• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Books that every intelligent adult should read?

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Thanks for all the amazing suggestions! I have to clarify my motives - I don't think being well read = intelligence... I believe that I may not be as cultured as my peers but I don't feel any less intelligent.. Sorry for using the wrong terminology... I also want to read for myself and not just to impress others.... I just need a starting point... In fact, I think that party was a wake up call to my lack of intellectual/cultural developement.... I understand the value of reading for the sake of reading but also understand that people judge you (in my circle at least) based on how well read you are... I want to be a screenwriter so, of course, being well read will help me there as well.. Thank you so much for all the help and continue to make suggestions - I got a lot of reading to do 😉

p.s. someone asked how my gf feels about this...Well, she loves me for who I am and knows that I'm intelligent.. This has no effect on us at all... I mean, I'm a witty, well spoken, funny guy but I admit that I'm not terribly cultured.. She's never said it was a problem but I'm working on it 😉
 
what about Republic by Plato?
if you interested in the history side, read The Dawn and Decadence by Jacques Barzun. it was hell for me, but the book was well written.

if you know what the world is going on, read Lexus and the olive tree by Thomas Friedman.

you may want to read newspaper and magazine...must read will be new york times and economist.
 
Another vote for Lolita and everything else Nabokov wrote (I've read Pale Fire and Speak Memory, both good)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
If you liked Portrait, Ulysses.
If you want a less known, respected book to speak about while looking down your nose at people, try Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities. I've just begun, it is interesting in parts but pretentious.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Stoppard
something by Dostoyevsky - Notes from Underground is a good short introduction, Crime and Punishment is popular, I'd like to read the Idiot when I have some time.
Catch-22 or Good as Gold by Heller
Summerhill: A radical approach to child rearing - unpretentious but very important.
 
Originally posted by: Insomnium
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. It's funny, moving, and my favorite book. Some don't like it, but Yossarian is my favorite literary character up to this point.
Click to expand...

my all-time favorite! sequel was Closing Time, didn't like it as much.
 
closing time stunk. i think that you should read ulysses, too. just so you can go around and talk about it with pretentious people. lord knows i do every chance i get.
 
Given the subject of the post I should be smacked for not reading all of the replies. However, I have little time and want to contribute something to the cause.

I agree that reading does not make you intelligent, however it will open your eyes and mind to new ideas. It almost forces you to form an opinion on subjects especially those addressed in the book. While your intensions may not be the agreed upon "best reason" to start reading, you (hopefully) will start reading more and more. It almost sucks you in, like ATOT!

I enjoy almost any existential writer. Albert Camus being my absolute favorite writer, followed by (who knew) Sartre. I can't even say why but when I read his books I almost find myself in a dream. This for some reason gives me the enjoyment I look for in a book.

I guess if I had to pick one book for someone to read it would be "L'etranger (The Stranger)". It was the first book of Camus I read. Either way enjoy your new habit I hope it servers you well.

My problem with my circle of friends is that every last one of them is in the medical field. What can I contribute to a conversation there? "I have this lump on my big toe, anyone want to take a look?"
 
Make sure you read:

Lord of the Rings
Sigmund Freud: Society and its Discontent
How to Be a Playa
Idiots Guide to Picking up Trashy Women.
 
Keep the replies rolling - I love you guys! In a totally non-sexual, platonic way of course 😉 To be brutally honest I thought that I'd be getting more flames than genuine replies.. Thanks for proving me wrong!
 
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
Originally posted by: Howard
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right
Click to expand...
Go away.
Click to expand...

considering you've contributed nothing.. you go away.
Click to expand...

Without getting into a political debate (this isn't the place for that), they were discussing this book during the party.. That, Lolita, and some sam shepard plays.. Weird, huh?
 
how about anything by albert camus (the stranger)? greatest philosophical writer of the last century.

otherwise, those high-school books are pretty general and good. farenheight, catcher rye, lord of flies, to kill a mocking bird, 1984, etc.


edit: also forgot to mention Voltaire.
 
I wish there was a netflix like service for books! I wonder what Manhattan library's limit on books out is - I'm going to be doing a lot of reading due to the great suggestions 😉
 
  • Atlas Shrugged - By Ayn Rand


    • The Most Influential and Controversial Work of the 20th Century

      Atlas Shrugged is the "second most influential book for Americans today" after the Bible, according to a joint survey conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club. One of the most acclaimed and influential works of the 20th century, Atlas Shrugged portrays the murder and rebirth of the human spirit.
 
I like shorter works.

A Rasin in the Sun. Lansbury I think
Death of a Salesman Auther Miller I think
The Awakening. Kate Chopin (loved this, probably my favorite).
Huck Finn. Mark Twain (Liked this a lot too).
A Call to Arms.

Lawerence had some good works for his time too.

You may say that these are weak, childish or not of great consiquence, but I liked reading them and I like talking about them since they were great American writers.

 
I've found that the best books were completely unexpected, with a few exceptions. As has already been suggested, Shakespeare's plays are obviously amazing.

But things like "The Great Gatsby" and other such "standards of literature" I never seem to get into. Right now I'm reading a book by Bill Bryson called "A Brief History of Nearly Everything" that's got some pretty neat stuff.
 
Originally posted by: Willoughbyva
I like shorter works.

A Rasin in the Sun. Lansbury I think
Death of a Salesman Auther Miller I think
The Awakening. Kate Chopin (loved this, probably my favorite).
Huck Finn. Mark Twain (Liked this a lot too).
A Call to Arms.

Lawerence had some good works for his time too.

You may say that these are weak, childish or not of great consiquence, but I liked reading them and I like talking about them since they were great American writers.
Click to expand...

Good grief, weak, childish or not of great consiquence! I wouldn't dare say that about any of those you listed! They just happened to be some of those books that are frequently on high school and college reading lists making them more well known to the general public.

What that means basically, is any well-read individual will have read those books at some point in his life. They are often the building blocks for a cultured person. Anyone wishing to go beyond the required reading, however, should make it a point to discover more authors.
 
Originally posted by: Ornery
  • Atlas Shrugged - By Ayn Rand


    • The Most Influential and Controversial Work of the 20th Century

      Atlas Shrugged is the "second most influential book for Americans today" after the Bible, according to a joint survey conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club. One of the most acclaimed and influential works of the 20th century, Atlas Shrugged portrays the murder and rebirth of the human spirit.
Click to expand...

Agreed -- this is my favorite book of all time, even if you disagree with her philosophy, her first book, We the Living is an interesting perspective on the early days of the Russian Revolution (she fled the revolution, so she experienced it firsthand).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top