Which specific books really made you smarter?

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

No a life we can afford to provide him.

[Japher]

True.

I believe the guy who lives down behind the 7-11 reads a lot of philosophy books... I think I'll ask him what his major was

[Buck Birdseed]

I read two books in my second and third terms of university that have been instrumental in forming the person I am today. One was Anne Phillips's "Democracy and Difference", the other was Machiavelli's "Discourses on the last ten books of Titus Livius".

In fact that half-year of university was very formative overall for me- it's also when I started litsening to music seriously.

[Combat Ingrid]

P.W. Atkins - "Physical Chemistry"

[molly bloom]

'A Brief History of Science'- A. Rupert Hall and Marie Boas Hall

'Guide to Science I and II'- Isaac Asimov

'Europe: A History'- Norman Davies

'The Essential Erasmus'-eh, Erasmus...

The Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary or the Concise Oxford English Dictionary- absolutely vital tools, with entries on neologisms, words from the Commonwealth, words from the United States. If you love language, or English, or both, then a decent comprehensive dictionary is a necessity. I used to like reading the dictionary when I was a child, and I think if you get children interested in words and language at an early age most of your educational tasks have been accomplished- the child will want to read and learn on their own.

Any good quality encyclopaedia- always useful for dipping into at random, and you will never know where an article will take you- an article on Charlemagne's wars against the Lombards and another on Khair ud Din sparked my lifelong interest in history.

A good introduction to Western art history- Thames and Hudson used to publish several general introductions to Western (and Eastern and African art). Get someone intrigued by any aspect of visual art, and they'll rarely be bored on holidays if there's a gallery in the place they're visiting. Feed the eye (and the ear) as well as the brain.

'The Vikings'- Magnus Magnusson

'Ulysses'- James Joyce

'The Greek Myths'- Robert Graves

'Le Morte D'Arthur'- Mallory

'Beowulf' - anonymous

The Authorized Version of the English Bible, translation for King James I and VI- better by far than any modern translation for sheer poetry, vigour and intensity of feeling- along with Jacobean tragedy and Metaphysical poetry one of the abiding legacies of a golden age of literature in English. The passage concerning the death of Absalom could wring tears out of granite.

'The Canterbury Tales'- Geoffrey Chaucer

'Common Sense' and 'The Rights of Man'- Thomas Paine

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Japher
"Science will get you a job, but philosophy will get you a life"

A life you can't afford

Really, I don't see anyone shifting philosophy jobs off to South Asia.

[Jac de Molay]

PJ O Rourke, All the trouble in the world.

Umberto Eco, Name of the Rose and Foucaults Pendulum.

Daniel Boorstin, The Discoverers/Creators
Norman Cantor, Civilization in the Middle Ages.
William Shirer, Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
Several of Bob Woodward's books

Cant think of any others...

[GePap]

No book makes one smarter. at best they either are incredably informative, or they give you a brand new perpective.

Of those kinds of books, none stand out becuase there have been so many.

[rah]

No one has listed "The Art of War"

I found it very entertaining with a few real good concepts.

[Ben Kenobi]

Long list.

right know I'm plowing through Bernard Cornwall, but that's more for pleasure than for enlightenment.

Books that I think should be added, Ivan Denisovich, Things Fall Apart, Brave New World, Crime and Punishment, Grapes of Wrath, Fahrenheit 451.

Now, if you want specifically Christian books, I have torn apart my copy of Mere Christianity, by CS Lewis.

[TCO]

Originally posted by Combat Ingrid
P.W. Atkins - "Physical Chemistry"

I read that one. R u a girl?

[Ecthy]

her name's Ingrid.

girl + physics =

[Commie Chocobo]

UGH!! and no one has said das kapital? why not, but then, i havnt read to many books like that...

[monolith94]

Oscar Wilde - Salome
William S. Burroughs - the Western Lands

[JohnT]

"Smarter", Commie, not "more inclined to intellectual delusions." That was last months thread.