialism For Dummies, as I'm currently working my way through it. It's actually not as bad as you might think coming from the "For Dummies" series. It doesn't go too in-depth, and ideas are very concise and oftentimes humorous.
I have also heard good things about David Cogswell's Existentialism For Beginners, though I have never read it myself.
If your niece feels comfortable with this level of writing and philosophical examination, it is almost imperative to read Kierkegaard's Either/Or and Fear and Trembling, Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, and Sartre's Being and Nothingness, among others. It is good to have some background understanding of Kant and perhaps have a few essays by Schopenhauer under your belt leading up to the more rigorous academics like Heidegger and Hegel.
Good luck, and happy reading!
SHITE... TOTAL HIGHSCHOOL SHITE
way more useful
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Fiction-Notes-Craft-Writers/dp/0679734031/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314005849&sr=8-1
Hmm there's a few ways to go about writing and publishing, and the way you choose is up to you.
I was always told the same thing about my creations, but decided I wanted to take it further, same thing with art. I see natural talent like having a knife, one that separates you from most people. But it's a dull knife, maybe it can take you to a certain point, but it can only cut so much, therefore limiting your potential. You need to sharpen and hone it through learning and practice, or it will be blunt forever. It's not easy or fast, but possible, as long as you have a genuine interest and vision. Cheap metaphor, but that's the concept I'm talking about. Take advantage of it, and you'll go far.
So you can begin by doing it "instinctually", by writing the way you would when at school for a teacher or assignment, by picking up a pencil and just going for it, relying on subconscious experience and inborn talent.
On the other hand, you can go about it more "intellectually" and make it more of a learning process through external sources, the way I prefer. I find this way is more tedious but also stimulating, more interesting, and fun. For example, if you wanted to write a short fiction story, you could begin with the basics of writing in general, then once you've absorbed that information, narrow down your interest.
When it comes to learning new skills, theories, or subjects, my general process is determine why I want to learn it/decide its importance to me -> determine how I will best learn it, (for example, I generally learn things best with reading and visuals) -> find where I can acquire resources, such as through the Internet or library -> begin with the basics -> practice -> go deeper in the subject -> practice more and more -> repeat the last two steps again and again.
When it comes to putting your stuff out there, it can be a complicated and long process, (I can't give any personal experience with that, as I've never considered sending my stuff for publishing or anything), and there's a ton of resources out there for that, books and articles.
Also, learning from the "masters" is important too, of course. Identify what inspires you, who inspires you, and go from there. A book that has helped me with this: http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Like-Writer-Guide-People/dp/0060777052
If you're looking for a more direct method (that costs money), a less common approach to book-selling is getting a booth at a local convention, like Comic Con, where you can sell your book(s). It will likely sell better if you have eye-catching visuals to go with it and maybe even illustrations by a commissioned artist. Also check out your local book store (not Barnes and Noble, a privately owned one), or public library, and see if you can put up cheap copies of your book in there. Not all libraries and businesses do the same thing, so I can't say if yours has this. But all that generally won't come until later, of course. If you're starting, getting feedback from as many people as possible, whether thru an Internet platform or people you know, practicing, and learning are the first steps. In terms of careers, there's editing, writing for comic books, writing for magazines or websites. These jobs will likely take a solid portfolio and education in writing/editing, etc. to get, though, if they're not independent companies.
Since you said not for the mainstream - I'm in my last year of high school, and with my best friend have a monthly printed chapbook (a little independent magazine type thing) that we send around our friend groups, and over time it has spread to many people and all over school. It contains various short stories students (myself included) have submitted. It also contains art from various talented artists in the school. It really is a great way to get many people's work out there to an audience. If you're at a uni or college, you could begin one of those with friends with mutual interests. You could also approach people who may be interested in submitting their work. All of that printing, writing, decision-making, and compiling will likely take your time and some money, but it's worth the gradual acknowledgement from an audience you will get if the magazine/chapbook is truly good and interesting. For example, it could contain student's poetry, short stories, recipes, local concerts, recommendations, reviews of books and films, photography, etc. It could also have a monthly theme that fellow writers and artists could submit their content for. I began the magazine because I wanted to take action, and was not going to just sit around dreaming all day that maybe someone will want to publish me - I can do it myself. Dreams and desires are cool, but I hate it when they just lay there stagnant in my mind. I stepped out of my comfort zone with it - I wasn't used to and don't enjoy initiating contact like that with so many people (whether it was offering them a copy, or asking a writer if they'd like their writing published in it) but I got used to it, and it's been worth it. And getting involved in a writing community, whether online (like /r/writingprompts for example) or writing forums, or in real life by taking a creative writing class, helps too, I think.
When it finally comes time to try and get published, the most unanimous advice authors have given is don't give up. I'm sure you've heard how many times prevalent writers such as J.K. Rowling (12 times) and Dr. Seuss (27 times) were rejected by publishing houses, but they didn't stop.
Also, writing competitions. Look them up, there's plenty of them. Sorry this was so long. I don't know how to write short responses for some topics, it's embarrassing.
Great points here. Chuck Klosterman's early work (Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, for example) may contain some good examples for you, OP. Particularly as I could see him writing a headline similar to yours, so you may dig his style even more.
I'm a much bigger fan of the Everyman collection of his essays. Nearly 1500 pages of sweet Orwellian goodness in lovely hardcover.
I would go with Essays and Aphorisms (Penguin Classics) first. It's a decent dose of different topics. You don't need to know a bunch of technical metaphysics to understand it. You could probably find it online for free if you know where to look.
Contents:
ESSAYS
On the Suffering of the World
On the Vanity of Existence
On the Antithesis of Thing in Itself and Appearance
On Affirmation and Denial of the Will to Live
On the Indestructibility of our Essential Being by Death
On Suicide
On Women
On Thinking for Yourself
On Religion: a Dialogue
APHORISMS
On Philosophy and the Intellect
On Ethics
On Law and Politics
On Aesthetics
On Psychology
On Religion
On Books and Writing
On Various Subjects
I highly suggest Einstein's collected Ideas and Opinions. This particular passage comes from his essay 'Good and Evil'.
