Books ctd...
Okay, trying again.
4) 5 books that mean a lot to me?
1. The Bible - I'm not sure how I'd differ if the bible had never existed, but it seems to have had a huge influence on my parents (missionaries were big when they were growing up), and it (and of course all the associated stuff) seems to have really taken with them and influences how they behave (and subsequently how I was brought up). I ended up at a catholic school, and even though I don't believe It is at all holy, I suspect it has influenced some of my values which I've later rationalized in other ways. My anti-religious tendencies are probably also partly due to its flawed nature, and would be more catholic-focused just because this is the religious book with which I'm most familiar.
2. Heinlein - Cheating with an author, but I devoured like 90% of his works during quite a short period of my formative adolescent years, and despite his descent into extremity toward the end of his career, a lot of his books had similar themes and elements. I haven't become a gung-ho, gun-mad, libertarian, but his books did give me fodder to think about in terms of society and conforming, civil liberties and authoritarianism, the role of government, elitism, etc.
3. Macbeth - Shakespeare was a bit of a mental block growing up, someone I thought I should read, but who just seemed too inaccessible and "literary". We were forced to do Macbeth in year 11, and I actually really enjoyed it and got over any general daunting-by-literature. I've still hardly touched his ouevre [1], but I suppose it's something I can look forward to.
4. Red Mars - It might just be due to my 11 year old diary entries that I've been rereading recently about this book/trilogy, but I was really into these books. Despite any flaws, the detailed science - on environment, terraforming, complex systems, world-spanning "big" science, social, psychological, and neuroscience problems - was all terribly intriguing. I think I read it soon after I'd made a definite decision about doing greenish science, and it helped cement my decision and my appreciation for it.
5. Philosophy: The Classics - I should probably attribute recentish interest in philosophy to my Mum starting a philosophy degree. Or maybe to The consolations of philosophy, since that was probably more instrumental in making philosophy seem terribly simple. But this book is also very accessible, and gives a good overview of the classics and a guide to further reading [1] for many different philosophies (only finished Descartes and Mill so far) and of course their dialectical oppositions. It's also helped make reading books from hundreds of years ago seem like less of a waste of time.
[1] Must put these on list of things-to-do-when-I-have-a-life-again.
4) 5 books that mean a lot to me?
1. The Bible - I'm not sure how I'd differ if the bible had never existed, but it seems to have had a huge influence on my parents (missionaries were big when they were growing up), and it (and of course all the associated stuff) seems to have really taken with them and influences how they behave (and subsequently how I was brought up). I ended up at a catholic school, and even though I don't believe It is at all holy, I suspect it has influenced some of my values which I've later rationalized in other ways. My anti-religious tendencies are probably also partly due to its flawed nature, and would be more catholic-focused just because this is the religious book with which I'm most familiar.
2. Heinlein - Cheating with an author, but I devoured like 90% of his works during quite a short period of my formative adolescent years, and despite his descent into extremity toward the end of his career, a lot of his books had similar themes and elements. I haven't become a gung-ho, gun-mad, libertarian, but his books did give me fodder to think about in terms of society and conforming, civil liberties and authoritarianism, the role of government, elitism, etc.
3. Macbeth - Shakespeare was a bit of a mental block growing up, someone I thought I should read, but who just seemed too inaccessible and "literary". We were forced to do Macbeth in year 11, and I actually really enjoyed it and got over any general daunting-by-literature. I've still hardly touched his ouevre [1], but I suppose it's something I can look forward to.
4. Red Mars - It might just be due to my 11 year old diary entries that I've been rereading recently about this book/trilogy, but I was really into these books. Despite any flaws, the detailed science - on environment, terraforming, complex systems, world-spanning "big" science, social, psychological, and neuroscience problems - was all terribly intriguing. I think I read it soon after I'd made a definite decision about doing greenish science, and it helped cement my decision and my appreciation for it.
5. Philosophy: The Classics - I should probably attribute recentish interest in philosophy to my Mum starting a philosophy degree. Or maybe to The consolations of philosophy, since that was probably more instrumental in making philosophy seem terribly simple. But this book is also very accessible, and gives a good overview of the classics and a guide to further reading [1] for many different philosophies (only finished Descartes and Mill so far) and of course their dialectical oppositions. It's also helped make reading books from hundreds of years ago seem like less of a waste of time.
[1] Must put these on list of things-to-do-when-I-have-a-life-again.