The AWESOME book list!

[RAV TUX]

What books have you read that you would recommend as Awesome!; books that you could read over and over again and never get tired of:

1. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (http://www.philipkdick.com/works_novels_androids.html)
Philip K. ****

2. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/%7Ergs/alice-table.html)
Lewis Carroll

3. The Wonder Clock (http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/PylWond.html)
Howard Pyle; verses by Katherine Pyle; illustrated by Howard Pyle

[sunexplodes]

Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins.

[yabbadabbadont]

Bah. What kind of geeks are you?!? :D

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (et. al.) -- Douglas Adams

[fuscia]

lolita

last of the mohicans

tom sawyer

finnegan's wake (but only if you were smart enough not to read it.)

[forcesofhabit]

Anything by Haruki Murakami, but if I must be specific "the Wind-up Bird Chronicle" is his best work.

"Choke" by Chuck Pahluniuk

[ThinkBuntu]

Just glancing at my hefty mini-library, here are my favorite books. I'm sure I'm leaving a few out though...

Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, House of the Dead, The Gambler, Notes from Underground, The Idiot, even The Double. My unofficial expertise is Russian Literature, and my favorite author is Dostoevsky.

Others I like?
* Cannabis, a History
* Cocaine, The Unauthorized Biography
* The Basque History of the World
* DC Noir
* Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit
* The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
* Theodore Rex (when is the third part coming out??)
* An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America
* Banker to the Poor
* Reefer Madness
* Masterpieces of American Indian Literature
* Coyotes

[steven8]

Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot - Al Franken
Making History - Stephen Frey

[crimesaucer]

Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins.

I loved that book, as well as anything else that I've read from Tom Robbins (Skinny Legs and All, Another Roadside Attraction, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues...)

These are also some of my favorite books:

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

On the Road, and The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac

Stranger in a Strange Land, and Methuselah's Children by Robert A. Heinlein

IlluminatusThe Illuminatus! Trilogy, Masks of the Illuminati,
Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy, and Cosmic Trigger 1 2 and 3, by The Robert Anton Wilson (R.I.P.)

The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan, and Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda

Trialogues at the Edge of the West: Chaos, Creativity, and the Resacralization of the World (with Ralph H. Abraham, Rupert Sheldrake and Jean Houston) by Terence McKenna

Live from Death Row, the autobiography of Mumia Abu-Jamal

[areteichi]

20000 Leagues Under the Sea

by Jules Verne

Sophie's World

by Jostein Gaarder

and of course :D
Free Software, Free Society

by Richard Stallman

[TheMono]

The best book of all time:


Fools Die - Mario Puzo

[The Noble]

Dune - Frank Herbert
Prey - Michael Crichton
Armor - John Steakley
Foundation series - Isaac Asimov
Non-stop - Brian Aldiss
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
1984 - George Orwell
Death Gate Cycle - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman


There are more, but these top my list.

[afljafa]

Jitterbug Perfume, by Tom Robbins.

Definitely.

Last legends of Earth (http://www.amazon.com/Last-Legends-Earth-Attanasio/dp/0385263937) - For science fiction people will usually quote the obvious ones - Last legends of Earth is far better.

[afljafa]

Dune - Frank Herbert
Prey - Michael Crichton
Armor - John Steakley
Foundation series - Isaac Asimov
Non-stop - Brian Aldiss
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
1984 - George Orwell
Death Gate Cycle - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman


There are more, but these top my list.

Excellent series - read them when I was quite young. Haplo and his dog couldn`t get enough of it.

[karellen]

the foundation series by isaac asimov
childhood's end by a.c.clarke
starship troopers by r.a.heinlein
fahrenheit 451 by ray bradbury
human, all to human by f. nietzsche
the gay science by f. nietzsche
thus spoken zarathustra by f. nietzsche
20000 leagues under the seas by jules verne
solaris by stanislaw lem
quo vadis by henryk sienkiewicz
tractatus logico-philosophicus by l.wittgenstein

[neoflight]

last of the mohicans

awsome one...the movie was also OK.

David Baldacci seems to be nice, if u like that sorta thing...

Brian Haig has made an impact...

nothing like

Sherlock Holmes ...!

do read "Genius" on Richard Feynman

[me1on]

My favorite book would have to be Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.

