Panchatantra -- more than 1000yr old collection of fables from India. It's a kind of self help book that uses vivid storytelling with animal characters, to impart practical life lessons.
Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
191–200 of 247 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#192I really like books written by Jules Verne. Those books were really ahead of its time. He was a prolific and best Sci-fi writer. I would like to mention few of his works like 20,000 leagues under the sea, journey to the center of earth and Around the World in Eighty Days. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne
When I was a child, I loved Jules Vernes' novels. My favorite were "L'île mystérieuse" et "Michel Strogoff". I've read them again after a few decades, and I enjoyed them both.
"L'île mystérieuse" is the survival adventure of a small and disparate group, but the main theme is how science can dominate nature. The mystery part is better enjoyed if the reader knows a bit of Jules Verne' other books.
"Michel Strogoff" is a pure and romantic adventure in Russia, at the time of the Tatar invasions. It was sometimes brutal for a child reader, but I could still remember many scenes thirty years later.
Other good novels are "Voyage au centre de la terre", "Vingt-mille lieues sous les mers", "Cinq semaines en ballon", "Le tour du monde en 80 jours", "Les indes noires". I've a few others which I enjoyed at a lesser point.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#193Dostoyevski, Nietzsche, Seneca, Montaigne...
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#194Reform or Revolution? by Rosa Luxembourg.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#195The Count of Monte Cristo , hands down. Published 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, one of the greatest writers to have ever lived. I’m an avid reader and I always laughed at the idea of having a “favorite” book.. until I found mine. I loved the book so much, I resolved to learn French (et je l’ai fait!) just so I could someday read it in the original French.
Monte Cristo is also my favorite novel by Alexandre Dumas, but I enjoyed many other books he wrote — he used to have assistants that wrote part of his books, and, IIRC, one of them claimed that he was the main author of some novels.
I'd recommend reading "Les 3 mousquetaires", where the Lady is one of the most interesting characters I've ever met. The book was a huge success, and is still famous in France nowadays, like its main character, D'Artagnan. The two sequences are okay, "Vingt ans après" and "Le vicomte de Bragelonne".
Other good historical novels by Dumas are "La reine Margot", "Joseph Balsamo", "Le collier de la reine". For the fans, there are dozens of lesser novels, like "La tulipe noire" (which I know I've read, but can't remember at all).
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#196A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain North of Boston by Robert Frost Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (+ the other Sherlock Holmes') Candide by Voltaire (was reminded by other posting - this is great!)
I read a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court when I was around 12. It was fun and fantastical, but perhaps I didn't absorb any deeper meaning because I was too young. I'm curious what makes it top your list?
Read it again! It contains a lot of political commentary.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#197Atlas Shrugged had the most profound impact on me. Ishmael was a funny, short and enlightening read.
The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged also had a profound impact on me, but not in the way Ayn Rand had intended :-) It's strange, reading Rand; I liked her use of language but didn't like her "heroes", nor the points she was trying to make. And after The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged reads like a twice-as-long, twice-as-over-the-top rework of the same material, just with a female heroine. So it's safe to skip it if you…
I was fortunate enough to start with Atlas Shrugged and read Fountainhead after. It does feel like Fountainhead was her runway into Atlas, her way of getting a clearer picture of the story she wanted to tell. Although I like Ayn and her philosophy I think its safe to skip Fountainhead.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#198Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#199Tao Te Ching
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#200Meditations, Marcus Aurelius => A lot of wisdom on how to lead and live On The Shortness of Life, Seneca => An essay about how to handle life and how to see what is really important On War, Clausewitz => An important essay about strategy and war, politics and management The Prince, Machiavelli => A little bit cynical but quite realistic about the nature of power in the hands of humans Thirty-Six Stratagems, multiple…
Clausewitz and Machiavelli... but no Sun Tzu?