Inspired by this thread: http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1669558_Neil_deGrasse_Tyson_lists_8_books_all_intelligent_people_should_read_.html&page=3

1.) The Bible

Everybody can take something from it. Give it a shot.

2.) Ghost Wars, by Steve Coll

A comprehensive history regarding Afghanistan, the CIA's involvement, and the history of Al Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden. It also provides great details, and information about other countries in the area and how they operated. It should be required reading for anybody in an intelligence service.

2.) A Brief History of Time, by Steven Hawking

This book changed the way I thought about science, and the world around me. Steven Hawking's constant attempts at proving himself wrong make me hold this book that much closer.

3.) The Art of War, by Sun Szu

It was true then, it is true now, it will always be true.

4.) The Tempest, by William Shakespeare

I have a hard time articulating why, but I love this book a lot.

5.) Rights of Man, by Thomas Paine

Read the synopsis.

6.) The Rape of Nanking

Read the synopsis. It's reason should be apparent.

7.) Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostievsky (I know I spelled his name wrong.)

Entertainment value, if nothing else. I liked his books a lot.

8.) Odyssey, by Homer

There are lessons to be had from this book. About war, heroism, desolation. It's a cheesy, and obvious choice, but still.

9.) Gulag, by Anne Applebaum

Proof that the Soviet Union were worse than the Nazis.

10.) Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman

A good introduction to Capitalist theories, by a brilliant mind.

Honorable Mention:

Das Kapital

Reading all of this book will reveal inherently why Communism is retarded. You can learn a lot about human gullibility from this book. (It's been a while since I've read it though.)

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer.

Paddle To The Amazon

Sick Jokes For Twisted Kids

Everybody Poops

Cars and Trucks and Things that Go.

The Hungry Caterpillar

Fill out the remaining 4 slots with various Mad Libs books.

Are we required to be intelligent before reading the books, or do we get that way from reading them?

Well. They have lots of big words.

1 Atlas Shrugged

good for learning the value of money, skills/talent, and hardwork Vs. being a commie mooch

2 Rule By Secrecy

A decent explanation of all the shit that has happened throughout history and why.  

3 Whitaker Chambers

exposes how the commies undermined the American way of life by infiltrating our govt and steering policy toward the left.

4 MacBeth

to learn that actions have consequences and hubris is real

5 To Kill A Mockingbird

to learn that the right thing to do is still the right thing to do, even if its unpopular

6 Crime and Punishment

understanding how people are lead to do the vile shit they do.

7 The Nazi Doctors

there are some heinous things that you just shouldn't do, regardless of whether its in the name of science

8 Hidden Messages in Water

awesome way to learn just how integral water is to this planet and life in general and how its effected by our emotions

9 Holy Blood, Holy Grail

to give the bible thumpers some perspective

10 Huckleberry Finn

History in comedic context for entertainment.

ETA:  Aristotle's Nichamachean Ethics would be squeezed in if not huck finn

Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Politics - just so you realize how old most "new" ideas really are.  

That's a solid list with the exception of Das Kapital.  I had to read that crap in college.  It's a large volume that's somewhere in the 900-1,100 page range and it regurgitates the same commie bullshit mantra over and over again throughout.  I actually read probably the first third of it, then I skipped and skimmed the rest.  I didn't miss a thing because I was able to ace the counter arguments in class discussions like I read the whole thing.  

I wouldn't put it on the list just because 90% of people who are actually interested in it and set out to read it won't finish it.  

So scratch that one and add Starship Troopers by Hienlein.

Honestly, I think The Far Side books are all a person really needs to read.

While Atlas Shrugged deserves a place on any list I think it's reasonable to expect most people to skip a bit once Galt goes on his epic rambling speech.

Some solid lists. I'll add them.

True....


When I think of the 'epic speech in that book', it's Francisco's speech about the root of money at the party...

I've revised my list to include a real economist.

I have not read any of the books posted so far and I consider myself intelligent.

