Just happened on this by chance and now I own five new books. I love books that make me think. I will be 78 in 4 months and books like this keep me young. Also enjoyed your presentation with the comments on why you're interested.
I am near your age and I have always liked reading too, both fiction and the other subjects mentioned. One frustrating thing is that in referring to books and countering eccentric arguments, it often happens that people I am talking to do not get my references.
That's a great accomplishment, congrats! I'll have another list of hard books down the line with more obscure writers (I hope). If you don't mind, who was the translator of the edition you read? I want to start Genji, but I hear the cultural gap is wide, and so the translation and footnotes/endnotes is key.
All I read is fiction and while I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing, I feel like I should branch out into non-fiction a bit. I love history, so I may give The Story of Civilization a shot. Also, on a completely unrelated note I've noticed that you're a really good speaker. I can tell when you are thinking of a phase instead of filling the empty space with "um's" and "like's" you'll take a half second or so to form your thought. That's a good habit (I should probably do it more myself).
The Story of Civilization is the perfect entry point into history for someone who generally reads fiction. It's written with the flow and often the beauty of literary fiction, and the author-having been trained in philosophy-packs each book with his own insights and deeper considerations along the way. I hope you find a decently-priced used copy and enjoy it! And thank you so much for the compliments on my speech! It doesn't always come naturally: I have to remind myself to trust in the listener, that they care and that they'll be forgiving; once I get into that mindset speaking becomes easier. It allows me to forgive myself for all my meanderings, and that fosters comfort. So often "um"s and "like"s are attempts to not have the person we're speaking to interrupt us, so we attempt to fill the empty spaces with noise, but doing so just disrupts our own thinking and doesn't allow for careful, articulate thought.
Since you love history, I think you would enjoy “A World Lit Only By Fire” by William Manchester either in print form or audio form. I started with the audio version and then read my long neglected print version.
When I was a kid, I read Chekhov' The Bet, and the desire stayed with me since. It is a pity that most book lovers don't have all the time to read. Thank you for the suggestions - added a few to my list.
That is a tough but sometimes necessary realization: we likely don't have the time to read every single book we want, and so we must cherish the time we have. I try to adore the time I get to read as much as I can. I'm glad I helped you discover great books for yourself. That is ultimately the hope of this channel, to help others find wonderful books.
great video! You mentioned a lot of unknown jobs that i didn´t knew anything about of before, i expected the usual "finnegan´s wake" "gravity´s rainbow" "ulysses", but that last book with the three columns was just full madness, looks more obscure and hard even that finnegan´s.
Thank you for including Dr. McGilchrist 's Matter with Things. It is long and expensive. But Dr. McGilchrist has a series of RU-vid conversations which go over the book chapter by chapter which may be a good way to begin with them. Thank you for the nice characterization of Stephen Jay Gould. Agree with you entirely.
Durant’s series isn’t hard. It’s just long. There is a lifetime of absolutely wonderful reading right there. I’ve been listening to the old cassette recorded audiobook version done by Grover Gardner. I would like to actually get the entire series from my bookshelf, but at age 67, I don’t think I’m going to get through them all before I’m done with life. The review is correct… It’s some of the most beautiful and masterful prose you can engage. I can’t see coming away from reading these without being a better writer as a result. This is true of his standalone books too. He has several.
Enjoyed your video. I never thought it would inspire videos from readers who love to read philosophy. I have been meaning to read Vollman for sometime. Thank you for the reminder.
I love hearing about potential new readers to Vollmann. He's an oddball with highest highs and lowest lows in his writing. Europe Central and Fathers & Crows are two great starting points. Though the book I presented, The Dying Grass, strikes me as him at his most lyrical and thus purely beautiful (I initially read almost 100 pages and then decided to return to the book at a more fitting time in my life; some books just give that feeling of significance and pause for me).
