An Influential Movement
As my regular readers will be aware of by now, as part of my ‘quest’ to understand the world I’m endeavouring to read at least some of the treasure trove of significant or influential books that exist in the world. My ‘discoveries’ are by and large random (as you can no doubt tell from the list below) and vary greatly in significance. However, I think they all make at least some contribution to the quests objective. My aim is to add at least 3-4 such books to the list each year. This year’s additions are added at the top of the list in Bold. I don’t have anything specific put aside for this year but I’m guessing that near future contributions will mostly be classical texts of politics and philosophy. I’m definitely feeling a lack of philosophy in my life…..! But to the list….
Suffragette – My Own Story by Emmeline Pankhurst
The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer
The Old Straight Track - Its Mounds, Beacons, Moats, Sites and Mark Stones by Alfred Watkins
The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
All The President’s Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D H Lawrence
The True Believer – Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer
The Rights of Man by H G Wells
The Economic Consequences of the Peace by John Maynard Keynes
The Two Cultures by C P Snow
The City by Max Weber
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
The War of the Flea – A Study of Guerrilla Warfare Theory & Practice by Robert Taber
Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P Newton
Seize the Time – The Story of The Black Panther Party and Huey P Newton by Bobby Searle
Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
The Autobiography of Malcolm X with the assistance of Alex Haley
Achtung Panzer! – The Development of Tank Warfare by Heinz Guderian
Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore
About Looking by John Berger
A Vindication of The Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft
War on Wheels – The Evolution of an Idea by C R Kutz
Ways of Seeing by John Berger
Design as Art by Bruno Munari
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
Why I am not a Christian by Bertrand Russell
The Captive Mind by Czeslaw Milosz
The Future of an Illusion by Sigmund Freud
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
The Rebel by Albert Camus
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
A Discourse on the Origins and Foundations of Inequality among Men by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Guerrilla Warfare by Che Guevara
I’m very pleased with the addition of 6 books last year with some very serious contenders in there. Again they came from all subjects from science, politics, feminism and a foundational tome of the New Age movement. Let’s see what I can dig up this year!
6 comments:
impressive list lots of mind cabbage, there...
It's starting to get there I think. There's LOTS I still haven't approached though and some obvious ones I won't be reading but still... LOTS of significant reads out there.
I’m interested in quite a few of these. I’m looking forward to your reviews. I’m trying to tackle Dan Jones’ _The Plantagenets._ I’ve gotten sidetracked checking my family tree against a number of the characters, but I have high hopes of getting back on track.
The Plantagenet's are pretty fascinating. Haven't read that one though. Good luck with finding any ancestors!
Well right off the top, King Henry II was my 26th great grandfather. Empress Matilda was my 27th great grandmother. Henry I was my 28th ggf, and William I was my 29th ggf. I trace them through my maternal great grandmother’s maternal line. A funny thing I discovered, through my maternal great grandmother’s paternal line, the Tyrrells, is that my 27th great grandfather, Walter Tyrrell III, killed my 28th great uncle, William II.
I have read several from your list. Silent Spring taught me that she knew all along what would happen if we did not take note and now it is happening. Also, I am a huge fan of Albert Camus.
Post a Comment