Required Reading
 

If you had the power to make two books required reading for every adult american which books would you choose and why?

It's a pretty open ended question and the crux of it is which two books do you think would most benefit socity if they were widely read. Everyone will read it so it's important to pick a book that's accessible to most people (imbeciles can be excluded)

I don't know if this is my final answer but my first thought is

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking


Some other ideas to get you started:

Political Books
Animal Farm or 1984 by George Orwell
Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest For Dominance by Noam Chomsky
The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton et al

Grammar books
Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss
The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White

Science books
The Feynman Lectures on Physics
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
The Origin of Speces by Charles Darwin
On Human Nature by Edward O. Wilson
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert

Mathematics Books
Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter
Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott

Books on Religion
The Koran
The Bible
The End of Faith by Sam Harris

I'm weak on books on history and art so I'm sure there are worthy ones that I'm just not listing. Same goes for works of literature. I'm more familiar with those but can't usually distinguish between the good and the great.

Re: Required Reading
 

I would make everyone read a book on basic macro economic principles so they at least understand the impact of all their voting decisions. Or maybe a book that just explains their personal economic situations in a straight-forward way, like the wealthy barber. But I feel this is the most important subject that high school does not address.

Re: Required Reading
 

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I would make everyone read a book on basic macro economic principles so they at least understand the impact of all their voting decisions. Or maybe a book that just explains their personal economic situations in a straight-forward way, like the wealthy barber. But I feel this is the most important subject that high school does not address.

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IMHO evey high school student should be forced to take at least once course on personal finance (how to balance a check book, how mortgages work, the importance of credit, what types of monthly bills to expect etc....)

I read the Wealthy Barber 15 years ago, and it would be an excellent resource for anyone.

OP,

Under the science section I would recommend "The Age of Spiritual Machines". I don't have a science background, nor an interest in science, but I really liked this book.

Re: Required Reading
 

GR,

I used to work at a bank and totally agree with you. People, adults even, cannot do banking for the life of them. As if its some hard science.

Goof,

I think Hamlet is another winner.

Re: Required Reading
 

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The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White

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This should be the focus of high school english courses.

Re: Required Reading
 

i love hamlet

i think you should add "the elegant universe" by greene under science

everyone should read the plague by camus

Re: Required Reading
 

Origin of Species is an epic book, however I believe there are many modern biology related books that give a more informed, researched and pithy argument for evolution.

I also think this list should contain a text on human sexuality. It probably isn't the best suggestion, but possibly Abnormal by Michel Foucault (series of transcribed lectures. There is probably a much more definitive text than this.

Re: Required Reading
 

Daryn,

I thoguht about it but the list is just suggestions. The idea is for everyone to pick their two books. Also string theory has some potential flaws.

Re: Required Reading
 

huck finn and when genius failed.

Re: Required Reading
 

Science section needs some Carl Sagan imo.

Re: Required Reading
 

A People's History of the United States of America by Howard Zinn, even though it is required already in very few college courses to my knowledge

Re: Required Reading
 

Secrets by Daniel Ellsberg -- very instructive in how governments actually operate, plus a lot of under-expressed truth about the Vietnam War (with application to certain contemporary events).

A Random Walk Down WallStreet by Burton Malkiel -- Good advice on how to handle your money, and some good advice in other areas as well.

Alternate picks:

Feynman's autobiography

Origin of Species -- while someone said the ideas have a better home in more recent works (how could it be otherwise), I think the sense of discovery and wonder you get from Darwin's early work, the feeling you are with him on the cusp of realizing something tremendously important and awesome, are big bonuses you can't get from brillian later stuff by Dawkins etc. Perhaps it should be coupled with reading Voyage of the Beagle for full effect.

Re: Required Reading
 

Great thread idea.

