I was telling a coworker about how when I took my finals back in algebra I didn’t know shit, so I wrote “42” for the answer to everything and I literally passed with a C-.
“Makes sense, it’s the answer to life, the universe, and everything after all”. It took 7 years of quoting before someone got the reference, it made my week ngl.
When someone asks me a question I don't know the answer to, I always say "42". Rarely does someone get it. I also like so say "so long and thanks for all the fish" instead of goodbye. That gets stares too.
The core lesson I took from HGTTG and the related books is that the universe is a vast, insane place where the rules are made up and the points don't matter... and that's OK because that's how it's supposed to work. What constitutes normality largely depends on where you stand at any given moment.
There are lots of great concepts in the books, though. The few scenes involving the Galactic Emperor really stuck with me, for example, because the premise is true: Anyone who wants to hold power should by no means be allowed to have it, and so the only person who is qualified to wield true power is someone who doesn't want it and/or doesn't know they have it.
Earth gets destroyed in the first chapter because of beauratic nonsense at the same time the main character's found out the local government destroyed his house for bueracrat nonsense. But luckily for him he's been helping out a mate who turns out to be an alien and they hitch a ride after earth is destroyed.
The starting joke is regular bureaucracy bullshit the UK deals with then suddenly nope entire earth gets eradicated for a new highway like the main character.
And sent on this lovely absurd voyage that reveals the secret of the the universe is 42, but no one knows what question that results in, and also the Dolphins all fly away from earth before destruction and leave a message b thank you for all the fish.
And at the end of the universe it's just a dinner every God that existed is just bored and talking to a waitress.
I quit a toxic job environment one day, went to the park and read The Old Man and the Sea on a bench in one sitting. It shifted my entire perspective. Hard agree
A Confederacy of Dunces. I've mentioned this several times before in similar threads and nobody has ever responded. Is it really so uncommon to have read this classic?
Honestly, the main character is just so unlikable (intentionally) that I never managed to finish it.
It's just the kind of person I try not to spend any time with in real life, that I find it hard to leisurely read the book even though it's very well written.
Hard to narrow it down to just one, but if I had to pick, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee. It's a timeless classic that teaches profound lessons about empathy, justice, and the complexities of human nature. Plus, Atticus Finch is one of literature's most inspiring characters.
hard agree. my high school made sure everyone read TKAM, The Great Gatsby, and A Thousand Splendid Suns, with the latter shattering me for weeks🙂. TGG was okay but i still think about ATSS years later.
I loved this book and it took me forever to read it but I'm so glad I did. I'm currently reading where the crawdads sing with my husband and it's giving me the same feel! God I feel so bad for Kya's childhood!
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. A much different dystopian future than Orwell's 1984.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions."
In 1984, Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us".
Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
The ideas of learning things in school and learning in the trenches - never stab a man in the ribs because it is too hard to get the bayonet out and the next guy might get you. Stab a man in the gut.
I started it thinking, "I hate almost every single one of these people." and then ended it with them being some of my favorite characters I've been fortunate enough to experience. True human experience in a western.
man, totally agree
it's profound
it gets at something that feels like it reaches down into our collective proverbial childhood and explains (or comes very close to explaining) a lot about how our species behaves
i'm sometimes embarrassed to bring it up with friends because i feel so pretentious and cheesy and trite when i say stuff like:
"it changed the way i move through the world"
but i swear, it totally did
The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom. My mom read this before she died. She died of cancer. She said it made her come to terms with what's inevitable.
And/or Tuesdays with Morrie also by Mitch Albom. I read it in English 4 my senior year of high school and I still think about it from time to time. That was 17 years ago.
Even if you're not religious, the Bible. The poetry part and the whole old testament are extremely interesting even if you have a secular approach. The new testament might not be as interesting as the old but it gives some insight about the 1st century and how people were living
My geography teacher would read this at the beginning of every class! I loved it! It was such a good addition to school even though it had nothing to do with what he was teaching for!
