Great Books Thread!! post your best TEN

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I know my life has be shaped by books more than anything else: i read everything i can get my hands on .....here are ten just off the top of my head. . .

brave new world--huxley
1984 - - george orwell
the prophet - kalil gibran
ishmael - daniel quinn
celestine prophesy - james redfield
conversations with god- walsh
pikal- alexander shulgin
way of the peacful warrior- dan milman
pet cememtary or any of his books- steven king (scared me as a kid)
be here now- ram das


Can everyone please add their "picks"? we need a reading list here!!
 
These are not necessarily "great books," but they are ones I've read and enjoyed in my short life. A lot of them have sequels/are part of a series, so if I put one, I probably liked them all. Also some of them (hunger games, watership down, harry potter) are kind of meant for kids, but I still enjoy them.

Dune - Frank Herbert
Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
Watership Down - Richard Adams
Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Harry Potter - JK Rowling
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
Tom Clancy books
endless-sphere forum - especially the motor technology section, anything by bigmoose, lebowski, teh stork, madrhino, farfle, thud, liveforphysics
 
In no particular order:

Candide - reminds me of myself, stupid until the end
Huckleberry Finn - It's a different book every time I read it.
Catch 22 - Tells me I'm not paranoid, they are trying to get me
Moby Dick - It is too many books in one binding, but each is interesting
The Age of Voltaire by Will and Ariel Durant
Stranger in A Strange Land - because of grok and a sentence "An artist sees no greater diversity in nature than a lawyer sees in the truth."
Poems of Emily Dickinson- a sample

"But no man moved me till the tide
Went past my simple shoe,
And past my apron and my belt,
And past my bodice too.

And made as he would eat me up
As wholly as a dew
Upon a dandelion's sleeve --
And then I started too" Is it any wonder why Emily is not taught in high school lit class?

Rudyard Kipling's "Tommy"
Harry Bosch books by Michael Connolly
The Rubyiat of Omar khayyam
 
Depends on what you think is "Great." I read Heinlein's 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' and loved things like the story of the polisher of the ceremonial cannon who got tired of the politics at City Hall and cashed in his retirement to buy his own cannon and went into business for himself. So many business plans I hear from people are that myopic. I've noticed a lot of people don't understand that story or much of the book, which makes it a great experience for me. I'm not sure how many people would understand Junius Edwards' 'If We Must Die,' either, but I was in the 8th grade and it had an impact on me.

Summer before 5th grade I read 'Tom Sawyer' because they were running episodes of an old TV show about Tom, Huck and Becky. This is what started me on the way to being a reader. Before I finished grade school I'd read 'Huck Finn,' 'Tom Sawyer Abroad' and 'Tom Sawyer, Detective.' Eventually even the unpublished 'Tom Sawyer's Conspiracy' which probably would have been great if he'd actually finished it. Read the whole series again as an adult, it's still wonderful.

If you're into aviation you would enjoy Earnest Gann's 'Fate is the Hunter,' about aviation disasters and near disasters. Also Robert Scott's books, such as 'God is My CoPilot' and 'The Day I Owned the Sky' are guilty pleasures. If you know anything about the man, you know why. But only Charles Lindbergh can make 300 pages of sitting in an airplane flying over the ocean interesting, as he does in 'The Spirit of St. Louis.'

Dicken's 'Great Expectations,' Alfred Bester's 'The Demolished Man' and 'The Stars/My Destination' I've read numerous times, but may not be what you're into. Same with Mark Donohue's 'The Unfair Advantage.'

But if you asked me on another day, I'd probably list different books. . . .
 
A lot of my fave's already listed. My list is more like favorite authors, at which point you read every word they ever put out.

Tolkien for example. I used to be able to write in runic in junior high, to send notes to my girl who was at another school.
Other juvenile favorites were any kind of Sci Fi. John Brunner, Asimov, Varley, Vonnegut, and of course Conan, or John Carter of Mars! Made the Frank Frazetta drawings in the books into T shirts in printing class.


Gann's a really good aviation writer. Any of his stuff is superb if you are an aviation junkie. I'll also read any aviation biography, however whitewashed, Like Chuck Yeagers or Bob Hoovers.
I got stupidly hooked on Clive Cussler. They read at the 6th grade level, but you gotta love Dirk Pit. Really liked his nonfiction, about his "real" life trying to be Dirk Pit finding shipwrecks.
Heinleinn's Stranger in a Strange Land. Been trying to grok stuff ever since.
James Michner books. Really good for insomniacs. Won't make you stay up all night like a Steven King book.
King makes the A list of course. Especially The Stand. Just don't plan on sleep. :roll:
John Grisham is really good, oddly his best books are not about a lawyer.
Patricial Cornwall writes good detective stories, but just read the first ones. Potters field and the next 5-6 are very good.
Tony Hillerman rocks. I live in New Mexico, so I grok his work.
If you like Hillerman, try Michael Mcgarrity's New Mexico mysteries.
And in the same genre but other locations, James Lee Burke is superb.