I'm a poltical dork, so I guess I'll start there. At the moment, I think every American could benefit from reading Steve Coll's Pulitzer Prize winning book Ghost Wars concerning the history of America's involvement in Afghanistan and the roots of Islamic fundamentalism in the region that has predicated our involvement in the war on terror.

Also, if people read From Beirut to Jerusalem, we would have a more a serious national conversation about the Middle East.

To have a better understanding of shifting American demographies that have influenced the last two decades of domestic politics, The Right Nation by the two American editors of The Economist is a serious examination.

All the News That's Fit to Sell is a excellent primer for the way in which markets influence what appears in the media.

This clearly doesn't fall under, "required reading to save the world," but every baseball fan should read Moneyball to appreciate Billy Beane's genius and realize how statistical analysis can inform sports decisions.

Re: Required Reading
 

i recently read Naked Economics
and am planning on getting all my friends to read it.
its a very basic introduction to economics,but i found it extremely good at explaining the subject,which i knew little about other than vague ideas i had picked up (and usually misunderstood) here and there

i'm sure people who are into economics will list several books that they would prefer to make everyone read,however this one is perfect for the lay-reader,i had already dipped into a few other similar books and gotten confused,wheras this one did an excellent job of explaining all the basics to a novice such as myself.

i also loaned it to my dad,someone who would never normally read anything to do with economics,and he loved it too.

Re: Required Reading
 

I think adding a philosophy category would be beneficial.

I'll start:

Philosophy

A Theory of Justice , John Rawls

Re: Required Reading
 

History/Econoimcs: How Capitalism Saved America, Thomas J. DiLorenzo.

Fiction: Time's Arrow, Martin Amis.

Science: The Blind Watchmaker, Richard Dawkins.

Re: Required Reading
 

Calculus by Spivak
The Frontiersmen by Eckert

Re: Required Reading
 

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The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton et al


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Federalist #10 is all they need.

Re: Required Reading
 

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I would make everyone read a book on basic macro economic principles so they at least understand the impact of all their voting decisions. Or maybe a book that just explains their personal economic situations in a straight-forward way, like the wealthy barber. But I feel this is the most important subject that high school does not address.

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Could you suggest a title on basic macro economic principles?

Re: Required Reading
 

disagree hard.

Sure most people's lives won't be enriched by reading any of them all that much, but there are multiple essays in there make you go Wow so that's why things are the way they are (or aren't).

Not to say that 10 doesn't trump, but there are others that if you're of the bent to say wow to 18th century political philosophy, well, you'll say wow.

Re: Required Reading
 

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I would make everyone read a book on basic macro economic principles so they at least understand the impact of all their voting decisions. Or maybe a book that just explains their personal economic situations in a straight-forward way, like the wealthy barber. But I feel this is the most important subject that high school does not address.

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Could you suggest a title on basic macro economic principles?

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Economics in One Lesson, Henry Hazlitt.

Re: Required Reading
 

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The Federalist Papers

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More importantly, the Anti-federalist Papers. Compare the dire warnings of the anti-federalists and the blasse reassurances of the federalists with the reality of modern American government and it becomes clear who was right.

Re: Required Reading
 

Thanks

Re: Required Reading
 

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I would make everyone read a book on basic macro economic principles so they at least understand the impact of all their voting decisions. Or maybe a book that just explains their personal economic situations in a straight-forward way, like the wealthy barber. But I feel this is the most important subject that high school does not address.

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Could you suggest a title on basic macro economic principles?

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I just took a 205 course called "The political economy." It was really too basic for me as I had already done more advanced stuff, but of the required readings in the course was a small handbook that explained free market capitalism and why it works in the most straight forward way possible with good visual examples. It is written by the frasier institue though, so it is very libertarian/ economically right wing. Anyways, its called What everyone should know about economoics and prosperity by James Gwartney and Richard Stroup. Only like 120 pages of light reading that you could finish in a day, so I recommend it to anyone without prior knowledge of economics, or to anyone who wants a quick refresher.