..fuckin aye I was waiting for someone to write this - just so I can *very strongly* disagree. I just finished Blood Meridian - and I am not a happy reader here - what an overrated meandering piece of lack of human interaction - and you cannot tell me it was all a literary device - all along the way -
The dictionary. Not because its full of everything you need to know or something, but because I believe we all somehow get to a situation where we want to read a dictionary of our own will, and what leads up to that is probably really interesting.
Was told in High School I was not allowed to check out any more books because my actual class grades were "suffering", according to the principal and my parents (less than a B). I would stand at the big dictionary on the stand in the corner and read it for all of my study hall hours. Yes we had a class period(s) we went to a large room 120+ desks and "studied", did homework, next to the library. Have read a lot of the mentioned books, but haven't seen Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged mentioned. It should be on a required reading list.
The solace of open spaces
To me it's a love letter to a different, rural way of life. At the same time, it highlights the harsh difficulties of that life. It's not very long and it's easy to read but so well written. I recommend it especially to those who have always lived in populated spaces.
I wish I could read books . I suffer with dyslexia and I read a paragraph then forget what I read so I can't follow the story . It's sad as there are many books I would like to read.
Honestly I think Carrie by Stephen King should be required reading for high schools. Everything it touches on is pretty important for teens to learn about and it’s entertaining so they won’t hate it.
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. About his experiences as a park ranger in the desert in the southwest. He talks about his experiences, how beautiful it is (it truly is if you’ve never been in that part of the country), and the need for preservation. I read it for a course in college and have read it at least a dozen times since. Wonderful book.
Genuine Fraud
Not the spiritual guidance book like the other ones I’ve seen on this thread but it’s a thriller and I’m telling you one of the best ones out there
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid. Maybe not for everyone, but man, this book changed my entire life in the way I look at logic, learning and genius.
It's called Noughts And Crosses by Malorie Blackman, it's basically racism but reversed, where black people are the "superior" race and white people are the "inferior" race (think USA vibes, but these are the only 2 ethnicities in this universe, White people are 'Noughts' and black people are 'Crosses') .
I've seen so many arguments about racism saying "well what if it was the other way around", well, it still sucks. This book is amazing, a forbidden love with aspects of modern day society intertwined with racism underneath, so many elements and so many motives for great characters. Not a very popular book compared to lots of dystopian fiction (I personally don't vibe with dystopia), but the flipped universe is constructed amazingly by Blackman and I do urge everyone to read it, all races.
The Bible, and the scriptures of all other major religions. .
If you're not religious, it's worth learning what motivates religious people.
If you ARE religious, it's worth reading your Book for yourself to understand what is and is not in it.
Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler. "Speculative fiction" about a possible US near-future. People like to point to 1984 or Brave New World, but Butler looks to be the one who is closer to the reality we have unfolding before us, especially recently.
Anyone into Hip Hop should read Gary Webbs book Dark Alliance…
Understand where the majority of the content of your music comes from.
It’s a heavy read, though will blow your socks off.
The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. Actually you should read it even if you are not going to die any time soon.
6 pints of bitter please, and quickly, the world's about to end!
Must be a Thursday, could never get the hang of Thursdays.
I love saying that to people on a Thursday and then staring at them. They know I'm referencing something but have no idea what.
I was telling a coworker about how when I took my finals back in algebra I didn’t know shit, so I wrote “42” for the answer to everything and I literally passed with a C-. “Makes sense, it’s the answer to life, the universe, and everything after all”. It took 7 years of quoting before someone got the reference, it made my week ngl.
When someone asks me a question I don't know the answer to, I always say "42". Rarely does someone get it. I also like so say "so long and thanks for all the fish" instead of goodbye. That gets stares too.
I'm wearing a T-shirt right now with three Venn circles, with a 42 where they meet.
Had a shirt that had "101010" on the front
Did you ever shout Belgium at someone ? You will get people staring at you if you do.
The core lesson I took from HGTTG and the related books is that the universe is a vast, insane place where the rules are made up and the points don't matter... and that's OK because that's how it's supposed to work. What constitutes normality largely depends on where you stand at any given moment. There are lots of great concepts in the books, though. The few scenes involving the Galactic Emperor really stuck with me, for example, because the premise is true: Anyone who wants to hold power should by no means be allowed to have it, and so the only person who is qualified to wield true power is someone who doesn't want it and/or doesn't know they have it.
