Some of my favorites have already been mentioned, ie.
Book of Five Rings: Miyamoto Musashi
Ender’s Game: Orson Scott Card
Count of Monte Cristo: Alexandre Dumas
Have any of you ever read Battle Royale? Excellent book. Not that big on anime and stuff like that, but this book really makes you question the trust that you put in others.
Other great books are:
Dune
Children Of Dune
God Emperor Dune
Frank herbert was a genius!
Chuck Palahiuk’s (probably wrong spelling) invisible monsters and choke are also excellent!
Then the book “Princess” by Jean Sassoon is very well done about a saudi arabian princess.
Mike Mahler
I’ve seen a few posts recommending atlas and fountainhead by Rand. I gotta second those, amazing books. Something i havent noticed is anything by Sartre or Camus. Everyone can use a good, healthy dose of French existentialism in their lives. I recommend the Stranger. Short and sweet. Peace.
[quote]Ren wrote:
some ppl might not like this, but
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
just a very unique view on things imho[/quote]
does ms rand say anything about reading more than 1 page is overtraining? sorry, couldn’t resist. actually progressed on mentzer’s program, God rest his soul
this thread is makin me think. i’ve read quite a bit but very little that is earth shattering
ok, did think of one. starship troopers by robert heinlen. the movie is more like something out of a comic book but the novel makes interesting social commentary
Here are a few books:
Richard Preston: " Hot Zone" and “Cobra Event”
Tom Clancy: “Debt of Honor”
Richard Marchinko: “Rogue Warrior” This is one of my favorites!
Great Thread.
Some of my favourite books from various categories are:
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Life’s Greatest Lessons by Hal Urban
Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
And…
as Solomon Grundy already stated,
Wild at Heart by John Eldredge
The Bible by… various authors directly inspired by the Almighty God.
P.S. Hey Papa,
I’m not sure where you getting your information from but the King James Version Bible was NOT translated and “watered down” from already converted Latin works. The King James Bible was an endeavour issued by James I to over 50 highly educated and renowned scholars, all with extensive background in Greek and Hebrew and with many holding doctrates in linguistics. Over 7 long years, they translated what is now called the KJV from the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts and completed it in 1611. Get your facts straight, Pops.
I have a few that haven’t been mentioned yet:
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
The Road to Serfdom by Hayek
The Complete Works of Shakespeare – any compilation will do nicely
Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer
this is a great book about two men in the military, one who makes it up the ranks by hard work and another who just knows the right people. It’s long (1500 pages), but a hell of a read, and the character of Sam Damon is truly inspirational. If you like war books, this one is a winner.
“Gates of Fire” by Steven Pressfield. One of the best (if not the best) T-Men stories ever written. The story of the Spartans’ stand at Thermopylae is one of the great heroic legends of all time.
“Lonesome Dove” by Larry McMurtry already mentioned a few times- but a great book- you’ll read it several times.
And- Im surprised no one mentioned this book:
Shogun by James Clavelle
The Belgariad and the Malloreon, by David Eddings. Fully ten books that kick ass, and manage to hide an awful lot of wisdom and commentary on human nature in the middle of everything.
Pretty much everything by Orson Scott Card is good, and I’d particularly recommend “Lost Boys” for its insights into raising children.
I cant believe none of you mentioned Davici’s code
[quote]Papa wrote:
Look, I have no problem with “People of Faith” but the “Bible” by “God”? More like “Bible” as approved for mass production by the Catholic Church “in Latin” then further watered down in the King James version. What about Ayn Rand and “The Virtue of Selfishness”. It’s OK to look out for your self, just not at the expense of those around you.
[/quote]
Papa, Why all the hostility? You obviously do have a problem with ?People of Faith? or you wouldn?t have felt the need to respond. I believe that the ?Bible? is the word of ?God?. As far as Any Rand goes, I couldn?t get through ?Atlas Shrugged?. I really have no desire to read anything else from her. I?m not sure that I understand your last statement. It is very difficult to understand when something is implied and when something is literal on the web. Were you referring to ?The Virtue of Selfishness??
Me Solomon Grundy
“The Art of War” by SunTzu is my book of choice. It’s a combination of military and life philosophy, but is relevant to anything you want to excell at. Make sure you get a copy that explains what the hell the author is talking about in his metaphors.
I also think “A Brief History of Time” by Steven Hawkings deserves a HUGE bump. This book explains the basics of physics and astrophysics and is the most easily understood science book I’ve ever read. I literally understand more about theoretical physics from the first 2 chapters of this book than from any classes I’ve ever taken.
[quote]tmabes wrote:
I cant believe none of you mentioned Davici’s code[/quote]
I can’t believe you consider that load of crap “great”. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a neat book, but it’s full of too many blatant inaccuracies and outright lies to take any of its assertions seriously.
I loved Fahrenheit 451 and 1984. Though fiction they present scenarios that when you look around today you feel as though we are on the verge of what each book is discussing.
Animal Farm is another good one which will give you an idea about politics - another way to look at things.
I just finished Band of Brothers, I must say that the series was slightly better, if you loved the series (like I did) then this is a great companion piece to that.
And for inspiration - I read “Passing of the Night”, the story of Gen. Robinson Risner’s time in a Vietnam POW camp. When you read some of this, you can’t help but feel like you have no right complaining about life.
The Warrior Elite: The forging of SEAL class 228.
Out of Africa.
Any short story by E.A. Poe.
Brief History of Time…great book, especially if you enjoy science/physics or are particularly interested in sounding intelligent when talking about those topics.
The Black Book of Training Secrets…yeah I know it’s a strength training book, but I have owned it for about 6 months and re-read portions of it almost daily. Can’t take it off my night stand.
Stupid White Men (Micheal Moore)…it’s a bit political but I just couldn’t put it down. Provides good insight into the world of modern politics (albeit from an almost extremist viewpoint).
JK
You can’t go wrong with anything on Oprah’s list, now can you?
OKAY then, a book that in our times provides a good lens to view the world:
War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges 185 pages paperback, seven big ones at Costco, a lazy afternoon and a whole new way to look at what’s going on in the world when push comes to shove in a big way, which it always does somewhere.
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
How The Mind Works
-both by Steven Pinker
The Essays of Warren Buffet: Lessons for Corporate America
-Buffet/Lawrence Cunnigham (basically Cunnigham took all of Warren Buffets writings from shareholder reports, ournal articles, etc. and arranged them into a manual for how a company should be run)
The Counte of Monte Cristo
-Alexander Dumas (well listed above, i myself have read this book more times than i can count)