Top 10 Books

[OswaldTheOsprey]

Starship Troopers was a great book. 

Passable film also, IMHO.

OswaldTheOsprey

It was totally different as a film.  The movie was a stereotype of the infantry soldier of the late 1980s- it was a comedy/action flick.   

I still got a kick out of it. You are quite right as to your description.

OswaldTheOsprey

[SDML]

I gave some thought about great books, but can;t settle on 10 without additional criteria. Fiction? Non-fiction? Classics? Modern?

I think works like "The Epic of Gilgamesh", the Old Testament, and Dante's "Divine Comedy" are important for their historical relevance & understanding of the progression of style. This would culminate with anything by Shakespeare.

A mid-era list including "Paradise Lost", one of the "Concerning(s)..." by Locke, and maybe even "Gulliver's Travels" would be capped off by Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason".

The modern age would begin with Thomas Paine (either "Rights of Man" or "Age of Reason") and include "The Declaration of Independence" & preamble to the US Constitution (yeah, I know - not actually books), "Moby Dick", anything by Mark Twain, maybe "Beyond Good & Evil" by Nietzsche...

The list gets tough as we plant firmly into the 20th century. Virginia Wolfe, Franz Kafka, James Joyce, DH Lawrence, Fitzgerald, & TS Elliot have all written excellent works, but I don't know that any of them would qualify on the short list. Maybe "1984" by Orwell? Definitely "Winnie the Pooh" and at least the first "Narnia" book by CS Lewis (who, to my mind, was MUCH better with words than his pal Tolkien, and his apologetics are interesting, too).

Late 20th century & 21st century books that might make the list include "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker (or just see the movie), "Guns, Germs, & Steel" by Jared Diamond, anything by David Suzuki, "Dragons of Eden" or "Demon Haunted World" (both Carl Sagan), "Godel, Escher, Bach" by Doug Hofstatder, Robert Pirsig's revolutionary "Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" (perhaps even "Lila"), "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou, some selected work that represents the "On the Road/Be Here Now" movements, "Neuromancer" or some other work by William Gibson, damn near anything by Issac Azimov....as we come into the 21st century, I'd have a hard time nailing much down as "must read", though Chuck Palahniuk is incredible (if you can stomach it!): "Fight Club", "Invisible Monsters", "Choke".

I'm sure I left out about 100 great authors and twice as many books.

[SDML]

See...I knew I'd leave out hundreds....

"Of Mice & Men" (Steinbeck)
"Dune" (Herbert)
"Flatland" (Abbott)
"Slaughterhouse 5" (Vonnegut)
"Blood Music" or "Forge of God" (Bear)
"A Brief History of Time" (Hawking)
any sampling of Tom Wolfe
any sampling of Author C Clarke
"Jurassic Park" (Crichton)
"The Prophet" (Gibran)

edit: "Alice in Wonderland" and "Power of Myth"...oh, hell - I can't even begin to hold it to a top 10 much less a top 20!

Maybe we also need a "best movies" thread.......

[spunkloaf]

Are they kidding? Was this from AOL or Mad Magazine? Harry Potter!? Does someone actually think that is literature?  They have a selection of fiction and one philosophical work.

I shall prepare my list this evening.

Harry Potter? Really?  

Harry Potter is among the only hopes we have that kids will continue to read under the pressure of TV and video games.  Don't dog on it!

[Vermouth]

Of the original list, I loved Gone With the Wind, Lord of the Rings, and Catcher in the Rye. To Kill a Mockingbird and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy were okay. I didn't read Harry Potter, The Stand, DaVinci Code or Angels & Demons. I tried reading Atlas Shrugged and hated it, but I loved The Fountainhead.

I enjoyed The Great Gatsby and The Hound of the Baskervilles. The Grapes of Wrath was okay. I didn't read the book, but I thought the movie version of The Maltese Falcon was excellent.

Mr D, I see three novels slipped in there with the history books. Crime and Punishment would also be on my top 10 list. I added Storm Of Steel to my "To Read" list after you mentioned it before. Heart of Darkness is on there as well.

Pittypat, I liked Anne of Green Gables when I was a kid too!

I liked the Divine Comedy. SDML, I agree with you about the works of Virginia Wolfe, Franz Kafka, James Joyce, DH Lawrence, Fitzgerald, & TS Elliot - great books but not quite top 10. Winnie the Pooh definitely. John Locke and Thomas Paine are on my "To Read" list. Guns, Germs, & Steel was fascinating. The Prophet is a beautiful book.

[Mr. Dirlewanger]

Of the original list, I loved Gone With the Wind, Lord of the Rings, and Catcher in the Rye. To Kill a Mockingbird and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy were okay. I didn't read Harry Potter, The Stand, DaVinci Code or Angels & Demons. I tried reading Atlas Shrugged and hated it, but I loved The Fountainhead.

I enjoyed The Great Gatsby and The Hound of the Baskervilles. The Grapes of Wrath was okay. I didn't read the book, but I thought the movie version of The Maltese Falcon was excellent.