[Sir Nose]

Dostoevsky - Notes from Underground, Crime & Punishment
Hesse - Steppenwolf, Siddhartha
Henry David Thoreau - Walden
Daniel Quinn - Ishmael
The Writings of Chuang Tzu

[afljafa]

the foundation series by isaac asimov
childhood's end by a.c.clarke
starship troopers by r.a.heinlein
fahrenheit 451 by ray bradbury
human, all to human by f. nietzsche
the gay science by f. nietzsche
thus spoken zarathustra by f. nietzsche
20000 leagues under the seas by jules verne
solaris by stanislaw lem
quo vadis by henryk sienkiewicz
tractatus logico-philosophicus by l.wittgenstein

Great book - pity they butchered the storyline in the movie - That pile of trash should go in the worst movies thread.

The day of the Triffids. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Triffids)

[afljafa]

Catch 22 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22)

[wieman01]

Catch 22 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22)
I was about to say that. My absolute favorite. Joseph Heller is my hero (next to Hemingway).

Catch-22 - Heller
For whom the bell tolls - Hemingway
East of Eden - Steinbeck
Chess Novel - Zweig

[RAV TUX]

I was about to say that. My absolute favorite. Joseph Heller is my hero (next to Hemingway).

Catch-22 - Heller
For whom the bell tolls - Hemingway
East of Eden - Steinbeck
Chess Novel - Zweig

Thanks for the input.

[haftan]

>Periodic Table, Primo Levi (esp Carbon).
>Einstein's Dreams, Alan Lightman
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, Hoffman
Fermat's Last Theorem, Simon SIngh
>Flatland, Abbot

[JC_510]

Seen some great ones mentioned, such as Flatland, Nineteen-Eighty-Four, Mario Puzo, etc, but how could you forget:

THE LORD OF THE RINGS!! (and the Silmarillion, The Hobbit, etc.). I also want to get the new book by Christopher Tolkien - the Children of Hurin. Anybody read it yet?

[cdiem]

1. CONTACT by Carl Sagan is one of the best I have ever read.
2. THE ALCHEMIST by Paolo Coelho is one that I have read several times as well.
3. HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY by Douglas Adams is also a favourite one to me.

And a lot more, but these ones I like the best :)

[forrestcupp]

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

[ThinkBuntu]

I don't get people who list 1984 as their favorite book. It's a simple satire and a warning that surveillance could get out of hand, along with extreme corruption. But there's very little to the characters, and even the protagonist is narrowly developed, receiving the most attention from Orwell in the book's romantic contexts. Beyond those, he's nothing but an everyman. In my opinion, there's nothing about 1984 that outstrips Animal Farm.

I think those who excessively praise 1984 just like it because it's entertaining/titillating, and because it's modern enough to still be relevant with little effort on the part of the reader.

[steeleyuk]

Michael Crichton - The Sphere / Rising Sun
Stenislaw Lem - Solaris
William Golding - Lord Of The Flies (only read this a few months ago, great book)

and one of my favourites that I read from school

Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird

[Soarer]

The Prophet - Khalil Gibran (http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5484/Gibran.htm)
The Road Less Travelled - M Scott Peck
Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M Pirsig
Who Goes Here - Bob Shaw (a sort of funny Starship Troopers)
A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters - Julian Barnes (in fact anything by JB)

Some good ones listed above though, like Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlen) & Foundation series (Asimov).

[sanderella]

The Young Visiters. Funniest thing I've read in ages.

http://www.stonesoup.com/writing-by-children/young-visiters/chapters1-3/

[jgrabham]

Live and Let Die - Ian Flemming (a bit racist; well a lot racist, but still good)

[ticopelp]

Definitely.

Last legends of Earth (http://www.amazon.com/Last-Legends-Earth-Attanasio/dp/0385263937) - For science fiction people will usually quote the obvious ones - Last legends of Earth is far better.

You are my hero.

