Reading these books will help you become a well-rounded thinker able to discuss many diverse topics. They will also provide you a basis of knowledge so you can evaluate the torrent of daily information presented to you and form your own judgments and opinions.
The Road to Serfdom, F.A. Hayek
He wrote it in the 1940's and you'll be amazed how prescient Hayek was. He's a brilliant man who explains things so we all can understand them. He makes an ironclad case for how free markets will always outdo centrally planned ones. He also shows how economic planning inevitably leads to totalitarianism. If the progressives can't cajole and nudge you, they will eventually be forced to threaten and force you to go along with their plans. Get the Bruce Caldwell edition.
The Bible
Love, hate, lust,
greed, poetry, heroics, salvation. The Bible plays every note on the
scale of human existence. Full of timeless wisdom and practical
guidance. Oh, and it's the inerrant word of our Lord and creator.
Perennial Philosophy, Aldous Huxley
Brilliant resume of
the world's faiths
Penguin
History of Latin America, Edwin Williamson
Everything you need
to know about our neighbors to the south
Art of War, Sun-Tzu
Wisdom from the East
Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer
Written back in the
1300's, this book proves that the human condition is timeless
Story of Philosophy, Will Durant
An easy to
understand window into Western philosophy for us non-philosophers. Dr
Durant knows how to explain the complex
Ariel, Jose Enrique Rodo
A metaphor for US-Latin American
relations
5000 Year Leap, W. Cleon Skousen
Great guide on the
US Constitution, our founding fathers, and the timeless principles that
guided them
Book of
Virtues, William Bennett
A veritable Cliff's Notes of classic
literature
America,
The last best hope, William Bennett
Well-written, highly
readable history of the US, warts and all
The Constitution of the the United States of
America
The
Declaration of Independence
This is
not a book, Michael Picard
Another good philosophy book for
non-philosophers
Great
Heresies, Hillaire Belloc
From a Catholic Perspective, provides a
concise history of Christianity, why and how the great splits happened
Documents of the Christian Church,
Henry Bettenson
From an Anglican perspective, but really
non-denominational
Shadowlands
of C.S. Lewis, Peter Kreeft
An easy intro to C.S. Lewis for the
uninitiated. Good thought material
Character
is Destiny, John McCain
Real stories from real life that
highlight positive character traits. A book for kids and adults
Story of English, McCrum, Cran,
MacNeil
7 Habits of Highly Effective People,
Franklin Covey
Need to get your collective stuff
together? This is the book
Vanishing
Hitchhiker, Jan Brunvard
She wrote books on urban legends before
the internet existed!
The
Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkein
Lord of
the Rings Trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkein
Don't like the bible
and religion? I got news for you, good and evil still exist, and these
books do a superb job of exposing the battles between the two.
Jihad vs. McWorld, Benjamin Barber
Excellent book on
globalism and it's clash with local cultures
Clash of Civilizations, Samuel
Huntington
Coming
Anarchy, Robert Kaplan
Scary book from an educated man who's
been to the edge of civilization and beyond
Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a
Pagan Ethos, Robert Kaplan
Grapes
of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Yes, there was a time when people really
were poor and starving in the US, and Steinbeck writes about them with
skill and poignancy
Forgotten
Man, Amity Shlaes
New history of the Great Depression.
Debunks many of the myths we've come to accept as fact.
Churchill's History of the English Speaking
Peoples, Henry Steele Commager
A must read. Churchill was a brilliant
man and a gifted writer. He makes history interesting. Henry Commager,
his personal biographer, condensed down his work to one volume.
Player Piano, Kurt Vonnegut
Are you willing to
give up everything to make a stand for your principles? Could you rebel
against a system that has pampered you and given you a privileged place
within it?
Life on
the Mississippi, Mark Twain
If you've ever embarked on learning some
skill or occupation that seemed impossible, you will sympathize with
this funny, entertaining book
Man's
Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl
What is the meaning
of life? Do you control your own life? If there were one book I would
make mandatory for everyone to read, this is it. Conceived in a Nazi
concentration camp, it is ultimately about the human soul. An
Existentialist who believes in God!
Time
must have a stop, Aldous Huxley
If you can get over the very Victorian
setting and language, this is a thought provoking book. It's an
interesting story, but the existential brain-grabbers come hot and heavy
at the end. You'll find yourself putting the book down to think quite
often.
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Less famous but
more prescient than Orwell's 1984. Totalitarianism doesn't have to be
unpleasant.
