ITT: Your top ten favorite books

[Maharishi Miyagi Yoda]

Many Discordians are avid readers. This is a place where the readers among us can talk about their all-time favorite reads, and find out what other Discordians are reading. If you decide to post on this thread, please include the titles of your favorite books, the author, and a little information about the book (enough info to let anyone reading your post know if they would be interested in reading the book, but not so much info that it spoils the book). Hopefully, this thread will become a place we can go to when we want to read a good book, but aren't sure what book we should read. I'll start.
1) The Bible, by various authors. This is the Holy Book of Christianity. It gives an account of the creation of the world, tells the history of the Hebrew peoples and the revelations of their prophets, and tells of the life of Jesus of Nazareth and the early history of Christianity.
2) Hypnerotomachia Poliphi, by Francesco Colonna. This book tells the story of a man's struggle for love in a dream. In the dream, Poliphilo finds himself alone in dark forest. From there he travels throughout the dreamscape, conversing with spirits, visiting many strange places, and witnessing many marvels, all in his quest to win the heart of his beloved Polia. It is a tale full of symbolism and allegory in story, language, architecture, landscape, and costume. An obscure classic from the 15th century.
3) Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, by G.I. Gurdjieff. This book is told from the point of view of the Devil, who (according to the book) was sent to earth by God to make humans stop making bloody sacrifices to idols. He sits on his throne in his spaceship, recounting his adventures among men throughout earth's history to his adoring grandson who pesters him with questions about humans.
4) Dogma et Rituel de la Haute Magie, by Eliphas Levi Zahed. This book gives an account of the doctrine of ceremonial magic and gives instruction in the practice thereof, as told by 19th century French Occultist Eliphas Levi. Aleister Crowley cites it as one of the biggest influences on his own philosophy of magic.
5) The Spiritual Guide, by Miguel de Molinos. This obscure but very curious book that gives the reader instruction on how to contact his "Spiritual Guide", an inner voice that will guide him to wisdom and happiness.
6) Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carrol. Tells the tale of a young girl's adventures in a magical land that she found herself in after falling down a rabbit's hole.
7) The Book of Thoth, by Aleister Crowley. Probably the best book about the Tarot that I've ever encountered. Definitely not for beginners, however.
The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley. The tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, told from the point of view of the women in the story, rather than the men.
9) Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, by Max Heindel. An esoteric book that explains Rosicrucian views on the composition of the human body, mind and soul, the structure of the universe, and man's history and purpose.
10) The Complete Brothers Grimm Faerie Tales, by the Brothers Grimm. A compilation of many old European faerie tales that were handed down from one generation to the next.

There are many other books I wanted to include, but I figure ten is really pushing it. So come on, you, don't be afraid, tell us all about your favorite books!

[LMNO]

Admit it: you got #2 after reading The Rule of Four.


I would like to add to the list almost anything by Philip K Dick: a paranoid schizophrenic writing mind-warping science fiction.  Books of note: Ubik, A Scanner Darkly, Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said.

[Maharishi Miyagi Yoda]

Admit it: you got #2 after reading The Rule of Four.


I would like to add to the list almost anything by Philip K Dick: a paranoid schizophrenic writing mind-warping science fiction.  Books of note: Ubik, A Scanner Darkly, Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said.

Not true. I actually first heard of it when an acquaintance of mine recommended it to me. Incidentally, he didn't hear of it from The Rule of Four either; he did his Master's Thesis on it- entitled "The Method of Loci in theHypnerotomachia Poliphi." He intends to publish his thesis, but his efforts have not been successful.

I've never read Philip K. Dick, and that's a crying shame, I know.

[LMNO]

Bloody hard question man - in no particular order

1. Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett.
2. Anything else by Terry Pratchett (since this list would just end up all Pratchett)
3. Dark Tower series - Steven King (contains lots of discordia refrences, and also scares thee shit out of me, as the climax to it is so realistic.
4. The Greks Bring Gifts - Murray Leinster (1960's classic pulp edition)
5. Only You Can Save Mankind - Terry Pratchett
6. OT levels - L Ron Hubbard
7. Urban Myths - various (Its an encyclopedia of urban ledgens, v-cool)
8. Hitchikers Guide (all 5) - Douglas Adams
9. Winnie The Pooh - AA Milne (roxx!)
10. Essential Spiderman (a collection of the first few spiderman comics)

Please explain this choice further.

[Bella]

Argh, I can't do this before breakfast and especially before coffee. So many books and mine are not in order either - just as they come to mind. Except for To Kill a Mockingbird which I've read at least once a year since I was 14. I carry a pocket edition in my purse all the time, so this one has to be first.

1. To Kill A Mockingbird. by Harper Lee
2. The Throat by Peter Straub. There are certain times of the year when I have to read this book in order to be even a little bit okay. Out of all the writers in the world, Straub's frame of reference is more like mine than anyone else's.
3. Mystery and Koko by Peter Strab. These two books and The Throat are part of a trilogy, so I lumped them together.
4. American Gods by Neil Gaimen
5. How I found Freedom in an Unfree World by Harry Browne
6. Sola Saloo by Dr Seuss
7. The Collected Works of Edgar Allen Poe
8. A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare
9. Renaissance Tarot by Jane Lyle
10. Dark Tower Series by Steven King. It scares the shit out of me, too, and the tarot references resonate with me.

