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Semi-philosophic/insightful book suggestions

I second Candide, it is one of my favorites, and a quick and moving read. I usually read it once every couple of years.
 
Candide! Now there's a book that I really have to read. Having heard so much about modernism and the enlightenment philosophes as far as they impacted on history, I'm determined to find out more. The icing on the cake? Today Voltaire was mentioned in Deus Ex as I eavesdropped on a conversation in le Club la Porte d'enfer. A true seal of quality!
 
Jigzy,
You might also care to check out something like Jorge Luis Borges' Ficciones or Labyrinths. Many of his short stories explore matters like epistemology, set theory, etc.
You could also try Pirsig's Lila, though I thought it was not nearly as good as Motorcycle Maintenance. Jean Paul Sartre's Nausea comes to mind, Robbe-Grillet's Jealousy, even Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum.
I'm sure there are others.
 
Labryinths and Foucault's Pendulum I also second. Borges and Eco are excellent suggestions.

And chesterton ....."I don't "allways" read books for answers.. Don't you?" Look in the encyclopedia under grammar, get some answers that you like so much, and let me know how it works out.
 
if you're searching for something similar to zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, read way of the peaceful warrior, by dan millman. it has two things going for it: more zen, and not as much bullshit.
 
A Brush with Darkness by Lisa Fittipaldi

Insightful, inspirational, philosophical and non fiction. This book makes you think! really think about life and how we all approach the demons that enter it. See the website www.lisafittipaldi.com and you will pick up the book, I could not put it down and cannot write enough about it.
 
A Brush with Darkness by Lisa Fittipaldi

Insightful, inspirational, thought provoking. I cannot say enough about this non fiction book....I picked it up in my local bookstore but I think that Amazon has it....the website is
www.lisafittipaldi.com
 
Granted it's not a book, but try the movie Waking Life . If you're into these types of books, this movie will definately keep you interested, and perhaps provoke some thoughts.

-True
 
"The Solitaire Mystery", is very well-written, but one can easily get lost in it. Sometimes I wasn't sure where I was in the story, and which story I was in. If I don't remember wrongly, there is one story, and in that story there is an other, and in that other story there is a great deal other stories. So when you for instance read 50 pages one day, the next day you open up the book, you'll have to think a little hard to remember where in the book you are.

Don't let this scare you, it still is a good book, and I might be the only person having had this problem. ;)

I found "Sophie's World" to be a good read too. I think it is a good novel, if you look at it as a kind of "introduction" to the philosophic world. It would for instance not be enough to only read that one book, if you get what I mean.

I've also read "Hello, is anybody there?" by the same author, lots of good pictures in there. :) That was a cute one, because I guess it's for kids, but that doesn't mean you can't read it. It's still quite long and might I add an excellent read.

My favourite is "The Orange Girl" (Gaarder). You should give it a try. It's about this kid who gets a letter from his dad. Well the dad is actually dead when the son reads the letter, but before the dad died, he wrote this letter to his son, who at that time was a baby. So when the son is 15 or something, he reads this letter where the dead dad tells him about the orange girl.
I'm not so good with summaries.. :eek: I think you should google.
 
Take a look at Island by Aldous Huxley; a philosophical novel set on the fictional island of Pala, where the local culture is a fusion of western science amd eastern philosophy, including elements of Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism and Confucianism. I found it incredibly thought provoking, and read it repeatedly. :)
 
True@1stLight said:
Granted it's not a book, but try the movie Waking Life . If you're into these types of books, this movie will definately keep you interested, and perhaps provoke some thoughts.

-True
Click to expand...


I watched it the other day. I found it quite ostentatious.

Ethan Hawke and Julie Deply's charactes contradict themselves from their appearance in Before Sunrise. I like Linklater--Tape, was great--but this was one of the more prevalent pieces of onanism I've ever seen.
 
Herman Hesse - Steppenwolf; Siddartha
George Orwell - 1984
Albert Camus - The Outsider
Tolstoy - Resurrection
Dostoyevsky - Crime And Punishment
 
warm_enema said:
I watched it the other day. I found it quite ostentatious.

Ethan Hawke and Julie Deply's charactes contradict themselves from their appearance in Before Sunrise. I like Linklater--Tape, was great--but this was one of the more prevalent pieces of onanism I've ever seen.
Click to expand...

Didn't think it was that pretentious.....as far as your reference to jerking off, perhaps, but sometimes I'd rather just have an ecclectic mix of views as opposed to an end all conclusion made.
 
'Jitterbug Perfume' - Tom Robbins

Not quite in line with 'Zen and the Art of blah-blah-blah', but an excellent, thought-provoking read...
 
"Illusions"

by Richard Bach. I understand that he had read at least some of the Seth material by the time he wrote that one -- but read it for what it's worth.

Or read it again...

;)
 
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