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107 Comments
- chriswastaken, on 10/27/2009, -2/+48No "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?"
It's now the dominant source of information outselling Encyclopedia Galactica. - KimmyGibbler, on 06/29/2009, -0/+35I hate when articles like this assert that there "is precious little time to read". People don't read because they prefer TV and Xbox, not because they don't have time. Advocates of reading (like the writer of this article, I assume) shouldn't be offering proud non-readers like Kanye West such a convenient excuse
- DarkKnight5590, on 06/29/2009, -3/+28Is it okay that I disliked The Great Gatsby? I just can't get into those books that I was forced to read during High School.
It didn't suck me in or find entertaining at all. Not like World War Z or Ender's game. I've read many books but those old classical ones I can't get into them. I did enjoy 1984 and Animal Farm though those were amazing. - pathy, on 06/29/2009, -3/+28No, it isn't okay.
Go and ***** kill yourself for disliking a book, you ***** *****, how dare you have personal taste and individuality, you make me ***** SICK! - inactive, on 06/29/2009, -7/+21I'm making this comment because The Great Gatsby is awesome.
- mankyd, on 06/29/2009, -0/+13I just finished the Robert Fitzgerald's translation of the Odyssey. If you only ever read it in highschool, I *highly* recommend giving it another look. It's a stunningly fantastic story.
- schwab002, on 06/29/2009, -0/+11Temo1 isn't exactly writing a review. Criticism of Ayn Rand is just as common as praise for her. She was probably excluded from the list for how dividing she is. I guess he could have included her and offset it by adding some writing from someone like Rosa Luxemburg.
- SkateorDie, on 06/29/2009, -2/+11Where is Dune?
- SarcasticPirate, on 06/29/2009, -4/+12Tim, are you perhaps suggesting that the rich should leave America and make war with Britain?
Seriously though, I fail to see how the messages of "***** poor people" and "islands should not rule continents" have any pertinence whatsoever to modern America. Care to enlighten me? - ShiftyBizniss, on 06/29/2009, -0/+7Lord of the Flies FTW
- ruforealz, on 06/29/2009, -0/+7I was going to lay into you, but since you've only commented 30 times since joining in April and only Dugg 6 stories...
maybe you don't have time. - ricker2005, on 06/29/2009, -2/+9There's no way in hell that you should be so busy you have ~3 hours of free time in a week. There are 168 hours in a week. I'll give you 50 hours of work. An hour each way to work for ten hours total. Eight hours of sleep a night for 56 hours total. An hour to eat each day since you eat lunch at work most likely. That's 45 hours (or almost two full days) left for random activities. Even if you have 40 hours of chores and little kids soccer games, that's still 5 hours of free time left. And the reality is that if you have 40 hours of that stuff a week that you personally have to do then something is wrong with your time management.
- brainboy7777, on 06/29/2009, -0/+6The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Timeless classic, and one of the best books I've ever read.
- Asrrin29, on 06/29/2009, -2/+8Lord of the Flies?
1984?
I Am America (And So Can You!)?
ok, so that last one was a joke, but seriously, these lists are always incomplete. - Temo1, on 06/29/2009, -2/+7Well it's better to say you don't like it than be one of those idiots who just pretends to like it so as to seem cultured and sophisticated.
That said, it IS an important part of literary history. - inactive, on 06/29/2009, -0/+5You really might want re-visit some of the stuff you were required to read in high school, you might feel differently about it.I liked the Great Gasby much more after re-reading it a few years ago then I did when I was in high school.
- darkciti2, on 06/29/2009, -4/+9I dugg this article (not you) for not listing Atlas Shrugged.
- waisosrs, on 06/29/2009, -0/+5Nothing by Kurt Vonnegut or Douglas Adams? Buried.
- TimtheTaxMan, on 06/29/2009, -20/+25Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and Common Sense by Thomas Paine (pamphlet not a book I guess) should be on that list now more than ever.
- salmanjafri, on 06/29/2009, -1/+5Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson is one I'd add to the list.
- KJSatz, on 06/29/2009, -4/+8I'm currently reading Atlas Shrugged. It is a pretty nice read, though it is dauntingly long.
- darkciti2, on 06/29/2009, -0/+4I would've listed Freakanomics, but like any list there are hits and misses. Either way, dugg for giving me more books to add to the 'to do' list.
- Kidddrunkadelic, on 06/29/2009, -0/+3Shantaram
By Gregory David Roberts. - BriskT, on 06/29/2009, -0/+3dugg for Frankenstein... actually, that seems to be one of the only books on here that I've read.
- TimtheTaxMan, on 06/29/2009, -9/+12What a wonderful, insightful review. I never saw either of those books in that light. You should work for the New York Times.
- ktek, on 06/29/2009, -0/+3God you are annoying
- LightPhoenix, on 06/29/2009, -0/+3Not to mention all those people that have to work more than one job to support a family.
- Supertrout, on 06/29/2009, -3/+6Sometimes you can find some good (and free) PDF books here: http://www.scribd.com/
My suggestions for must reads:
The Dark Tower series - Stephen King
The Stand -Stephen King. - Neoanarchist, on 06/29/2009, -5/+8This list kind of sucked.