Re: Required Reading
 

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The Federalist Papers

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More importantly, the Anti-federalist Papers. Compare the dire warnings of the anti-federalists and the blasse reassurances of the federalists with the reality of modern American government and it becomes clear who was right.

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I know Boro is a more respected guy than me around here, but as he also has some striking proclivities I'll just go ahead and second this for those who are of a more mainstream political bent.

Re: Required Reading
 

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Could you suggest a title on basic macro economic principles?

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I haven't read this myself, but Macroeconomic Essentials by Peter Kennedy is supposed to provide a great nontechnical overview.

Re: Required Reading
 

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Science section needs some Carl Sagan imo.

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Seconded. The Demon-Haunted World, specifically, especially if you're not really science-minded.

Re: Required Reading
 

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i love hamlet

i think you should add "the elegant universe" by greene under science

everyone should read the plague by camus

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why?

Re: Required Reading
 

maybe the great influenza?

Re: Required Reading
 

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Could you suggest a title on basic macro economic principles?

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I haven't read this myself, but Macroeconomic Essentials by Peter Kennedy is supposed to provide a great nontechnical overview.

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Mankiw's text is supposedly the best for a new economics student: Link

Filled with digestible case studies and clear language.

Re: Required Reading
 

Chance

Re: Required Reading
 

I have a hard time deciding what 2 books that everyone shoudl be forced to read, but I'm pretty sure that the ones people have come up with in this thread are terrible choices. Having every american attempt to read the Feynman lectures on physics is beyond pointless. The only suggestions here that have made any sense whatsoever are the basic finance suggestions.

Re: Required Reading
 

I agree with Paluka. While good suggestions, a lot of this stuff isn't that helpful to everyone. Maybe poor choice of words by OP.

Fiction: To Kill a Mockingbird.

Re: Required Reading
 

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Mankiw's text is supposedly the best for a new economics student: Link

Filled with digestible case studies and clear language.

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Yeah, that's a great book, but it's not focused on macroeconomics. But I would recommend it as a first book on economics in general.

Re: Required Reading
 

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i think you should add "the elegant universe" by greene under science

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I pulled this off my shelf to refresh myself on its contents. I agree that it gives an excellent and clear exposition of relativity theory and quantum mechanics, explaining each theory on their own terms and where they contradict each other. It also gives a good introduction into the basics of string theory, but I think at points it goes into far too much detail.

I'd say the first 2/3rds of this book do a great job presenting the path of theoretical physics over the past century. That said, I think people would benefit more from a basic understanding of newtownian physcis, which they supposedly would aquire before reading this book.

Re: Required Reading
 

Anyone else read The Secret Life of Plants?

What I like about this book is how life-changing it is.

Re: Required Reading
 

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i love hamlet

i think you should add "the elegant universe" by greene under science

everyone should read the plague by camus

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why?

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i dunno, it's good

Re: Required Reading
 

I don't know if The Complete Works of Shakespeare could be considered a book, but if so, that would definitely be one.

For the second one, some kind of comprehensive anthology of Aristotle. I have a really good one by a guy named Wheelright, but I think it's out of print.

I think pretty much everything both of these writers said is as true today as it's ever been (except all Aristotle's science stuff, but dude's from the 4th c. BC, cut a brotha some slack).

Re: Required Reading
 

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For the second one, some kind of comprehensive anthology of Aristotle. I have a really good one by a guy named Wheelright, but I think it's out of print.



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No need for an anthology. Just The Politics. I think the Cambridge translation would be fine, but I had a really conservative professor (Harvey Mansfield) who swore by the Carnes Lord translation (but that get's into a whole neo-con, Straussian conspiracy theory thing that is a bit off topic).

Re: Required Reading
 

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i love hamlet

i think you should add "the elegant universe" by greene under science

everyone should read the plague by camus

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why?

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i dunno, it's good

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isn't string theory likely bogus anyways though?