Books that blew you away

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Books that blew you away (Page 1 of 10)

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:44:38 PM EDT

I just finished a book that blew me away. '"The Cave and the Light: Plato vs. Aristotle and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization" by Arthur Herman. Along with Socrates, Plato and Aristotle are the "holy trinity" of Greek philosophers without whom Western Civilization would not have been possible. There were similarities in their philosophies, but some big differences as well. The author follows the influence of both through the ages, up through the early 20th century. Mind blowing to see how influential these guys were 2,000 years after they lived.

It has been said that the best books are the ones you can't stop reading. I have found that the best books are the ones that blow my mind so often that I have to put them down for a while and think about it. Then I pick it up and start the page over. This latest book was like that, and I estimate that I actually read it 3 times because it was so dense with ideas. Took me 5-6 weeks to finish it, very unusual for me. A typical novel (crime, mystery) is done in 2-3 days.

Other mind blowing books on my list: The Bible. Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics". Aristotle's "Metaphysics". Plato's "Republic". Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations". Steven Hawking's "A Brief History of Time". This is a partial list, and I don't pretend to understand everything in them. Quite the contrary, each can be studied for years and not know everything about them. That's why they're so damned good.

What books have blown your mind? Share them with me, GD.

Edit: "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl. Jeez, how could I possibly forget this? Forgive me, Mr. Frankl.

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:47:37 PM EDT

[#1]

When I was a sophomore in high school (1973) - Orwell's 1984.

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:50:45 PM EDT

[#2]

Last Citadel

Attached File

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:51:37 PM EDT

[#3]

Atlas Shrugged.

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:51:47 PM EDT

[#4]

Quote History

Quoted:
When I was a sophomore in high school (1973) - Orwell's 1984.

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Yes, that's a good one.

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever." Seems prescient, eh?

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:52:40 PM EDT

[#5]

Dick, Jane and Spot

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:52:59 PM EDT

[#6]

When I was in Grade School... "The Five Chinese Brothers"
As an Adult, "The Stand"

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:53:05 PM EDT

[#7]

Attached File

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:53:56 PM EDT

[#8]

Starship Troopers

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:54:08 PM EDT

[#9]

Quote History

Quoted:
Atlas Shrugged.

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I tried to wade through that one. Ayn Rand needed an editor to trim off the last 50 pages. Couldn't get into it, despite some truly excellent insights.

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:54:50 PM EDT

[#10]

Quote History

Quoted:
Starship Troopers

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Entertaining yes, not mind blowing.

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:54:52 PM EDT

[#11]

Unintended Consequences is amazing.

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:55:33 PM EDT

[#12]

Attached File

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:55:46 PM EDT

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:
Unintended Consequences is amazing.

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Another I tried to digest. Poorly written, poorly edited.

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:56:41 PM EDT

[#14]

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:57:03 PM EDT

[#15]

The best selling book of all time .

The Bible !!

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:57:18 PM EDT

[#16]

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:58:53 PM EDT

[#17]

The 3 that came to me were mentioned pretty quickly. The Stand, Unintended Consequences, and 1984.

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:59:13 PM EDT

[#18]

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig.

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:59:41 PM EDT

[#19]

Red Storm Rising

Alas Babylon

Old Man's War

Posted: 1/26/2021 8:59:57 PM EDT

[#20]

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:01:03 PM EDT

[#21]

OP,

I can see our tastes likely differ substantially, but I’ll throw Lonesome Dove out there as a book that’s hard for me to put down. Pretty much anything Larry McMurtry or Cormac McCarthy.

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:01:12 PM EDT

[#22]

Quote History

Quoted:

Another I tried to digest. Poorly written, poorly edited.

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Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Unintended Consequences is amazing.

Another I tried to digest. Poorly written, poorly edited.

You are both correct.

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:03:12 PM EDT

[#23]

I couldn't put down the Dragon Lance chronicles when I was a kid.

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:03:45 PM EDT

[#24]

Freddy the Detective by Walter Brooks.

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:05:14 PM EDT

[#25]

I have a library of mostly history and nonfiction. An aficionado, if not an addict, of books. At least weekly trips to a bookstore, frequently check out abebooks and other sites.

I can’t say any have blown my mind. Great interest, sure. Nail biting armchair adventures, like Into Thin Air, yes.

The only thing close to mind blowing was sitting in the Jefferson Reading Room of the Library of Congress reading Thomas Jefferson, a biography by Christopher Hitchens. Great man, wonderful author, sublime ambience.

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:05:32 PM EDT

[#26]

In for some ideas

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:06:24 PM EDT

[#27]

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo by Capt Ted W. Lawson

I read it when I was around 13, 35 years later and I still remember the part where he had leg amputated without anesthesia.

https://www.historynet.com/aviation-history-book-review-thirty-seconds-tokyo.htm

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:06:58 PM EDT

[#28]

The Gulag Archipelago

The Blue Book of Gun Values - read one edition straight through, took me 2+ days, no sleep.

