Pit Recommended Reading List

[Nano]

Sorry, was typing it up and updating the rest... enjoy..

[ieyeasu]

Another few:

Myth of Nations--PJ Geary
This one takes some explaining:
"Gearys work on the recent origins of ethnic nationalism sheds much-needed light on the subjects of ethnogenesis and national identity. His principal thesis is the difference between ethnic and constitutional peoples, between static and dynamic views of the social and political entities around us. He gives a quick overview of Enlightenment era scholarship on nationhood and national history to outline how ethnicities have become more defined, however artificially, from the 18th to 20th centuries. He then moves on to a rather detailed account of early Medieval Europe, the complex interactions between the barbarian tribes and the deteriorating Roman Empire, and finally the rise of the kingdoms of the Franks, Anglo-Saxons and other amorphously defined groups of people. He ends with a quick comparison between Zulu and European examples of ethnogenesis to hint at the universality of his argument, which is based primarily on West European history."
http://www.socialsciencesweb.com/The...691114811.html

War and Peace--Tolstoy

Any Tom Clancy for a good, trashy spy novel with unambigous "morality".

[NAV man]

Good fiction authors:
Dan Brown
Tom Clancy
John Grisham
Michael Crichton
Isaac Asimov

The Double Helix; James Watson; Account of Watsons discovery of the structure of DNA
The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy through a maze of Computer Espionage; Cliff Stoll
George Washington's Rules of Civility; Lewis Glaser

[walkingcarpet]

Originally Posted by walkingcarpet

I just wanted to second the
Guns, Germs, and Steel; Jared Diamond; Development of human societies and geographic factors that led the certain dominant civilizations.

Can you change that to "Discusses geological, ecological, and sociological factors that shaped the course of human history and led to dominant civilizations such as the Europeans."

I just read what I originally wrote and I don't know what I was thinking, it makes no sense.

[Hobbes]

Please don't kill me for posting twice in this thread, but I've just finished reading "The winds of War" by Herman Wouk. This book is awsome, one of the best, if not the best, that I've ever read

[Nuntius]

Hmmm, I don't normally keep a list of what's good, but here's some titles off of the top of my head

How to Lie With Statistics by Darrell Huff, Irving Geis
CEO of the Sofa (Hell, anything by P.J. O'Rourke)
The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times, and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers by Robert L. Heilbroner

Hmm, that's all I can think of. Might edit it later to include more titles.
Oh, and I have a copy of the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy BBC Radio mp3s, if anyone wants em.

[Wolley CAB]

Well, lets see:
All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque, A. W. Wheen (Translator), WW1
Great War series and American Empire series, Harry Turtledove, Alternate History (How WW1 and the aftermath would be like if the Confederate States Of America won the War of Secession (The Civil War for you Yanks)
Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History, Howard K. Bloom
Richest Man In Babylon, George S. Clason
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Ralph Parker (Translator), Life in a Soviet gulag
Black Like Me,John Howard Griffin
Undaunted Courage, Stephen Ambrose, Lewis and Clark expedition across the Louisiana Purchase

There are more books that I absolutly love but they gave already been posted, sorry if one of these is a re.post

[Aziraphale]

American Gods - Neil Gaiman (Description: Fiction, Theological and Ideologica tour through the American Heartland, as the main protagonists meets the gods of the old country and America. Excellent, excellent book ... like everybody by Neil Gaiman).

Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchet (Description: Fiction, A very comical take on the end of times. The angels of the apocalypse actually like living on earth, the anti-christ is a quite regular 11 year old boy who was switched at birth, and Hound of Hell is a small terrier-mut... All prophecized by authentic Witch, Agnes Nutter. It's excellently written... the humor of Pratchett, the dry wit of Gaiman).

[Hammett]

Jennifer Government by: Max Barry

[blinky]

Originally Posted by walkingcarpet

I just wanted to second the
Guns, Germs, and Steel; Jared Diamond; Development of human societies and geographic factors that led the certain dominant civilizations.

i third this im reading it right now and its fascinating.

my aditions:

D-Day by Stephen Ambrose
Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose
Collective Works by Carl Jung
Memories, Dreams, Refelections by Carl Jung
The Art of Deception by Kevin Mitnick
Dao De Jhing (sp?) by Lao Tzu

[Incubus2305]

Originally Posted by Pudgygiant

Everything by Robert Ludlum (not a title, literally everything), and Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

his son is my doctor.
and now on-topic.

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess - A pessimistic view of the future of society. Very similar to Brave New World.

[vect0rburn]

lord of the flies - william golding - a graphical depiction of human nature in a blank society

[asdsad]

Weapons and Hope, Freeman Dyson; describes and proposes compromise solutions to the full spectrum of politics and controversy surrounding strategic weapons development, but could also apply to any other large defense projects.

Skunk Works, Ben Rich & Leo Janos; history of the legendary Lockheed Martin division responsible for the U-2 and SR-71 spyplanes among other aircaft. useful for gaining at least some understanding of how a large, engineering-focused defense corporation actually works (learn before you crticize). fascinating thriller if you're really into aviation like me...

The Man Who Was Thursday, G.K. Chesterton

World Peace Through World Law, Grenville Clark

Industrial Society And Its Future, Theodore Kaczynski (more of his works)

[kbs]

Nonfiction

A Concise History of Mathematics by Dirk Jan Struik - the better of many math history books.

Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem by Simon Singh - one of the most entertaining books on number theory ever.

Fiction

Shogun by James Clavell - I have read this over and over so many times it's becoming ridiculous. All the other books in this series aren't bad, but Shogun is the one to get.

[peniswart]

Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Brothers Karamazov; what isn't in this book? An examination of God, religious faith, morality, human existence, and the meaning of life by one of the world's greatest authors, all wrapped up in the story of three brothers and the murder of their father. The chapter entitled "The Grand Inquisitor" alone is worth the cover price. There's quite a few translations out there...I'm reading the McDuff translation, and I hear the Pehear/Volokhonsky version is very good, too.