[East Coast Hustle]

in no particular order:

The Art of War - Sun Tzu
The Book of Five Rings - Miyamoto Musashi
The 48 Laws of Power - Robert Greene
Guerilla Warrfare - Che Guevara
The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli
Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - PK Dick
The Joy of Cooking - Irma & Marion Rombauer
The Dark Tower series - Stephen King
The Black Iron Prison: Discordia Revisited - Various/Anonymous

[devilinme]

1. Of Grammatology by Jacques Derrida
2. Complete Books of Charles Hoy Fort
3. Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges
4. Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter
5. Anything and everything by Franz Kafka
6. Anything and everything by Philip K. Dick.
7. The Book of Lies by Aleister Crowley
8. Liber Null and Psychonaut by Peter Carroll
9. The Complete Works of William Blake
10. As good a guide to the laws, legal system, system of governance etc of whatever country you happen live in as you can find.

dim - being a prententious SOB from conception.

[deet]

I'm illiterate.

deet,
writing this with a straight face.

I can also say this out loud too, and a few people would believe it.

[Bella]

Rev. Ignatious feels illiterate, when reading other peoples book lists.

That's how I felt when I read yours today. And devilinme's too.
I would have felt that way about ECH's if not for the cookbook.
When I got to that one, I made the sign of the cross and backed slowly away from this thread.

P.S. You sold me on L Ron Hubbard's work with the eeeevil instruments of eeeevil  option.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

1.  The Book of the Subgenius & Rev X.
2.  Ragged Dick (Horatio Alger).  I just like the title.
3.  Fire and Blood, A History of Mexico (Fehrenbach).
4.  Schroedingers Cat (Wilson) except for the last 1/4, which sucked my ass.
5.  The Bible (God).   Do never give God bad reviews.  Just saying.
6.  The Jewish War (Josephus).  An uplifting tale of war & cannibalism.
7.  Collapse (Jared Diamond).  See #6.
8.  Guns, Germs, and Steel (Jared Diamond).  What's not to love?
9.  Treason (Ann Coulter).  Because sometimes you run out of toilet paper.
10.  I GOT MY PANCE ON ALL BY MYSELF (MRH).

[putz]

Just to be stereotypical, I'm going to break from the ten book guideline.
Nothing you do will stop me.

Way way back in the days of high school, I was a junk-food fiction junkie.  I could read 600 page books in single settings.  As long as it could make me forget where I was, it didn't matter what they were about.  At the top of my junk-food reading list was the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  I read those books a coutless number of times.  I must have worn out two copies of book 6 alone.  It was serious.  The only thing that ever got me to kick that habit was hearing that bastadr say "Just two more books!" after every single book since '96.  Bastard.

Ever since then, I've been reading much healthier books (or, at least less profit-oriented ones)
In no particular order:
The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola -
A highly bizarre short novel written in 1946 in just a few days by a  working-class Nigerian man.  Includes Death farming sweet potatoes and invincible armies of dead babies. A must read!

The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff -
An easy reading enjoyable book that talks about the Tao in a simple and novel way that any Opie Whitebread could grasp.

Also there was some book where this guy was interviewing Marcel Duchamp; that was quite an interesting read.  Too bad I don't remember the name.

[the other anonymous]

1. A Testament of Psychosis*
2. The Internet**
3. The Akashic Records, but only if they exist, which they don't
4. There is no fourth book
5. Your DNA
6. Anything you write, but only if you only write something that's worth reading
7. There is a fourth book and it's worth reading again, if you can find it
8a. The Babysitters Club, but only if you're trying to learn how to read and want something easy to learn from
8b. Manuals, specifications, blueprints, schematics, etc, because it's always good to know how things work
9. U.S. law, because most judges and politicians never do
10. The Right to Feel Bad by Lesley Hazleton

* Everything ever written is part of A Testament.
** Doesn't count as "written", 'cuz it's typed and the rate of keyboard possessions is much lower than pencil possessions

[LMNO]

Ok, for real...

1. Prometheus Rising, RAW
2. The Book of Lies, AC
3. Sandman, Neil Gaiman
4. Steppenwolf, Hesse
5. Tao te Ching, Lao Tzu
6. The Master and Margarita, Bulgakoff
7. Crash, JG Ballard
8. Ender,Äôs Game, Card
9. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Stoppard
10. Ubik, Dick

[East Coast Hustle]

watching Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead for the first time while WIGGED THE FUCK OUT on some high-test liquid acid was probably responsible for the very first re-arrangement of neural pathways that led me to Discordianism and made me what I am today.

it's also why Gary Oldman is my favorite actor.

[LMNO]

Troof.

Tho' his turn as Sid was pretty cool, I thought.