Fascinating. One suggestion: maybe include the titles and authors in your show notes, especially helpful in cases where your hand obscures the title/author in the video (eg.: marxist book).
Yes, will do! Here's a copy: The books discussed in this video are On What Matters by Derek Parfit, The Dying Grass by William T. Vollmann, The Main Currents of Marxism by Leszek Kolakowski, Ha! A Self-Murder Mystery by Gordon Sheppard, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory by Stephen Jay Gould, The Story of Civilization by Will & Ariel Durant, The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin’s Russia by Orlando Figes, The Modern Mind by Peter Watson, The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World by Iain McGilchrist, Bottom’s Dream by Arno Schmidt, and an honorable Mention of The Open Society & Its Enemies by Karl Popper.
This was a good video but unfortunately you are yet another “bookish” person propagandized by Marxism. There is nothing to be gleaned there, it would be like if you want to be a Michelin star chef and you went to Walmart to taste test only the most processed food. Total waste of time. And I suppose you and others might say that you want to read it just to understand Marxism, but that would be like wanting to understand astrology - it’s not real. Curiously these types of channels never read actual economics, like Human Action or Man, Economy, and State, or the like.
You will enjoy the Will Durant work it is a monumental gift to us. I am still making my way through it since beginning it during my undergrad days in the early 80s!
RU-vid suggested this video to me and I am quite impressed that I found another book lover that is reading meaningful books and I can tell is well read.
Nice shout out to On what matters. If I remember correctly, volume three was the one he “died working on”, but it was largely complete before he died. Even though I disagree with him largely, I think it’s one of the best written works of philosophy I’ve read, and a great source of strong arguments for me to argue against.
That's what I most like about the Derek Parfit I've read so far (Reasons & Persons): even if I disagree with him, he communicates so clearly and takes his work so seriously that I appreciate the effort it takes to work through his ideas.
Finnegans Wake should be on this list, it may well be the most difficult book ever written, including scientific and mathematical books. It's not an invented language, but it is a dream language with many different permutations, including combining words of different and the same language. It's a brain workout. It doesn't just add information to your existing brain structure, but changes that structure.. Reading it is a lifetime task, but as you do you, will never think about language the same ... or for that matter, anything else.
Yes, Finnegans Wake would be an excellent choice for the list! One of the aspects of my thinking in creating this vid was to avoid the bigger or more well-known choices, so Finnegans Wake was dropped, but in a more all-encompassing list it would definitely make the cut.
@@monumentofwonders Joyce fan here. I've read his other works but was interested if there was an annotated or reading guide for FW. On my second reading of Ulysses I used the Gifford annotated edition and got a lot more out of the novel. Can you recommend something like that for FW? Thanks!
@@deirdre108 There are guides. Some helpful, some less so. There's Roland McHugh's Annotations to Finnegans Wake, and what I'm finding useful now is "How Joyce Wrote Finnegans Wake: A Chapter by chapter Genetic Guide." There's also a website that annotates each line. But there is nothing like just reading it, and doing your best to read it out loud, because punning is a huge part of the book, with double and triple meanings for words and phrases. I've been reading the book for almost 20 years, and now when I finish reading it, which takes a year or so reading a page or a few paragraphs at a time, I just start again. It's a circular book: the first sentence completes the last sentence. I read for the same reason that concert pianists practice every day, because it a great exercise in how language, any language works. To close, you can find people reading the work on youtube, including Joyce himself reading a chapter. I highly encourage to dive in and persist, the more you put in, the more you get out. It will change the way you look at language and at any creative problem.
@@monumentofwonders Thank you so much for your recommendations! "There's a website that annotates each line." That is amazing to find out someone put that much work into doing something like that. Your comparison of reading FW to practising music every day hits home for me as I'm a professional harpist. So I'll keep that analogy in mind as I read (practise!) Finnegan's Wake. Again, thank you!