I don't read many books. I am a scientist and attended graduate school. I read technical stuff, articles, etc but I bet I have not read ten books in my entire life.

You don't have to read any of the books in this thread to be intelligent, but you should still give them a try.

Green Eggs and Ham
Goodnight Moon
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day
The Lorax
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?
Go, Dog, Go!
Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish
Curious George

Your list is better.

Hawking and Mlodinow did new versions, titled The Grand Design and A Briefer History of Time... pick them up!

FIFY

Hitting up Amazon.com now.

1.The Iliad and the Odyssey. Man at war coming to grips with and accepting human mortality. And Man returning to peace after the war, reclaiming his full human identity, rooted in family, lawful community and service to his country.

2.The Bible. You need to get right with God.

3.Buddha, a biography of. All things that are put together will fall apart.

4.The Story of Philosophy by the great American thinker Will Durant; I don’t think there has been a more inspired and insightful synthesis of philosophy as this work, made even better by the fact that it so readable.

5.The World Treasury of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics. Freaking great collection of essays by some of the greatest scientific minds of the modern age (Neil deG Tyson not included)and very excellent writing.

6.World Poetry: an Anthology of verse from Antiquity to Our Time. Because what intelligent reader can’t appreciate beautiful imagery.

7.Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science. Self explanatory.

8.Dune. Because every writer has to beat either Tolkien in fantasy or Herbert in science fiction in creating such rich worlds.

9.The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Rhodes. The great story telling of an event that changed the world.

10.The Art of Worldly Wisdom, by Balthazar Gracian. Beats Machiavelli. Admired by Nietzsche, yet not nihilistic or drowning in cynicism.

Good list. I've bolded the ones I've read.

I read a lot but there are only three books that I would consider fitting for such a list:

Atlas Shrugged - Rand

Age of the Spiritual Machines - Kurzweil

A Brief History of Time - Hawking

The Creature from Jekyll Island - not a horror book unless you count the Federal Reserve as a horror in which case yes, it's a horror book

Animal Farm?

Gulag takes the place of anti-Communist book on my list.

1. The Bible
2. The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz - Probably one of the best books I've ever read on getting people out of the victim mentality.
3. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt - while there are other great economics books, this one hits a lot of major items and is understandable by a novice in economcis.
4. Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin - Another great book on smashing the victim mentality
5. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
6. Resolved: 13 Resolutions for LIFE by Orrin Woodward - fantastic book that hits many important aspects of life (people skills, finances, conflict resolution, etc)
7. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - It's a classic.
8. The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman - Great for understanding other people and improving relationships
9. And Justice For All by Orrin Woodward - Amazing book diving into the root causes of our problems in our country. Part of a 3 part volume.
10. The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - another economics classic

Meditations - Marcus Aurelias

Annalects - Confucius

What I can think of offhand.  A specific ten is hard to come up with as some topics can be difficult to allocate only one book.

sadly I cannot read. I know what the words and sentences mean but I cannot sit down with a book and read it without quickly losing interest and having my mind wander.


There has been times where I read the same page in a book 10 times but never concentrated enough on what I was reading to retain anything.

The rest are good though.

If you are intelligent:    Advanced Engineering Mathematics - Erwin Kreyszig  



If you want people who think they are intelligent to think you are intelligent:  The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx

lol....some saying about judging a book by its cover...

read it, and you will understand what I meant.  im no enviro-nazi

Atlas Shruged
Tao Te Ching
The Prophet (Kahlil Gibran)
No, they can't
Fahrenheit 451
Anthem
The Works of Henry David Thoreau

I haven't read it, but I've seen YouTube videos about his beliefs and the water taking certain shapes, etc.

Seems like pseudoscience to me

The Law

I came up with eight off the top of my head...