[anandanbu]

All of Dan Brown's

* DaVinCi Code
* Digital Fortress
* Angels and Demons
* Deception Point

[Rui Pais]

I always prefer a good writer to a good (solitaire) book, so my list is full of indecisions:

'Cien años de soledad' or 'El coronel no tiene quien le escriba' (or any other) - Gabriel Garcia Márquez.
'Os Maias' or 'O crime do padre Amaro' - Eça de Queirós. (Just to name 2, all is the minimum)
'The power and the glory' or 'the heart of the matter' (or any other, those my favorites) - Graham Greene
'To a God Unknown' or 'East of Eden' - John Steinbeck.
'The sound and the fury' - William Faulkner.
'The waves' or 'Mrs. Dalloway' - Virginia Woolf.
'Mau tempo no canal' - Vitorino Nemésio (died without started the 2nd part).
'O memorial do convento' - José Saramago.
'La saga/fuga de J.B.' - Torrente Ballester.
'Baudolino' - Umberto Eco (his books are became weak but this one i found amazing)
'A Perfect Spy' - John le Carré (this one was for me a complete surprise)
'Der Zauberberg' or 'Felix Krull' - Thomas Mann (i read them in the catastrophic Portuguese translations:()'
'L'Arrache-Coeur' - Boris Vian (an obscure, in several ways, master piece)
Anything of Carson McCullers (they are so few, so precious)
Anything from Jorge Luís Borges (No big novel... but who cares :))

Those are awesome :)

[tenzindorje]

On the Road, and The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac -- I'll second that
Ishmael and My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
My Name is Chellis and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization by Chellis Glendinning

[Xzallion]

A list of some books I think are awesome:

"The Lord of the Rings" by J. R. R. Tolkien
"The Hobbit" by J. R. R. Tolkien
"Battlefield Earth" by L. Ron Hubbard
"The Stand" by Stephen King
"Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz
"The Dark Elf Trilogy" by R. A. Salvatore
"Frankenstein" by Dean Koontz
"The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams
"Dragon Tears" by Dean Koontz
"Dark Seas of infinity" the best of H.P. Lovecraft
"Legacy of the Drow" by R. A. Salvatore


I enjoyed Animal Farm, so I recommend it but wouldn't label it as awesome.

Books I want to read:
Alice in Wonderland
1984
Do Androids dream of Electric Sheep
The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King
The Wheel of Time series
the Forgotten Realms novels
the Dragon Lance novels

If you can't tell I prefer fantasy and horror.

While not stories, I notice no one has mentioned the Dungeons and Dragons/ other roleplaying manuals. I thought most of us computer nerds played, then again thats more of a programmer stereotype. So being the stereotypical nerd that I am, the most awesome "books" there ever were:

The Dungeon Masters Guide
The Players Handbook
The Monster Manual
The Dungeon Masters Guide II
The Players Handbook II
The City by the Spire: Ptolus
Rifts
World of Darkness
Exalted
Call of Cthulu
Shadowrun
Cyberpunk
Starship Troopers the Role Playing Game

[JC_510]

Some others I've remembered:


All of the Sharpe books (Bernard Cornwell)

Harry Potter (JK Rowling)
Northern Lights, et al (Phillip Pullman)
No doubt I will remember more...

[forrestcupp]

I think those who excessively praise 1984 just like it because it's entertaining/titillating, and because it's modern enough to still be relevant with little effort on the part of the reader.

So what? If someone enjoys the book, it doesn't mean they need to be ridiculed over it.

My favs:
Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series
Chronicles of Narnia
This Present Darkness
A Brave New World
The Pearl

Many more . . .

[jgrabham]

All of the Sharpe books (Bernard Cornwell)



Want 2 read them, loved the TV programme; how many different wives did he have? :] Take on the French single handed (with sgt Harper and Rifleman Dan with him of course)

[ThinkBuntu]

So what? If someone enjoys the book, it doesn't mean they need to be ridiculed over it.
My point isn't referring to people who just enjoy the book. I'm referring to those who think it's the greatest little piece of literature to ever grace the world's eyes. And those people comprise the majority of those who list 1984 as their favorite, the numbers of which will stay huge as long as it's required reading in most schools.

[ticopelp]

Accessible and still culturally relevant after nearly six decades? Yes, clearly 1984 is overpraised!

If you don't like it, that's perfectly fine, but I find being reductionist and condescending about other people's reasons for enjoying to be extremely unbecoming.

My favorite Orwell, by the way, is Keep the Aspidistra Flying. :D

[ThinkBuntu]

Accessible and still culturally relevant after nearly six decades? Yes, clearly 1984 is overpraised!

If you don't like it, that's perfectly fine, but I find being reductionist and condescending about other people's reasons for enjoying to be extremely unbecoming.

My favorite Orwell, by the way, is Keep the Aspidistra Flying. :D
Six decades is a heartbeat in literary time.