Mr D, I see three novels slipped in there with the history books. Crime and Punishment would also be on my top 10 list. I added Storm Of Steel to my "To Read" list after you mentioned it before. Heart of Darkness is on there as well.

Pittypat, I liked Anne of Green Gables when I was a kid too!

I liked the Divine Comedy. SDML, I agree with you about the works of Virginia Wolfe, Franz Kafka, James Joyce, DH Lawrence, Fitzgerald, & TS Elliot - great books but not quite top 10. Winnie the Pooh definitely. John Locke and Thomas Paine are on my "To Read" list. Guns, Germs, & Steel was fascinating. The Prophet is a beautiful book.

  Everyone was listing all fiction so I felt like I had to use some too. I loved those three novels. Heart Of Darkness is very short, BTW.

I take issue (as many of his colleagues do) with the premise of Guns, Germs, & Steel .

[Vermouth]

I think my list would look something like this:

Walden - Henry David Thoreau, 1854
Sailing Alone Around the World - Joshua Slocum, 1900
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1866
For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway, 1940
The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco, 1980
Tao Te Ching - Lao-tzu, ~300BC
Tropic of Capricorn - Henry Miller, 1936
The Ends of the Earth - Robert D. Kaplan, 1997
The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint Exupéry, 1943
Strange Things Happen Here - Luisa Valenzuela, 1979

[SDML]

Winnie the Pooh definitely. John Locke and Thomas Paine are on my "To Read" list. Guns, Germs, & Steel was fascinating. The Prophet is a beautiful book.

How doesn't love Pooh Bear!!! My wife & I used a chunk of "Marriage" from "The Prophet" for the vows at our wedding. Gibran weaves words as few can.

I take issue (as many of his colleagues do) with the premise of Guns, Germs, & Steel.

Perhaps you'd care to expound?

With what premise would you replace Diamond's?

I think my list would look something like this...

I've yet to read "Walden" in it's entirety. Or "Tropic of Capricorn". They just jumped to the top of my list.

Is "Crime & Punishment" really worth the time investment?

[Vermouth]

Everyone was listing all fiction so I felt like I had to use some too. I loved those three novels. Heart Of Darkness is very short, BTW.

I take issue (as many of his colleagues do) with the premise of Guns, Germs, & Steel .

I thought Diamond's premise was plausible. It was certainly thought provoking. And better argued than his other book The Third Chimpanzee, which I thought was pretty useless.

[Mr. Dirlewanger]

Perhaps you'd care to expound?

With what premise would you replace Diamond's?

I would say that history is not the result of random accidents. Culture plays an enormous role as do our genes. Indeed, both are intertwined.

Is "Crime & Punishment" really worth the time investment?

Even if it were very long I would say yes but it's not a mammoth tome like Brothers Karamzov (sp?).

[Mr. Dirlewanger]

Everyone was listing all fiction so I felt like I had to use some too. I loved those three novels. Heart Of Darkness is very short, BTW.

I take issue (as many of his colleagues do) with the premise of Guns, Germs, & Steel .

I thought Diamond's premise was plausible. It was certainly thought provoking. And better argued than his other book The Third Chimpanzee, which I thought was pretty useless.

I'm not saying that it is entirely without merit. I will look up some specific criticism from his colleauges. There was a n article on Archaeology Magazine about it.

[SDML]

I thought it fascinating though incomplete.

In his defense, however, I will say that I don;t recall him saying anything about history being the result of nothing but random accidents. His premise had to do with the overwhelming issue of geography in relation to other issues.

[Mr. Dirlewanger]

I thought it fascinating though incomplete.

In his defense, however, I will say that I don;t recall him saying anything about history being the result of nothing but random accidents. His premise had to do with the overwhelming issue of geography in relation to other issues.

Right, but geography is an accident. That is certainly the way he means for you to take it. Let me look up that article. It may interest you./

[spunkloaf]

I have a hard time reading books, but lately it's been getting better.

Right now I'm doing some fictional reading.

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Numerology"

When I finish, I will want to know you guys' names and birth dates so I can tell you your life paths and maturity paths.

I like to bite into this kind of stuff once in awhile just to see if it has any merit.


Hey.  I still believe in aliens; should it be no surprise?

[Vermouth]

I've yet to read "Walden" in it's entirety. Or "Tropic of Capricorn". They just jumped to the top of my list.

Walden is my inspiration for a simple life ... someday.
 
I had never read a "stream of consciousness" style book before reading Henry Miller. It's pretty crazy stuff. Tropic of Cancer is more entertaining, but I like Tropic of Capricorn better. Capricorn is about the transition from his conventional, unsatisfying life to a life of living in the moment and writing about it, whereas Cancer is about his experiences after making that leap.

Is "Crime & Punishment" really worth the time investment?

Even if it were very long I would say yes but it's not a mammoth tome like Brothers Karamzov (sp?).

The way Dostoevsky exposes the psychology of his characters is unparalleled. I don't remember Crime and Punishment taking that long to read. The Brothers Karamazov was almost as good.