11–20 of 54 posts
Recently each of Alain de Botton's books (Status Anxiety, Pleasures and Sorrows of Work and Essays on Love) had a valuable lesson to teach.
Alexander Pope's 'Essay on Criticism' (poem, not a book) was one the first poems that I gleaned something from, and that opened up a whole new library of potential reads.
As improbable as it may sound, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.
1984 - turned me from a die hard socialist to a rabid anti authoritarian. Cosmos - helped me fall in love with Physics, and the sciences. Tao Teh Ching - If I could tell you how it influenced me, we'd both have the wrong impression.
If you havent read it yet, I'd suggest you to read Huxley's Brave New World, as opposed to 1984. Given it was written in 1932 it surprisingly exposes present-day concerns.
But I'd agree that BNW has more to teach us about today - lots of us are losing/have lost the ability to think much beyond our next pleasurable experience.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2PAuup/www.recombinantrecords....
1984 - turned me from a die hard socialist to a rabid anti authoritarian. Cosmos - helped me fall in love with Physics, and the sciences. Tao Teh Ching - If I could tell you how it influenced me, we'd both have the wrong impression.
Everybody should read it, or at least watch the video on Youtube. It changed my life.
It's been described as "the first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race." [1]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Garc%C3%ADa_M%C3%A1rque...
Isaac Asimov - Foundation Series : taught me to have no fear 'cause Hari Seldon already figured it all out and I'm gonna be alright.
"A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" by David Foster Wallace, pretty sure this book has changed how a generation writes. At least it convinced a generation they'll never be as good as DFW.
"Norwegian Wood" by Haruki Murakami, which I like to think of as a Japanese C.i.t.R.
G.E.B. - power through it, soldier!
"Making Certain it Goes On", by Richard Hugo. An instructional book on how to write poetry, or to basically do just about anything. I highly recommend it to all programmers.
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch -- http://www.thelastlecture.com/ Everybody should read it, or at least watch the video on Youtube. It changed my life.
A mind blowing explanation of consciousness. The jury is still out with most critics considering this wrong -- but nevertheless, it's an amazingly detailed (and well supported) theory of where consciousness, gods, schizophrenia etc come from.
Free version somewhere online - but I own a first run edition. Amazing book about what you can do if you really want to, and how strong the human mind can be.