What are some great intellectual books you have read?

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iBlockhead
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23 Apr 2014, 11:15 am

I found all of these rather quick reads, and were very good:

Mistakes were Made (But Not by Me) by Carol Tavris and Eliot Aronson

The Demon-Haunted World (Science as a Candle in the Dark) by Carl Sagan and Anne Druyan

Polio: An American Story by David Oshinsky



Ganondox
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23 Apr 2014, 12:45 pm

I'd suggest A Brave New World. It really changes the way you look at life, and it's provided more meaning in my life than any other book. Metamorphosis is good too, but it's really, really dark, so you need to brace yourself for that one.


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yelekam
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16 May 2014, 5:02 am

Plato's The Republic- One of Plato's great works and one that well portrayed platonic notions of the form of Good, the nature of Justice, and the proper order of society and government.

Plato's Gorgias- an interesting dialogue debating two opposing views of the good life, the life of virtue of the philosopher and the hedonist life of the orator.

Ideas have Consequences by Richard Weaver- A book that hypothesizes and analyzes the causes and course of the decline of western civilization, as well as speculate as to what is needed to fix the decline, and in the process makes the case for philosophic realism and a series of ethical and cultural principles.

As a Man Thinkith by James Allen- James Allen's key work for laying out his philosophy on how a person's mental state effects their success.

The Dhammapada, translated by Eknath Easwaran- A book detailing the key ideas of early Buddhist thought, relying largely on quotations from Siddhartha Gautama himself.

The Reformation by Owen Chadwick- A book analyzing the nature of the causes, course, and result of the protestant reformation.



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16 May 2014, 8:15 am

The Inner Citadel by Pierre Hadot.

The Moral Letters by Seneca.


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18 May 2014, 9:34 am

Am just now reading Subliminal: How your unconscious mind rules your behaviour by Leonard Mlodinow (2012) and I'd recommend it. Really readable plus interesting.


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18 May 2014, 9:35 am

Ganondox wrote:
I'd suggest A Brave New World. It really changes the way you look at life, and it's provided more meaning in my life than any other book. Metamorphosis is good too, but it's really, really dark, so you need to brace yourself for that one.


Yes, and I read The Giver by Lois Lowry last year.


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