Random Opinions ranjeet on 17 Jan 2007 03:48 am
Life Changing Literature
Every once in a while, you come across a book that blows your mind. One that changes your view of the world in some way, whether it enlightens your understanding of the world that you see, or opens your eyes to a broader world. I’m bored, so I’m going to take some time and list some of the books that I have found mind-blowing in the past. Along with some Amazon links. I’m too lazy to set up referral, so no money for me.
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky
At some point in time, I thought Tom Clancy was a good writer. I mean, hey, he was a best seller, and that has to count for something, right? But it wasn’t until sometime in high school that I realized that while Tom Clancy was an awesome plot man, he couldn’t write for crap. I think it was my Russian Lit. class in high school that did it, and introduced me to Dostoevsky. I consider it a credit to the translator (or at least the translations I’ve read) that the book was so magnificent in English, and I wonder how fantastic the book would be if I knew Russian. Whenever people make lists of the best books ever, The Brothers Karamazov is invariably in the top ten, and it is with good reason. To be honest, my knowledge of this book doesn’t really delve much deeper than reading it (i.e. I’ve never had to write a paper on it and it was never discussed in class), but every time I’ve had the chance to re-read it, I’ve found myself practically shaking my head in amazement. Although a devout Christian, Dostoevsky makes convincing arguments against God, points out the frailty and absurdity of the human condition…and shows just how beautiful human nature can be, in the end. Reading trash fiction after reading this exposed just how shallow and one-dimensional characters are, something that no amount of explosions and warfare can fix. This link gives more info as well as Project Gutenburg links to the text as well as a phenomenal chapter, “The Grand Inquisitor.”
Notes From Underground, Fyodor Dostoevsky
Yeah, another Dostoevsky book, but it was the first work of his that I had read. This book speaks to the cynical, bitter wretch in all of us.
Contact, Carl Sagan
This book was quite eye-opening to me. I think that Carl Sagan was one of the few people that got it. I think he was an agnostic who truly understand how theists felt. In many ways, Contact was an example of a scientific religious experience. The characters know what happened — but all the evidence tells them otherwise (well, almost all of the evidence).
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Allegations of plagiarism aside, this book sticks out in my mind because I didn’t know it was a comedy when I picked it up, just that it was famous. I assumed it was a serious war novel. Little did I know the hilarity that lay within. This book had perfectly arranged moments of absurdity, and in doing so has contributed to the English lexicon.
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
I first picked this book up in about ’99, during an internship in New Mexico. I was recommended to me in some magazine. This book had me from the opening paragraph. Neal Stephenson is without a doubt my favorite modern author. His style of narrative is infused a sort of nerdcore sensibility that makes me smile, like its all an inside joke. Sure, his attempts to develop romantic relationships between male and female protagonists are cringe-worthy, but his visions of the future are amazing; it is my opinion that The Diamond Age should be required reading for Materials Scientists.
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
Okay, this pick is cheesy, but it is what it is. I first read this probably in junior high or something, and read it so often that the books fell apart. This saga has been so influential that it’s almost impossible to see current works that aren’t influenced in some way by it. A perfect storyline — an artifact of incredible power, but incredible evil, and the only way to save the future is to destroy it, and with it destroy a lot of good. I still tear up whenever I read the final lines (“Well Rosie, I’m back.”)
Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond
This is a non-fiction book, but I absolutely love it. This book is positively enlightening. It describes (oftentimes with excruciating repetition) why civilizations and societies developed as they did. If you’ve ever wondered why the course of human history played out as it did, this book will go a long way towards helping you understand how nature (and dumb luck) has played a role. His sequel, Collapse, isn’t as easy of a read but describes how societies do themselves in sometimes.
The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
This book is not nearly as awesome now as when I read it, back in High School. But when you’re young, this book is life-changing. You wake up in the morning and realize that you’re going to become an Objectivist and start living life your own way. But then you realize that the only reason that the protagonists can act the way they do is that they are all beautiful people who are extraordinarily talented. Yeah, that really helps things. I also have a a problem with this book because it gave a lot people the excuse/justification they felt they needed to be dickheads with a clear conscience.
A Winter’s Tale, Mark Helprin
This is another book that I read in High School, so I’m not sure if would be as awesome now, but it has been rated by some as the best novel in America written in the past 20 years. Winter’s Tale is a masterpiece in that it weaves together a story that is part straight fiction and part fantasy, and does so beautifully.
Blink, Malcolm Gladwell.
Blink is a book about how the human mind can process staggering amounts of information in a split second and come to a conclusion — sometimes amazingly right, and sometimes tragically wrong. A quick example: there was a study done where participants watched a short, 10 second clip of different lecturers teaching their classes. Based on those 10 second clips, the participants rated the professor. In turns out that those evaluations closely mirrored the evaluations that students gave the professor after the entire semester. In other words, a person is able to watch a teacher for 10 seconds and determine how good the teacher is. In fact, the results were the same even when the clips were cut to 2 seconds. What we might call intuition is the brain coming to surprisingly accurate conclusions based on information that we might even call subliminal. It’s really a fascinating book, and underscores one of my major pet peeves, probably the subject of another post : how corporations (or I guess advertisers, specifically) try and manipulate people at a subconscious level to persuade them to purchase a product. I think knowing the tricks are the key to withstanding them.
on 21 Jan 2007 at 3:24 am 1.In Re: Powerful Movies said …
[...] Well, in an earlier post I discussed some books that I thought were provocative enough to leave an impression on me. I wanted to do the same for movies. However, when looking back on the movies that I’ve seen, I can’t think of nearly as many examples. But I’ll do what I can. Because I know there are so many people out there who care. [...]