It's not a book. This is an excerpt from a commencement speech by David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College. If you like this, you should definitely check out the full speech or check out one of his three collection of essays. He's also got a number of short story collections, including a particularly famous work Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. He's probably most famous for Infinite Jest, a novel well over a thousand pages in length.
Here's a list of some of my favorite books on writing:
I feel your pain, I have a paperback of Arguably so this won't work :(
Wonder book
Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on Creativity is probably my favorite.
Hard Times by Studs Terkel. It's an oral history of the Great Depression by the editor/interviewer of my favorite non-fiction book, Working.
A nice carpal tunnel glove? =D
I'm only sort of kidding.
What does she like to write on? People always seem to default to pens and notebooks, but really, a quality bluetooth keyboard might be even better. If she has a tablet, she can take it to B&N and write on it without having to deal with that awful screen-tapping.
A novel in her preferred genre that she hasn't read yet: also nice.
Or even a book about writing, or worldbuilding. I found this one quite inspirational. But I don't know what sort of thing she likes to write.
John Gardner's The Art of Fiction gets technical in ways that hurt my brain. He doesn't get into the motivation-reaction units, but if you're into right-branching sentences and all that, there's plenty in there. Personally, I write by ear, so parts of that book were like algebra to me.
Tämä pikku kirja kertoo hauskoja tarinoita tilastotieteilijöiden elämästä
https://www.amazon.com/Lady-Tasting-Tea-Statistics-Revolutionized/dp/0805071342
The Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide To Creating Imaginative Fiction had some great tips, and keeps you engaged in reading it. There were a lot of things pointed out to me that I've never noticed before and it helped me find what I think is my current level of writing. Worth the read.
http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Drugs-Cocoa-Puffs-Manifesto/dp/0743236017
source of this question
Books: I like Dr. Tatiana's Sex advice to all Creation, The lady Tasting Tea http://www.amazon.com/Lady-Tasting-Tea-Statistics-Revolutionized/dp/0805071342, Cod, and Big Questions in Ecology and Evolution.
It will be critical to be familiar with the marine environment & critters but really matters is if you have a solid training in Ecology, evolution, biology, and biostatistics.
The other comment by u/notmadeinamerica, is very good advice. Regardless of what books you read, what will make the most (more than good grades in some respects) is what research experiences you obtain and if they lead to publications.
The earlier you can get in and do research or volunteer, the better.
This is important because Marine biology (and many life sciences) is flooded with people wanting to do it, but few opportunities. So make sure you start planning early to ensure you get the skills you need to be at or near the top. Back up plans are also a good idea (ex. GIS training opens many doors, Fisheries work, data analysis/coding, Wetland training, etc). It can be done, but don't this expect someone to hand you a job...Good luck!
The two that always get mentioned are 'Writing Fiction: A guide to Narrative Craft' http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Fiction-Guide-Narrative-Craft/dp/B003IG7P1K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1313794096&sr=8-2 and 'Reading Like a Writer' http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Like-Writer-Guide-People/dp/0060777052/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313794216&sr=1-1 .
I didn't get too far into it, but I really liked what little I read of Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing. Yes, the title is cheesy, but his advice is anything but.
He doesn't just give straight "writing tips"; he invests within his readers the inspiration and passion necessary to pen stories which pop with artistic vitality. It is very evident that he enjoys and indulges in a craft which he has, in my opinion, mastered. You can tell that he loved writing this book. I highly recommend it.
Here ya go buddeh
https://www.amazon.com/Essays-Aphorisms-Penguin-Classics-Schopenhauer/dp/0140442278
https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Nietzsche-Library/dp/0140150625
Translations to english: anything by Walter Kaufmann, and/or R. J. Hollingdale. Those two cats are your best bets as far as I know (with a strong preference towards Kaufmann).
As for read order: I would imagine that Beyond Good and Evil will get you the most mileage. It is an attempt at expressing the philosophy drawn out in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, but without the parable-type format that nowadays is a bit obnoxious.
Next, I would suggest reading The Gay Science, and possibly snatching up a copy of The Portable Nietzsche.
I am not of the opinion that going over Nietzsche's works in chronological order before you're into the way he operates really is the most user-friendly way of exploring his ideas--if you hold yourself strictly to something like that, you may get turned off early and never get to the some of the best stuff... but don't take my word for it!
/u/setofelements beating me to it twice! Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France would be a must read from a historical standpoint and for something different I would add Kirk's The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot.
Fun, thanks for hosting the scavenger hunt!
Edit: Finished! I love scavenger hunts; it always reminds me what a weirdo I am.
I would recommend you start by reading these rather than "The world as will and representation".
https://www.amazon.com/Essays-Aphorisms-Penguin-Classics-Schopenhauer/dp/0140442278/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501014218&sr=8-1&keywords=schopenhauer+essays
https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Life-Counsels-Maxims/dp/1541028953/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1501014265&sr=8-2&keywords=schopenhauer+wisdom+of+life
Hi Remett, glad you're interested in writing! I'll work on answering your questions as best as I can. Before I get started, just know that there is by no means a set answer for any of the questions you ask. The beauty of writing is everybody figures out their own way to tell their story! Here's what I've learned since studying writing in school and dabbling in long form fiction since graduating in 2014.
A book I'd also recommend you checking out: "Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them". This book was great for teaching me what to look for in other people's writing when I read books.
Let me know if you have any questions. Happy writing!
The myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus
in pdf or at amazon
I read this book after high school in a very strange part of my life. Pay particular attention to the absurd man. One part had a huge impact on me and how I view the world.
At this point of his effort man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world. This must not be forgotten. This must be clung to because the whole consequence of a life can depend on it. The irrational, the human nostalgia, and the absurd that is born of their encounter — these are the three characters in the drama that must necessarily end with all the logic of which an existence is capable.
For an introduction to Political Philosophy, I found Introduction to Political Philosophy by Jonathan Wolff a nice read. It references some primary sources like Hobbes and Locke to introduce the basic problems of Political Philosophy.
If at some point you get into reading primary sources, check out Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke. Edmund Burke is the father of Conservatism and an important figure in political philosophy.
