If you had to pick one written work with a message so fundamental that it continues to speak to mankind long after the author has died, what would that book be?
If you had to pick one written work with a message so fundamental that it continues to speak to mankind long after the author has died, what would that book be?
I am not even that religious, but if you read them right, I have to go with two books:
The Bible and the Quran
also the teachings of buddha
if you want to go fictional, it's getting more difficult, bud the Odyssee and the Iliad would be the obvious choices.
German, English, American Guy wrote:
I am not even that religious, but if you read them right, I have to go with two books:
The Bible and the Quran
also the teachings of buddha
if you want to go fictional, it's getting more difficult, bud the Odyssee and the Iliad would be the obvious choices.
The Bible and Quran are nothing but fictional
Illogical wrote:
[quote] The Bible and Quran are nothing but fictional
Fiction or not you won't find any other books with more impact on the world than these.
It doesn't take a whole lot to learn a little about what the other side has to say - just a little open-mindedness. Its attitudes like these that perpetuate ignorance and intolerance.
I agree with the books already suggested, but a couple more I would recommend are Dante's Inferno, Plato's Republic (essential, but I'll be honest, I did not enjoy reading it much), the Confucian Analects, The Prince by Machiavelli and Hamlet by Shakespeare. A personal favorite that isn't quite as essential would be On the Road by Jack Kerouac.
To me, the great books deepen one's self-knowledge and wisdom in a meaningful way. I would recommend Bonhoeffer's Letters and Papers from Prison, Aeschylus' Oresteia, Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago and Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur
Seal it wrote:
[quote]Illogical wrote:
Fiction or not you won't find any other books with more impact on the world than these
...which is exactly why the world is in such a low state today.
The most important works of all time are those of Ayn Rand. 2000 years from now, she will be more revered than Jesus is now.
Illogical wrote:
The Bible and Quran are nothing but fictional
Point taken. but I believe you know where I am coming from lsting them in a different category than the odysee.
searching for a new read wrote:
If you had to pick one written work with a message so fundamental that it continues to speak to mankind long after the author has died, what would that book be?
To the original posters point I'm not sure this question can be answered except on an individual basis. Each book has it's own influence on a particular person at a particular point in that persons life. I do know I love history books and learning how we got to where we are today. The more I read about history the more fascinated I am by it. I don't really like novels. I'm more a seeker of the truth. There's a book I'm reading now that probably wouldn't be on anyones top 100 or 1000 books to read but I'm intrigued by the information it provides. Things I didn't know about. The Discoverers by Boorstin. This guy does his homework and is a great writer. This book has been great fun for me so far. Cant wait to read another of his books The Creators.
the US Constitution.
The US was the first democratic republic. Now many nations use govts based off the ideas in the US Constitution.
Crimson wrote:
the US Constitution.
The US was the first democratic republic. Now many nations use govts based off the ideas in the US Constitution.
weait... wasn't THAT mostly derived from the ideas of the French Revolution?
The French Revolution was in-part started by the frenchies seeing the american revolution
Borges' Fictions
The Divine Comedy
The Canterbury Tales
The Iliad
The Aeneid
The Odyssey
Le Mort d'Arthur
Paradise Lost
Shakespeare's plays (my personal favs being The Tempest and Much Ado About Nothing)
Leaves of Grass
Reading these closely means you'll have a strong foundation of the source of a lot of ideas about both the modern world and almost all literature. You'll find doors open up in other books to alternate meanings - references to these works are all over the place and being able to understand them makes the experience of reading much richer (at least for me).
If you read from the oldest to the most modern, you'll understanding the building references (the invocation to the Muse that evolves from The Iliad to the Aeneid to the Divine Comedy to Paradise Lost, for example). However, sometimes it's a slog to read through the older stuff without a prof able to guide you through the meanings and put it into context.
Whoops, didn't read the OP's post clearly enough.
All those books are really tough to choose from. It's kind of a three-way split for me between Borges, Dante, and Whitman - Borges speaks to the mind, Dante to the soul of the Christian man, and Whitman to the transcendentalist.
I'm not a Christian, so I give my nod to Whitman. Read "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" - that's what turned me on to him. The experience of being directly spoken to from centuries past, where the author claims to know exactly how you feel now...it's powerful, and also probably true. The human experience is simultaneously universal and solitary, and understanding what we can share and how to share it effectively is one of the most important parts of living.
Gold Standar/Dollar Collapse wrote:
The most important works of all time are those of Ayn Rand. 2000 years from now, she will be more revered than Jesus is now.
Assuming that was not a trollish statement...
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Ayn Rand's books are quality ass-wiping material
Declaration of Independence - 1776
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen - Aug. 1789
U.S. Constitution - Sept. 1787
New French Constitution - Sept. 1791
How exactly did we derive much of the ideas from the French?
Ultramarathon man by Dean Karnazes
boingo wrote:
Borges' Fictions
The Divine Comedy
The Canterbury Tales
The Iliad
The Aeneid
The Odyssey
Le Mort d'Arthur
Paradise Lost
Shakespeare's plays (my personal favs being The Tempest and Much Ado About Nothing)
Leaves of Grass
Reading these closely means you'll have a strong foundation of the source of a lot of ideas about both the modern world and almost all literature. You'll find doors open up in other books to alternate meanings - references to these works are all over the place and being able to understand them makes the experience of reading much richer (at least for me).
If you read from the oldest to the most modern, you'll understanding the building references (the invocation to the Muse that evolves from The Iliad to the Aeneid to the Divine Comedy to Paradise Lost, for example). However, sometimes it's a slog to read through the older stuff without a prof able to guide you through the meanings and put it into context.
I agree with him assuming you add Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, Gilgamesh, Euripides' Bacchae, Pluto's Phaedo, Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, Cicero's De Officiis and Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire to the list.
My Early LIfe; Painting as a Pastime; WWII
[quote]German, English, American Guy wrote:
'I am not even that religious, but if you read them right, I have to go with two books:
The Bible and the Quran
if you want to go fictional'
Hmmm!