Other stuff is just for the really hardcore read anything guys like me. I read and reread everything I can get by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Gulag Archipelago makes you realize how it is in a real police state when you start whining about US cops.

Other deep history fascinates me. Helps you get it where Dad comes from, and how we got to here. David McCulloch is top of the history heap.
 
It's hard to narrow it down to just 10.


Inferno - By Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Dante would approve.
Ringworld - Larry Niven. Really, the whole damn Known Universe series.
A Spell for Chameleon - Pierce Anthony. And the rest of the series. I love a good pun.
The Dark Tower - S. King. Only the first book.
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams. And the rest of the series.
Stranger in a Strange land - Robert Heinlein. This might be the best book ever.
The Stand - S. King. Good Vs. Evil, and Mr King can write pure evil.
East of Eden - John Steinbeck. Yes, infact he did write other books besides Grapes of Wrath. Some people seem supprised at this.
Quicker - L. Dahners.
 
I don't read a lot, so I'll stop at four.
1. Walkable City - Jeff Speck
2. Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do - Tom Vanderbilt
3. Freakonomics - Levitt & Dubner
4. Tipping Point - Malcom Gladwell

Yes, I'm a geek.

**EDIT! #5. Dancing Wu Li Masters - Gary Zukav
 
Hmm, I like most of the books mentioned in the previous posts.

For me, in addition (not necessarily by priority):
  • The Bible - Various Authors (for daily guidance and inspiration)
  • The Practice of Management - Peter Drucker (my Bible at work)
  • The Alliance-Union universe - C.J. Cherryh (for the great detail on other alien races)
  • Caves of Steel - I. Asimov (for the combination of a great mystery in a futuristic setting)
  • The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins (for the combination of a great mystery in a historic setting)
 
Moons a Balloon. By David Niven

Papillon by Henri Charrière

Señor vivo and don emanuels nether regions Louis De Berni'res

Arms bazzaar Anthony Sampson

Silver bubble

ITT the sovereign state

There are probs more but can't think of them
 
If I built the list on another day... probably half of these would stay, half would be replaced by others... but here is today's list:

Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court – Mark Twain
The Flashman Papers – George McDonald Fraser (most painless history you’ll ever read… and could not possibly be less PC)
The Memory of Running – Ron McLarty (depressing start but a great book, plus it is about bike ride)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter Thompson / Ralph Steadman
The Time Travelers Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson (actually, almost anything by Bryson would qualify for the list)
All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque
Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson
 
Many of my favorites have already been listed as well. So here are a few that have been good for me.

1. "Ideas and opinions" a collection of letters from Albert Einstein. I started trying to highlight good quotes and soon found out I was going to have to just highlight the whole damned thing.

2. "The boat of a million years" by Poul Anderson. It's the story of immortals that spans pretty much all of human history and beyond. Very long, and very good.

3. "The devils handbook" by Anton Lavey. Yeah yeah, I know. The black pope. I found it in a bunch of rubbish and thought I would thumb through it, was actually quite good with some pretty spot on insights. With checking out if you're not afraid of the boogey man.

4. The entire "foundation saga" by Asimov. It's been about a decade, maybe time for me to re read after I finish "caves of steel" for the first time.
 
gestalt said:
4. The entire "foundation saga" by Asimov. It's been about a decade, maybe time for me to re read after I finish "caves of steel" for the first time.
Click to expand...

After "Caves of Steel", you might want to read "The Naked Sun", and "The Robots of Dawn" (in that order) first. It really lays the foundation to the "foundation saga".
 
Sorry a little late to the party guys, but C'mon, no Tom Robbins??!! WTF is wrong with you guys?

As a kid I liked to read Sherlock Holmes stories.

As a teenager I think "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles was probably my favorite

The closest I have ever gotten to Science Fiction would have to be Michael Crichton, his books are always informative and adventurous so I don't fall asleep.

Hunter S Thompson would have to be honorable mention, I just can't get the image of Johnny Depp playing him out of my head though.
 
There have been so many really good books posted already! Well, here are my top 10.

1. Holy Bible....various writers

2. 20,000 Leagues Beneath The Sea....Jules Verne. The first real book I ever read. Inspired my imagination.

