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Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Eight Books Everyone Should Read

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Re: Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Eight Books Everyone Should Read

#31
post #4

I'll go ahead and claim that most of these books are pretty dry these days. Historically significant, yes, and everyone should definitely know of them and what they're about. But reading them probably won't make much of a difference to your life. The same information can be found in other places these days, in forms that are more comfortable for the brain to digest.

Reading large works like these may stimulate your thinking much more than getting the same information in a shorter format.

That depends on the individual work, and how you respond to authors tending to assume you have the same knowledge and interests in the subject matter as a typical expert, a century or five back.

If your reaction to reading The Prince, for example, is to go off and read other historical analysis of the many obscure conflicts he references, and discussions of the extent to which certain comments may have been intended as satire, then it might make a stimulating starting point for study. If you're simply looking to gain insight into the motivations of people in power, then you'd be better off reading an article-length summary of his key points and prioritising on to short-form content about Westphalian states and the limitations of democratic processes. Ultimately, you'll learn more relevant lessons from that than you would from Machiavellian observations on the castle of Milan causing more trouble for the Sforzas than it saves or the susceptibility of the Spaniards to cavalry and the Switzers to close combat.

If you want to learn about markets, capitalism and pricing, then economists of all stripes will agree that the Wealth of Nations is commendably broad and readable but very outdated in its examples; many of the features of modern capitalism and the entire theories behind modern anticapitalism simply hadn't been invented then. If you want to learn that "capitalism is an economy of greed, a force of nature unto itself", it's a strange, rather agrarian-focused introduction that won't give you any insight into modern debates about welfare or Wall Street.

Re: Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Eight Books Everyone Should Read

#32

What a ponderous, pretentious load. This strikes me very much as a list of "Books I want everyone to know that I think everyone should read" which is very different from the stated title. Is Origin Of Species really a better choice than almost anything on the topic by Dawkins or Gould for the general purpose of "[learning] of our kinship with all other life on Earth"?

"You should read this, but I know you won't bother because you're a Yahoo. Don't worry, because I've told you what to think about it. Carry on."

Re: Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Eight Books Everyone Should Read

#33

What a ponderous, pretentious load. This strikes me very much as a list of "Books I want everyone to know that I think everyone should read" which is very different from the stated title. Is Origin Of Species really a better choice than almost anything on the topic by Dawkins or Gould for the general purpose of "[learning] of our kinship with all other life on Earth"?

They are selections for everyone, including 'beginners' which I assume is the reason he selected them. They would have very little quoting other sources with little explanations why. Not a bad selection imo, though I would have thrown in the Torah/Koran as well as the bible to inform you of all the major religions and differences. And maybe remove Art of War for a maths primer like Euclid's Elements or somthing.

Just a note: the Torah is a subset of the Tanakh, which is itself a subset of the Bible. (Christians refer to the Torah as the Pentateuch and the Tanakh as the Old Testament.)

Re: Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Eight Books Everyone Should Read

#34
post #7

"The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (eBook) – “to learn that capitalism is an economy of greed, a force of nature unto itself.”" : Someone must have had problems understanding Capitalism, it seems.

>Someone must have had problems understanding Capitalism, it seems An obtuse comment considering he's a leading scientist. To call capitalism an 'economy of greed' isn't without merit. After all raw capitalism is about survival of the fittest where only the strong survive and the weak perish, if it were not for the philanthropy of others. I think the great thing about reading Adam Smith is how seriously misunderstood…

Adam Smith is not the only person to read to understand Capitalism. No need to be pretentious.

> An obtuse comment considering he's a leading scientist.

So what? Since when being recognized in one field makes you competent in another? A widespread fallacy.

Re: Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Eight Books Everyone Should Read

#35
post #3

It's good to see the bible on that list. I should get around to reading it.

Why is it good? Only Christians should read it (to become atheists). For anyone else, I think it's a waste of time.

The Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes are the shit, though.

