your essential book?

[ohshtt]

if you could read only one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?

ender's game for me. no idea why, just personal to me.

 

[Cognisant]

The Necronomicon.

I'll just read everything online or through a Kindle, or if eBooks count as books I'll get scrolls printed.

But if I come across the Necronomicon I'll want to read the original.

 

[Rook]

The Dying Earth/Book of the New Sun/Eyes of the Overworld/Cugel's Saga

 

[Puffy]

That's really hard. I'm unsure I can think of one non-fiction book.

Fiction-wise I'd probably go with the complete works of Shakespeare (I'm counting this as I have it all in one book on my bookshelf.) He's just an unparalleled master with the english language and the range of topics in his plays covers a lot of the archetypes of human stories and experience. So it's something where there's likely to be something relevant to what I'm experiencing to ponder over.

 

[Rook]

hamlet is lit af( i also own a big blue omni-shakespeare lel, and seeing as i dont have copies of the above atm it might be the one i take, certainly the wordsiest non-reference one i got)

 

[ohshtt]

That's really hard. I'm unsure I can think of one non-fiction book.

Fiction-wise I'd probably go with the complete works of Shakespeare (I'm counting this as I have it all in one book on my bookshelf.) He's just an unparalleled master with the english language and the range of topics in his plays covers a lot of the archetypes of human stories and experience. So it's something where there's likely to be something relevant to what I'm experiencing to ponder over.

haha, i have one of these too. i grew up reading gothic lit and classics, so now i'm keen on exploring postmodern lit.

 

[ohshtt]

hamlet is lit af( i also own a big blue omni-shakespeare lel, and seeing as i dont have copies of the above atm it might be the one i take, certainly the wordsiest non-reference one i got)

good taste, hamlet is my favorite play

 

[Puffy]

That's really hard. I'm unsure I can think of one non-fiction book.

Fiction-wise I'd probably go with the complete works of Shakespeare (I'm counting this as I have it all in one book on my bookshelf.) He's just an unparalleled master with the english language and the range of topics in his plays covers a lot of the archetypes of human stories and experience. So it's something where there's likely to be something relevant to what I'm experiencing to ponder over.

haha, i have one of these too. i grew up reading gothic lit and classics, so now i'm keen on exploring postmodern lit.

Oh cool! Postmodern lit is kind of an acquired taste in my opinion as it can get a bit experimental. Thomas Pynchon, William S. Burroughs and Philip K Dick (if he counts) are some of my favourites.

@Rook Yeah I dig King Lear as well. There’s a really good Japanese film adaptation of it called Ran

 

[ohshtt]

The Necronomicon.

I'll just read everything online or through a Kindle, or if eBooks count as books I'll get scrolls printed.

But if I come across the Necronomicon I'll want to read the original.

i googled it. when i finish the books on my list, i might try to get a copy. sounds interesting to me.

 

[onesteptwostep]

Probably one of my history of philosophy books.

Honestly I don't remember the last time I read a fiction book.

 

[Drvladivostok]

Lolita by Nabokov
if I may add another one The Law by Bastiat

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

Probably Faust by Goethe, this book is a rich amalgam of the whole of western thought from classical Greece until 19th century philosophy. It sets the stage for Nietzsche, the 20th century nihilism and modernism. It's an interesting balance of rationality and spirituality that helps explain the zeitgeist and many historical events as well as human psyche.

Although no book has made a lasting impression on me some have helped me jump over some barriers to understanding the world. I wouldn't keep reading one book more than twice unless I was stranded on an island.

Notable mentions:
Perfect Imperfection by Dukaj for giving me better understanding of myself, transhumanism and hints about metacognition and a sense of AI, scale of technology and progress and limits on the future
Tempest or other works by Shakespeare for helping understand people and politics,
Demons by Dostoevsky — Not so much for its atheist themes, but for its critique of nihilism and the prediction of the Communist revolution and accurate encapsulation of the Russian psyche which hasn't changed all that much from back then.

 

[Puffy]

^ Faust is a really good shout. Definitely among my favourite pieces of literature. If there's a complete collection of Goethe that'd be worthy of consideration.