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Books on human nature/government
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I am looking for some good books about human nature, and stuff on government
On the human nature part I have enjoyed books such as:
The Brothers Karamazov -dotevinsky (sp, I know)
Lord of the Flies- William Golding (my favorite book)
The Stranger-Albert Camuus
Speaker for the dead through children of the mind-Orson Scott Card
On the government part I have enjoyed:
1984 -George Orwell
Animal Farm-George Orwell
Brave New World-Alduous Huxley
I have read alot of stuff by Locke, Rousseu(sp) and Hobbes
I would love to hear what NS has to say for books I should read, I search barred but there was nothing really for what I was looking for.
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Machiavelli - The Prince.
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Foucault, Nietzsche, Freud etc
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are you looking specifically for fiction with human nature/government themes? or non-fiction as well. if you're open to non-fiction, blessed unrest by paul hawken is worth reading
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non-fiction works too, antyhing really
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i also just finished "the road," which is a great, quick read and touches on some great human nature/family dynamic themes.
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Anything by Vonnegut. I'd recommend reading Cat's Cradle then Slaughter House Five first and then read something like God Bless You, Mr Rosewater
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i'm reading hot flat and crowded by thomas friedman. its about how the worlds getting more populated, affected by global warming, and at the same time more connected with technology, and if we don't change the way in which natural resources govern how we operate, we're all fucked because the earth cant sustain 6 billion people acting like americans. i'd read it if you want a good look at a bunch of different lifestyles led by people other than americans.
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1984 was IMO for teh lulz...not exactly sure why its so popular.
anyway.
human nature: the fountainhead
government/human nature: Atlas Shrugged. (the best book ive ever read. claim:) i consider myself to be relatively well read.)
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^ayn rand scares the crap out of me. that said, check out her first book, "we the living."
as for human nature, doesn't get any better for me than war and peace. seriously.
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Ayn Rand is the biggest asshole to ever walk this earth and anyone who reads her books is guaranteed to be an asshole for at least a month afterward
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orly?
im about half way through the fountainhead i suppose that makes me an asshole?
haters gonna hate, Atlas Shrugged NUMBER 2 on the library of congresses influential books list. right behind teh biblez
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There are a lot of assholes in this world
Just sayin
But really, I don't want to start a shitstorm haha. Just out of curiosity, do you have that list? I couldn't find in a quick google search, I want to see what else is on there
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The Road is a pretty good book. beats the shit out of the movie.
Also Five Past Midnight in Bhopal is pretty good if you want a non-fiction read.
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Atlas Shrugged, anything by Tom Wolfe. The US Constitution, The Federalist Papers.
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Already read both of those /claim
And thanks for all the suggestions everyone.
I am tempted to read ayn rand's stuff, but she's just so objectivist (or so I've heard), and I'm much more of an existentalist kind of guy, so I am not sure how much I would like her writing.
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I dunno, I randomly got a copy of Anthem in the mail 3 or 4 years ago. I really enjoyed it, it's a fairly good story, makes you think. Anything by Cormac McCarthy really. I love the way he writes, especially in The Road. It's almost like prose.
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for all of her dogmatic trashing of philosophers, Rand founded Objectivism. She is a bit hard to swallow sometimes, just because she is so 100% dedicated to her views that she steamrolls anyone who happens to slightly disagree with her. Some of her principles seem to go lock-step with Libertarianism, but Rand called Libertarians, and Conservatives, the biggest threats to the United States of America. With that said, her core small government and free market principles are incredibly interesting, even though they may be existential and at this point, impractical and nigh impossible given the supreme levels of shit our government has descended into. Read with caution, and don't turn into the Rand zombies every whiny liberal bitches about-you know the ones, the kids who picked up the book as freshmen in college and take every word she says as gospel and gets all butthurt when someone has the slightest disagreement with her philosophy. Atlas Shrugged was a damn good book though...there is a reason that such a fatty-ream of a book has been on the best seller list since it was first published.
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Almost definatly would not be come a "rand zombie" I'm already pretty opposed to alot of the stuff I have read about her, but I am trying to keep an open mind about her writing and see where it takes me.
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