What Are Your Favorite Books?

Dropbar · Post by **Dropbar** » Wed May 30, 2012 12:10 pm

What are your favorite books?
1. Make up any category you wish.

2. Try to add a short description if there is no subtitle.
I'll kick it off:
Best Book About...
Working with Hands: The Case for Working with Your Hands – Or Why Office Work is Bad for You (Matthew Crawford), professor/motorcycle mechanic talks about the loss of manual intelligence.
Travel: Arabian Sands (Wilfred Thesiger), the Oxonian who spent most of his life among rural tribes chronicles his epic journey across the Empty Quarter of Arabia.
Retirement: Early Retirement Extreme (Jacob Lund Fisker), Jacob didn't make me do it!
Spirituality: Sea Without Shore (Nuh Keller), American convert lives among Sufis for 30 years and writes a how-to manual for living.
The Internet: Shallows – What the Internet is Doing to our Brains (Nicholas Carr), the brain atrophies like the body.
Morality: The Rambler (Samuel Johnson), hilarious 18th century polymath holds forth on everything.
God and Science: The Mind of God (Paul Davies), it didn't happen by itself.
The Universe: Just Six Numbers (Martin Rees), how the universe would have been impossible if these six physical realities were off by even a tiny percentage.
Bicycle Training: Cycling Training Bible (Joe Friel), go from back of the peloton to the front in 6 months.
The Tour De France: Lance Armstrong’s War (Daniel Coyle), all the weird stuff about the Tour you can't find anywhere else.
Not Obsessing Over What People Think: Fountainhead (Ayn Rand), Roark just doesn't care, how to tell the boss, the Dean, and the rest of the world to take a hike; and Letters of a Sufi Master (Titus Burkhardt), overcome the two greatest fears: poverty and what people think.
Children and Computers: Failure to Connect – How Computers Affect Our Children's Minds (Jane M. Healy), the brain of a child on computers is physically smaller.
Showbiz: Amusing Ourselves to Death – Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (Neil Postman), the absurdity of modern "entertainment."
Multinational Corporations: Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power (Joel Bakan), more rights than most humans, more powerful than most countries, and they get to live forever.
How the World Works: How the World Works (Noam Chomsky), all-in-one for Chomsky fans; and Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (John Perkins), not sure how this guy lived to get this published.
Getting Out of a Rut: The Four-Hour Workweek (Tim Ferriss), mostly shallow chewing gum for the eyes, but a lot of good stuff for someone irrationally hooked onto 9 to 5; and How To Be Free (Tom Hodgkinson), Guardian journalist goes to the countryside and tells about a life of idling and how to live it.
Television: Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television (Jerry Mander), Gerrymander the viewing polls by switching off.
Self-Sufficiency: The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It (John Seymour), the complete do-it-yourself classic, now over thirty years old.
Climate Change: The Vanishing Face of Gaia – A Final Warning (James Lovelock), move to Canada and start growing vegetables.
Banking: The Problem With Interest (Tarek El Diwany), how interest-based finance is destroying the world.
Economics: Small is Beautiful – Economics As If People Mattered (E.F. Schumacher), slow, sustainable economics; and Short Circuit – A Practical New Approach to Building More Self-Reliant Communities (Richard Douthwaite)
Nutrition: Healing With Whole Foods – Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition (Paul Pitchford), the only health care book you will need in the house.
Fast Food: Fast Food Nation – The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (Eric Schlosser), yes, there is excrement in the meat; and Food Inc., how Monsanto and others operate.
Conventional Healthcare: Confessions of a Medical Heretic (Robert Mendelsohn), how the healthcare industry works from an insider.
Homeschooling: The Well Trained Mind – A Guide to Classical Education at Home (Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise)
Propaganda: Manufacturing Consent – The Political Economy of the Mass Media (Noam Chomsky), it's not a conspiracy; how money, fear of losing one's job, and centralized power, control the news media.
Permaculture: Permaculture – A Designers' Manual (Bill Mollison); low impact growing.
Shopping: The Wal-Mart Effect (Charles Fishman); how downward pressure on prices at Wal-Mart is destroying the local and global economy.

