“Martin Fierro” by Jose Hernandez. Me and all my classmates thought it would be the most boring book. We were surprised. And it was full of teachings for soon-to-be adults.
The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark - Carl Sagan
Anne Frank’s diary. There is the historic relevance, but apart from that it is the inner world of a teen girl. I read it as a teen as well, and I remember it greatly resonated with me. She was of course in a unique and threatening situation, bit she also was just a teen, struggeling with typical teen issues. You know how it ends, but over the book you learn so much about her, her family and how they are trying to make tge mkst of it. You start rooting for her. And despite you knowing how it ends I felt quite empty when it did.
Also, a well written sex ed book. I have no specific one in mind, but a medicly accurate book explaining the female and male hormone cycles, menstruation, pregnancy (control including abortion) and menopause! And yeah, goes into how to actually have sex, that it’s important to talk about boundaries etc.
Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank, was required reading where I lived in the US, in the mid-90s. I was in Arkansas. My daughter went to school in Missouri and California (2010s) and I don’t remember her having to read it. Not sure if it’s regional or if the decade made the difference.
I can speak to my experience in the Midwest during the 2010s. Had to read it in 8th grade.
Make sure to get the uncensored version where she goes into great detail about masturbation.
I gonna add one that I actually read in school and actually Am very grateful I read it.
Its “Der gute Mensch von Sezuan” (The good human from Sezuan) by Berthold Brecht.
The story is, that the gods try to fund a good human in the town Sezuan and disguise themselves as humans seeking shelter. No one wants to give them shelter except a prostitute name Shen-Te. As a reward for being a good person they give her gold in return, which she uses to open her own shop. However, her buisness is not very succesfull, since she wants to help as many people as possible which means a big financial burden. To help her out of this she invents her cousin (?) Shui-Ta who is cold and regularly saves the buisness by not helping people and demanding things. This way the buisness stays open and Shen-Te can continue to help her community.
Basically the book is an analogism for why capitalism can not work, since the force to make a profit forces you to fuck over other people and it is not possible to not take part in this system on an individual level. I hated all other books we had to read in school, but I Am quite great I read that one. It also definitely played a role in my path towards becoming a communist.
Another upside of it is, that its rather short and can be easily read in about 2-3h.
Animal farm
Personally one of my favorite books
Just because someone reads a book, doesn’t mean that they understand it, and if they’re forced to read something they probably won’t enjoy it.
I think catcher in the rye is a good book for boys of that age to read. The main character is insufferable because he holds views similar to incel culture. Problem is some people identify with Holden.
I was forced to read Animal Farm in early high school and didn’t like it or really try to understand it. I re-read it as an adult just because I wanted to and I loved it. Any time there was a reading project with a list of books to choose from rather than a single forced choice, I enjoyed it way more. The choice really does make a difference
Catcher in the rye was a forced book for me and I didnt like it because I thought Holden was insufferable lol. Why do you think it’s a good book to read?
1984
How to Read a Book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Read_a_Book
Because people severely lack media literacy. People say read Orwell… and alt-right was saying it for years too.
There’s someone in this thread saying kids should be forced to read Orwell. Which I think illustrates the issue perfectly…
Have you tried reading the books from the list recommended by Adler? I am just starting to get (deeper) into classic literature, and have looked for recommendations regarding book chronology.
I mostly see 2 camps:
- read what you enjoy, which I find hard to determine beforehand; and
- read some specified list in some order, which seems doable - there’s just so many different lists one could start with…
Any insight is appreciated!
I read some Plato and philosophical works but my focus has been more on Indian and Buddhist philosophy.
Unless you are an avid reader, I don’t think it’s a good idea to try to read everything as listed. Figure out what your genuine questions about life are and read the works that attempt to provide answers. That’s why having HTRB on the background is highly useful. Don’t read just to say you did, seek to gain understanding, which is easier when you can make the books relevant to your life.
Thanks for the thoughtful response!
I am an avid but slow reader. I think the main appeal for me to read many of the classic (western) books is so that I can get a better understanding of each author’s inspirations, which would hopefully finally help explain how we got to where we are today. But I think your answer is pulling me in the direction of starting with the books I want, and moving backwards in time for each book I want to delve further into, and then moving forwards when questions can’t be answered by the past.
I read more about HTRB today and it seems totally fine to just skim a full book briefly, and decide it’s not for me. So I think I’ll use that as well.
Thanks for mentioning HTRB!
Welcome! Hope you enjoy.
If you steer close to questions about metaphysics and spirituality, I highly recommend stepping outside the western paradigm. A lot of our philosophy is saturated with Christianity-influenced background assumptions, way, way more than people realize. Reaching all the way to modern psychology. It was very fascinating to recognize (and discard) them in my own thinking - and I was a basic intellectual atheist with what I incredibly naively thought was 0 Christian influence in the way I viewed the world.
Yeah what you’re explaining is what I want to experience. If I want to know where to go, it would help to know where I came from.
Any books you recommend from the non-west?
These are more accessible modern works that point you to more classical works if you’re interested:
Tantra Illuminated by Christopher Wallis
Roots of Yoga by Jim Mallinson
Three Pillars of Zen by Philip Kapleau
The World of Tibetan Buddhism by the Dalai Lama
People like to recommend the Heart Sutra and Pali Suttas, and Bhagavad Gita but I’d say it’s better to get some intro first so you can at least become aware of any prior assumptions you have about the world and realize those works come from a wildly different experience of being.
Bonus: Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe The Hermetic Tradition in African Philosophy by Theophilus Okere Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram
This is amazing! Thank you so much:) will look into these!
I’d actually add the bible. A lot of people would be more atheist if they actually read through it. It would also be hilarious to see teenagers struggle with that long ass boring shit
Lmao, are you gonna be tested on the genealogy in Genesis 5
well, the effect of required reading seems to be killing kids’ enjoyment of reading, so, if we wanna double down on that, i reccomend the Silmarrillion, by JRR Tolkein. or maybe a phone book.
Passion and Reason, by Richard and Bernice Lazarus. It’s a very accessible book about the connections between thoughts and emotions. Understanding what’s covered in it would save a lot of people a ton of confusion and social hardship in life.
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
I don’t know why a random nordic plumber should get to decide something like that. I’ll pass. I don’t feel qualified.
Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