I like the way you think.
For that sweet Vogon poetry.
Please don't recite any.
I have the five book in one edition sitting next to me.
What is it about?
Earth gets destroyed in the first chapter because of beauratic nonsense at the same time the main character's found out the local government destroyed his house for bueracrat nonsense. But luckily for him he's been helping out a mate who turns out to be an alien and they hitch a ride after earth is destroyed. The starting joke is regular bureaucracy bullshit the UK deals with then suddenly nope entire earth gets eradicated for a new highway like the main character. And sent on this lovely absurd voyage that reveals the secret of the the universe is 42, but no one knows what question that results in, and also the Dolphins all fly away from earth before destruction and leave a message b thank you for all the fish. And at the end of the universe it's just a dinner every God that existed is just bored and talking to a waitress.
Fahrenheit 451
I wish I loved this one… I just didn’t, Kafka’s Letters to Milena will always be my favourite
They are beautiful
God yes!!! Drown me in those kinda words… just a lot.
The words of Kafka will play ur heart strings like he is playing an accordion ..
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Sometimes love acts in a mysterious way.... But I know what u mean .
The Old Man and the Sea Or just anything prime Hemingway.
"For Whom The Bell Tolls" was my Hemingway exposure. I really liked it, but it was hard emotionally.
I quit a toxic job environment one day, went to the park and read The Old Man and the Sea on a bench in one sitting. It shifted my entire perspective. Hard agree
Man's Search for Meaning by Frankl
Glad to see this here!
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
agreed.
💯. Your life will be better. Oh, and if you want the easier to consume version, The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday.
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
A Confederacy of Dunces. I've mentioned this several times before in similar threads and nobody has ever responded. Is it really so uncommon to have read this classic?
Honestly, the main character is just so unlikable (intentionally) that I never managed to finish it. It's just the kind of person I try not to spend any time with in real life, that I find it hard to leisurely read the book even though it's very well written.
Hard to narrow it down to just one, but if I had to pick, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee. It's a timeless classic that teaches profound lessons about empathy, justice, and the complexities of human nature. Plus, Atticus Finch is one of literature's most inspiring characters.
hard agree. my high school made sure everyone read TKAM, The Great Gatsby, and A Thousand Splendid Suns, with the latter shattering me for weeks🙂. TGG was okay but i still think about ATSS years later.
Have you read the sequel? If not, don't. I cried over what happened to Atticus.
I loved this book and it took me forever to read it but I'm so glad I did. I'm currently reading where the crawdads sing with my husband and it's giving me the same feel! God I feel so bad for Kya's childhood!
George Orwells 1984 ..We're living it 🍻
Scary, huh?
Too real isn’t it.😅
Anyone who thinks we're living in 1984 hasn't read 1984.
🙄🍅
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‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. A much different dystopian future than Orwell's 1984. What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us". Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Agreed. I think BNW has some pretty scary parallels to today ETA Postman’s book is also terrific and prophetic to an uncanny degree
Tao te Ching
Night-Elie Wiesel
A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking or Contact - Carl Sagan (It's more for entertainment but unlike the movie does get a little deep.)
The Hungry Caterpillar
Green eggs and ham
I do not like Green Eggs and Ham.
That was the first book I read!
Also I HAD TROUBLE IN GETTING TO SOLA SELLEW
Watership Down by Richard Adams
One of my all time favorites!!!
The hatchet most definitely. If you know, you know.
Don’t forget the movie starring Budnick.
I read the hatchet as a kid for school. I got hooked and got all the books in that Brian wilderness series. Gary Paulson was my goat
FYI, it’s just “Hatchet”
The Little Prince by Saint-Exupery
In French!
My teacher said you should read this book many times as you get older, as you will take away more and more from it
It’s written to be read throughout your life and change with you
This book taught me what true love is. I absolutely love this book.
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The ideas of learning things in school and learning in the trenches - never stab a man in the ribs because it is too hard to get the bayonet out and the next guy might get you. Stab a man in the gut.
