My Summer Reading - Thoughts?

So I've made a pile of books to read this summer. I buy books twice as fast as I read them, so it is overdue that I get going on my reading again. Lately I feel as though I've life's complexities have skyrocketed, and I feel I need new books to read to regain a better understanding of the world around me, particularly the social and political aspects.

Currently I am reading Anthem by Ayn Rand, along with various Hemingway short stories. Just read "the Snows of Kilimanjaro," which is fantastic, although it is exactly the politically charged writing I yearn for.

What I've got left to read:

Ayn Rand - The Romantic Manifesto
John Locke - Second Treatise of Government
Plato - The Symposium
Plato - the Republic
Machiavelli - The Prince
Marx & Engels - The Communist Manifesto
Woodward and Bernstein - All the President's Men (3/4 the way through)
Gregory Armstrong - Protest: Man Against Society (constantly read for inspiration)
Shakespeare - Othello
Gandhi - All Men Are Brothers


Does anyone have an suggestions? What order should I read these in? Some of them are a bit dated, so does anyone have any suggestions for contemporary literature?

reply to post by SubPop79


OMG! I'm reading Conn Iggulden's "Genghis: Birth of an Empire"

This is the second best book I have ever read!

Here is the synopsis, from www.goodreads.com...

He was born Temujin, the son of a khan, raised in a clan of hunters migrating across the rugged steppe. Temujin’s young life was shaped by a series of brutal acts: the betrayal of his father by a neighboring tribe and the abandonment of his entire family, cruelly left to die on the harsh plain. But Temujin endured—and from that moment on, he was driven by a singular fury: to survive in the face of death, to kill before being killed, and to conquer enemies who could come without warning from beyond the horizon.

Through a series of courageous raids against the Tartars, Temujin’s legend grew. And so did the challenges he faced—from the machinations of a Chinese ambassador to the brutal abduction of his young wife, Borte. Blessed with ferocious courage, it was the young warrior’s ability to learn, to imagine, and to judge the hearts of others that propelled him to greater and greater power. Until Temujin was chasing a vision: to unite many tribes into one, to make the earth tremble under the hoofbeats of a thousand warhorses, to subject unknown nations and even empires to his will.

reply to post by jiggerj


Is that actually about Ghengis Khan?

"The Infinite Concept of Cosmic Creation" - by Ernest L. Norman.

This book is like my bible.

Who Survives Disaster and Why by AmandaRipley.

reply to post by nixie_nox


That sounds good. That would be interesting to read after, so I would have a better idea of what I am I surviving.

Originally posted by SubPop79
reply to post by jiggerj

 

Is that actually about Ghengis Khan?

Yes, but it's historical fiction. How much is historical and how much is fiction I couldn't say. But, the writing is superb. I hate when stories get so bogged down in descriptions of the surroundings. In this book you don't even know it happens. Somehow you're just there.

reply to post by SubPop79


rex stout's: Fer de Lance
agatha christie's: the mysterious affair at styles
h.p. lovecrafts: the lurking fear
robert e. howard: conan
robert e. howard: solomon kane
w.h. pugmire: sesqua valley and other haunts

any of the above titles will wisk you away from the daily grind.

-subfab

reply to post by SubPop79


Three Books that I must recommend that have changed my perception of life and understanding of questions i have had. I have recommended these books to many people and they have thanked me endlessly and we have had such great conversations regarding their content and the questions and hypothesis raised and concluded.

1. The Lucifer Principle by Howard Bloom
2. The Hologpraphic Universe by Michael Talbot
3. The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh

The first two books are definitely great for the audience and members of ATS. I would also love to possibly get a new thread going to discuss these two books for anyone who has read them.

reply to post by SubPop79


Three books I might read again this summer:

The Necroscope (trilogy) - Brian Lumley.

Before I answer I have to ask why you read? For info? For entertainment? For escapism?