2021 – A Year of Reasonable Influence
As my regular readership will be aware I have somewhat of a ‘chip’ on my shoulder concerning my education in the State system. Whilst as good as or better than a great many countries I do feel somewhat ‘disadvantaged’ compared to those who had a much better education – especially in their early lives. Part of the way I’ve been trying to make up for this is in my reading. Now I’ve been voraciously reading anything I could get my hands on since my early teens but have only been focusing on what I’m called ‘significant’ or influential’ works in more recent times. My definition of these terms is somewhat flexible, but essentially what I’m going for is a work that expanded knowledge, changed opinion or in other ways – both direct and subtle – changed things (though not always for the better!). Some of what I’ll be reading, or have already read, are famous/infamous works whilst others are obscure but still punched well above their weight. Most will, inevitably, be non-fiction but there’s a few novels in the list too. I try for at least a handful of such books per year – 3 to 5 seems reasonable – but 2021 was a lower hit year than I had hoped for which is disappointing considering it was a bumper review year. We’ll see what I can accomplish in 2022. So, here’s the list so far with the latest additions (as usual) in BOLD.
The Wretched of the Earth by Franz Fanon
Dune by Frank Herbert
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown
Rock of Ages – Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life by Stephen Jay Gould
How Children Fail by John Holt
The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard
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
wow! i told a friend that all he needed for a happy life was to read S.J. Gould and Alan Watts... possibly a trace over-simplified...
ReplyDeleteThat’s a great list. A number of them are ones I aspire to read, or have read a bit of but did not finish. I joined a sci-fi book club a year ago to force myself to read more and to read a genre I wouldn’t normally read. It has succeeded in getting me to read more, and I did enjoy a number of the books, but I’m struggling to get through the current book, _Kiln People_ by David Brin. The guys in the group love it, and 2/3 of the females don’t care for it. I just find it boring. Oh well, hopefully the next book will be better.
ReplyDelete@ Mudpuddle: Two good places to start building a happy life!
ReplyDelete@ V V: I've read a *bit* of Brin and found him rather hit & miss to be honest. Some time ago Stephen was asking for SF recommendations and I posted this list for him:
1984 – George Orwell
Dune – Frank Herbert
I, Robot – Isaac Asimov
Inverted World – Christopher Priest
City – Clifford Simak
Deathworld One – Harry Harrison
Why call them back from Heaven? – Clifford Simak
The Day After Tomorrow – Robert Heinlein
One Step From Earth – Harry Harrison
The Dragon in the Sea – Frank Herbert
Night Walk – Bob Shaw
Childhood’s End – Arthur C Clarke
The City and the Stars – Arthur C Clarke
Beyond this Horizon – Robert Heinlein
The Martian Way – Isaac Asimov
A Fall of Moondust – Arthur C Clarke
Rendezvous with Rama – Arthur C Clarke
Tau Zero – Poul Anderson
The Eyes of Heisenberg – Frank Herbert
Slan – A E Van Vogt
The Sands of Mars – Arthur C Clarke
Foundation – Isaac Asimov
2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C Clarke
The Gods Themselves – Isaac Asimov
Flow my tears, the Policeman said – Philip K Dick
War with the Robots – Harry Harrison
The Mote in God’s Eye – Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
Ringworld - Larry Niven
Lucifer’s Hammer – Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
A Scent of New Mown Hay – John Blackburn
A Martian Odyssey – Stanley G Weinbaum
Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert Heinlein
The War of the Worlds – H G Wells
The Man who Awoke – Laurence Manning
The Man in the High Castle – Philip K Dick
The Dosadi Experiment – Frank Herbert
The Time Machine – H G Wells
The First Men in the Moon – H G Wells
To Your Scattered Bodies Go – Philip Jose Farmer
The Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
Non-Stop – Brian Aldiss
We Can Build You – Philip K Dick
Tactics of Mistake – Gordon R Dickson
The Forever War – Joe Haldeman
Hothouse – Brian Aldiss
Starship Troopers – Robert Heinlein
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
Mission of Gravity – Hal Clement
Bring the Jubilee – Ward Moore
The Death of Grass – John Christopher
The Andromeda Strain – Michael Crichton
A Case of Conscience – James Blish
The Lovers – Philip Jose Farmer
The Dispossessed – Ursula K LeGuin
The Midwich Cuckoos – John Wyndham
Make Room, Make Room! – Harry Harrison
Always good to start with the Classics I think... [lol]
awesome list: that about covers it, imo...
ReplyDeleteMay I also add to your list A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.? So far it's my absolute favourite! So unique and very deep and insightful.
ReplyDelete@ Mudpuddle: Not a totally exhaustive list but a reasonable one - to get you going in SF [grin] I read most of them in my late teens/early 20's and do, from time to time, think about revisiting them. But where do you find the time.. [lol]
ReplyDelete@ Cleo: I tried 'Canticle' in my callow youth (after hearing so much about it) but DNF'd it. I might revisit it at some time - particularly as I do like a bit of post-apocalyptic writing.
El Príncipe de Maquiavelo y El contrato Social de Rosseau los leí en la universidad. Qué gran cantidad de buenos títulos tienes ahí. Matar a un ruiseñor de Harper Lee está entre mis favoritos, pero el que le sigue, Ve y pon un centinela, también te lo recomiendo. Yo igual quisiera poder leer Testamento de Juventud. Desde que vi la cinta con Aliocia Vikander no me lo saco de la mente.
ReplyDeleteOooo, I was able to practice my Spanish with the above comment! I'd love to begin studying it again.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, I was going to say before I was distracted ....
Dune and Orwell are on my list for 2022 and I would really love to read To Kill A Mockingbird yearly. Others generally on my TBR are:
Silent Spring
The Rights of Man
Anything by George Orwell
Testament of Youth
A Vindication of The Rights of Woman
The Prince
Why I Am Not A Christian
The Myth of Sisyphus
Meditations
A Discourse .... Rousseau
The Social Contract
I can't wait to read your thoughts on many of these books!
@ Panama Liber: Welcome and thanks for your comment. I'm afraid that I don't speak (or read Spanish) but fortunately the Internet is helpful there! I'm very interested in both Rousseau (who I studied at University) and Machiavelli who I think was both very influential and very modern in his political and philosophical thoughts. Testament of Youth is a very interesting read. I've seen the Vikander movie but first came across Vera Brittain in a British TV series in the late 1970's and loved the actress who played her.
ReplyDelete@ Cleo: All of the books listed have been reviewed here under various labels - mostly Philosophy I think! I read most of them around the time I was doing my degree.
yo creo que los libros arriba son demasiado dificil para me ahora, al edad de 78... mas que doc savage and el avenger y el shadow so preferidos, haha...
ReplyDeleteOh, Mudpuddle, you still have so many surprises up your sleeve. Spanish too?! What else will we find out about you, lol?!
ReplyDeleteich habe ein bischen deutsch, pero solamente un poco, lol...
ReplyDeleteMich auch! Mein espanol ist besser que mein Deutsch et je parle français aussi. 🤣🤣
ReplyDeletedarn... i got no French at all!
ReplyDelete