[ticopelp]

Six decades is a heartbeat in literary time.

Certainly, but that wasn't really my point. I was simply saying that 1984 is still very relevant to 21st century readers in a way much classical literature (excellent as it might be) is not. For a modern futurist novel to still be compelling and relevant after sixty years and not be reduced to camp is pretty extraordinary, IMHO.

I'm not claiming 1984 to be the finest piece of literature the 20th century has produced, but neither do I think it's only beloved for juvenile and shallow reasons, as you seem to be contending. That's all.

[ThinkBuntu]

Oh, don't get me wrong. It's a very good book, and still very relevant. But I don't think it's anywhere near timeless, and that 100 years from now it will be largely forgotten, in the shadow of some of Orwell's more lasting works. I do read a bunch of Orwell, and I really thought 1984 was amazing after my first read (when I was 12), but now that I've been exposed to a wider range and depth of literature, 1984 seems very, very narrow. There's certainly not much to uncover from analyzing the story, which is why it's a great quick read and can be torn through effectively in one night.

[ticopelp]

Oh, don't get me wrong. It's a very good book, and still very relevant. But I don't think it's anywhere near timeless, and that 100 years from now it will be largely forgotten, in the shadow of some of Orwell's more lasting works. I do read a bunch of Orwell, and I really thought 1984 was amazing after my first read (when I was 12), but now that I've been exposed to a wider range and depth of literature, 1984 seems very, very narrow. There's certainly not much to uncover from analyzing the story, which is why it's a great quick read and can be torn through effectively in one night.

Fair enough. :)

[crimesaucer]

Ok...I already did my list of books that I've loved and read once, some twice, some three times (On The Road by Jack Kerouac), so I thought I'd do a list of books that I started reading and liked, but somehow got separated with the book before I finished it...

The Book of The Law by Aleister Crowley

Meetings with Remarkable Men by G. I. Gurdjieff (which I almost finished)

Soul On Ice by Eldridge Cleaver

My Education: A Book of Dreams by William S. Burroughs

The Trial by Franz Kafka

Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates by Tom Robbins


...Now all of those I partially read...and wanted to finish...and will someday....


--These I also plan on reading soon:

the Dune series by Frank Herbert

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

all of the works of William S Burroughs

all of the works of Aleister Crowley

all of the works of G. I. Gurdjieff

all of the works of Tom Robbins (that I haven't read yet)

and the Intelligence Agents by Timothy Leary...as well as the rest of his work...

and what few Robert Anton Wilson books I haven't read yet...

as well as the complete works of Terence McKenna...starting with Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge and then a book of his that he wrote with Rupert Sheldrake and Ralph H. Abraham called The Evolutionary Mind : Trialogues at the Edge of the Unthinkable.

I want to read that one because I really enjoyed the book of Terence Mckenna called, Trialogues at the Edge of the West: Chaos, Creativity, and the Resacralization of the World, which also was with Rupert Sheldrake and Ralph H. Abraham. What I liked about Trialouges at the Edge of the West was the theory of morphogenetic fields. I would like to re-read it again since it was 8 years ago.



...And to finish, I should also put these really good books on my favorites that I've read also:

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Kybalion by Three Initiates

Journey of Awakening by Ram Dass

The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers

[Rui Pais]

... But I don't think it's anywhere near timeless, and that 100 years from now it will be largely forgotten, ...
if in 100 years we (mankind) would loose the thread of totalitarianism and mass control and alienation by the media, then probably the book would be forgotten...
but i think no ones believe that and thats why the book, not being much as a literature piece would always be a reference in the imaginary of anyone.

[bukwirm]

Probably not my all-time favorite, but still really good (and it hasn't been mentioned before):

Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny.

[ThinkBuntu]

The Trial by Franz Kafka
Now THAT is a great book. How could I leave it out?

[RAV TUX]

The Metamorphosis ~Franz Kafka

[igknighted]

Ender's Game (and all its many sequals) - Orson Scott Card

The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe

The Best Democracy Money Can Buy - Greg Palast

Running with the Buffaloes - Chris Lear

Many more that I would list if I didn't have to be at work early tomorrow...

