Welcome to Gaia! ::

Fiction:

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. It's extremely long and tedious in some places but it's an excellent book.

I noticed some people here suggested A Handmaid's Tale. That's a great book also.

A Clockwork Orange

Nonfiction:

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris

Breaking the Spell by Daniel Bennet

The Romantic Manifesto: A Philosophy of Literature by Ayn Rand

The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression by Stephane Courtois.

America's War on Sex: The Attack on Law, Lust, and Liberty by Marty Klein

The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine

Has anybody recommended the His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman? The books are:

The Golden Compass
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass

It's a very thoughtful and philosophical fantasy series for young adults, but even older people will appreciate it. It was written as an homage to Milton's Paradise Lost. In my opinion it's way better than Harry Potter.

Also, there's Stephen King's Dark Tower Series, which also has a lot of philosophical musings in it. It was inspired by a T.S. Elliot poem, The Wastelands. I forget how many books there are, but the first three are:

The Gunslinger
The Drawing of the Three
The Wastelands

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, should read the book Fight Club. Now if you've seen the movie, you know what I mean, or, more probably, think I'm a lunatic. But if you read the book intently, or pay magnificent attention to the movie as you watch it, you see the effects of a consumer society and the pathetic reliance people have on the dictations made by government, society, and pop-culture. I'm telling you, it's a great read. The one problem is that it is writtne in stream of thought format, so its a little rough to follow. Other than that, it is the greatest book I've ever read, and I have to say, I've read PLENTY of books.

That is an excellent list, very well selected. Thank you much.

I'd like to suggest a fictional novel, The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin.
That book is absolutely incredible, remarkable. My absolute favorite. It's dense with meaning and wonder. I can't say much, just read it. xd

just started reading Magister Ludi by Hermann Hesse. too excited for words.
if you are interested you should read Siddhartha or Demian first, both excellent books.

i will have a full list of recommended books soon biggrin

heres the short list then wink
links included where known also some source sites below


Hermann Hesse; four recommended books
Siddhartha
Demian
Steppenwolf
Magister Ludi

you should probably read Siddhartha or Demian first and Magister Ludi definitely later.

Don Miguel Ruiz, two
The Four Agreements
The Mastery of Love

Paulo Coelho, any but especially
The Alchemist
The Fifth Mountain

Carlos Castaneda
dont worry about the first book, A Yaqui Way of Knowledge; start with A Separate Reality or Journey to Ixtalan. A Separate Reality was the one that really started things changing for me, but it is different for many people.

Richard Bach
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

Satprem
Sri Aurobindo, or the Adventure of Consciousness

Kurt Vonnegut
he has many good books but my fav is Cat's Cradle

Thomas Moore
Care of The Soul

White Eagle
The Path of the Soul

Anthony deMello
Awareness

Thom Hartmann
The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight

Manly Hall
The Secret Teachings of all Ages
http://sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/index.htm

Namkhai Norbu
Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State

Yoga Sutras
Trans. Ramamurti S. Mishra

John Blofeld
Tantric Mysticism of Tibet

Vernon Howard
The Mystic Path to Cosmic Power

Thaddeus Golas
Lazy man's Guide to Enlightenment
http://freespace.virgin.net/sarah.peter.nelson/lazyman/lazyman.html


Ernest Wood
Great Systems of Yoga
http://sacred-texts.com/hin/gsoy/index.htm

Calvin S. Hall & Vernon J. Nordby
A Primer of Jungian Psychology

Jean Shinoda Bolen
Gods within Everyman
Goddesses Within Everywoman

http://sacred-texts.com/
www.hermetic.com
http://www.hermetics.org/ebooks.html

well thats the short list, many are stories others are textbooks all are good. The Secret Teachings of All Ages i believe is the most important because it will help you to understand the history and symbolism of religion and knowledge. It also happens to be the longest books listed here. read it chapter by chapter.

I'll update this as soon as I return from Toronto. sweatdrop