Feedback is so important, so I love to hear it. But of course I reserve the right to respectfully ignore it at times :)
I have not read Shape of Stories but I did read Wonderbook (https://www.amazon.com/Wonderbook-Illustrated-Creating-Imaginative-Fiction/dp/1419704427) which I found to be very helpful as I was starting out.
I'm a plotter so I have definite thoughts at the outset what the beginning and end of each story is. Then I come up with the characters and what I want their arcs to be like. And then I plot out the major way points from beginning to end. And if the events don't move the plot forward then they don't make the book. But I also like to think about what has happened to the characters off the page. So, that's how I came up with the idea of having these collections of short stories so I could tell different kinds of stories, explore existing and new characters, create more threads for the reader to pick up on, without encumbering the plot too much.
You mentioned that Kingshold could have done with a longer page count, but 500 page books already put some people off, and when you're a new unknown author you want to limit the reasons for why someone won't read your book. So instead I'm releasing a 300 page collection of short stories :). It will be interesting to see if this works or is publishing suicide. And that comes back to reader feedback too; if folks don't want to buy Tales of Kingshold then I'll rethink this approach.
It probably isn't truly mine, but something I've cobbled together from greater minds than my own into something useful to me. I suggest you do the same. Rather than asking to be my disciple, you are welcome to simply take from my attempt at philosophy whatever you find useful.
Rather than adopting my philosophy as a package deal, you should also do your own reading and thinking, consider your own experiences, and reach your own conclusions. I would suggest, however, that you ask yourself a couple of basic questions:
If you decide to do some philosophica reading, I would suggest starting with Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus and Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra. I found both of these useful and influential as a young man.
The gist of Camus' and Nietzsche's works, respectively, are is that existence has no inherent meaning or purpose and that God is dead in the sense that we can no longer depend on God for moral guidance, meaning, or a sense of purpose. Humanity as a whole is on its own, and every one of us is on their own. If our lives are to have any meaning, it is up to each and every one of us to make our own lives meaningful. It is up to each and every one of us to decide for ourselves the purpose of our own lives.
When you get done with Camus and Nietzsche, check out The Ego and His Own by Max Stirner. He doesn't get much credit, but his rejection of all ideologies, ethics, morals, religions, and beliefs as "spooks" and his strident defense of egoism make him a forerunner of both nihilism and existentialist philosophy.
At the very least, reading Max Stirner will allow you to see through Ayn Rand's bullshit. :)
Finally, if you want to dig deeper and can handle academic English, you might find the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy useful. Good luck!
Best happy ending yet. I'm a huge proponent of the comparison of architecture, it's writing and theory, and graphic/web design. Christopher Alexander is fantastic. I recommend going back to his earlier work before the three you mentioned called "Notes on the Synthesis of Form."
A few other great architecture books to consider:
Learning from Las Vegas by Robert Venturi —
The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses by Juhani Pallasmaa
I didn't invent it. Over the past few years I've read a stack of books on craft about as tall as myself. It begins to get hard to remember who says what. If you had asked me where I should go to find out more about "psychic distance", I would have guessed Words Overflown By Stars. But I just picked my copy of The Art of Fiction by Gardner from the shelf, and you're right, he talks about psychic distance. Maybe he invented the term (I don't know).
A conservative/reactionary reading list:
Jean Bodin - Six Books of the Commonwealth (1576)
Robert Filmer - Patriarcha, or The Natural Power of Kings (1680)
Edmund Burke - Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)
Joseph de Maistre - Considerations on France (1797) and Essay on the Generative Principle of Political Constitutions and other Human Institutions (1809)
Thomas Carlyle - The French Revolution: A History (1837) and On Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History (1841)
Friedrich Nietzsche - Beyond Good and Evil (1886) and Genealogy of Morals (1887)
Oswald Spengler - Decline of the West (1918)
Ernst Jünger - Storm of Steel (1920)
Jose Ortega y Gassett - Revolt of the Masses (1929)
Julius Evola - Revolt Against the Modern World (1934) and Men Among the Ruins (1953)
Bertrand de Jouvenal - On Power: The Natural History of Its Growth (1949)
Leo Strauss - Natural Right and History (1953)
Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn - The Menace of the Herd (1943) and Liberty or Equality (1952)
There is an exceptionally good book about statistical practice and the history of statistics by the same name.
Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff Vandermeer is a fantastic read and cannot be recommended enough.
It really gets the creative juices flowing and the input Vandermeer has gotten from other authors (there are tens of essays/comments/workshops from authors including Neil Gaiman, GRRM, Joe Abercrombie, and Lev Grossman) is quite insightful. Also, it doesn't read like a textbook, as many other books in the instructive writing genre tend to do.
Haha its ok, i feel i say sorry too much day to day as well, habit i suppose. Well some good things to start you off might be "the portable nietzche" (http://www.amazon.com/The-Portable-Nietzsche-Library/dp/0140150625) or maybe, :"The basic writings of nietzche" (http://www.amazon.com/Writings-Nietzsche-Modern-Library-Classics/dp/0679783393)
these should keep you going for a bit :), sorry (sorry for saying sorry) about the delay, been a bit too busy to reddit. :) enjoy!
If you're wanting to learn more about feminism, I highly recommend reading bell hooks, especially Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. It's short and a super accessible view on various topics related to feminism. She's a very prolific writer, and she's written on lots of different topics related to teaching, race, and gender.
Audre Lorde is one of my favorite writers, and her book Sister Outsider is a collection of essays and speeches she's written about race, gender, sexuality, and so much more. She described herself as a "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," and I find her work to be powerful and beautiful.
Gloria Anzaldua is another of my favorite writers, and her The Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza is a collection of autobiographical essays and poems. She plays with language, and she wants to make people a bit uncomfortable and to question history. She edited an anthology of essays, poems, and other work by women of color called This Bridge Called My Back: Writings By Radical Women of Color.
I found this list that someone created, and I really like this list. It includes tons of films and books that I've watched or read. They included tv shows and music in the list as well.
Uma Narayan is one of my favorite feminist scholars. In her book, Dislocating Cultures: Identities, Traditions, and Third World Women, she challenges how Western feminists look at issues in other countries. This text is definitely more theory heavy than the others I've suggested.