Dropbar · Post by **Dropbar** » Wed May 30, 2012 12:18 pm

Bicycle Touring (especially suited for very long trips, including going around the world): Adventure Cycle-Touring Handbook - Worldwide Cycling Routing and Planning Guide (Stephen Lord)

LonerMatt · Post by **LonerMatt** » Wed May 30, 2012 12:51 pm

If I had to choose three books that radically changed how I view the world:
The Phantom Tollbooth.

Walden.

Snow Crash.

Name of the Wind.
Close Runners up:

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Atlas Shrugged.

American Psycho.

Canterbury Tales.

Invisible Man.

Oh god I'm never finishing this list.....

aussierogue · Post by **aussierogue** » Wed May 30, 2012 1:01 pm

still life with woodpecker

half asleep in frog pajamas

the monk who sold his ferrari (bit corny but important in its timing for me)

war and peace

power withour glory

catch 22

affluenza

status anxiety

E Myth

the tibetan book of living and dying

wolf of wall st (because i met jordan belfort. interesting guy)

raising boys / raising girls

Lee Childs- Jack Reacher Novels

Anything from Henning Mankell

jennypenny · Post by **jennypenny** » Wed May 30, 2012 1:47 pm

+1

Early Retirement Extreme

The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It

The Well Trained Mind

The Phantom Tollbooth

Walden
Too many to list, but a handful that have influenced me:

The Bible

The Joy of Cooking (a girl's gotta eat

The Brothers Karamazov

Beowulf

The Odyssey

Frankenstein

Don Quixote
And almost anything by:

C.S. Lewis

Douglas Adams

Shakespeare

Carl Sagan

C.S. Forester

Stephen King

Edgar Allen Poe
A lot of fiction, but I think there's a lot of truth in fiction.

Scott 2 · Post by **Scott 2** » Wed May 30, 2012 2:10 pm

7 Habits of Highly Effective People
It's All Politics: Winning in a World Where Hard Work and Talent Aren't Enough
The Secret Handshake: Mastering the Politics of the Business Inner Circle
The last 2 took me from an interpersonal train wreck to socially functional.

Chad · Post by **Chad** » Wed May 30, 2012 3:28 pm

Some are the same as what others have listed.
Fiction:

-Ender's Game

-Dune

-Rain Fall - and all other books by Barry Eisler

-The Fountainhead - Rand's philosophy is full of gaping holes, but I do like how Roark refuses to be something he isn't.
Non-Fiction:

-Guns, Germs, and Steel

-Confessions of an Economic Hitman

-anything by Peter Lynch (always liked his approach)

-The God Delusion

-Marine Sniper - always makes me think about how easy my life is

-Core Performance

-The Sweet Season - great sports book
Tons more, but those are what come to mind now.

JasonR · Post by **JasonR** » Wed May 30, 2012 3:58 pm

chenda · Post by **chenda** » Wed May 30, 2012 5:50 pm

+1 on Rendering in Pen and Ink
The Origins of Virtue

History of the world in a 1000 objects

The Happy Traveller (ERE in the 1920s)

The Kon-Tiki expedition

Making of the English landscape

The Talented Mr Ripley (ERE through crime...)

The four books of architecture (Palladio)

Ego · Post by **Ego** » Wed May 30, 2012 7:01 pm

David Copperfield and The Count of Monte Cristo

tylerrr · Post by **tylerrr** » Wed May 30, 2012 9:41 pm

Radical Simplicity - Dan Price
Wandering - Herman Hesse
Thich Nhat Hanh books
The Bible
Emmett Fox books
Your Money or Your Life
ERE

