Alliance Fanatic Posted April 29, 2004 Report Share Posted April 29, 2004 This topic may be completely unrelated to the forum, but would just be interested in some peoples responses. My favorite book would have to be Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. I love how the main character in this book is compassionate with all of the people that he meets, and is willing to fight for a black man who has been wrongly accused of raping a white girl. The second book that I really liked is Huckleberry Finn. Strangely enough these books are also some of Pat Buchanan's favorites. Yet they are hated, and in fact boycotted by the NAACP, and many liberals in the states. Political Correctness to the Extreme Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seveneighty Posted April 29, 2004 Report Share Posted April 29, 2004 "1984". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willy Posted April 29, 2004 Report Share Posted April 29, 2004 My favorite book with at message. The Bible Another book that has made me think about why we do what we do is "Crime and Punishment" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alliance Fanatic Posted April 29, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2004 I liked 1984, and I also like Animal Farm. Another book that certainly deserves praise is Brave New World. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB Posted April 30, 2004 Report Share Posted April 30, 2004 i guess i become attached to various books at varying points i liked those mentioned double helix works by posner as a kid liked - oscar wilde plays Jack Welch & The GE Way Ronald Coase autobiography Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted April 30, 2004 Report Share Posted April 30, 2004 I've been wondering about this thread's question. I'll answer later. But, I'll post a comment now. RB, do you know this article? Coase Interview And is that Posner as in Richard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost in Manitoba Posted April 30, 2004 Report Share Posted April 30, 2004 As a series I have always thought of Dune as a great work. Beyond the SciFi, Herbert had a great sense of ecology, politics, and the interconnectivity of the two. A Prayer for Owen Meany by J.Irving is another favorite. Though I'm not religious I am moved by stories of faith and fate. World According to Garp is another one by Irving that makes both laugh and cry (in a masculine way). For Canadian works, I like Murther&Walking Spirits by Davies, Handmaids Tale by Munroe, Mercy Among the Children by Richards, and of course I must include Life of Pi by Yann Martel amongst my favorites. If you've read all of these, you probably have an inkling of what type of values I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB Posted April 30, 2004 Report Share Posted April 30, 2004 August 1991 well lets say i had to scrutinise Friedman's "the swedes got it right" in much detail sometime back - i liked coase work because of the creativeness of a simple idea that won the nobel oppose to say the fisher's model loaded with mathematics and economic theories is also creative and working solve able richard posner it is oh i have been forever meaning to read life of a pi - so soon i hope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August1991 Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 I'll read anything and everything and my only criteria is whether it keeps my interest. I just finished reading (for the second time) Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves and it left me with a disdain of the British class system. Very good book. Anyway, most impressive work of fiction with a message? Victor Hugo's Les Misérables and Emile Zola's Germinal. Not sure what the message was except life itself. Non-fiction? The book still wondering around my mind is David Friedman's Law's Order. I also liked Lewis Epstein's Relativity Visualized and Richard Dawkin's The Blind Watchmaker. ---- On a related note, here's an interesting series of pictures. And here's an interesting Java application based on an old movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durgan Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 Letters from Earth- Mark Twain. for Humans and God Tropic of Cancer- Henry Miller , for visiting a Catholic Church in Paris, and taking one of Ghandi's Disciples to a Whore house. Ponds End -Thoreau- how cheaply one can live and be healthy. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, for the poems about people and animals. SUPERSTITION IN ALL AGES By Jean Meslier 1732 - definitive book about all religions. Garrison Keeler, various books for dry humour. The Moccasin Telegraph and Other Indian Tales by W. P. Kinsella , for Canadian Indian stories as they are. Life and Loves by Frank Harris, for late 19 century and early 20th of the British Empire. The Crippled Tree by Hans Suyin for a personal view of China, to inspire further reading. Forty-one years in India by Frederick Sleigh Roberts for information on Afghanistan. The Prince by Nicolò Machiavelli, for political methods. Selected Stories bt Anton Chekhow, for human nature and short story perfection. These are off the top of my head. Durgan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Figleaf Posted September 11, 2006 Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 -The Six Great Humanistic Essays of John Stuart Mill, A.W. Levi, Ed. -Courtship Rite, Donald Kingsbury -Most things by Robert Anton Wilson (e.g. Schroedinger's Cat trilogy, Prometheus Rising) -V for Vendetta, Moore and Lloyd -Give Me Liberty, Miller and Gibbons -The Way Things Work, David Macaulay -the Dr. Seuss books -reference books -Tao Teh Ching, Lao Tzu -Essays of George Orwell, esp. "Politics and the English Language" -Brave New World, Aldous Huxley -Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny -The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams -New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics ... to name but a few. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Dancer Posted September 11, 2006 Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 Okay....for me a favourite book is one I've read and re read over and over....... Vanity Fair (the novel, not the mag....) Tom Jones (the novel, not the wag) A Tale of Two Cities The three Musketeers Twenty Years After Man In the Iron Mask Count of Monte Cristo (The novel not the sandwich) The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire The Illiad The Odessy Herodotus Histories Livy Histories of Rome Churchill History of the Second World War The Bible (KJV American Standard) Ivanhoe And so many more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffrey Posted September 11, 2006 Report Share Posted September 11, 2006 I've been a fan of very few books, I find reading fiction quite boring, non-fiction and reality is more of my cup of tea. That being said, I did enjoy on a political note 1984 and Brave New World, the only two good reads in high school English... The book "God's Secretaries: Making of the King James Bible" by Adam Nicolson is a good read though non-fiction. "A Thousand Barrels a Second" by Peter Tertzankian is an important reflection on the reality of our energy situation. "Saboteurs" by Andrew Nikiforuk (spelling?) about Wiebo Ludwig and his 'fight/terrorism' with the oil industry was a great read. Other than that, I've been condemned in the last week and before the summer to reading textbooks that would put anyone to sleep. Way too much reading of that boring material to have the patience to read more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theloniusfleabag Posted September 15, 2006 Report Share Posted September 15, 2006 In no particular order... Mein Kampf The War Hound and The World's Pain- Michael Moorcock. Brave New World The Count Of Monte Christo The Old Man And The Sea-Hemmingway Ecce Homo-Nietschze The Outsider-Camus Inside the Third Reich-Albert Speer and many more... I also enjoy reading any of the seven or eight diictionaries I own, particularly the one from 1942. I also enjoy reading the two 'Britannica Books of the Year' I have, from 1946 and 1961. A whole different perspective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