Arabian
Nights, Vol 1 & 2, Jack Zipes
Folk tales can tell a
lot about a culture. You can learn a lot from these two books, and
keep yourself entertained in the process.
Econ 101 1/2, Elaine Schwartz
She breaks down the
dismal science so normal people can understand it
Children of the Universe, Hoimar Von
Ditfurth
We
are made of the same stuff as the stars. A highly readable, thought
proving book by a respected German scholar.
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee, Dee
Brown
Just
because the hippies rolled it up and beat Western Civilization over the
head with it is no reason not to read it. The other side of Manifest
Destiny.
1984, George Orwell
Totalitarianism.
Resist it.
Animal
Farm, George Orwell
Totalitarianism. Recognize it. Resist
it.
Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell
Orwell was a
communist, but the scales fell from his eyes when he went to fight the
Fascists in Spain. He remained a Socialist, but was through with Soviet
Communism. An object lesson in how larger movements use the true
believers as useful idiots.
The
Seekers, Daniel Boorstin
Camp of
the Saints, Jean Raspail
Branded a racist book, but it makes a
point about defending ones culture. What would happen if millions of
third-world poor overwhelmed Europe? Could European governments morally
stop the invasion? What would the outcome be?
For Whom the bell tolls, Ernest
Hemingway
Can
you imagine believing in a cause so deeply you would give your life for
it?
The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
Yes, the meat
packing plants really were that bad. This book gave a major push to the
US labor movement and to the establishment of federal work safety, food
safety, and labor laws.
Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon
I cheated. I read
the condensed version (only around 1200 pages). Learn who the Goths and
the Vandals were. Learn why Rome fell.
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor
Dostoevsky
Moralistic, humanistic story that plumbs
the depths of humanity. The Inquisitor, laceration, the ant heap, and
great quotes: "A beast can never be so cruel as a man, so artistically
cruel."
Morality and Moral Controversies, John
Arthur
More
of a textbook really. Explores many themes of moral philosophy.
Anything by Ernest
Hemingway, Mark Twain, Robert Kaplan, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell
Let me know when you update your list. I have got to read 1984...cannot believe I never have. My favorite on your list is "5000 Year Leap"! Bought my copy at CPAC in 2010 from Skousen's son!
ReplyDeleteGot any recommendations for American history?
Diva:
ReplyDeleteThe definitive work of US History is Bill Bennett's "America, The Last Best Hope," two volume set. He covers a lot of ground and does it in short, easily readable bites.
Excellent list, Silverfiddle!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to take some notes. ;-)
Have you read "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse?
No, I haven't. I take it you recommend it?
ReplyDeleteSiddhartha by Herman Hesse
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to the full text online, if you want to look at it.
http://www.online-literature.com/hesse/siddhartha/
And here's Wikipedia's Plot Summary
The story begins as Siddhartha, the son of a Brahmin, leaves his home to join the ascetics with his companion Govinda. The two set out in the search of enlightenment.
Siddhartha goes from asceticism, to a very worldly life as a trader with a lover, and back to asceticism as he attempts to achieve this goal.
The story takes place in ancient India around the time of Gotama Buddha (likely between the fourth and seventh centuries BCE[3]).
Experience is the aggregate of conscious events experienced by a human in life – it connotes participation, learning and knowledge.
Understanding is comprehension and internalization. In Hesse’s novel Siddhartha, experience is shown as the best way to approach understanding of reality and attain enlightenment – Hesse’s crafting of Siddhartha’s journey shows that understanding is attained not through scholastic, mind-dependent methods, nor through immersing oneself in the carnal pleasures of the world and the accompanying pain of samsara; however, it is the totality of these experiences that allow Siddhartha to attain understanding.
Thus, the individual events are meaningless when considered by themselves—Siddhartha’s stay with the samanas and his immersion in the worlds of love and business do not lead to nirvana, yet they cannot be considered distractions, for every action and event that is undertaken and happens to Siddhartha helps him to achieve understanding. The sum of these events is thus experience.
Goes at reasons and motivation for the human condition from a spiritual and philosophical standpoint. I suspect leftists want to think Siddhartha undercuts and obviates Christianity and Western Thought, but I believe it may shed light on our antecedents and bolster every positive aspect of our heritage.
Certainly worth a look.
~ FreeThinke
Vanishing Hitchhiker, huh! It's a great book, and not very well known. Cheers!
ReplyDelete