The Bible
Democracy In America - Alexis de Tocqueville
Animal Farm - George Orwell
1984 - George Orwell
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Freedom to Choose - Milton Friedman
The Art of War - Sun Tzu
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius should be on everybody's list



50 Laws of Power- Some good research and real world examples in there.

A Short History of Nearly Everything - I found it more fascinating than a Brief History of Time, and I like Bryson's writing style.
Starship Troopers - for the lessons in citizenship and service
The Art of War - How to kill, tactics, and so on.
Practicing Radical Honesty - learn to say what you mean, even if it's blunt.
Anything by Joel Salatin - learn to farm from a Godly libertarian.
Foxfire (pick a volume with topics that interest you) - the original SHTF books
The Man in the High Castle - Learn that you have no control over your own fate (or whatever you want to call it) no matter how hard you try to change the outcome.
No Country for Old Men - You've got to learn to change with the times, while keeping your moral compass true. The book is really about Sheriff Bell not being able to do that.
World War Z - While a fictional account of a fictional world wide event, it's an amazing chronicle of how humanity can fall and then pick itself back up.
Assassination Vacation - I love that period of history, and while Sarah Vowell is usually annoying as all hell, the stories of the presidential assassinations coupled with the details of the societies at the time outweigh it.

The Bible








 

THis is a good one. I would add all of Bastiat's work.

I just read 'This Ain't Normal' by Salatin.  I don't agree with everything he says, but I do like his slant on things.  Good stuff.

The Great Terror by Robert Conquest

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

The Fall by Albert Camus

History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

Pale Fire by Vladmir Nabokov

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

A History of Warfare by John Keegan

Why Orwell Matters by Christopher Hitchens

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph Ellis

You've got some great stuff here.

Great list.

There are a few of these I've never even heard of. I'll have to fix that.

 

1. Two Treatises of Government by John Locke

I don't agree with him 100% either, but his practical advice and knowledge of a modern working family farm is second to none. If you ever get the chance to visit Polyface Farm in Virginia, do it.

OST

Ironically, was just planning a trip in November.  

Well, first of all you have two books listed as "2)", so you actually have eleven books in your top ten



Secondly, while I think quite a few of the books are a good idea, I'd suggest dropping the one listed above for this particular type of list. The reason is simply because it is very current and topical. The others on the list lean towards more "overarching" commentary on the world, providing a lesson that will always need to be taught.



I have no doubt that it's a very good book on the subject for you to choose it, but would it still be relevant in 20 years time, and 50 years time, and 100 years time...? I wouldn't have placed it in a top ten (or top eleven in your case ) list.

It is tough to make a list of just 10.  It required choosing complete or collected works of some authors (which with some justification may be regarded as cheating) and rejecting several works I thought worthy of inclusion on such a list, including works on economics (Hazlitt comes to mind, as does Bastiat, Mises, and Hayek) and other topics including political theory and the hard sciences, works by Macchiavelli, Clausewitz, Tocqueville, Montesquieu, Marcus Aurelius, St. Augustine, Homer, Milton, and others, historical works, etc.

Complete Works of Plato

Plato, and through him in his earlier works Socrates, provide a substantial part of the foundation for Western thought (Salvador de Madariaga once said that Western Civilization rests on two deaths, that of Socrates and that of Jesus; one ought to know why).  Thorough knowledge of their philosophies gained by a complete reading of Plato's works is, I think, essential for any thinking Western man.  This is one of several cases where one cannot simply handpick one or two works and have cause to be satisfied.  Going with the complete works of an author may be cheating, but I think it is justifiable.

Complete Works of Aristotle

Again, we're talking about a philosopher who had a profound influence, who also provides a major foundation for Western thought, influencing science and philosophy and even Christian theology (and even the philosophy of the Muslims and Jews at one point in history).  Given his breadth of work compared to Plato, one might be able to go with a large selection of his works, but still, it is best to be thorough and something of value may be lost in the culling.  Like Plato and Socrates, he gives us much to learn and to contemplate, and in some works, provides a window into the history and institutions of his time and the then-recent past from which we can learn (such as from his Constitution of Athens).