Dean Spade is a legal scholar, and most people familiar with him are familiar with his work around trans* legal issues. He tries to make this essays accessible, and he tries to focus on finding real world solutions to real world problem. One of my favorite essays is "Mutilating Gender" which is about his experiences attempting to get counseling and chest reconstruction surgery and the patterns he saw socially that made that difficult to accomplish. This text is also a bit theory heavy.
I'm a Women's Studies graduate student, and I teach an intro level Women's Studies course. My research is about representations of Third World women (primarily Indian women), and I look at book, films, and other products of pop culture. For my thesis, I'm examining cultural hybridity in a film, Sita Sings the Blues, and a graphic novel, Sita's Ramayana. If you have a more specific idea of what you want to learn more about, and if you're willing to read some dense, theoretical stuff, I could give you more suggestions for texts or scholars to check out.
If you're familiar with Orwell at all, the Everyman's Library has a beautiful tome of his essays.
Pic stolen from Amazon reviews
https://imgur.com/cX82y4h
Essays (Everyman's Library Contemporary Classics Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375415033/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_dZPTAbVF24M6Y https://imgur.com/hpYh0aU
Seems likely.
It's as real a book as any of the other related/companion texts, like the cookbook, atlas, show production guide, art book, etc.
Your friend is not wrong, but he's only half right. He's also framing how one deals with the negative aspects of life poorly. One should do their best to minimize the bad in life, or at least its effects. And, when possible, turn allegedly negative things to one's advantage. One should also do their best to maximize the positive aspects. A lot of it has to do with your perspective and what you focus on.
Everyone has to support themselves somehow. If the only available work is something unpleasant or undesirable, focus on what it affords you and put effort toward getting into a line of work you appreciate more. You can't prevent yourself from ever getting sick, but you can do everything in your power to stay healthy. Healthy eating, an active lifestyle, and getting regular medical checkups all have their benefits. If someone assaults you and you are permanently injured, you're going to have to cope with that, yes. But I'm sure any school worth attending will make accommodations for a student who was assaulted presuming they were made aware of the circumstances.
So, yes, you will have to learn how to cope with the bad things. But you also need to learn how to maximize the positive. Work towards a career you enjoy. Build friendships. Chase your dreams. All that. People tend to write off encouragement and positive thinking, and focus on the negative. But life is what you focus on.
If you struggle with this, I have a few recommended reads for you.
I know this was an overly long response to your question, but I hope it helps. Learning how to cope well with life is one of the most important things a person can learn. I wish you, and your friend, well.
I think you're embracing the fallacy that pop culture is bad.
May I suggest reading Everything Bad is Good For You by Steven Johnson or Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman for an alternative perspective?
Just because popular culture includes stuff like The Jersey Shore and P. Reign doesn't mean that it is without value. The value in it may be different than the value some people THINK is in it, but value there is.
People like Johnson make the argument that the increasing social complexity of our popular culture actually makes us smarter. To answer against the usual critique that literary theorists don't engage "actual science," he takes a neurological approach to the argument using elements of an indisputably "hard science" to support his argument.
Klosterman takes an admittedly more theoretical route, engaging semiotics and post-modern theory to make a similar argument -- that popular culture has value, and the recent backlash against what many consider "valueless" pop culture is actually rather short sighted.
Anyhow, I agree with both of them (and many others) that pop culture intelligence is now a social currency with inherent value. Whether or not pop culture consists largely of morons like the Kardashians is actually beside the point. It doesn't matter what the pop culture is, it still contains millions shared references for humanity.
If you are going to tackle Terkel (and i recommend you do) I cannot give high enough praise for "Hard Times" which is an oral history of the Great Depression. It is simply mindblowing.
Oops, sorry about that!
Despite being rather comprehensive, 1001 List is problematic, and I suspect you might not find it as useful as the Time 100. Its selection seems to be based on what would make you a literary conversationalist at a cocktail party; the selection is heavily skewed to recently published works and a lot of the non-English books seem to be sort of token selections.
In addition it has inexplicable Coetzee obsession which I found maddening because I'm not his biggest fan.
Another literary list I'd recommend is the one compiled by Harold Bloom. http://www.amazon.com/Western-Canon-Books-School-Ages/dp/1573225142
Good advice by all.
Two essential books - in my opinion:
The Art of Fiction, by John Gardner. Most libraries/library consortia should have a copy. Even if you don't read the whole book, jump to the chapter near the end titled "Exercises". Pure gold. It's about building your chops and doing your scales. When you're ready, you'll have more tools in your toolkit. OK, enough of my crappy metaphors...
For pure inspiration/support, I haven't seen anyone beat Brenda Ueland's If You Want To Write. I used to think Writing Down the Bones was the best, but so far Ueland's book - although older-fashioned - seems to stand the test of time better.
I just discovered Joy Writing by Kenn Amdahl. I love everything he writes - such as There Are No Electrons, Algebra Unplugged, and Calculus for Cats - so I figure he has some good info on writing. This might become a classic.
The Portable Nietzsche
Contains '...complete and unabridged texts of Nietzsche's four major works: "Twilight of the Idols", "The Antichrist", "Nietzsche Contra Wagner" and "Thus Spoke Zarathustra". In addition, Kaufmann brings together selections from his other books, notes, and letters, to give a full picture of Nietzsche's development, versatility, and inexhaustibility.'
The structure of the list comes from Harold Bloom's book The Western Canon, in which he separates the history of literature into four ages: theological, aristocratic, democratic, and chaotic.
This website helpfully explains Bloom's inspiration:
> Vico was an eighteenth-century scholar who argued that the history of the nations of Europe follows a three-fold pattern of development from barbarism, to heroism, to reason. This hopeful dynamic is tempered in Vico by the notion that it is an ever-recurring pattern whick breaks down into chaos and starts all over again. Bloom, a contemporary literary critic, uses Vico’s idea to divide the history of Western Literature into three phases in his landmark survey The Western Canon.
