The Definitive Book List of Discordia

[Phox]

The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury

I haven't read all that many books.  I have to read enough for work as it is.  When I'm home I like to, not, read.  But I read The Martian Chronicles back when I was in college.  It became an annual ritual, mostly.  It's a sci-fi book that really isn't all that sci-fi.  Sure, it takes place on Mars, mostly.  It, initially anyway, involves Martians.  But it really gets at narratives around culture clashes, isolation, xenophobia, and the threat of nuclear war. 

The part that always sticks with me most, however, is the bit that describes the automated house on Mars that basically eats itself after it was abandoned when the humans went back to Earth for WWIII.  It really tied everything together nicely, in a horrormirth kind of way. 

RWHN, that is a very interesting justification. I find that I agree with your points.

Thank you, everyone, for contributing your thoughts. I will read through the list as it stands and try to facilitate discussion on a few of the books tonight or tomorrow. I'm a bit preoccupied with other things to give it a full shake at the moment.

[LMNO]

I thought this thread was about book reports of why they should be included...

[Phox]

I thought this thread was about book reports of why they should be included...

It is. I am waiting for the justifications before I start making a tentative list.

*cough*

[Disco Pickle]

On People:
The Naked Ape - Desmond Morris
First book I ever read that says we're nothing more than evolved monkeys. 

Transactional Analysis - Eric Berne
The guy who pioneered group psychotherapy and his system for describing all manner of human interactions.  Very informative, but dry unless you're interested in that sort of thing.

Games People Play - Eric Berne
Excellent book that gives names to many of the little games we play with each other in our day to day lives.  It's based on his work in Transactional Analysis so it would help to have read that first, but it's not necessary for understanding the concepts.

Scripts People Live - Eric Berne
His book on what people do most of our lives when we're not playing our social games or creating past-times.  I recommend all three, in this order.

On Mathematics for Non-Math heads:
The Universe and the Teacup - K.C. Cole (a good place to start but hardly definitive) 

continue with Innumeracy - John Paulos
and Archimedes' Revenge - Paul Hoffman (my favorite of the three)

More as I think of them.

[Juana]

The Language Police by Diane Ravitch
Really interesting discussion on bowlderization as it is done in schools and censorship as a whole. Made me hate it even more than I already did.

I'm replace Of Mice and Men with Grapes of Wrath.
First step away from libertarianism for me, I think. Corporations do not give a shit about the little guy whatsoever and it also really made me feel for the poor and the displaced.

To Kill a Mocking Bird
People are horrible and will kill the innocent because they are bigoted assholes.

The Scarlet Letter
People are fucking terrible and will make others into paraiahs for retarded shit.

The Search for the Golden Moon Bear by Sy Montgomery
More of a YA science story, and I read it at about that age. I grew up in the "Save the rainforest! save the white tiger!" era and that was only so much white noise until I read this. The golden moon bear is a rare subspecies of moon bear in South East Asia and time is limited to find them. It also made me want to go visit that part of the world.

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
A memoir on the author's time in a Nazi concentration camp and a reflection on his view of how to deal with suffering and what our purpose in life is. Really fucking good.

[Phox]

The Call of the Wild
Jack London.

His perspective of that life came through the eyes of someone who was a part of it. No sugar coating and it helped me at that point realize that cruelty and compassion can exist together. Certainly not in perfect harmony but as offsetting counterpoints. His simplistic writing style allowed me to see much of the story in my mind very clearly.

Alright to get us started actually compiling a list, let's start discussing why or why not we think these books should be better (keep adding more books though).

I agree that Call of the Wild is a damn good read. You also bring a good point about the demonstration of the odd balance of cruelty and compassion. But is that enough to earn it a spot on this list? For the moment, I am going to say no on the grounds that while it's important yo note their coexistence, there are other sources that teach this lesson, some of which may be better for the individual  in the long run.

[Placid Dingo]

Marabou Stork Nightmares does an extroadanary job of describing the nature of pain (and provides a good counterpoint to the film Dogville, which is also worth a look)

Adbusters; No a book, but my introduction to 'Leftist politics' before I knew of such a thing.

Bhadvad-Gita (sp?) gave me some very interesting ideas about the concept of 'ambition'.

Chuck Pahlanuik didn't change my life (though the Fight Club film counts), but certainly impacted on the way I write.

George Orwell's 1984/Politics and the English language really helped synthesise a set of ideas about language as a tool of power.

The jargon set and concepts of Bokonism from Cat's Cradle have been useful.

[Telarus]

Monkey: A Journey to the West

Good fictionalized tale of buddhist slight-of-mind techniques, and the quest for Nirvana.

[BadBeast]

Monkey: A Journey to the West

Good fictionalized tale of buddhist slight-of-mind techniques, and the quest for Nirvana.

The Nature of Monkey, is irrepressible!

