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Literature and your favorite books.

Started by 4DeepThought2, December 06, 2008, 11:57:26 PM

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4DeepThought2

I am currently near the end of the God Delusion and need to read something else when finished. I am interested in your favorites/ suggestions for reading anything from topics on atheism to science fiction novels to Physics......anything you loved reading. Just leave out the books promoting God...I have read too many :)
"It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him." - Arthur C. Clarke

Whitney

I like Ishmael and The Story of B.  They are are part of a 3 part series, the last being My Ishmael (which was good but not my favorite of the 3).  They are basically a criticism of the current state of society and the environment and prompt the reader to decide on his or her own what the solution should be.  Basically, the author, Daniel Quinn http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Quinn, really likes the Socratic method.

If you just want to read one, both Ishamel and The Story of B can be read without reading the other.  My Ishmael doesn't make as much sense if you haven't read Ishmael.

Sophus

Oh, but there are so many...

However, Erich Fromm is the first brilliant (and atheist) genius that comes to my mind. Read Escape From Freedom, if you ever get the chance. Fromm tells how once man gains freedom he doesn't know what to do with it, and consequently ends up giving it away somehow, whether it be to society or whathaveyou. Very profound stuff...
‎"Christian doesn't necessarily just mean good. It just means better." - John Oliver

Chimera

Ooo, check out The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster by Bobby Henderson or I Am America (and You Can, Too!) by Stephen Colbert.

Some of my other favorites, which are totally unrelated, are:
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri
"I refuse to believe in a god who is the primary cause of conflict in the world, preaches racism, sexism, homophobia, and ignorance, and then sends me to hell if I’m 'bad.'" â€" Mike Fuhrman

Tom62

Here follows a small list of some my favorite SciFi Books:

Brian W. Aldiss, Helliconia
Neal Asher, The Skinner
Isaac Asimov, The End of Eternity & The original Foundation Trilogy
Iain M. Banks, Consider Phlebas
Stephen Baxter, Timelike Infinity
Barrington J. Bayley, The Garments of Caean
Greg Bear, Eon &  Songs of Earth & Power
Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles & R Is for Rocket
David Brin, Earth, Glory Season & The Practice Effect
Fredric Brown, From These Ashes (short stories)
Philip K. Dick, "Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said"
Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere
Joe Haldeman, The Forever War
Harry Harrison, The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat & The Deathworld Triology
Robert A. Heinlein, The Door into Summer & Have Space Suit - Will Travel
James P. Hogan, Bug Park, The Giant Series, The Code of the Lifemaker & Voyage From Yesteryear
R.A. Lafferty, Nine Hundred Grandmothers
Fritz Leiber, Gather, Darkness!
Ira Levin, This Perfect Day
L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Adiamante
Grant Naylor, Red Dwarf Omnibus
Larry Niven, Neutron Star, Ringworld
Larry Niven & Steven Barnes, The Barsoom Project, The California Voodoo Game & Dream Park
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle, The Mote in God's Eye
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle & Steven Barnes, The Legacy of Heorot
Audrey Nyffenegger, The Time Traveller's Wife
Eric Frank Russell, The Great Explosion & Major Ingredients
Robert Sheckley, All his short stories "Citizen in Space, The People Trap and Other Pitfalls, Shards of Space, Untouched By Human Hands"
Robert Silverberg, The Time Hoppers &, Up the Line
Clifford D. Simak, The Cosmic Engineers, Our Children's Children & Way Station
Dan Simmons, Hyperion
Walter Tevis, The Man Who Fell to Earth & Mockingbird
Jack Vance, Big Planet, Emphyrio, The Eyes of the Overworld & The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph
A.E. van Vogt, Null-A Trilogy
John Wyndham, The Midwich Cuckoos
Roger Zelazny, Frost & Fire, The Amber Series I and II
The universe never did make sense; I suspect it was built on government contract.
Robert A. Heinlein

MariaEvri

so many that i have to open my amazon list and remember them
lesse...
Little People in the City: The Street Art of Slinkachu - this is a photography book
A Practical Guide to Dragons
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
The Green Mile    The Green Mile by Stephen King
It - stephen king
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body - Atheist Universe: The Thinking Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism by David Mills by Neil Shubin
Astrophotography for the Amateur by Michael A. Covington
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Homes
Crime & Punishment (Konemann Classics) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
1984  by george orwel
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov
Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break: A Novel    by Steven Sherrill
The Children Of Men    The Children Of Men by P.D. James
The Draconomicon  by Andy Collins
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a trilogy of four by Douglas Adams


sorry for the long list,  but these are my fav. books :)
no particular order
God made me an atheist, who are you to question his wisdom!
www.poseidonsimons.com

nikkixsugar

Quote from: "4DeepThought2"I am currently near the end of the God Delusion and need to read something else when finished. I am interested in your favorites/ suggestions for reading anything from topics on atheism to science fiction novels to Physics......anything you loved reading. Just leave out the books promoting God...I have read too many :)


I Never read TGD all the way through.