Something you want: The Wildwood Tarot
Something you need: A cat scratcher lounge thing, because my couch is looking pretty sad
Something to wear: Gloves for my poor frozen hands
Something to read: Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction, by Jeff VanderMeer
Something to watch: Season 1 of Hana Yori Dango
Something to listen to: Sonic Highways by the Foo Fighters
I can't decide between two of the items, so here's two riddle haiku (riddle-ku?).
First: Fingers hide in sleeves / But the cold makes them clumsy / Wrap them up in wool
Second: Evoking nature / Divining secret meanings / Tell me my fortune
Read some Camus.
Same Sisyphus. https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Sisyphus-Other-Essays/dp/0679733736
Are you a fucking idiot?
The Daily Show (The Book): An Oral History as Told by Jon Stewart, the Correspondents, Staff and Guests https://www.amazon.com/dp/1455565369/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_yNIIAbMD7CKCF
Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression https://www.amazon.com/dp/1565846567/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_nOIIAb8EVQSB7
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F21WW6W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_9OIIAbCN96QAJ
If you want to just know buzzwords to throw around, spend a bunch of time clicking around on Wikipedia, and watch stuff like Crash Course on YouTube. It's easy to absorb, and you'll learn stuff, even if it's biased, but at least you'll be learning.
If you want to become SMARTER, one of my biggest pieces of advice is to either carry a notebook with you, or find a good note taking app you like on your phone. When someone makes a statement you don't understand, write it down and parse it up.
So for instance, write down "Social Democracy", and write down "The New Deal", and go look them up on simple.wikipedia.com (Put's all of it in simplest language possible), it's a great starting point for learning about any topic, and provides you a jumping board to look more deeply into it.
If you are really curious about starting an education, and you absolutely aren't a reader, some good books to start on are probably:
"Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words" by Randall Munroe
"A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
"Philosophy 101" by Paul Kleinman, in fact the ____ 101 books are all pretty good "starter" books for people that want an overview of a topic they are unfamiliar with.
"The World's Religions" by Huston Smith
"An Incomplete Education" by Judy Jones and Will Wilson
Those are all good jumping off points, but great books that I think everyone should read... "A History of Western Philosophy" by Bertrand Russell, "Western Canon" by Harold Bloom, "Education For Freedom" by Robert Hutchins, The Norton Anthology of English Literature; The Major Authors, The Bible.
Read anything you find critically, don't just swallow what someone else says, read into it and find out what their sources were, otherwise you'll find yourself quoting from Howard Zinn verbatim and thinking you're clever and original when you're just an asshole.
You might be interested in https://www.amazon.com/Praise-Shadows-Junichiro-Tanizaki/dp/0918172020?ie=UTF8&ref_=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top
Beyond the obvious choices, Watts' The Book, Ram Dass' Be Here Now, Huxley's Doors of Perception, Leary’s The Psychedelic Experience, and of course Fear and Loathing (all of these should be on the list without question; they’re classics), here are a some others from a few different perspectives:
From a Secular Contemporary Perspective
Godel Escher Bach by Douglass Hofstadter -- This is a classic for anyone, but man is it food for psychedelic thought. It's a giant book, but even just reading the dialogues in between chapters is worth it.
The Mind’s Eye edited by Douglass Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett – This is an anthology with a bunch of great essays and short fictional works on the self.
From an Eastern Religious Perspective
The Tao is Silent by Raymond Smullyan -- This is a very fun and amusing exploration of Taoist thought from one of the best living logicians (he's 94 and still writing logic books!).
Religion and Nothingness by Keiji Nishitani – This one is a bit dense, but it is full of some of the most exciting philosophical and theological thought I’ve ever come across. Nishitani, an Eastern Buddhist brings together thought from Buddhist thinkers, Christian mystics, and the existentialists like Neitzsche and Heidegger to try to bridge some of the philosophical gaps between the east and the west.
The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way by Nagarjuna (and Garfield's translation/commentary is very good as well) -- This is the classic work from Nagarjuna, who lived around the turn of the millennium and is arguably the most important Buddhist thinker after the Buddha himself.
From a Western Religious Perspective
I and Thou by Martin Buber – Buber wouldn’t approve of this book being on this list, but it’s a profound book, and there’s not much quite like it. Buber is a mystical Jewish Philosopher who argues, in beautiful and poetic prose, that we get glimpses of the Divine from interpersonal moments with others which transcend what he calls “I-it” experience.
The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila – this is an old book (from the 1500s) and it is very steeped in Christian language, so it might not be everyone’s favorite, but it is perhaps the seminal work of medieval Christian mysticism.
From an Existentialist Perspective
Nausea by Jean Paul Sartre – Not for the light of heart, this existential novel talks about existential nausea a strange perception of the absurdity of existence.
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus – a classic essay that discusses the struggle one faces in a world inherently devoid of meaning.
----
I’ll add more if I think of anything else that needs to be thrown in there!
Welcome back!!!!
The used one, it won't link
No preference, except I like thinking about it because it's one of the reasons that we have statistics today. https://www.amazon.com/Lady-Tasting-Tea-Statistics-Revolutionized/dp/0805071342
That and the racist genius Sir Ronald Fisher.
I suggest you see a therapist and read The Myth of Sisyphus. Camus wrote about this exact problem. See what conclusions he came to.
https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Sisyphus-Other-Essays/dp/0679733736
A reading list...
The Myth of Sisyphus
Fight Club
The 7 habits of Highly Effective People
The games people play
Good luck to you! Finding a consistent voice is one of the hardest parts of writing, but there's nothing to be done except practice. This is a book I find myself recommending a lot, despite the fact that I don't edit much fiction. It's got a wealth of practical, everyday advice on how to make readable, engaging writing.
I haven't read it myself, but I suggest Beyond The Wall. It isn't a narrative or anything, just critical analysis of themes and characters within the ASOIAF universe. It's on my list of things to read. Though I guess if you come to this subreddit enough, you could get critical analysis for free!
Could your username have anything to do with the book Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman?
You should buy him this for his birthday or next appropriate gifting ritual.
Some good nonfiction: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.
Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Freakonomics by Steven Levitt
You can do it, but do it for yourself first; others will benefit from your strength indirectly.
