Pit Recommended Reading List

[Zangmonkey]

Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein - Fascism that works (Don't watch the movie)

Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein - satire of humans and our moral/proper/ethical/religious/education code.

The Metamorphis - Franza Kafka - (short story) the conceited activities of human beings. How we judge others based on outward appearances and how we imagine our betterment at the worsening of others.

[sk33]

Originally Posted by electric!sheep

Fixed. Ditto on this. It's less about government takeover than it is about the dictatorship of hedonism. Perversely, the inhabitants of this state are perfectly free, since anything they could possibly want will be granted. When you consider our growing knowledge of brain chemistry, and the tendency to medicalize all forms of mental discomfort, it seems that the world of Soma is not so far away at all. If happiness is the final standard of what is good, then nothing could be better.

"Amusing Ourselves to Death" is an additional book in this line of thought, but in my opinion more entertaining than . he takes 's main points and makes it more 'relevant'.. it's nice.

[Zangmonkey]

^^^ @ the smilie replacement.

[peniswart]

I also have MP3 versions of both "The Four Loves" and "The Screwtape Letters" if anyone feels too lazy to actually read them. They're both really good. C.S. Lewis reads "Loves" and sounds like a deeper Sean Connery. And John Cleese's reading of "Letters" is just genius. PM me if you're interested.

[arthur pendragon]

Originally Posted by Zangmonkey

I think this is an infinitely better example of futuristic dictatorship than 1984.

EDIT: And while we're at it
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip Dick - Questions what defines humanity, with comedy and a cool sci-fi story. Maybe more entertainment than philosophy.

Do Androids Dream is great... You probably enjoyed Asimov's the caves of steel eh?

[2slow]

Night by Elie Wiessel - a story written by a halocaust survivor. Not as exaggerated as the usual high school class teaching of the nazi camps.

[peniswart]

Originally Posted by Whatsisname

Night by Elie Wiessel - a story written by a halocaust survivor. Not as exaggerated as the usual high school class teaching of the nazi camps.

Yeah, I read that in 9th grade. Good book. I can still remember some of the images, like the cattle cars on the way there and the death march through the snow. It sticks with you like the best books should.

[xagent]

Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek
Basic Economics: A Citizens Guide to the Economy by Thomas Sowell
Virtues of Prosperity by Dinesh D'Souza
The Virtue of Selfishness and The Ayn Rand Reader by Ayn Rand
Power to Tax by James Buchanan
Free Trade Today by Jagdish Bhagwati
Mugged By the State - Randall Fitzgerald
The Bias Against Guns by John R. Lott, Jr.
The Poverty of Welfare by Michael Tanner


Hm, read those non-fiction books and you're pretty much set to becoming a radical right-wing capitalist like me

Those are all the on-fiction books I've read entirely, or parts of... I have a few others but they're mostly works of conservative media figures, nothing really intelligent/research

[Vendetta]

American Empire : The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy
by Andrew J. Bacevich

[ZenMonkey]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books

Why People Believe Weird Things, Micheal Shermer, Pseudoscience

[Zangmonkey]

Originally Posted by ZenMonkey

_

weird....

[holden7]

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

[deltabourne]

The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith, basic fucking economics for you communist ers

[ScretHate]

The Republic by Plato
Beyond Good and Evil by Nietzsche

[ScretHate]

Originally Posted by ieyeasu

Hmm...Great thread.

The Fountainhead---Ayn Rand
Atlas Shrugged--Ayn Rand
The New Testament--Various
The Old Testament--Various
The Communist Manifesto--Marx/Engels
Animal Farm--Orwell
1984--Orwell

My list of books you should read to know what others think. More later, for this list and another.

Why would you waste your time reading those Ayn Rand books? Just read the communist manifesto and invert it. Ayn Rand is for asocial, underdeveloped, teenagers.