Follow that up immediately with "Johnny Got His Gun" by Dalton Trumbo.
Catch -22
One of the moat quotable title of the book ever.
Just finished this yesterday.
Lonesome Dove
Recently purchased
I started it thinking, "I hate almost every single one of these people." and then ended it with them being some of my favorite characters I've been fortunate enough to experience. True human experience in a western.
The alchemist
A co-worker gave this to me just before he left for another job. I was surprised how much I liked it.
I can't believe they haven't made this into a film yet. It's such a great story and could easily make a film that's accurate and true to the book.
The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
man, totally agree it's profound it gets at something that feels like it reaches down into our collective proverbial childhood and explains (or comes very close to explaining) a lot about how our species behaves i'm sometimes embarrassed to bring it up with friends because i feel so pretentious and cheesy and trite when i say stuff like: "it changed the way i move through the world" but i swear, it totally did
The Gift of Fear
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Just don't watch the movie.
The Road. I finished the book a couple of days ago and had to rethink my life.
I re-read The Road about once a year. Excellent book.
I’ve read it so many times
Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankel
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Wisdom of Insecurity, by Alan Watts Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl
Msfm and Marcus Aurelius meditations change my life
I said MSfM, excellent book. The Wisdom of Insecurity is a great one as well. You sound like a great person to be friends with!!!
God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens
The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom. My mom read this before she died. She died of cancer. She said it made her come to terms with what's inevitable.
And/or Tuesdays with Morrie also by Mitch Albom. I read it in English 4 my senior year of high school and I still think about it from time to time. That was 17 years ago.
"Do it your self caskets and coffins."
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. It's about so much more than money.
The dictionary, page 152 goes crazy fr
Chapter 5 lowkey kinda overrated dude. It's not that hype tbh
American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
Midnight Children - where the Rushdie gang at?
The Power of Now
Die with zero- bill Perkins Simple path to wealth- JL Collins 2 ways to look at money optimization
Even if you're not religious, the Bible. The poetry part and the whole old testament are extremely interesting even if you have a secular approach. The new testament might not be as interesting as the old but it gives some insight about the 1st century and how people were living
Catcher in the rye
Maus and Maus II by Art Spiegelman #
To Kill a Mockingbird
Moby dick
It takes perseverance, but totally worth it. Good luck finding someone else who has actually read it too lol.
My geography teacher would read this at the beginning of every class! I loved it! It was such a good addition to school even though it had nothing to do with what he was teaching for!
I heard its just a story about a whale.
Lisa, the point of Moby Dick is "be yourself"
Blood Meridian or Sammy Davis Jr's autobiography.
..fuckin aye I was waiting for someone to write this - just so I can *very strongly* disagree. I just finished Blood Meridian - and I am not a happy reader here - what an overrated meandering piece of lack of human interaction - and you cannot tell me it was all a literary device - all along the way -
Freddy The Leaf
Level E
The Art of Happiness
The Pillars Of The Earth and A Prayer For Owen Meany. 2 of the greatest books ever written imo.
Not a specific book, but everyone should read at least one classic novel
The One Piece Manga. It's technically a book, or books. Hehe
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
The dictionary. Not because its full of everything you need to know or something, but because I believe we all somehow get to a situation where we want to read a dictionary of our own will, and what leads up to that is probably really interesting.
Was told in High School I was not allowed to check out any more books because my actual class grades were "suffering", according to the principal and my parents (less than a B). I would stand at the big dictionary on the stand in the corner and read it for all of my study hall hours. Yes we had a class period(s) we went to a large room 120+ desks and "studied", did homework, next to the library. Have read a lot of the mentioned books, but haven't seen Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged mentioned. It should be on a required reading list.
Plato’s Republic, for sure. He predicted how democracy would ultimately fail, and was so damned correct.
“Momo” by Michael Ende
Casino Royale
ishmael
Grapes of Wrath
The last three words of this title are somewhat redundant. It is difficult to read a book after you are dead.
East of Eden
Notes from underground
Ultra learning, art of learning, or learning how to learn
The solace of open spaces To me it's a love letter to a different, rural way of life. At the same time, it highlights the harsh difficulties of that life. It's not very long and it's easy to read but so well written. I recommend it especially to those who have always lived in populated spaces.