Also, Albert Camus was French and so his work is available in French foremost, but has been widely translated around the planet so you can probably find translations for your native language. Perhaps starting with "The Myth of Sisyphus" might be a better choice since it's not a work of fiction that needs interpretation by the reader, but is instead a collection of essays which are much less allegorical, which can become muddled and lost in translations.
Just remember that a warrior's attitude towards life is a valiant one.
This noir anthology kept me entertained while I was bedbound with a broken leg.
Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace. Very fun to read, funny, insightful. He was pretty great.
This book is creeeepy but fascinating.
Also, try r/books. It's what they're about over there, after all.
Some of my favorites:
I just restarted it and am about 200 pages in right now. I started it a couple months ago and felt very bored with it, so I quit. Then I checked out "Consider the Lobster" from the library, and that really helped me get used to Wallace's overpopulated writing style. Then I read "Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself", which is a five-day-long interview of DFW conducted by David Lipsky for Rolling Stone about "Infinite Jest" (among other things). Now I feel like not reading this book would be doing his memory a disservice. Seems like DFW was a true pioneer, his talent never really appreciated until his time had long passed.
Design school is going to cost way more than 10 Grand, I guess you're going to have to start by teaching yourself. I recommend starting here for a modest investment of ten dollars.
Just finished reading The Facebook Effect, an account of the beginnings of Facebook, focusing on the startup's path to web fame and specifically noting the choices made that helped make the company successful. Overall, very interesting.
Just moved on to Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs based on a recommendation. Supposed to be very funny, so I'm interested to get into it.
Okay, so I'm not home so these are the few off the top of my head that I can remember I've read and loved.
I hope one of these can help out!
The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton
In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki
The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard
Hmm...
http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Drugs-Cocoa-Puffs-Manifesto/dp/0743236017
Is that what you're looking for? It's all pop-culture related. I'd go to a local bookstore and browse the sociology or pop-culture shelves.
I've read about half of it and unfortunately missed out on the pop-culture bandwagon of the 90's, so most of it doesn't have much appeal to me.
You may not want to read an entire book to answer this question, but on the off-chance that you do, I'd recommend Francine Prose's "Reading Like a Writer." Sometimes it's easy to get so caught up in the magic of the story--savoring the beauty of a sentence, flipping frantically to find out what happens next--that you forget to look for where the rabbit is hidden! But this book helps you figure out what to look for, if that makes sense.
/thread^^
But it really depends on how you value your time and what you chose your higher values to be. If you look at it in a non-anthroprocentric way everything is really pointless/absurd.
Here. Good read.
Everybody should read as much as possible of his Essays. That's where his real insights lie. You will find the volumes (there are several) in your local library. For the best collection in one volume see this.
Using this translation https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Sisyphus-Other-Essays/dp/0679733736/ref=pd_sbs_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0679733736&pd_rd_r=PV1V58TVTT6EWTX5K8CA&pd_rd_w=gjqRH&pd_rd_wg=x4I1x&psc=1&refRID=PV1V58TVTT6EWTX5K8CA
Is it the best?
While I don't share your enthusiasm for The Singularity, perhaps you'd like:
Extra-Terrestrial Liberty an Enquiry Into the Nature and Causes of Tyrannical Government Beyond the Earth by Charles S. Cockell
or maybe
Arguably Essays by Hitchens
He's a culture writer/critic, gained popularity in the early 2000's with this book, which if memory serves is where I first saw him make the comparison.
He and I don't always see eye to eye about American pop-culture at large, but I absolutely love the chapters in the book where he breaks down sports--as I believe he got his start as a local sports writer before getting picked up at ESPN Magazine, and then going on to other national publications (and I'm an aspiring sports writer so....heh)
+ladybro:
> Thoughts & Ideas By Albert Einstein
I believe you mean "Ideas and Opinions" by Einstein :)
Link for anybody interested!
Try The Portable Nietzsche, it's basically an overview of what he wrote, with four unabridged works, and excerpts from the rest.
You can also find The Antichrist online for free, it's one of his polemics against Christianity.
Last year I picked up a meaty collection of – I'm pretty sure – all of his essays.
https://www.amazon.ca/Essays-George-Orwell/dp/0375415033/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1492432792&sr=8-4&keywords=george+orwell+essays
After giving this a lot of thought over the years I've come to the conclusion that the key to what we call "confidence" is really satisfaction. Now, what I mean by satisfaction is a complete acceptance and embrace of all the things that are outside of your control, this is a very hard thing to do because it means that you MUST abandon ALL hope that you can ever change these.
Epictetus said it best:
>Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.
You can ONLY find "confidence" through complete acceptance of these things! you MUST abandon ALL hope, hope that you will grow taller, hope that other people will like you, hope that you will have good fortune. Relinquish this hope from your mind, recognize that you are powerless and thus there is no point in "hoping" or grieving about these thing. Put your mind and efforts into the things you can fully control and be the best you can be, embrace the discipline to be true to yourself! you owe it to yourself, consider this your purpose in life, to be in absolute control of all the things you can control.
Once you realize this you will find satisfaction because you are no longer bound by the things you have no control over!.
I absolutely hate the common fake it till you make it advice! I say do not fake anything, be true to yourself, because only you can and you owe it to yourself, it is your purpose.
Do not waste effort and time being envious of the fortune of others, they may have been blessed by the gods, the universe, whatever, It doesn't matter you have no control over it!. Do not waste effort and time being angry at your misfortune, recognize that the world is not "fair" or "unfair", that the world has no concept of "owing" someone anything, but that the world is absurd and that you must not give up the struggle! you MUST face it because its the only way to live life to the fullest.
Camus says that we must accept that life is devoid of meaning and purpose, but I challenge that assertion. Our purpose is to recognize that which we can control and be masters of everything in our domain, by striving for greatness in these things we will find satisfaction, and no one or anything will ever be able to take that away from you.
Keep in mind that all of this is definitely more easily said that done. This is an incredibly hard thing to do, it will take a lot from you, believe me I am still going through it. There will be relapses and moments of weakness but you must embrace this and keep going.
As a side note I recommend everyone here to read up on stoicism and taoism.
