One world, One book.

DeVore

Here's an idea:

If you could make the whole world read a single book, which would it be?

It can be a fiction or non-fiction. In fact anything between two covers...

Personally I guess mine would be The Selfish Gene by Richard Dalkins. It deals with the reasons why things are the way they are and what motivates people to do the things they do...

If you take the time to really read and understand it, it will change your world-view.

Ok, anyone else got a book they think everyone should read?

Tom.

WhiteWashMan

1984
eamo is watching you

Wyverne

"The seven habits of highly effective people" by Stephen R. Covey

If everyone in the world read this book, success would increase, violence would decrease and the world would be overall a happier place


well excuuuuussee me!! for having delusions of grandour, saving the world from its pitiful self an all that.

Gamblor

ok one book ...
Easy ... Caves of Steel !!!!!
I won't go on about it ... it's great best read ever ... read it and become like me !!!

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***** Feel my Evil Neon Claws *****

Shiminay

It would have to be:
"Anne and Barry go to the Seaside"
That book was the first thing I eevr read 17 years ago!

Joking aside, I really wouldn't know what we all should read. An encyclopedia?

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All the best,

Dav
@B^)
http://homepage.eircom.net/~davitt

Manach

I'll ask for 2 books.The secular choices would be.
1/ "The Man who was Thursday" - Chesterton, a bit of whimsy.
2/ "Iliad" - Homer, a bit of tragedy.

Trojan

Hehe,

well I was gonna say 1984 but seeing as that's already up here I'll add another - Brave New World (Aldous Huxley). Similar lines, both very scary books.

I remember reading 1984 after some Stephen King (which never turned me on..) - I found Orwell to be a hell of a lot scarier than SKs so-called "horror".

Al.

El_Presidente

As I have said , time and again on this board 1984 simply is THE book.

Must read it again (10th time?)

Excelsior

nothing to do with thread

[This message has been edited by LoLth (edited 05-04-2000).]

Canaboid

nothing at all to do with the thread

[This message has been edited by LoLth (edited 05-04-2000).]

Excelsior

1st- de vore, this is a great topic.
yeah, i prefer Brave New World. it isn't as easy to digest though is probably more accurate. i think, but amn't sure.

my secular book would be after much consideration, microserfs by Doug Coupland, because the best books get eaten by readers, validity doesnt have to be a heavy intellectual project, (though those tough to read books have great rewards) and microserfs is the most entertaining bit of paper i have. it covers everything that modern life is, and tells us, a microsoft compatible world: hilfiger jeans, gap sweater, apple i-book, and a secular existence will not satisfy and in the end love is not as boring as two people gazing into each other's eyes but is when people stand side by side looking out at their potential in the future. i know this is vague, but his books are so good that they can't be quickly surmised.

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It is so lonely here in my indecipherable tower of speech impedimency

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Canaboid

One book is no good to anyone as it only gives one view. Everybody should read as much as they possibly can of whatever comes to hand. Doesn't even matter if its particularly good or not. All books have worth.

[This message has been edited by LoLth (edited 05-04-2000).]

pox

'how to make boats out of sand'
err...no wait, thats the 'stranded on
a desert island, which book' question.

I liked dawkins' selfish gene, and I
agree that reading it could strip
away a lot of the popular romantic
notions about purpose and origin, but
he pontificates a little too much for
my weak stomach, and talk about
self righteous..

Most of the books mentioned here I also think
are top drawer ****, Huxley's fiction was good,
but that heaven and hell/doors of perception
made me sleepy. Im a beat fan so my choice
is desolation angels by kerouac.

Excelsior

nothing to do with thread

[This message has been edited by LoLth (edited 05-04-2000).]

DeVore

Must admit I never noticed self-righteousness in Dawkins work, then again that probably says more about me then I'd like...

Huxley never grabbed me the way 1984 did(which is the book that made me politically aware and also fairly politically cynical.)

Canaboid, the interesting thing about this topic is that you ARE restricted to one book. There are at least a dozen books I would love everyone to have read and I agree, every *real* book has worth.
Noone has mentioned A Brief History of Time yet either, which (while fairly inaccessible to the layman) is none the less a book everyone should read if only to understand the breadth of their ignorance.

Tom.


[This message has been edited by DeVore (edited 05-04-2000).]