But honestly, yeah, the Bible is the poorest written fiction I've ever not finished reading. It's not even worth the paper as a religious reference, surprisingly. Maybe reading something like Norman Cohn's "The Pursuit of the Millenium" would be more useful for someone wanting to understand (more deeper) christianity, though it's quite a heavyweight. And I understand Feuerbach's "Essence of Christianity" is a classic, though I'm yet to read it.

Re: Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Eight Books Everyone Should Read

#36
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Someone must have had problems understanding Capitalism, it seems An obtuse comment considering he's a leading scientist. To call capitalism an 'economy of greed' isn't without merit. After all raw capitalism is about survival of the fittest where only the strong survive and the weak perish, if it were not for the philanthropy of others. I think the great thing about reading Adam Smith is how seriously misunderstood…

Adam Smith is not the only person to read to understand Capitalism. No need to be pretentious. > An obtuse comment considering he's a leading scientist. So what? Since when being recognized in one field makes you competent in another? A widespread fallacy.

You were being obtuse because since his opinion differs from yours he must have had problems 'understanding' capitalism.

Re: Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Eight Books Everyone Should Read

#37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a collection of writings containing some of the oldest recorded human stories, poetry and philosophy, law, history, and myth. Reading it is no more a waste of time than reading the Iliad or Plato.

The Iliad is both entertaining and well written, while Plato is intellectually stimulating where he's not just wrong. The Bible is not remotely as well written as the Iliad, nor is it comparable as a work of philosophy to Plato.

I'm in the middle of a philosophy 101 class. I had been meaning to read the works of Plato, but until now I was busy learning other stuff.

I have to say that surprisingly, I have lost all respect for Plato after reading Crito (It's Plato's take on what Socrates' reasons for not escaping his execution.) It contains the most illogical, oversimplified, flat-out erroneous thought processes I've ever encountered. If Crito is an accurate representation of Socrates' philosophy, I have to question the intelligence of anyone who felt that he was "wise."

I was pretty dissapointed by this, because I enjoyed some of Plato's other writings.

I do happen to agree that the Iliad is far superior to the quality of writing found in the bible.

Re: Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Eight Books Everyone Should Read

#38
post #12

I've read some of those books cover to cover (Art of War, the Prince) & other's I've glazed over because they were, well, boring & laborious & I don't believe anybody should be recommending them as things to read for enjoyment (Origin of the Species or The Bible, for instance). So here's my list of 8 for things that you'll probably never finish, but extract huge value from anyway. -Richard Feynman Lectures on Physics…

For the most part, I like your list better, but I do think everyone should read the works of Thomas Paine.

In particular, I think that every single American should have to read Common Sense first in high school, and then annually as a part of registration process for voting (Along with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.)

I also happen to think that the Age of Reason is one of the most brilliant pieces of writing the world has ever seen.

Re: Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Eight Books Everyone Should Read

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it good? Only Christians should read it (to become atheists). For anyone else, I think it's a waste of time.

The Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes are the shit, though. But honestly, yeah, the Bible is the poorest written fiction I've ever not finished reading. It's not even worth the paper as a religious reference, surprisingly. Maybe reading something like Norman Cohn's "The Pursuit of the Millenium" would be more useful for someone wanting to understand (more deeper) christianity, though it's quite a heavyweight. And I un…

So how can that be? That those presumably derivative texts know more about Christianity than the authoritative text, which you say is not worth the paper? Here, I'll guess: They're making stuff up. Rationalizing, trying to put a chaotic mess into some sort of order, but in the process injecting a lot of themselves.

So it comes down to, read your favorite author and believe what you want. Which is not going to go down well with a lot of people.

Re: Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Eight Books Everyone Should Read

#40
post #3

It's good to see the bible on that list. I should get around to reading it.

Why is it good? Only Christians should read it (to become atheists). For anyone else, I think it's a waste of time.

Whether you like it or not, if you intend to acquaint yourself with "the classics", you won't understand half of the allusions made without first reading the bible.

It's like watching Futurama without a pop science level of familiarity with physics, maths and so on.

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