The Holy Bible

The Bible contains many lessons.  Most importantly it elucidates the relationship between God and Man.  It completes our knowledge of the world such as we may attain it by providing us with revealed knowledge, that which can only be gained through divine revelation.  Any thinking man should seek to pursue Truth and knowledge in whatever form it may come.  It provides moral truths essential to our lives.  It has, like the above works, provided a major part of the foundation for Western thought and civilization.  It also has aesthetic and historical value.  Like the above works it is also a collection of works and not a singular one, even if printed in a single volume.  Again, it is justifiable to include.

Complete Works of St. Thomas Aquinas

The most voluminous work yet, it is the last of the collected works justifiable to include.  St. Thomas Aquinas builds upon Aristotle and further influenced thought not just through theology, but also in metaphysics and other fields, and he also builds upon other philosophers of importance.  He gives us a greater understanding of the Holy Bible and his philosophy (as it may appear through his commentaries and theological works) remains valid and useful to this day, as does, of course, his theology.  If one had to limit one's self to only one of the major Christian thinkers, he is the best choice, and thus he is the best choice for our hypothetical intelligent, thinking man to read of those men.  Considering how much there is to read, one could be justified in substituting Etienne Gilson's Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas as a shortcut.

History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides

Thucydides was ahead of his time as an historian.  Furthermore, through his history, we can learn many lessons, including those outside the realm of history, such as in the field of political theory, and of the nature of human behaviour in general.  A very valuable contribution that remains relevant to this day and is best read with careful thought.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Perhaps a cliché listing, but there is reason for its broad inclusion.  An ancient treatise on war, an eternal human practice and institution that cannot be avoided (nor should it be by thinking men), one that has stood the test of time and still provides much value to all who would contemplate military subjects to this day.

Ideas Have Consequences by Richard M. Weaver

Despite being published at the beginning of the post-war era, this work contains lasting relevance and takes on a journey of the consequences of various ideas, going back to medieval thought, that have led us to the poor choices we have made in the last century, to the rise triumph of ideas that threaten us all.  Despite being a slim volume, it inspires and even requires much contemplation, perhaps even requiring multiple readings for full absorption.

The Revolt of the Masses by Jose Ortega y Gasset

Another slim volume, this one puts forth an idea that may seem self-evident to some, that may seem profound to others, and may clash with the thoughts and predilections of other men, and that is the division of society into two basic classes, not the rich and the poor, but rather, the elite (by their merits and patterns of thought) and the masses (likewise).  It is an idea that explains much and should at the very least be contemplated by the thinking man.  It also complements Ideas Have Consequences rather well.

Liberty or Equality?: The Challenge of Our Time by Erik Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

This work, while inspiring controversy, provides an intelligent critique against equality and a basis for favouring liberty over it, and it is among the premier works addressing the title question, which relates to the choice between liberty and equality, and provides a theoretical basis for their incompatibility.  It is a question which every thinking man must contemplate, as the answer has profound consequences regarding politics, society, the laws, and the nature of civilization in general, especially that of the West.  It is also valuable for the end notes, which by themselves provide substantial knowledge and lead one to the acquisition of much more (especially if one is a polyglot).

In the First Circle by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn

I considered the Gulag Archipelago instead, but I feel this work is better in that it goes beyond an exposition of the horrors of which mankind has proven capable in the name of totalitarian and egalitarian ideologies and provides one with contemplation of what it means to be its subject, of what sort of choices a man has in such a world, and thus it has more lessons to teach.  To contemplate evil in this world and the way one must face it given the worst odds is something every thinking man must contemplate.  Given that it is a work of fiction, it also provides the thinking man with a tome from this list in which to have an opportunity for literary analysis, which is necessary, and this list thus needed a fictional work and not just non-fiction.  Fiction can teach us truth about ourselves and our broader reality, and this is a lesson and experience which every thinking man should have.  While there is some of this in the Bible through its allegorical works and parables, it is good to see it in a non-religious work.