Some quick recommendations from my last month of reading.
Posted: 23 Feb 2009, 16:05
First I started with some fiction so i read:
The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
Fantastic book, very highly recommended, I read it after I read an article that said the song "Sympathy for the Devil" was based on this book, in the end I can see the similarities. It's not so much a devil-isn't-really-that-evil type of book. But it has a way of making you enjoy reading about him and his entourage. (which includes a very large cat named Bohemoth, who enjoys sipping vodka's, martini's, and altogether causing mischief)
Then I decided to catch up on some learned reading, I read "Why People Believe Weird Things"Michael Shermer as well as "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" Christopher Hitchens
The first is not terrible, and I'd only recommend it if you enjoy this type of reading, it contains in it a very large list of the mental fallacies people adapt to allow themselves to believe seemingly the unbelievable (such as ESP, speaking with the dead AKA Cold readers, the disbelief of the holocaust, religion) and breaks things down from a mental point of view. It's written by a quite strict 'skeptic' (in the good sense of the word) and I think it helps locate fallacies that even I had believed in some small way or another, though most of the examples are by and large, not small.
God is Not Great however, I would recommend to basically everyone, not only does he very eloquently lay out his reasoning and demolish some of the more ridiculous claims of religion. He does it without the pretense that he is some sort of "Enlightened Super-Genius) such as when you read from Dawkins, or even slightly Sam Harris (though i really enjoy Harris' works). Furthermore and this is simply a personal point of view, I'm a firm advocate of honest inquiry, and nothing should be off limits from an inquisitive mind, this book helps compile a lot of factual information, and won't toss it preachingly in your face.
Next up I went ahead with some sillyness reading, "Why Men Have Nipples, and other questions you'd only ask after your third martini"Mark Leyner.
Not only is it quite funny, making me laugh out loud on a few occasions, it teaches you quite a few things, such as why men have nipples, why do old ladies grow beards, and is the show ER accurate? Very quick read for anyone who reads even once in awhile. Highly recommend this one.
Months not over and I still have "The man in the high castle" which I'm starting very soon, and I'll probably throw another book in there before the end of the month, I'll add them to the list after I've finished!
~thomas
The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
Fantastic book, very highly recommended, I read it after I read an article that said the song "Sympathy for the Devil" was based on this book, in the end I can see the similarities. It's not so much a devil-isn't-really-that-evil type of book. But it has a way of making you enjoy reading about him and his entourage. (which includes a very large cat named Bohemoth, who enjoys sipping vodka's, martini's, and altogether causing mischief)
Then I decided to catch up on some learned reading, I read "Why People Believe Weird Things"Michael Shermer as well as "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" Christopher Hitchens
The first is not terrible, and I'd only recommend it if you enjoy this type of reading, it contains in it a very large list of the mental fallacies people adapt to allow themselves to believe seemingly the unbelievable (such as ESP, speaking with the dead AKA Cold readers, the disbelief of the holocaust, religion) and breaks things down from a mental point of view. It's written by a quite strict 'skeptic' (in the good sense of the word) and I think it helps locate fallacies that even I had believed in some small way or another, though most of the examples are by and large, not small.
God is Not Great however, I would recommend to basically everyone, not only does he very eloquently lay out his reasoning and demolish some of the more ridiculous claims of religion. He does it without the pretense that he is some sort of "Enlightened Super-Genius) such as when you read from Dawkins, or even slightly Sam Harris (though i really enjoy Harris' works). Furthermore and this is simply a personal point of view, I'm a firm advocate of honest inquiry, and nothing should be off limits from an inquisitive mind, this book helps compile a lot of factual information, and won't toss it preachingly in your face.
Next up I went ahead with some sillyness reading, "Why Men Have Nipples, and other questions you'd only ask after your third martini"Mark Leyner.
Not only is it quite funny, making me laugh out loud on a few occasions, it teaches you quite a few things, such as why men have nipples, why do old ladies grow beards, and is the show ER accurate? Very quick read for anyone who reads even once in awhile. Highly recommend this one.
Months not over and I still have "The man in the high castle" which I'm starting very soon, and I'll probably throw another book in there before the end of the month, I'll add them to the list after I've finished!
~thomas