[rsambuca]

A Prayer for Owen Meany (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Prayer_for_Owen_Meany), John Irving

[RAV TUX]

nice book list so far

[hod139]

Some books that I haven't seen listed:
Brian Greene -- The Elegant Universe
Neil Gaiman -- American Gods (I recommend anything by Gaiman, but American Gods was my favorite)
Neal Stephenson -- Cryptonomicon
Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner -- Freakonomics
Niccolo Machiavelli -- The Prince
Lynne Truss -- Eats, Shoots and Leaves

[RAV TUX]

Another great book:

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/8959/screenshot16fd2.png (http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/8959/screenshot16fd2.png) by Apuleius (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apuleius)

[felicity]

Any Dostoevsky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dostoevsky), but especially Crime and Punishment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_and_punishment).

J. M. Coetzee's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coetzee) novel Disgrace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disgrace).

Vladimir Nabokov's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Nabokov) novel Ada or Ardor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_or_ardor).

Any Milan Kundera (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_Kundera), but especially Farewell Waltz (http://www.amazon.com/Farewell-Waltz-Milan-Kundera/dp/0571194710/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-3168098-0088168?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184888362&sr=1-1).

Miguel de Cervantes' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Cervantes) classic Don Quixote (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_quixote).

Albert Camus' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Camus) novel The Plague (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plague).

Tatyana Tolstaya's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatyana_Tolstaya) novel The Slynx (http://www.amazon.com/Slynx-York-Review-Books-Classics/dp/1590171969/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-3168098-0088168?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184888650&sr=1-1).

[eljoeb]

Gene Wolfe - The Book of The New Sun series... probably the only sci fi/fantasy I actually like.
James Joyce - Dubliners
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby... I was surprised how much I liked this
Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange
Hunter Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

[sw1995]

"CivilWarLand in Bad Decline" by George Saunders

"Time's Arrow" by Martin Amis

"The Ghost Writer" by Philip Roth

The Rabbit Novels by John Updike

[Hygelac]

This is a good list; half of my favourites have already been named. ;-)

I'll add that what remains of the "Satyricon" by Petronius is a fun read.

[RAV TUX]

Feet of Clay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feet_of_Clay)


by Terry Pratchett (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett)

[yabbadabbadont]

Meh. One man's gold is another man's dross. ;)

[Aurora Borealis]

I love Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.
Charles Dickens is a big favorite,
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. Haven't read much of his new stuff yet, although I do have many of the books and am waiting for an opportunity.
I love the entire Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis, and when I'm 80 I will still be reading those, probably.
And I do like the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. It's a series that all ages enjoy, around fifteen through adulthood.

[Kingsley]

The Alphabet of Manliness
by Maddox

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/78/Maddoxbook.PNG

[joe.turion64x2]

The Judge of Egypt

In the Age of Ramses, Egypt's power in unchallenged. However, a dark conspiracy seeks to strike at the Pharaoh... only an idealistic judge and a young doctor stand between Egypt and oblivion.

Beneath the Pyramid

Secrets of the Desert

Shadow of the Sphinx
by Christian Jacq.

[reyfer]

Shibumi, by Trevanian

All of JRR Tolkien's books

Foucault's Pendulum, by Umberto Eco

Christianity's Criminal History vol. 1 to 8, by Karlheinz Deschner

All of the Dalai Lama's books

Siddharta, by Hermann Hesse

[Foxmike]

Foundation series - Isaac Asimov
Hyperion series - Dan Simmons
Dune - Frank Herbert
Les gestionnaires de l'Apocalypse - Jean-Jacques Pelletier
- The author is a Québécois. This is about international terrorism/financial cime. Very good.
La saga Malaussène - Daniel Penac
- The author is Français. Verry funny, I have read the seven book of the serie about 5 times and I will probably re-read it again. I'm always laughing about this serie.

[Starchild]

The Blind Owl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_Owl) by Sadegh Hedayat (The English translation of the complete text can be found in the link)
Blindness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindness_%28novel%29) by José Saramago

[benhagerty]

The Dresdon Files by Jim Butcher
The Vampire Files by P.N. Elrod

Good stuff

[Lord_Sin]

SO MANY GREAT BOOKS!!!

