ANSWERS: 33
  • 1)The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman (required for all that work with the public.) 2) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (required for all war mongers.) 3) Bold Spirit by Linda Hunt (required for all women in times of crisis.) 4) Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin (required for all Americans to understand back room politics.) 4) A Prayer for Owen Meaney (required for all Atheists. Smile. And recalcitrant transpiritualists like myself.) 5) The Life of Pi by Yan Martel (required for all spiritual floaters.) 6) Anything by David Sedaris (for all folks who think they no longer have a funny bone.)
  • The Yes Man by Danny Wallace. Yes, I do go on about this book, but I love it! It is truely inspirational, and funny at the same time!
  • I think all religious texts and philosophical doctrines should be both required reading and required for discussion. This might lead to less misunderstanding between peoples and most certainly prevent the purposeful misuse of these for nefarious, self-serving ends as we would all have equal footing. Sadly, though, first we would have to overcome the global problem of illiteracy and the far worse issue of apathy for such understanding.
  • I agree with teknimage about the "bibles" of the great philosophies - there is a reason they've weathered the vagaries of pop culture. From my own perspective about life changing reading I would add "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand (although this is also a philosophical "bible"); "The Haj" by Leon Uris; "The Diary of Anne Frank"; The Kama Sutra; "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles; "The Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison.
  • The Bible, closely followed by the Koran and all other major religious texts. I know that sounds weird coming from an atheist, but I think those probably count as the most discussed yet least read books of modern times. If you're going to follow a religion you need to know what's in it, and if you're going to disagree with one, you also kind of need to know what's in it. Apart from that I'd highly recommend "Sophie's World" by Jostein Gardner be on every 14 year old's reading list.
  • I am a big fan of history, so any historical biography quickly grabs my interest. The most interesting book I have read thus far is "The 33 Strategies of War" by Robert Greene. Publisher Comments: Robert Greene's groundbreaking guides, The 48 Laws of Power and The Art of Seduction, espouse profound, timeless lessons from the events of history to help readers vanquish an enemy or ensnare an unsuspecting victim. Now, with The 33 Strategies of War, Greene has crafted an important new addition to this ruthless and unique series. Spanning world civilizations, synthesizing dozens of political, philosophical, and religious texts and thousands of years of violent conflict, The 33 Strategies of War is a comprehensive guide to the subtle social game of everyday life informed by the most ingenious and effective military principles in war. Structured in Greene's trademark style, The 33 Strategies of War is the I-Ching of conflict, the contemporary companion to Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Abundantly illustrated with examples from history, including the folly and genius of everyone from Napoleon to Margaret Thatcher, Shaka the Zulu to Lord Nelson, Hannibal to Ulysses S. Grant, as well as movie moguls, Samurai swordsmen, and diplomats, each of the thirty-three chapters outlines a strategy that will help you win life's wars. Learn the offensive strategies that require you to maintain the initiative and negotiate from a position of strength, or the defensive strategies designed to help you respond to dangerous situations and avoid unwinnable wars. The great warriors of battlefields and drawing rooms alike demonstrate prudence, agility, balance, and calm, and a keen understanding that the rational, resourceful, and intuitive always defeat the panicked, the uncreative, and the stupid. An indispensable book, The 33 Strategies of War provides all the psychological ammunition you need to overcome patterns of failure and forever gain the upper hand. http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=0670034576
  • purpose driven life....
  • YES! If you love Fantasy you have to read The Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan (the 1st book is The Magicians Guild) It's GREAT!
  • People should read things that make them think; people should think about the past, present and future. Having said such I agree with the holy texts as I too am an athiest and have realized that one cannot disagree with something without knowing what they disagree with also here are some others: 1) Brave New World by Alduous Huxley 2) The Jungle by Upton Sinclair 3) A Spanish Lover by Joanne Trollop 4) Night by Eli Weisel 5) A Doll's House (its a play but i forgot the author)
  • The Shipping News by Annie Proulx (pronounced Proo)
  • No, not one. There are lots of great books, and certainly books contribute much to the enrichment of life. But nobody really needs them in order to live a satisfying and productive life. What we DO need is awareness, and lots of it. That comes from paying attention and taking care of the ordinary day-to-day experiences and activities we all share. In some Zen monasteries, the library was actually locked -- students were not allowed to expend their time reading the wisdom of others: their job was to discover and realize the truth themselves with steady and determined practice. Once they had achieved a stable foundation of understanding which was well grounded in their own experience, then the library became a harmless and even helpful place: somewhere where the insights of others could enrich their understanding without the danger of becoming dogma. The real truth has to be discovered by each person individually. It can't be stored up and re-hydrated by another later on. What we get from books can only point us down the road -- it's up to each of us individually to walk the path with our eyes open.