TwoShedsJackson

[This message has been edited by LoLth (edited 05-04-2000).]

Draco

But this is going waaay off topic - maybe a new thread for this is in order?

Draco

[This message has been edited by LoLth (edited 05-04-2000).]

LoLth

in the interests of peace, I'll just remove the off topic bits from this thread.

Sorry lads, I really don't like editing peoples stuff, but it is going waaaaaaay off topic. Perhaps you could start new thread for your argument? People who want to post about their opinion on which book the world should read might not necessarily care about your opinion of the bible, nazi party, koran or any of that. Your not being censored, just forcibly removed

LoLth

eeeeee

caught between Aesop's Fables

and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.....

The fables are quite good as a teaching tool for kiddies, behaviour and all that made fun but The Alchemist is a really simple book, a quick read, easy to understand and really gets you thinking....

my .02 euro..

ps: sorry again about the editing.

Excelsior

aesop is a genius choice lolth.
rudyard kipling's just so tales too.
its the perfect solution for me to have the stuff taken down. i be happy. thank you

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It is so lonely here in my indecipherable tower of speech impedimency

Blitzkrieger

the dictionary - so peoples vocabulary might expand beyond "all roight wha?"

Excelsior

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ButcherOfNog

the rules of the road

Trojan

Originally posted by DeVore:
Huxley never grabbed me the way 1984 did(which is the book that made me politically aware and also fairly politically cynical.)
[This message has been edited by DeVore (edited 05-04-2000).]

I never thought about how these books affected my political thinking (I was a lot younger when I read them first) but it's interesting to consider in hindsight.

I wonder has the reading of hundreds of sf & fantasy books given me a distorted viewpoint?

Any avid readers of sf/f progressed on to read either more "mainstream" or more "serious" books?

For the record, I did prefer 1984, but it was already posted (and we can't have any "me too" postings up here on the intellectuals board, now can we? ).

Al.

Canaboid

Trojan,
Reading Sf and fantasy may give a distorted viewpoint but imho this is a good thing. For "distorted" read "unconventional".
The genres encourage a more open minded way of viewing the real world - If you are prepared to accept elves and goblins (stereotype example) then you will be more amenable to accepting all sorts of other "distorted" thinking.

LoLth

I've started into more mainstream books. It can be quite hard going, you keep waiting for the gunfight or duel or something, but by and large I've gotten used to them.

I read Du Maias by a Portuguese author, heavy stuff. I was told that it was incredibly boring and hard to read, I actually enjoyed it!

It's good to get a break from fantasy/sci-fi every now and then, when you go ack everything is all shiney and new again.

I still can't get into autobiographies of contemporary people (read count Belisarius though and I, Claudius.. enjoyed them), or books about mundane things like circle of friends and non-fiction like Beal na Blath etc. I'm just not interested in them. doesn't mean they aren't good, but I never was much for current affairs.

Shinji

I agree completely with Lord of the Flies; the book is not only a cracking read, but it teaches a little about the nature of humanity, and gently pushes on the path towards much more tolerance of each other. It's something everyone should be made to read.

Ja,
Rob

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[EED]Shinji -=*=- shinji@electricdeath.com
Site Editor, http://www.utsystem.co.uk

Shiminay

Originally posted by Shinji:
It's something everyone should be made to read.

I remember being made read it for my Junior Cert (a hell of a long time ago). It'd like to erad it again, now that I have an interest in reading.

I tell ya man, it's all about conches in this world

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All the best,

Dav
@B^)
http://homepage.eircom.net/~davitt

ButcherOfNog

i love this bit of shinjis

...gently pushes on the path towards much more tolerance of each other. It's something everyone should be made to read...

its a bit like saying, thou shalt not kill, if you do, we'll fry you.

Paladin

Calvin & Hobbes

The world does need humour after all

DeVore

Ah paladin, what a great combo eh?

Everything that means anything in the world is in Calvin and Hobbes. Friendships, how scary the world can be sometimes, how if you look at things literally they can seem so weird...

As for mainstream literature, I love love love reading popular science. Reading Dawkins "The Selfish Gene" was an experience. The truth of what he was saying just hit me between the eyes and on a number of occasions I had to stop, close the book and just ponder the implications...
it took me over 6 damned weeks to read it as a result!!!

hmmmmmmmmmm all this talk of books makes me want to root out a load more and read them

Tom.