Start here:
http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-Stoic/dp/0195374614 (I cannot recommend this book enough!)
and here:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Tao-Pooh-Benjamin-Hoff/dp/0140067477
Then move on to the classics: Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus and Lao Zhu.
And finally, whenever you feel like giving up read this: http://www.amazon.com/The-Myth-Sisyphus-Other-Essays/dp/0679733736
Got any book recommendations? Post them here.
here's mine - Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens.
Despite being a gasp liberal, he was also somewhat of a conservative, and able to see through a lot of the garbage on the left and right.
Hell of an essay writer.
Yeah so supposedly GRRM was working on a companion book with the guy that runs westeros.org.
But apparently it ended up being an anthology of sorts with essays about ASOIAF from various writers. The reviews don't look that good.
http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Wall-Exploring-Martins-Thrones/dp/1936661748/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1345217859&sr=8-17&keywords=a+song+of+ice+and+fire
There's also a map book coming out this Fall.
But really, most things about the series including a lot of the background info can be found in the wikis.
Aha, yes, "The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages" does indeed sound opposed to political readings, to say the least, and he's been criticized for being hopelessly old fashioned, which is doubtless what I'm looking for; thanks!
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus.
First off, it's really awesome that you're starting at a young age!
For grammar and style, this is the go-to for me and most of the writers I know: https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-Fourth-William-Strunk/dp/020530902X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481432677&sr=8-1&keywords=elements+of+style
For prose and fiction writing in general, check this one out: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Fiction-Notes-Craft-Writers/dp/0679734031/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481432751&sr=8-1&keywords=the+art+of+fiction
I will say that there are moments in The Art of Fiction where the writer, John Gardner, has some very snobby opinions about types of fiction he doesn't like (genre fiction, mostly). But, ignoring those moments, it's a great resource.
Honestly, the hardest part of him is where to start. Ask five people and you'll get six answers.
But as a general recommendation, stick primarily to Walter Kaufmann's books, and you can't go wrong. He was one of the leading scholars on the school of his thought, and I find his translations of Nietzsche to capture the dramatic emphasis of his prose the best.
For a brief introduction I'd start with his Biography by Kaufmann, this is useful for understanding the time in which he lived, the philosophical climate, and debunking myths about him, followed by Basic Writings, and then The Portable Nietzsche which contains his more complex works, Twilight and Zarathustra. Each of these contain complete texts, as well as discussion and expositions to give them more context, and are extremely helpful in understanding the work.
Also, If you're a materialist already, an Atheist or an agnostic, start with The Antichrist and you'll fall in love with him in the first pages. Its a summary of his view on Christian morality, and it doesn't hold back at all, a quick read at about a hundred or so pages. If you want an appetizer, peruse The Will To Power, his book of aphorisms, to whet your palate (this is also where most of the romance quotes live). These were my introductions, and I never looked back.
Ohhhh, I now see you wanted a workbook about filmmaking, sorry!
I don't know, but if you don't find any then you should make one! Something like Wonderbook for film :)
I was interested in the following with regards to my Nietzche reading.
http://www.amazon.com/Writings-Nietzsche-Modern-Library-Classics/dp/0679783393/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_2
http://www.amazon.com/The-Portable-Nietzsche-Library/dp/0140150625/ref=pd_sim_b_1
As for the religious stuff, I'm actually agnostic, it's just that religion and theology have always sort of fascinated me. I plan on reading St. Augustine's Confessions and City of God.
The Stoics would say pick a few books and master those first, before jumping into a whole bunch of different topics.
So start with the Enchiridion and Discourses and really sink your teeth into it. There's enough in there to last a long time. Read a discourse, think about it, write a summary, pick it apart with examples from your own life, and so on.
Seneca's letters would also be a good read for you at this age:
https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Stoic-Epistulae-Lucilium-Classics-ebook/dp/B002RI99KK/
The ancient world faced the question of meaning and purpose as much as us. In Marcus Aurelius' writings, I found the perseverance, nobility, and applicable philosophy that I craved after leaving the comfort of Mormonism.
For those who have suicidal thoughts, my primary advice would be to seek out a professional who can assist in working through this very serious time. You can work through it, and you owe it to your future self to persevere.
But as a supplement and a guiding life philosophy, I think Stoicism is a tremendously powerful tool. Perhaps it's not the only tool, but it certainly is one which can form a sturdy basis for weathering the existential stress and anxiety that is common to us all. We must deal with meaninglessness where we once had it clearly spelled out for us. Working through the transitory period of nihilism to something more stable and healthy is possible even within a non-theistic framework. Nature does not require our misery, so why should we be miserable in our existence?
I loved the maxims that are to be found in "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius and the other Stoic philosophers. Stoicism is a close kin to modern Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is used by therapists today, and the richness of the philosophical tradition lends a kind of poetic frame for a full life without self delusion. The stoic concepts are simple, seemingly obvious and easy to become familiar with, but the challenge is in applying them to your life.
If you're truly destitute of meaning and hope, try Stoicism. It helped Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale through his time as a POW in Hanoi, Vietnam for 7 1/2 years - where he was tortured 15 times, placed in solitary confinement for over 4 years, and in leg irons for 2 years. If anyone had a reason for hopelessness, it was him. He later wrote about his experience in "The Stoic Warrior's Triad" and "Master of my Fate", along with "Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus' Doctrines in a Labratory of Human Behavior". Imagine facing a seemingly interminable future of misery, but even in this darkness finding something so powerful that you survived and even thrived. That's the power of Stoicism.
In addition to getting a real therapist to work with, and not as a substitute mind you, read "Man's Search for Meaning" and go through the following links, starting at the top and working your way down. By the time you're done, I think you'll have a ready tool to use as you continue on with life outside Mormonism.
The Obstacle is The Way, by Ryan Holiday (a good entry text - don’t skip the reading recommendations at the back)
Letters from a Stoic, by Seneca
Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius (Gregory Hays translation)
The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch (video)
“On the Shortness of Life" Four Hour Blog, Translated by John W. Basore, highlighted by Tim Ferriss
A long podcast conversation with Ryan and Tim Ferriss discussing Stoicism
Achieving Apatheia (slideshare), Ryan Holiday
A lecture series, Marcus Aurelius
The Stoic Life (website about stoicism)
Man in the Arena - Teddy Roosevelt
Harold Bloom wrote about this 20 years ago and it had brewing a long time before then
Well back in the day they had a much larger following which included blacks, yep the KKK was not always violent towards blacks.