[BadBeast]

At the risk of incurring derision and ridicule, I'd like to include some Crowley. But not any of his Theoretical work, because that would detract from the reasons why I think this particular Volume should be included. It's "Diary of a Drug Fiend".
I haven't come across any other novel, that encapsulates the entire social strata, of that period straight after WWI, with quite the same depth as this non-stop drug fueled descent into debauched madness and desperation. Taking place right across a War wounded Europe, a young Sir Peter Pendragon, returns from the War, decorated and hailed a Hero, but (understandably) somewhat broken by the experience. And shattered by the untimely death of his unfathful fiancee, he begins to come apart at the seams, and falls in love with a young, hot coked up party girl, and marries her.  The availability of legal cocaine and heroin, soon gets hold of the pair, and steadily begins to eat up his fortune. The pattern that addiction takes is very familiar to us all today, but back then, nobody had written about it in such depth, or with such first hand honesty as Crowley. I still maintain that no other book to this day, fictional or not, has addressed the issues of addiction with such clarity, and perception as this. Crowley has all the psychological dynamics nailed, in a time when Psychology was in it's absolute infancy. The fall of Sir Peter, and unlimited Lou into the lowest rock bottom of junkiedom, and their subsequent detox and rehabilitation covers everything relevant to the subject, without detracting from the galloping pace of the tale. Crowley, with his usual disdain for the rules, not only breaks the fourth wall, but utterly demolishes it like it wasn't even there, by dropping himself (not even barely disguised) into the very centre of the whole tale, as a kind of overly bombastic Master of Ceremonies, and saviour of fallen souls, Basil King Lamus. This might seem to be an act of the most shameless and blatant self aggrandisment, (But this is Crowley, and that was what he did) but it's also in equal measure, a quite brutally honest self parody as well. Tongue in cheek, but actually addressing his own, lifelong struggle with heroin. I think you can actually pick out each step of the Twelve step Minnesota program adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous thirty odd years later out, quite clearly in the story. It's also humorous, compelling, and is full of barely fictionalised chunks of Crowley's own life. (Largely, the infamous Abbey of Thelema, in Cefalu)  I think it should be included. Despite being written in the style of a old Victorian penny dreadful, it's an insightful and unique glimpse into a time just before the British Empire, and Class System begin to noticeably start crumbling. And also to represent Crowley, in as Discordian a way as possible.  (As a writer of fact, disguised as fiction, rather than the usual,  fiction disguised as fact)     

[Adios]

The Call of the Wild
Jack London.

His perspective of that life came through the eyes of someone who was a part of it. No sugar coating and it helped me at that point realize that cruelty and compassion can exist together. Certainly not in perfect harmony but as offsetting counterpoints. His simplistic writing style allowed me to see much of the story in my mind very clearly.

Alright to get us started actually compiling a list, let's start discussing why or why not we think these books should be better (keep adding more books though).

I agree that Call of the Wild is a damn good read. You also bring a good point about the demonstration of the odd balance of cruelty and compassion. But is that enough to earn it a spot on this list? For the moment, I am going to say no on the grounds that while it's important yo note their coexistence, there are other sources that teach this lesson, some of which may be better for the individual  in the long run.

Honestly I don't think any on my list belong. As I read the titles others have posted the gap in what we read becomes even larger. I do not read many of the books listed here because to me they come across as textbooks.

[Phox]

The Call of the Wild
Jack London.

His perspective of that life came through the eyes of someone who was a part of it. No sugar coating and it helped me at that point realize that cruelty and compassion can exist together. Certainly not in perfect harmony but as offsetting counterpoints. His simplistic writing style allowed me to see much of the story in my mind very clearly.

Alright to get us started actually compiling a list, let's start discussing why or why not we think these books should be better (keep adding more books though).

I agree that Call of the Wild is a damn good read. You also bring a good point about the demonstration of the odd balance of cruelty and compassion. But is that enough to earn it a spot on this list? For the moment, I am going to say no on the grounds that while it's important yo note their coexistence, there are other sources that teach this lesson, some of which may be better for the individual  in the long run.

Honestly I don't think any on my list belong. As I read the titles others have posted the gap in what we read becomes even larger. I do not read many of the books listed here because to me they come across as textbooks.

it doesn't matter if what you read is different Charley. The point of the list isn't that we've all read the same things, but that we have  been influenced by these books in how we think. The gap is not important.

[BadBeast]

The Call of the Wild
Jack London.

His perspective of that life came through the eyes of someone who was a part of it. No sugar coating and it helped me at that point realize that cruelty and compassion can exist together. Certainly not in perfect harmony but as offsetting counterpoints. His simplistic writing style allowed me to see much of the story in my mind very clearly.

Alright to get us started actually compiling a list, let's start discussing why or why not we think these books should be better (keep adding more books though).

I agree that Call of the Wild is a damn good read. You also bring a good point about the demonstration of the odd balance of cruelty and compassion. But is that enough to earn it a spot on this list? For the moment, I am going to say no on the grounds that while it's important yo note their coexistence, there are other sources that teach this lesson, some of which may be better for the individual  in the long run.

Honestly I don't think any on my list belong. As I read the titles others have posted the gap in what we read becomes even larger. I do not read many of the books listed here because to me they come across as textbooks.

it doesn't matter if what you read is different Charley. The point of the list isn't that we've all read the same things, but that we have  been influenced by these books in how we think. The gap is not important.

Unless you happen to find yourself on the London Underground, where some mindless automated robot bint, constantly repeats in a metallic monotone, "Mind the Gap, Mind the Gap" ("The Gap" being the three quarters of an inch distance between the Train, and the edge of the platform)  
When it's patently obvious, even to the thickest turnip headed bumpkin, on a Day Return to 'Thaat London' that the danger area, is the space directly in front of the fucking train!

[Juana]

American Fascism: The Christian Right and the War on America By Chris Hedges

Pretty much taught me what I know about fascism and completely fucking terrified me. I don't buy everything in the book, but so much of it makes too much goddamn sense and a lot of it fits with what I had already observed.

[LMNO]

RAW: Prometheus Rising b/w Quantum Psychology -- Ok, so it's a duet.  But they are pretty much two sides of a coin.  The reason I found them important was because, unlike so many esoteric "your experiential reality is subjective" books, they eschew most of the New Age crap, and offer ways you can actually prove it to yourself.  Of course, they are not perfect, nor always accurate... But as a starting point, you could do a hell of a lot worse.