3. The Old man And The Sea....Ernest Hemingway. Great book. The movie did not capture the essence of the book.

4. The Grapes Of Wrath....John Steinbeck. And all the vintage Steinbeck books, such as Cannery Row.

5. 1984....George Orwell. We are presently enjoying the Orwell prediction.

6. Brave New World....Aldous Huxley. A quasi optimistic prophecy that we are somehow simultaneously playing out along with the 1984 scenario.

7. Sherlock Holmes....Conan Doyle. Many years ago as a schoolchild I came across a book of all the Holmes books. Spellbound at the power of the analytical intellect.

8. Rocket Ship Galileo. What an adventure for a young reader! This book expanded my concept of what is possible for humans to accomplish.

9. On The Beach....Nevil Shute. The movie is even better than the book! Hell no! I dont want no global nuke destruction!

10. Principia....Isaac Newton. The basis of physics.

11. Relativity....Albert Einstein. A heretic has claimed that Isaac did not really get it exactly right. Some of us disagree.

12. The Sword In The Stone, alias Once And Future King....T. H. White. Very insightful into the human condition. "Tell me, Wart, since you have been both, would you prefer to be an enslaved ant, or would you rather be a wild goose?"

13. The Dancing Wu Li Masters....Zukav. An amazing account of how we may be able to, and may be already doing it, influence the outcome of physical circumstances in our lives by simply INTENTLY EXPECTING a specific outcome! Wait, didnt Jesus already tell us something like that.

14. 2001 A Space Oddysey the book....Arthur Clarke. FIRST read the book. Then see the movie. You will then understand how Clindar the alien supervised Moon-Watcher the pre-human ape to become human.

15. Siddharta....Herman Hesse. A study of the man Siddharta became the enlightened historical buddha. Ther is much food for thought.

16. Journey To Ixtlan (and all the books in the Don Juan franchise).... Carlos Casteneda. An interesting treatise on how life may be experienced in a different way than the standard common consensus consciousness way.


What? Did you ask for 10 books and did I write down 16? Well, in all the excitement maybe I lost count myself. Just ask yourself, are you feeling lucky?
 
Definitely you gotta read 2001 to grok the movie.

Castenada had a huge influence on me. I still believe in power sites, and spend time on a few in my area.

A new favorite for me, in the you won't go to sleep tonight category.

Stieg Larrson's Girl with a Dragon Tattoo trilogy. A great watch too, but the book as always, better. A real horror show of a story, but you just have to fall in love with her insane skills.
 
Lionel Shriver"s "My Son Kevin" and this new novel "Big Brother" were great.
As far as foreign literature goes. I really like her style.
 
The Master Mechanic by I.G. Broat

Not what you might think going by the title, about a guy in a small Ohio town in 1968 who learnt to be a dice mechanic and went on to run casino's in Havana and Vegas.
 
dogman said:
Definitely you gotta read 2001 to grok the movie.

Castenada had a huge influence on me. I still believe in power sites, and spend time on a few in my area.

A new favorite for me, in the you won't go to sleep tonight category.

Stieg Larrson's Girl with a Dragon Tattoo trilogy. A great watch too, but the book as always, better. A real horror show of a story, but you just have to fall in love with her insane skills.
Click to expand...


"Definitely you gotta read 2001 to grok the movie."

Also the short story, The Sentinel, that really originally got the party started.



"Castenada had a huge influence on me. I still believe in power sites, and spend time on a few in my area."

All of my life, from the earliest age and memories that I have, I have sometimes spontaneously found myself feeling either unusually comfortable or unusually dreadful in different locations. Have you had a similar sensation when you are in a power site?
 
Oh yeah, power spots come in good and bad. I've never found bad ones in my locality, but there are a few spots in our locality that we used to go to for parties, that I later found to always have a good vibe. For me at least, I felt they were good places to gather power. Call it church, a place to pray or meditate, whatever. I just found that a few specific places made it possible for me to think better.

I also feel that the really powerful spots are closer to Santa Fe, Taos, Los Alamos. The attraction of that area is clear, and not just good scenery. My favorite power spot up there is Spence Hot Springs in the Jemez. At that spring, you can sit on one rock and feel happy, another makes you feel sad, another afraid, and another strong. After a long soak, I'd smoke a joint, and go find a strong rock to sit on for a few hours. All in my imagination? Likely. But it worked for me. I don't know, but I do think that tens of thousands of years of people sitting on those rocks by the spring HAS done something to the place.

For me, a power spot always has a good view. Always a place that as far back as the mammoth hunters, a man would have sat watching. Not every hill, but always the choice hilltop or crag on the mountainside in the area. That's where it gets into the power spot being you, more than the spot per se. I must say, I feel that power when I fly in a hot air balloon. For me, it's all about the view that puts me in that state of mind.
 
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