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:07:29 PM EDT

[#29]

I'm a scifi guy.

Starship Troopers. I just keep reading it.

Old Man's War. Read it a few times, too.

Yellow Eyes. Watch on the Rhine.

Several of the books in the Drop Ship Troopers series were really good, too.

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:07:49 PM EDT

[#30]

I read mostly for enjoyment. The hobbit and the 3 fellowship of the ring books by tolkien are probably what got me hooked on science fiction.

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:07:50 PM EDT

[#31]

The Cross and the Switchblade
Atlas Shrugged
The Walking Drum
The King James Holy Bible
The Call of the Wild

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:07:58 PM EDT

[#32]

Walden. Above anything else.

Beyond that, nineteen eighty-four and We.

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:08:56 PM EDT

[#33]

Quote History

Quoted:
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

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If you like Orson Scott Card, check out his book "Lost and Found".

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:11:03 PM EDT

[#34]

Atlas Shrugged

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:11:50 PM EDT

[#35]

Animal farm

I’m sure school doesn’t require that one any more.

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:12:25 PM EDT

[#36]

"One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" made an impact on me, as did 1984. Somehow I think they tie in together.

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:14:05 PM EDT

[#37]

The Consolation of Philosophy (Penguin Classics version ) by Boethius

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:14:22 PM EDT

[#38]

Quote History

Quoted:

I tried to wade through that one. Ayn Rand needed an editor to trim off the last 50 pages. Couldn't get into it, despite some truly excellent insights.

View Quote View All Quotes

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Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Atlas Shrugged.

I tried to wade through that one. Ayn Rand needed an editor to trim off the last 50 pages. Couldn't get into it, despite some truly excellent insights.

I skipped most of John Galt's broadcast. 90% of readers of AS do

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:14:23 PM EDT

[#39]

The Book of Lies - Brad Meltzer

Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card

Master of the Game - Sidney Sheldon

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:14:50 PM EDT

[#40]

Quote History

Quoted:
OP,

I can see our tastes likely differ substantially, but I’ll throw Lonesome Dove out there as a book that’s hard for me to put down. Pretty much anything Cormac McCarthy. He can be a little dark tho...

View Quote

Our tastes are 100% aligned

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:16:06 PM EDT

[#41]

Quote History

Quoted:
I read mostly for enjoyment. The hobbit and the 3 fellowship of the ring books by tolkien are probably what got me hooked on science fiction.

View Quote

what's really mind-blowing is reading the Appendices to The Return of The King and beginning to understand Hobbit/LOTR is just the last 50 years of probably 10,000 years of rich and complex history.

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:18:02 PM EDT

[#42]

Blood Meridian

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:18:41 PM EDT

[#43]

Atlas Shrugged
1984
Animal Farm
LOTR trilogy

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:22:30 PM EDT

[#44]

Quote History

Quoted:
Animal farm

I'm sure school doesn't require that one any more.

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They still do. It's been renamed "How to be a Progressive in Five Easy Steps".

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:22:35 PM EDT

[#45]

Quote History

Quoted:
OP,

I can see our tastes likely differ substantially, but I’ll throw Lonesome Dove out there as a book that’s hard for me to put down. Pretty much anything Cormac McCarthy. He can be a little dark tho...

View Quote

Agree on Lonesome Dove, much better than the movie IMO.

OP
Just started Gates of Fire last night, I’ve read up to chapter 7 and will read a few more this evening. So far it’s really done a good job of showing the brutality of prior human existence when compared with modern times.

ETA- I always like Where the Red Fern Grows, been a few years since I last read it

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:23:19 PM EDT

[#46]

Atlas Shrugged
The Fountainhead

Posted: 1/26/2021 9:24:44 PM EDT

[#47]

Blew my mind and changed my life? I could go on for a long time but here are the ones that immediately come to mind.

Sapiens by Yuval Harari. Absolutely life changing - especially the part where he analyzes human happiness through history. Just damn . . .

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I was forced to read this by Major Leland at VMI . . . he said it was "the book that he knew that I needed". While folks bag on Rand due to her trying to make an entire philosophic world out of her thoughts she hits it right on the goddamn head in this book. A is A and a man who lives for others is a slave.

Anthem by Ayn Rand. I found this book due to a recommendation from a friend - the last 10 paragraphs absolutely changed my life. Check out my story if you're bored . . . .

Snowcrash and Cyptonomicon by Neil Stephenson. So much goodness here . . . if you're a nerd these two books are the Bible.

The Lord of the Rings. Freaking Tolkien INVENTED a genre and still hasn't been surpassed. I've read these books every fall since I was 13.

A Demon Haunted World and A Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan. The guy was a lefty all the way - but his view of rationality changed my life. Amazing writing.

Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein. I get my libertarian streak from him and reading these books.