m741 · Post by **m741** » Thu May 31, 2012 4:27 am

Surprised this topic hasn't come up before. I'll go through my favorite authors instead.
My number one, all time, no-holds-barred author is Harukim Murakami. Most of all I like his protagonists. They're generally unemployed or marginally unemployed men in their thirties. Good taste in music, well-read, but best of all, ordinary and deliberate.
There's something incredibly calming about reading a book written by Murakami. Strange things happen but the protagonist goes about his daily business, or slowly, deliberately, works his way through an unintelligible mystery. I feel like most books either rush through action set-pieces, or meander aimlessly. Favorite book is Kafka on the Shore, but The Windup Bird Chronicle, Norwegian Wood, and other books are good as well.
My second favorite author is David Foster Wallace. I really like his essays. He was just totally brilliant, and whenever I read something he wrote, or see interviews of him, I feel like he was truly 100% honest, without any attempts at duplicity or trying to project some image. His commencement speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5THXa_H_N8 is basically the best ethical code I've seen. One of my favorite human beings.
My third favorite author is Douglas Coupland. Entertaining, wonderful off the wall metaphors, fun characters, interesting observations. Favorite books: Microserfs, Girlfriend in a Coma, Generation X.
Other authors I enjoy: Chuck Palahniuk, Kurt Vonnegut, Roger Zelazny, Larry Niven, Dylan Thomas, Albert Camus, Michael Chabon, Shelby Foote, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Thich Naht Hanh.

C40 · Post by **C40** » Thu May 31, 2012 4:34 am

Some books that changed me quite significantly, for the better I believe:
- How to win friends and influence people

- How I found freedom in an unfree world

- This blog and the book
and recently I've been enjoying Letters from a Stoic

aussierogue · Post by **aussierogue** » Thu May 31, 2012 4:59 am

@m741 will def check out Marukami...thanks for the tip. Never heard of him but between your reco and his wiki entry i am sure i will enjoy

KevinW · Post by **KevinW** » Thu May 31, 2012 4:09 pm

Books that had a lasting impact:
A Guide to the Good Life

Boy Scout Handbook

Cat's Cradle

The Dispossessed

Dune

ERE

Getting Things Done

How to Design Programs

How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

How to Live Well Without Owning a Car

Introduction to the Theory of Computation

The Left Hand of Darkness

Meditations (M. Aurelius)

More-With-Less Cookbook

Neuromancer

The One Million Pound Bank Note

The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need

Starship Troopers

Your Money or Your Life

Radamisto · Post by **Radamisto** » Thu May 31, 2012 6:35 pm

If I were to choose just one, I'd say Harry Browne's "How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World". Just brilliant!
Other than that, I love Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, Hans-Hermann Hoppe and all other austrians of the misesian-rothbardian line. Nathaniel Branden isn't bad either.
As for fiction, I would choose Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos' "Dangerous Liaisons". It's sublime, in contrast to all the horrible and idiotic films based on it.

George the original one · Fri Jun 01, 2012 6:15 am

My favorite books that haven't been mentioned so far...
Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades: The Complete Guide to Organic Gardening
The Way Things Work, Vol 1 & 2
a 1920 high school physics text by Robert Millikan
Tabletop Machining
Commonsense Betting
Commonsense Handicapping
Possum Living
Red Mars (and sequels)
Poems in Praise of Practically Nothing
Schrodingers Cat (and sequels)
The Hobbit
The Fellowship of the Ring (the others are too slow)

Dropbar · Post by **Dropbar** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 10:46 am

Best Homesteading/Travel Book: Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (as is often the case, far better than the movie).

Dropbar · Post by **Dropbar** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 10:48 am

Best Skincare Book: Healing Psoriasi - The Natural Alternative (John Pagano), so many people have stopped using expensive skin creams and toxic cortisol steroids thanks to this one book. Not just for psoriasis and eczema sufferers, but common sense information for everyone.

MattF · Post by **MattF** » Fri Jun 01, 2012 7:57 pm

Favorite authors are Kurt Vonnegut, Aldous Huxley, C.S. Lewis, Ayn Rand
Favorite philosopher is Bertrand Russell
Favorite books:

Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut

Til We Have Faces - C.S. Lewis

The Time Machine - Wells, H.G.

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions - Abbott, Edwin A.

Brave New World - Huxley, Aldous

Anthem - Rand, Ayn

The Conquest of Happiness - Russell, Bertrand
Hoping to grow this list as time goes on...