Hard Times by Studs Terkel (1970, New York). The book is about the conditions in this country during the Great Depression. On page 239 we read:
"The Ku Klux was formed on behalf of people that wanted a decent living, both black and white. Half the coal camp was colored. It wasn't anti-colored. The black people had the same responsibilities as the white. Their lawn was just as green as the white man's. They got the same rate of pay. There was two colored who belonged to it. I remember those two coming around my father and asking questions about it. They joined. The pastor of our community church was a colored man. He was Ku Klux. It was the only protection the working man had. ....... One time a Negro slapped a white boy. They didn't give him any warning. They whipped him and ran him out of town. If a white man slapped a colored kid, they'd have dome the same thing. They didn't go in for beating up Negroes because they were Negroes. What they did was keep the community decent to live in. What they did object to was obscenity and drinking.".
"The Ku Klux Spirit", by J.A. Rogers, noted Negro historian of the 1920's. The Ku Klux Spirit was first published in 1923, by Messenger Publishing Co. It was republished in 1980, by Black Classic Press. On page 34 of his book we find the amazing passage: "A fact not generally known is that there were thousands of Negro Klansmen. These were used as spies on other Negroes and on Northern Whites."
https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Times-History-Great-Depression/dp/1565846567
Very interesting. In the 1920's, there were plenty of original Klansmen still living as well as many other people of both races who lived during the Reconstruction Era. J.A. Rogers would have been able to interview many. Why would a Black historian make such a thing up? And if he did make it up there would have been plenty of people who would have objected. His book would not have survived to this day. Yet, it did.
What about: Sex, Drugs & Coco Puffs: http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Drugs-Cocoa-Puffs-Manifesto/dp/0743236017/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269230180&sr=8-1
But in all truth, it is mostly about The Real World
I read Essays and Aphorisms last year and I think it is a readable introduction to a reasonably broad array of his thought. I only have working knowledge of Kant, Hume, etc. but I understood most of what he was trying to get across.
Be prepared, he is known as a cantankerous writer and there are some laughably prickly moments in his writing.
http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Drugs-Cocoa-Puffs-Manifesto/dp/0743236017/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=29OH72GY4MPT7&coliid=I1NMQG8DEDXSBF
;)
I recommend to you Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus
Consider the Lobster, by DFW, which I'd even say I prefer to his novels.
It's a great collection, but it doesn't include my two favorite non-fiction works by DFW: his post-9/11 reflections in Rolling Stone, and his vicious tale of a less-than-bourgeois cruise.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Myth-Sisyphus-Other-Essays/dp/0679733736
Would you recommend the modern library version of the book (this ) or the penguin one (here )
For Conservatism at its best, you'll want to check out The Conservative Mind by Russell Kirk. Another book you may want to check out is Reflections on the Revolution in France by Edmund Burke. Edmund Burke was the founder of modern conservatism, and Russell Kirk helped to revive conservatism in the United States.
Collected Writings of Thomas Paine, On the Geneology of Morals, Prejudices: The Complete Series, and Arguably
History
True History of the American Revolution – Sydney George Fisher
Life and Liberty in America – Charles Mackay
Land of the Dollar – George Steevens
Outre-Mer – Paul Bourget
Shall Cromwell Have a Statue? – Charles Francis Adams Jr.
Memoirs of Service Afloat – Adm. Raphael Semmes
The Roving Editor – James Redpath
Democracy and the Party System in the United States – Moisei Ostrogorskiy
A South-Side View of Slavery – Nehemiah Adams
The Origin of the Late War – Lunt
Reflection on the Revolution in France – Edmund Burke
Origins of English Individualism – Alan MacFarlane
The Shortest-Way With The Dissenters – Daniel Defoe
While you Slept – John T. Flynn
The Road Ahead; America’s Creeping Revolution – John T. Flynn
America’s Retreat from Victory – Joseph R. McCarthy
****
Fiction/Poetry
Complete Verse – Rudyard Kipling*
Harrison Bergeron – Kurt Vonnegut*
Camp of the Saints – Jean Raspail
Darkness at Noon – Arthur Koestler
****
Other Related Reading Lists
A reactionary library
The Neoreactionary Canon
Derbyshire’s list of Dark Enlightenment blogs
The Great Books of The Aristocracy
Library of the Dark Enlightenment
Great Books for Men’s reading list
Foseti’s “Books that influenced me”
Moldbug’s Slow History
The Patrician’s Library
I was about to buy it, but the customer reviews on amazon made me change my mind. People seem disappointed by a lack of good content. Hopefully this isn't true, let us know if you enjoy it!
The Myth of Sisyphus.
You went to the Queen's palace in England to do stand up comedy... and made one of the security guards laugh out loud... and then got him fired. But then you gave an amazing speech to the queen and she loved it so much that she made you a Dame and gave the guard his job back. And everyone lived happily ever after THE END!
This book is being sold used for a penny! =)
Alright, so this seems like a sort of a summary of the book? Will probably buy this then next
The Wikipedia description of The Myth of Sisyphus is what got me interested in Camus first. Then I read The Stranger, but haven't read anything else by him.
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/1936661748/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
It's a collection of essays that discuss several themes and ideas that emerge in ASOIAF. They are just brain food really. Not totally necessary but they are good if you want to take in several analyses of the work. For instance Romanticism in GoT, or PTSD in soldiers that have witnessed gruesome battles or feminism within Westeros, etc.
There's a Penguin Edition of Schopenhauer's Essay's and Aphorisms which is a great sample of his thought.
A bit more on the technical side, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason is a key text that has the epistemic cornerstone for the rest of his philosophy.
Happy readings! Schopenhauer is one of those rare philosophers with a knack for writing beautifully.
Chuck Klosterman writes a lot of pop culture related stuff. I recommend starting off with Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs and then follow it up with IV