Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Here are a few:

Gates Of Fire by Pressfield
A Confederacy Of Dunces by Toole
The Good Earth by Buck

@Unemployable:

I was assigned Huckleberry Finn in high school English class in 2015, in a progressive school district. So at least 8 years ago they were assigning it! My sister was also assigned Huck Finn as I remember finding and reading through her essay that she wrote on my parent's computer for "inspiration" for my essay

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions, Walden, Ishmael and Dune are all my list to read.

All of the previous suggestions have been good.... Here's my suggestions for fiction...

"Classics"
Huckleberry Finn
Fahrenheit 451
Anything by Dostoevsky... Notes from the Underground might be the best introduction, he basically sets up all his big ideas that later, larger works delve into

"More Recent-ish"
The Stand by Stephen King - classic good vs evil
Early Autumn by Robert B Parker - it's one of the Spenser for Hire detective books. Spenser is a great character, and this book delves into the way he thinks more than others
Worth Dying For by Lee Child - book 15 of Jack Reacher series. OR Die Trying, Book 2 of the series... Another great character, and I think these two really showcase his way of thinking

A couple that have not been mentioned.
East of Eden... timshel
The Count of Monte Cristo

Mid-20th Century Classics with racy bits

"Portnoy's Complaint"- Roth
"Ragtime"- Doctorow
"Fear of Flying"- Jong

macg wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 21, 2023 9:26 pm

Anything by Dostoevsky... Notes from the Underground might be the best introduction, he basically sets up all his big ideas that later, larger works delve into

That guy just absolutely blows me away. I need to read Brothers Karamazov about 5 more times; and same with Crime and Punishment. And I just need to read and re-read everything that guy wrote. He strikes me as being to literature what Thomas Aquinas was to theology: glow in the dark smart.

On a total different note, in line with the Jack Reacher series, I've been enjoying Mark Greaney's Gray Man series as my nighttime, light reading. The whole Jack Ryan thing is pretty much my go-to genre for books and movies, and the Gray Man books are in that genre (Greaney co-wrote some of the Jack Ryan books and then took over writing a few more after Clancy's death). Also lots of "gun porn" stuff that appeals to folks like me.

Middlemarch by George Eliot is both funny, poignant, and one of the most "true" books I've ever read, even 150 years after it was written.

Starship Troopers is one of the great contemplations of citizenship and rights (and it's fun).

Pride and Prejudice is genuinely hilarious, a quick read, and really interesting to learn how much (and how little) changes in terms of people and money over several hundred years.

Edit: I see others recommended starship troopers too. It really is great, and genuinely nothing like the movie. If you want more Heinlein, I thought The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is also great.

Still glides the stream.

A very honest and moving account of the last rural generation.

The Glass Bead Game, Hesse
Victory, Joseph Conrad (obviously)
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Oh, I also want to recommend three more:

Gone With The Wind, by Mitchell. I had the idea that it was a "girly" book before I read it, but it's not. One of the best.

Buddenbrooks, by Mann. It's a similar flavor to The Good Earth.

All Quiet On The Western Front, by Remarque.

Re: Starship troopers, I remember being shocked by how much the John Scalzi book Old Man’s War ripped off the Starship Troopers premise while completely removing the philosophical thrust of the original and making it just another contemporary American sci-fi book. I guess people feel quite uncomfortable with Heinlein’s militaristic views (not views that I particularly agree with btw) but aren’t we supposed to challenge ourselves with our reading? I guess why that’s I enjoy older books - to be a little surprised and maybe even shocked by how different generations thought about things.

To this end I also highly recommend the book Shogun. James Clavell really transports you to the world of 17th century Japan, where people’s values, morality, and even sense of truth is completely different from ours. Having spent some time in Asia a lot of it rings true to me too. It’s definitely a book that will make you think about the world differently.

clark wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 22, 2023 6:39 pm

To this end I also highly recommend the book Shogun. James Clavell really transports you to the world of 17th century Japan, where people’s values, morality, and even sense of truth is completely different from ours. Having spent some time in Asia a lot of it rings true to me too. It’s definitely a book that will make you think about the world differently.

If you liked Shogun I also recommend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musashi_(novel) which is less known (in the west) but just as good.

For all the Reacher fans, try CS Forester's Hornblower series for similar hero that can not possibly fail

I spent a while thinking about this one. My recommendations would usually be based on the individual's interests, but the three I'd recommend based on the current social environment are:

Brave New World
Catch 22
1984

I think some books hit harder at a certain age.* Some others I considered that I really enjoyed:

Sometimes a Great Notion - Kesey
The Razor's Edge - Maugham
Of Human Bondage - Maugham
On the Road or Dharma Bums - Kerouac
+1 Siddhartha and Magister Ludi/The Glass Bead Game- Hesse
+1 East of Eden - Steinbeck
Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
+1 Confederacy of Dunces - Toole
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Pirsig
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek - Dillard
Bound for Glory - Guthrie
Motorcycle Diaries - Guevera
+1 Frankenstein - Shelly
On Liberty - Mill
Big Rock Candy Mountain - Stegner
Atlas Shrugged - Rand
Any early Vonnegut - (Sirens of Titan, Cats Cradle and Breakfast of Champions are my favorites).

I also really enjoyed Shantaram, All the Light we Cannot See, and most of Tom Robbins' books, which are more modern.

*I've found I need to be in the right mood for certain books. For example, the first two times I tried to read Catch 22 I couldn't get into it and gave up. Too much switching characters and perspectives. The third time I read it in a few days - laughed, teared up, and now consider it one of my favorite books.

First of all, as a southerner I am thrilled that NO ONE has mentioned To Kill a Mockingbird; good riddance.

But speaking of southern literature: anything by Flannery and anything by Harry crews, two of my absolute favorites. And anything by Wendell Berry as well: whether his fiction or his essays or his poetry.

Western Red Cedar wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 2:07 pm

I think some books hit harder at a certain age.*

"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready, the teacher will disappear."

I could mention a few books that I wasn't ready to appreciate when I first read them. I could also mention a few books that I once considered marvelous but now consider trite or naive. Whichever ones they are says more about me than the books, really. One's subjective state matters because reading is fundamentally about making an intersubjective connection between the reader and the writer---from the writer to the reader really because it's one-way-only.

@jacob Thanks for the Musashi recommendation! I will check it out.

Hi All,

This is my first post on the forum. I recently re-read the ERE book and I realized I hadn't noticed the Further Reading section at the very end.

There are lots of great recommendations there (many that are not just personal finance related) - Book of Five Rings, for example.

Here is a link: https://www.amazon.com/Early-Retirement ... 145360121X

Thanks!

Also, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is always fun. I feel like it is so underrated that it is almost unknown today.

AlpineTR wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:35 am

There are lots of great recommendations there (many that are not just personal finance related) - Book of Five Rings, for example.

Here's the list in full: https://earlyretirementextreme.com/furt ... books.html