There are certain classic texts that we must read–books that have become cultural rites of passage. No one is saying you should skip your high school reading list. The problem is thinking that that’s enough. In order to work for “everyone,” those books had to be safe, they had to be accessible, they had to be provocative but not too provocative. There is a very understandable reason that we read All Quiet on the Western Front and not Company K. Or that we read Huckleberry Finn to understand slavery and not Solomon Northup’s real memoir.
Because the latter books are real. The others keep us comfortable, even when they make us think.
gutenberg links for a few of these. several of them were old enough to be public domain, but unavailable. 1. Cyropaedia (probably not the recommended translation) 3. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (probably not the recommended translation) 4. The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects by Giorgio Vasari 5. The Man Without a Country by Edward E. Hale 7. Civil War Stories by Ambrose Bierce (actually an unofficial collection, so i just linked to author page) 8. Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi by George Devol 9. Hunger by Knut Hamsun 10. Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son by George Horace Lorimer
I had to read bits of the Vasari for an art history class I took in Arezzo, Italy (where he's from) this summer. The man shaped what we think about the Renaissance more than the art itself did. Vasari's the most important person related to art history you've never heard of (if you haven't heard of him). His inclusion on this list pretty much validates it for me and I'll be adding whichever of these books I haven't read to my list.
Letters from a Self Made Merchant to his Son I cannot stop reading these letters. I started a few hours ago and I am utterly devouring them. I already realize that I will be rereading this collection and sharing it for the rest of my life. What lessons, what clear writing, what powerful examples and stories. These seem to good to be true. Thanks Ryan Holiday, and kleinbl00
Ryan Holiday, for those who don't know, is the guy who made Tucker Max. He's also one of the main villains behind the marketing of American Apparel. I follow his mailing list because his book Trust Me, I'm Lying is on my Required Reading List for anyone who spends any time in social media.
There are some really interesting suggestions in there. I'm interested in reading Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son by George Horace Lorimer and 12 Years A Slave by Solomon Northup. Food for thought for the next #hubskibookclub. Have a look humanodon
Well, it looks like I won't be short of things to read for the next while. Although, as the author of the list admits, it is heavy on American history.