margrace Posted September 16, 2006 Report Share Posted September 16, 2006 As a series I have always thought of Dune as a great work. Beyond the SciFi, Herbert had a great sense of ecology, politics, and the interconnectivity of the two. A Prayer for Owen Meany by J.Irving is another favorite. Though I'm not religious I am moved by stories of faith and fate. World According to Garp is another one by Irving that makes both laugh and cry (in a masculine way). For Canadian works, I like Murther&Walking Spirits by Davies, Handmaids Tale by Munroe, Mercy Among the Children by Richards, and of course I must include Life of Pi by Yann Martel amongst my favorites. If you've read all of these, you probably have an inkling of what type of values I have. Sorry just had to reply as an ex librarian. I believe It was Margaret Atwood who wrote Handmaids Tale. But it was quite a book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
margrace Posted September 16, 2006 Report Share Posted September 16, 2006 I like whatever I am presently reading and It has to be good, and hold my attention. Right now reading Elizabeth George, english mystery series by an American. I like non-fiction as well David Graysons books. Nellie McClungs booKs, Taylor Caldwells books ,compare her Book the Balance Wheel to the war propaganda in L.M. Montgomery's later books. I read Les Miserables when I was in my early teens. The Bible certainly is a good read, Amazing stories in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClearWest Posted September 16, 2006 Report Share Posted September 16, 2006 I just recently got into John Stossel, a reporter who shares my political views. And I just had to check out the two books that he has published. Both of which are very good and highly recommended if you want to know more about small-government politics. They are titled: "Give me a break" and "Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity". As for politically-driven fiction, of course "1984", "Animal Farm" are quite interesting. And the juvenille fiction novel "The Giver" also offers a lot to contemplate. And of course, for sheer fun, Harry Potter! (There's bound to be someone here that loves them) (And yeah, they've got a message. A struggle between good and evil) But if I could choose to own only one set of books they would be The Holy Scriptures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Anthony Posted September 25, 2006 Report Share Posted September 25, 2006 But if I could choose to own only one set of books they would be The Holy Scriptures.I agree -- as far as "Favorite Book With A Message" is concerned. In the realm of "Favorite Book With An Influence On My Political Evolution" I have often spent time examining that question. If anybody cares, here is my list in chronological order: 1) "Perry Mason" mysteries by Erle Stanley Gardner - individual books are bland, most of them follow the same predictable pattern of story - the influence is cummulative after reading ALL of them - the author is extremely well-versed on the American justice system and the media business - each book contains a snippet of incite which led me to start doubting the superficiality of authority and the status quo 2) "On The Rock" by Alvin Karpis - the only Public Enemy #1 of his time to NOT get shot dead at a crime scene - biographical sketch of his life including his stay at and release from Alcatraz - he exposes a lot of slimey justice 3) Barry Goldwater's books (old and new) - he exposes a lot of slimey politics 3) "For A New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto" by Murray Rothbard (surprise!) - excellent book which helped form the logic and thinking patterns - however, it seemed a bit too permissive in certain issues for my liking 4) "Anarchist Cookbook" by William Powell (surprise, surprise!!!!) - picked it up mainly for its collector's value and intrigue at the time - a shamefully stupid book at best, written for terrorists and miscreants - directed me to understand the dissappointing confusion of the "anarchist" label These are just the highlights. Interspersed among the timeline would include various political rants, a few economics and game theory books and TONS of true crime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Dancer Posted September 25, 2006 Report Share Posted September 25, 2006 Favourite books with messages? Post Office by Charles Bukowski The Postman Always Rings Twice by James Cain The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Figleaf Posted September 25, 2006 Report Share Posted September 25, 2006 (edited) l Edited July 22, 2007 by Figleaf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Dancer Posted September 25, 2006 Report Share Posted September 25, 2006 Even More Books with (hidden) Messages..... (Inspector) Morse's Greatest Mystery and Other Stories by Colin Dexter The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco Enigma by Robert Harris The 39 Steps by (...our wacky Govenor General) Lord John Buchan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Figleaf Posted September 26, 2006 Report Share Posted September 26, 2006 (edited) p Edited July 22, 2007 by Figleaf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB Posted October 6, 2006 Report Share Posted October 6, 2006 Well more recently I read the last of the entirety of Grisham for fiction - I enjoyed them - its fun that the author gets to manipulate law, show flaws and twist The tipping point was provoking I am encouraged to read my kid's textbooks now-a-days, - I mean there is so much new information available for them to learn in science e.g. genes. I am still in school but not quite informed on everything I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ladyjen Posted October 11, 2006 Report Share Posted October 11, 2006 My favourite book is 'Jane Eyre' Charlotte Bronte, total fiction and the only message I can think of that it may be trying to convey is: never marry a man who you suspect has his first wife locked up in the attic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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