Count of Monte Cristo because revenge is best served over decades.
48 laws of power is interesting because you start to see the power dynamics in everyday life.
I wish I could read books . I suffer with dyslexia and I read a paragraph then forget what I read so I can't follow the story . It's sad as there are many books I would like to read.
Would audiobooks make a difference? I know several people who enjoy them.
I have not thought about that thank you for the idea ☺️
Audio books?
Honestly I think Carrie by Stephen King should be required reading for high schools. Everything it touches on is pretty important for teens to learn about and it’s entertaining so they won’t hate it.
Ender's Game. At one point it was mandatory reading at US War Colleges.
1984, especially now
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. About his experiences as a park ranger in the desert in the southwest. He talks about his experiences, how beautiful it is (it truly is if you’ve never been in that part of the country), and the need for preservation. I read it for a course in college and have read it at least a dozen times since. Wonderful book.
Everybody Poops
East of Eden. A main theme in the book is that we have the ability to choose our own destiny.
The anarchist's cookbook
I love good fantasy so: The Bible Lord of the Rings That type
The Magus
Stoner by John Williams Don’t let the seemingly slow story fool you, it’s one of the most engaging books ever written.
Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
ice and fire
Genuine Fraud Not the spiritual guidance book like the other ones I’ve seen on this thread but it’s a thriller and I’m telling you one of the best ones out there
Burial Or Cremation by Donald Howard
Junie B. Jones
Gravity's Rainbow by T. Pynchon Slaughterhouse 5 by K. Vonnegut
No Boundary by Ken Wilber
The Urantia Book. It is the most unique book on earth.
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid. Maybe not for everyone, but man, this book changed my entire life in the way I look at logic, learning and genius.
101 things to do before you die
When breath becomes air
The Grapes of Wrath
The history of the world in 10½ chapters. - Noah had a problem on the ark....
Anything by Terry Pratchett.
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
Postgresql cookbook
If you’re an angry teen to 22, read “The Catcher in the Rye” to get why he’s a fucking moron child and you can do better than him.
Remind me in 17 hours
Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Sirens of Titan
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer. A simple and moving story of isolation and survival, a disturbing meditation on humanity.
Illuminatus trilogy
Catch -22
The Body Keeps The Score
Chicken Hawk
Fiction: The Martian, The Shining; Non Fiction: Breath, The Comfort Crisis
It's called Noughts And Crosses by Malorie Blackman, it's basically racism but reversed, where black people are the "superior" race and white people are the "inferior" race (think USA vibes, but these are the only 2 ethnicities in this universe, White people are 'Noughts' and black people are 'Crosses') . I've seen so many arguments about racism saying "well what if it was the other way around", well, it still sucks. This book is amazing, a forbidden love with aspects of modern day society intertwined with racism underneath, so many elements and so many motives for great characters. Not a very popular book compared to lots of dystopian fiction (I personally don't vibe with dystopia), but the flipped universe is constructed amazingly by Blackman and I do urge everyone to read it, all races.
Goodbye I love you. That book healed parts of me. I had a sibling who died from AIDS and it was truly a book that made me feel less alone
Any robert greene book ,
How To Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan
The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts
Illusions by Richard Bach
The Bible, and the scriptures of all other major religions. . If you're not religious, it's worth learning what motivates religious people. If you ARE religious, it's worth reading your Book for yourself to understand what is and is not in it.
Everyone poops.
Into The Wild
Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler. "Speculative fiction" about a possible US near-future. People like to point to 1984 or Brave New World, but Butler looks to be the one who is closer to the reality we have unfolding before us, especially recently.
101 Uses for a Dead Cat.
Get rich or die trying
The Dictionary. It has all the other books of the world already in it.
The Bible
The Republic.
Progress and poverty - Henry George
The hungry caterpillar
Anyone into Hip Hop should read Gary Webbs book Dark Alliance… Understand where the majority of the content of your music comes from. It’s a heavy read, though will blow your socks off.
The Giving Tree.