  • Tolstoi's "War and Peace".
  • String Theory?
  • How to Lie With Statistics by Darrell Huff. We're bombarded with statistics everyday, and people bow to the numbers without really understanding what those numbers are saying, what the difference between causation and correlation is, who funded the study, whether their source is biased, etc., etc.
  • Fareinhight 451 (sp) A Clockwork Orange The autobiography of Chief Blackhawk How to Win Friends by Dale Carnigie The Prince by Macheveilli(sp) Mien Kampf by Adolf Hitler (for educational purposes, not influencial ones) Anything by Fredriek Nietzche (sp) really I do read, spelling lacks though
  • Chicken Soup For The Soul is a good book to read when you are feeling down and on the verge of losing all faith in mankind.
  • Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury.
  • I have a list of required-reads for my daughter. (I'll break it to her in a couple years--when she's fourteen.) Here it is: The Scarlet Letter, Nat Hawthorne Moby Dick and Typee, Melville Camera Lucida, Barthes Great Expectations, Dickens The Odyssey and The Aneied Dante's Inferno Arabian Nights (Haddawy's translation) Archetypes and Strange Attractors, J R Van Eenwyk Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut Shakespeare (the comedies, tragedies, and romances--meh to the histories) Oh, also Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side
  • Bible, English History, American history from colonial times, US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Hamlet, Lear, Macbeth, Education of Henry Adams, Biographies of Lincoln, Don Quiote, Moby Dick, Essays Emerson...When you finish call me for more.
  • the book "born confuzed" was interesting. all about an indian girl growing up in a white society..and how she dosent think shes good enough. Its a cute love story and easy to relate too. Plus its realy easy to read.
  • I do not think that anyone should be required to read anything. I think reading should be encouraged though. In school, every book that I had to read as an assignment was always torture even though I enjoy reading. I think that people will get more out of books that they choose to read on their own rather than books that they are forced to read. I think that I could read the same book twice (first as an assignment and then by my own choice) and hate it the first time and love it the second.
  • Computers for dummies, it is a great start, to learning more about how to use the internet, since it is becoming a "you can't live without it item".
  • Naked Ape to Super Species - by David Suzuki. Incredibly well researched book with not only the problems of environment but also the direction out of this mess.
  • Reefer Madness "Reefer Madness expertly and entertainingly charts the course of the killer weed from Colonial hemp crops to the present proliferation of pot as the biggest underground industry since bootleg booze."—Playboy http://www.amazon.com/Reefer-Madness-Larry-Ratso-Sloman/dp/0312195230/ref=sr_1_1/103-7636713-3733422?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181995906&sr=1-1
  • Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
  • The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.
  • Yes. I would organize them by order of historical signifigance, but I'm not spending that kind of time ^_^ The Bible The Que'ran The Children of Men - PD James The Secret of NIMH Watership Down Anthem - Ayn Rand 1984 - George Orwell The Divine Comedy - Danté The Decameron - Giovanni Boccaccio (particularly the preface) The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien The Iliad - Homer The Odyssey - Homer The Aeneid - Vergil Everyman The Romance of the Rose (a mediaeval poem focused on chivalry and proper table manners) The Dialogues of Plato Aristotle's Politics The Confessions of St. Augustine The City of God - St Augustine Moby Dick - Hermann Melville The Faerie Queene - Sir Edmund Spencer Le Morte d' Arthur - Sir Thomas Malory Hamlet - Whomever Shakespeare stole it from Beowulf The Epic of Gilgamesh
  • Yes, I would make Steven Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People compulsory reading at secondary school, if nothing else to get across to children that they have a responsibility for their own actions and achievments, and that they will get where they want to only as a result of choices THEY make. I would also put Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist on the GSCE syllabus as a delightful and thought provoking tale with a real message of hope.
  • How to parent, if there is such an animal.
  • For the Ladies - Vehicle maintenence manuals For the Gentlemen - 'Treat her like a Lady'
  • The Bible. Even if you're not religious, the Bible comes up a lot in conversations.
  • "speak". it would decrease the rape rate if guys were required to read it.
  • Ayn Rand's books - to give you a better idea of what the world is like.

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