ANOTHER READING LIST

There have been many reading lists put out over the years. There is one from Oxford, one from the Secretary of the Army, one from Barnes and Noble, etc. Well, I have to include my own. I am sure that Nemesis from this blog, Zinga and Ninja Kittyz (both more or less from Word.), and even A Man in the Arena have their own reading lists. I would like to see them and inquire as to why their books are on the list. Anyhow, here it goes:

• The Bible-This should be a no-brainer.


• The Gulag Archipelago-Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn-A deep, firsthand account of Soviet repression.


• US Constitution as well as the Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers and Declaration of Independence. Another no-brainer. Makes you realize that those who believe the Constitution of the US is a "living, breathing document" may have only heard of it before.


• The Communist Manifesto-Marx and Egels. "The spectre of pipe-dreams is haunting reality."


• Mein Kampf-Hitler. Interesting to know how a sadistic individual envisions the perfect world and how his utopia is many others' hell.


• Bill The Galactic Hero-Harry Harrison. A science-fiction community response to Heinlein's Starship Trooper's. That was another good book (arguably or not about a militaristic, fascist utopia).


• The Great Anarchists-Paul Eltzbacher. A decent look into the "ideas and teachings" of 7 anarchists including Godwin, Proudhon, Stirner, Bakunin, Kropotkin, Tucker and Tolstoy.


• The Worldly Philosophers-Robert Heilbroner. Heilbroner, a socialist, writes an unbiased book about some of the world's great thinkers. He was a socialist that recognized the downfalls of socialism.


• A History of the American People-Paul Johnson. Nemesis recommended this one. I had suggested an interest in Zinn's version of American history and was nearly mistaken for a vampire by Nemesis. Zinn = biased crap.


• Capitalism and Freedom-Milton Friedman. One hell of an argument for that of the reigning champion of economic systems: capitalism. Never thought of politics and economic freedom being related, eh? Read.


• The Mind and the Market-Jerry Z. Muller. Another work along the same lines as Heilbroner's tome above, however, this one includes thoughts from 20^th century communist, fascist and neoliberal intellectuals. That being said, I didn't see any thoughts by Alec Baldwin, Susan Sarandon, Madonna, er, Esther (this week), Cindy Sheehan, Noam Chomsky or Michael Moore, so they must be talking about other fascists and communists.


• The Fatal Conceit-F.A. Hayek. Aptly subtitled: The Errors of Socialism.


• The Road to Serfdom-F.A. Hayek. Are you a Keynes fan? You probably won't be after you read the truth. Vindication is the word.


• Guerilla WarfareChe Guevara. Everyone's favorite capitalist writes about warfare. Funny thought though about how he never actually won a battle...revolutionary indeed. Those fans and t-shirt wearing supporters should take a closer look at the Battle of Santa Clara; he didn't win, give it up.


• The Politics of Prudence-Russell Kirk. Don't know who this guy is? Put down your burrito and go find out...then read this book.

Among the list are some books that are in my queue for reading as well as some already read. They are worth mentioning and made the list because I will easily read them again. At any rate, of mention are some of my favorite authors: Ayn Rand, Jack Kerouac, Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawking, William S. Burroughs, Norman Maclean, the Inkling Crew (Rowling, Lewis and Tolkien), John Comer, Sir Isaac Newton...the list goes on.

This list and following favorite authors isn't all inclusive. Just a taste of my favorite reads and or list of should-reads. You may learn a few things about how the world works and the way people think by reading a few of these. The reason that some of the more controversial authors are on the list is because it is important to read more than one train of thought. While keeping an open mind about the controversial subjects, it is easy to be reminded of why not very many people agree with the controversy but can agree about their defeats of the past and the future. Weigh in with your lists and happy reading.

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