Great Books that are must-read ?

Post Reply New Topic

@blooie,
I agree with The Giver. I haven't read your first two listings.
Do you know The Book Thief?

Yes I tried to read it but I couldn’t get into it
I liked the plot frm what my sister told me but the writer’s style was not right fr me . I cannot say a concrete reason why
You know how some writers ‘jive’ with you more than others?

Anything by Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkein, or Dr. Seuss.

Surprisingly few, but I don't know of a recent list comparable to the Harvard or Britannica ones.


I wouldn't regard any of those books, while no doubt entertaining, as being of groundbreaking intellectual importance, aside from the fact that the Harvard list is principally made up of nonfiction.

More recent additions would be

Bertrand Russell - Principia Mathematica
Ludwig Wittgenstein - Tractatus Logico Philosphicus
Karl Popper - The Logic of Scientific Discovery
Ibid - The Open Society
Friedrich Hayek - The Road to Serfdom
Michel Foucault - Les Mots et les Choses
BF Skinner - Walden Two
Ibid - Beyond Freedom and Dignity
Jacques Derrida - Of Grammatology
Noam Chomsky - Manufacturing Consent
Ayn Rand - Atlas Shrugged
Heidegger - Sein und Zeit
Sartre - Being and Nothingness
Franz Kafka - Metamorphosis
Thomas Mann - Doktor Faustus

To name the first to come to mind.

Right, but the thread isn't called "Books of Intellectual Importance".

If they are must-reads, they should be intellectually accessible for everyone.

I thought the thread was about books that are enjoyable and well written
That said it is interesting to see how ppl’s definition of good or enjoyable books varies so much n it illustrates how diverse our tastes are ASD doesn’t compartmentalize that

But your post was a response to Mr Kortie's complaint about the lack of recent intellectually important books on the Harvard list.

Personally, I don't think there's anything on the Harvard or Britannica lists (broadly the same) that would be intellectually beyond anybody of average intelligence, although someone of only averat intelligence may have to make a concerted and protracted effort to understand something like Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, which, unfortunately, the majority of people - even those with intellectual predilections - are unwilling to make except when they expect to make money out of, or impress others with, their knowledge of such subjects.

Your point about Myshkin's autism was interesting; it occurred to me, too. Personally, after Dostoyevsky's Alyosha Karamazov, Prince Myshkin is my favourite character in the fiction of the past two hundred years - every character, both in literature and film, whom I admire, seems to have autistic traits, though certainly they're more pronounced in Myshkin's case than any others I can think of.

Of course, there's also allegedly a link between autism and epilepsy. Dostoyevsky himself had epilepsy, though I don't know enough about his life, despite his being my favourite author, to say whether he himself had it - likely not.

Prometheus,
I was answering kortie's actual question which doesn't say 'intellectually-important', but you're right in that I overlooked his first statement. I do agree with your list and would add John Rawls A Theory of Justice.

Chomsky, though ... Agggghhh!

Robert Nozick - Anarchy, State and Utopia
Kuhn - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Milton Friedman - Capitalism and Freedom
John Maynard Keynes - General Theory of Employment
Michel Foucault - History of Sexuality

Chomsky is one of the most insightful and readable intellectuals of the past two generations or so.

By the way, I'm up to chapter sixteen of Wuthering Heights, though largely my view is the same as it was before.

As per my weak memory, Dostoyevsky was epileptic- ostensibly from the stress of Siberia, where he was exiled for a time.
My son has severe AsD and epilepsy both. No medicine or cocktail of medicines helps cure it- all we can do is observe and adjust. It changes all the time and the factors are so varying and difficult to identify. I hope research in neurology improves our understanding and treatment of epilepsy

Noam Chomsky, primarily it seems to me, is important in the field of linguistics.

He is considered, in some circles, important politically as well.

As far as being a "must-read"----I don't believe so.

The main problem with intellectually compelling books, for me, is they strain me emotionally. I have very strong and black and white feelings and such writing requires reserve and a certain detachment to accept conflicting viewpoints and complicated ideas. With me, my feelings, confusing as they may be, come before logic and rationale, and it agitates me. I may not realize exactly why I feel agitated but it’s almost too intellectually stimulating, precipitating shutdown
My little sister is devoted to intellectual books, philosophy, logic, history, and can tolerate, and even enjoys, conflicting views and complicated themes.
She wd be a great contributor to this thread for ppl like you.

Unfortunately she is not on the forum as she does not have AsD.

I take my "Intellectually Compelling" literature in the forms of Science-Fiction and Fantasy -- there is a lot of philosophy and logic inter-woven with the plot-line of a well-crafted story.

Gosh i tried to read his book in which he wrote essays arguing witj some french guy (the french guy was weirdly mean though) because of my sister’s recommendation and i cdnt handle it. These ppl go above my head

Chomsky revolutionised the field of linguistics in the late fifties and early sixties, but never did any particularly important work in the field after that, his focus switching almost entirely to politics.

It depends on your purpose, but I think minimal acquaintance with both Chomsky's linguistic and political ideas is most definitely essential for anybody aspiring to the title of "intellectual" today, though this disinherits me as, despite being aware of his political views, I have almost zero acquaintance with his linguistic work.