Fiction:
Slaughterhouse-5 by Kurt Vonnegut
or anything else by Vonnegut
The Bible (see what all the fuss is about, hmm?)

Non Fiction:
Anything else by Richard Dawkins (He has a new one coming out in February '09)
Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris (although I haven't gotten it yet, I've heard great things about it.)
Charles Darwin (Voyage of the Beagle, Origin of Species, Descent of Man, The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals)
Hate to tell you, but.....

Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.

4DeepThought2

Quote from: "MariaEvri"so many that i have to open my amazon list and remember them
lesse...
Little People in the City: The Street Art of Slinkachu - this is a photography book
A Practical Guide to Dragons
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
The Green Mile    The Green Mile by Stephen King
It - stephen king
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body - Atheist Universe: The Thinking Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism by David Mills by Neil Shubin
Astrophotography for the Amateur by Michael A. Covington
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Homes
Crime & Punishment (Konemann Classics) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
1984  by george orwel
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov
Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break: A Novel    by Steven Sherrill
The Children Of Men    The Children Of Men by P.D. James
The Draconomicon  by Andy Collins
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a trilogy of four by Douglas Adams


sorry for the long list,  but these are my fav. books :) Thank you for everyone's suggestions! Whoever mentioned I am Legend I loved that book. Such a brutal study on human emotion and psychology when alone and isolated.......much better than the movie which was great.
"It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God, but to create him." - Arthur C. Clarke

Wechtlein Uns

My favorite book, written by my favorite author, is Kokoro, by Natsume Soseki.

It involves a young university student who meets a mysterious professor. They form a strong friendship, though strangely, the student seems to be the only friend the professor has. And then there's the fact that he never talks about his past. It is only when the young student's father is on the brink of death that he must decide whether to pay his respects to his father at the hour of his death or learn of the secret of Sensei's past. And then there's the ending, which... well. heheh.

Good literature. The setting takes place after the meijii era and before world war II. Hope you like it!
"What I mean when I use the term "god" represents nothing more than an interactionist view of the universe, a particularite view of time, and an ever expansive view of myself." -- Jose Luis Nunez.

Mister Joy

Oh, you guys clearly have great taste. ;)  which is interesting just to open at random every so often - Clark also provides his own detailed analysis of each one, with references for further reading should anything really catch your attention)
Glen Duncan's I, Lucifer
The Classic Fairy Tales edited by Maria Tatar, published by W. W. Norton & Comany inc. (it feels really odd reading a Fairy Tale anthology published for academics but it's interesting - reading The Bloody Chamber put me up to buying this)
McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories (haha. Yeah, I like this. some of the stories in it are very intelligent and experimental, I think)

Kyuuketsuki

Oh dear, this is where I expose myself as the shallow and illiterate individual I am :)

Kyu
James C. Rocks: UK Tech Portal & Science, Just Science

[size=150]Not Long For This Forum [/size]

MariaEvri

QuoteI like your taste in books. I have probably read about a third of them and am glad to see other H2G2 fans on here :) Thank you for everyone's suggestions! Whoever mentioned I am Legend I loved that book. Such a brutal study on human emotion and psychology when alone and isolated.......much better than the movie which was great.

danke
from all my family and friends, I am the only one who likes to read books that arent romantic and love stories.
God made me an atheist, who are you to question his wisdom!
www.poseidonsimons.com

wheels5894

I discovered Michael Connolley's Harry Bosch novels this year and have been enjoying them not least for the things one learns about Los Angeles. I also enjoy Ian Rankin's rebus novels.

Daphne DuMaurier is another favourite of mine.

curiosityandthecat

I work in a library. I was an English education major.

Must... not... flood... thread...  :secret:
-Curio

Wechtlein Uns

Hey, Curio, how did you get a job in the library?
"What I mean when I use the term "god" represents nothing more than an interactionist view of the universe, a particularite view of time, and an ever expansive view of myself." -- Jose Luis Nunez.