- digitalhair, on 06/29/2009, -0/+3Ah, yes, Atlas Shrugged... When I think back to the days when I was reading this doorstop of a book, I can't help but to picture what Middle Earth would have been like if the wizard Gandalf did not have the wisdom, strength of character, and parsimonious intellect to resist the temptation of taking possession of the Ring of Power when it was offered up to him...
Gandalf:
"Don't tempt me Frodo! I dare not take it. Not even to keep it safe. Understand Frodo, I would use this Ring from a desire to do good. But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine."
As Atlas Shrugged has become more popular over time, more and more people I run into out in the world seem to have lost their innocence these days... Just an observation... - nyxerebos, on 06/29/2009, -1/+4A little keyboarding shows remarkably few of these on TPB
- anatraj, on 06/29/2009, -0/+3Yeah, I didn't like most of the books we were forced to read either, but two of them I did like come to mind: Slaughterhouse Five and The Razor's Edge.
Actually, the more I think about it the more good one's come to mind. - celotil, on 06/29/2009, -0/+3I'd recommend the entire 25+ books of the Discworld, by Terry Pratchett. They're fiction, but there's interesting and amusing commentary in there about the world we live in, reflected back in a distorted mirror of a flat, magical world riding on the back of four giant elephants, standing on the back of a turtle, swimming through space.
The earlier Discworld books are less satirical commentary and more fantasy, but as you progress through the books (read in the order they were published) you'll find the writing getting more refined and the stories more interesting.
I'd also recommend Rune and Roofworld by Christopher Fowler. I spotted them in that mixed jumble bin at the newsagent at the train station and they weren't bad, although Rune went a little, skwiffy, at the end.
And if you liked Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive, then pick up a copy of Virtual Light, Idoru, and All Tomorrow's Parties, also by William Gibson.
Non-fiction? I don't know, I haven't read much non-fiction off-line for a while. One older book I have on my shelf is Fire in the Valley, a very in-depth look at the start of companies like Microsoft, Oracle, Apple, et-cetera, and it seems to be pretty non-biased in it's content. - inactive, on 06/29/2009, -0/+3And if you need a tedious fix, read bshock's comments.
- fernandor93, on 06/29/2009, -0/+3I'm surprised Air Guitar made it into that list--a great read indeed.
- Carrie76, on 06/29/2009, -0/+2I like Kindle if you are traveling and do not want to carry a lot of stuff with you. Personally, I like the smell and feeling of a good bookstore. Also, Kindle is a little hard to curl up with.
- inactive, on 06/29/2009, -0/+2Does anyone here actually read books off of the internet? Just curious.
- BriskT, on 06/29/2009, -0/+2what exactly are the Mississippi books, by Twain? Is that referring to Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer? Are there any others?
- museamongmen, on 06/29/2009, -0/+2I really did like The Great Gatsby (though I can understand why many people don't like it). It is one of the few books whose prose really stuck with me, it is simply so refined and memorable, I think I actually have a couple lines memorized. It is a short book, so worth a read if you haven't gotten to it yet.
An interesting list. - soez, on 06/29/2009, -0/+2Out of the books I was forced to read, I enjoyed The Great Gatsby, Catch-22, and 1984.
- DCMarkie, on 06/29/2009, -0/+2Frankenstein is on Project Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/84 - ilithium, on 06/29/2009, -0/+2The Illuminatus! Trilogy, by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.
- inactive, on 06/29/2009, -0/+2That's *the* American novel.
- Frostek, on 06/29/2009, -0/+2Nope - I like my books "real".
- timpoke8, on 06/29/2009, -0/+2The Looming Tower is a very important book to read if you want to understand the evolution of radical Islam.
- diggystardust, on 06/29/2009, -2/+4Hell Yes. Fountainhead FTW.
- SarcasticPirate, on 06/29/2009, -4/+6Actually Tim, while Paine does talk about the things you mentioned, I was paraphrasing one of his primary arguments: "Small islands not capable of protecting themselves are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there is something very absurd in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island."
I also stand by my statement about Rand - Atlas Shrugged is basically a reaction to the labor movement during the late 19th/early 20th century as told from the perspective of those who own industry and have amassed wealth. They bitch about how collectivism among the working poor has cut into "the productive members of society's" bottom line, so they decide to go on strike themselves. This causes the economy and the government to collapse, leading to what amounts to a coup to establish a society which rewards the worst of capitalism and those who exploit it for their own massive material gains. Sounds a lot like "***** the poor" to me - which was a lot quicker to type.
Also, you have yet to explain why either of these books apply to modern America, especially Rand's monstrous, ranting diatribes against the poor and working classes. - Grolsch, on 06/29/2009, -0/+2Those are some ***** random books I've never heard of. Those books are not even classics are they?
You might as well go here, pick a book and start reading.
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestno ... - krnelson, on 06/29/2009, -3/+5interesting to note the inclusion of female voices on this 'modern' list.. but we're still missing greats like Zadie Smith, Margaret Atwood, Zora Neal Hurston...
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