This is my list (they are not in any special order):

Ilium - Dan Simmons

American Gods - Neil Gaiman

Reality Dysfunction - Peter F. Hamilton

Red Mars - Kim Robinson

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

My list of favorite books is huge! With this list i would be happy in a desert island... :KS

PS: I cannot believe no one mentioned Peter Hamilton -> shame on you! :lolflag:

[Rui Pais]

The Blind Owl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_Owl) by Sadegh Hedayat (The English translation of the complete text can be found in the link)
Blindness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindness_%28novel%29) by José Saramago

Great. Wonderful way of learn about new writers (and new cultures)

btw English titles of Saramago books are a little "creative"... Blindness should be called, according to the original, 'An essay on Blindness'. All translator adds/cuts a little bit of his/her own ;)

[ghandi69_]

Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Lolita - Vladimir Nobakov(spelling?)
The World is Flat (open source is discussed!)

[DigitalDuality]

d

[7Priest7]

I don't relax with books...
I am suprised any of you do...
I don't have the time or patience to read a (non IT) books...
Books are almnost as bad as TV...
Books and TV both don't allow interaction...
I read IT books because I am going into that field...


Alex

[Rui Pais]

I don't relax with books...
I am suprised any of you do...
I don't have the time or patience to read a (non IT) books...
Books are almnost as bad as TV...
Books and TV both don't allow interaction...
I read IT books because I am going into that field...


Alex
sorry, thats one of the saddest thing i ever read...
You don't interact with TV.
With books you interact with your imagination... it's like a movie where you set you backgrounds, you direct your actors as you like and on control of everything. :)

A book is the best way of look into the world, mind and imagination of another human been. Read is an act of love.

[Laz0r]

Neuromancer - William Gibson
Choke - Chuck Palahniuk
Haunted - Chuck Palahniuk
nausea - jean-paul sartre

[RAV TUX]

sorry, thats one of the saddest thing i ever read...
You don't interact with TV.
With books you interact with your imagination... it's like a movie where you set you backgrounds, you direct your actors as you like and on control of everything. :)

A book is the best way of look into the world, mind and imagination of another human been. Read is an act of love.

Agree completely.

[darkog]

Practice of System and Network Administration, The (2nd Edition) (Paperback) (http://www.amazon.com/Practice-System-Network-Administration-2nd/dp/0321492668/ref=sr_1_1/103-2793220-3231816?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184974827&sr=8-1)
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/512gcuc0aWL._AA240_.jpg

I read the first edition. The best thing I read in past 10 years. Hope the 2nd one is better.

(Yes, I know, very geek).

[RAV TUX]

The Mathematics of Oz: Mental Gymnastics from Beyond the Edge
By Clifford A. Pickover

[heathen]

a second to "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenece"
and "The Dresden Files" by Jim Butcher

Also on my list...
The entire Ender series from Orsen Scot Card
Illusions, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, an Stranger to the Ground by Richard Bach

[Rui Pais]

Agree completely.

:)

[RomeReactor]

The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan, and Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda

nausea - jean-paul sartre

...Crime & Punishment... The Writings of Chuang Tzu
Nice.

I also agree with Rui Pais on Der Zauberberg by Thomas Mann.

I don't get people who list 1984 as their favorite book. It's a simple satire and a warning that surveillance could get out of hand, along with extreme corruption. But there's very little to the characters, and even the protagonist is narrowly developed, receiving the most attention from Orwell in the book's romantic contexts. Beyond those, he's nothing but an everyman.
I completely agree. It was a good read, but a tad on the basic side, for me.

I would add:

The Iliad - by Homer
Le Scaphandre et le Papillon - by Jean-Dominique Bauby
The Tao of Gung Fu - by Bruce Lee
The Doors of Perception - by Aldous Huxley
Ideology and Utopia - by Karl Mannheim
Statism and Anarchy - By Mikhail Bakunin
The Seven Pillars of Wisdom - by Thomas Edward Lawrence
and almost anything by Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams

That being said (and me being drunk), how could I forget this gem:

The Alphabet of Manliness
by Maddox

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/78/Maddoxbook.PNG
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I don't relax with books...
I am suprised any of you do...
I don't have the time or patience to read a (non IT) books...
Books are almnost as bad as TV...
Books and TV both don't allow interaction...
I read IT books because I am going into that field...


Alex

Wow. Just... wow. I'm actually speechless...

[lisati]

Have read 1984 (have copy and have seen the movie), and have also read "Zen & the art of motorcycle maintenance)

What about the original "One flew over the cuckoo's nest" by Ken Kershey, or is it too "out there"? Unlike the movie version it's told from the chief's perspective.....