The 2 most difficult writers i know are CG JUng and JACOB NEUSNER Both prolific Neusner at 200+++ personal bks + another 800+ as editor Neither author is read much which is why I love both. Neither is understood by the few who read either author which is why I love both even more. I love reading books no one can understand. For so many reasons no one can understand either. Note NO ONE = very few,, and I have not met any as yet. Making both the 2 most important writers of the mod and post mod eras.
while reading CG';s Letters Vol 2, on page 70,, I realize while reading CG state he is not a philosopher,,, he is a empiricist 100%, NOTa religious guru,,, so it dawned on me,, I am not a philosopher,,, then what am I.. so I googled Philognosispher,, and arrived at the only post/reference to my Q, on the Forum Philosophy Now from 2013,, He received no answer, Philosophy of Philognosis? Its 2 pages print out and raises excellent Q's on this new term PHILOGNOSIS,, so obviously I am not the very 1st, Looks like someone beat me to the coinage. But has he worked out his Q's??? I want to officially state I am a philognosisPHER, There the 1st coinage of this term. This is how I will describe my researches, and purpose in life. Philosognosispher. AS gnosis is my core belief, That God is Gnosis. The only way to God is via gnosis. That gnosis is the future of mankind, That the New Heaven and New Earth will be Philognosisphers, and no other beings. I hope wiki will identify my name as the originator of the term Philognosisopher, Better PHILOGNOSOPHER,,,maybe Philo-gnosis-pher have not figured out exactly how I want the term spelled out. Yes I have my reasons why gnosis is the future and not sophia. Sophia will be born from gnosis. Gnosis comes 1st, then sophia. Philosophy is dead, Plato gave us the best beginnings. From there it went straight to hell w Aristotle. Philosophy is dead. Nietzsche was the last. Philosophy is being reborn as philognosis-ophy.
Very interesting list, thanks! I’m 63, and have not read as much as I would like. I’m mostly through with collecting my “retirement library”, which includes Darwin’s Beagle, Origins, and Descent books, as well as Dawkins’ Selfish Gene. If and when I make it through that series, your suggestion of The Structure of Evolutionary Theory (Gould) seems like a great next step. Thanks! As an aside, my parents had the Durant books, as well as the Great Books series, and the Encyclopedia Brittanica. I wish I would have started reading those long ago, but the font size and line spacing really put me off. It wasn’t the density of the ideas, but the literal density of the text, that drove me away. Anyway, I’ve subscribed and appreciate your suggestions.
I LOVE the idea of a “retirement library”! 😆that’s a fantastic way to put it. I’m only 33 (and still collecting), but the other day I was looking at my collection & thinking, ‘wow this is a lot of time consuming, heavy reads’…now I will think of it as something to look forward to in retirement! 😄🤍
I would direct your attention to the book by the cultural historian, Jacques Barzun's, From Dawn to Decadence, a history of 500 years of western culture from the Renaissance to today, wonderfully well written and entertaining. Barzun was an authority on how to write and translate. He was my mentor in my translation of Hector Berlioz's A Travers Chants |The Art of Music|, a collection of his music criticism.
I own a copy of From Dawn to Decadence but haven't read it yet. I'll be sure to keep it in mind for the future! That's fantastic that you got to have Barzun as your mentor. That must be quite the memory for you!
@@ToReadersItMayConcern It is quite the memory. I have a huge pile of letters from him. He was a wonderful man in addition to being a genius.My husband and I visited him in his 90's when he was writing the history of the world, From Dawn to Decadence.It was a best seller. He lived to the ripe old age of 105.
That is such a shame! Do you ever end up in the U.S.? I got my copy of all eleven volumes from the Iliad Bookshop in North Hollywood, California for about thirty bucks, and they often seem to get new versions (though they sell out quickly). I can always try to be on the lookout for you. The books are a pleasure to read. Durant's style is incredibly smooth, and he has the taste for a vivid story.
@@ToReadersItMayConcern That would be wonderful if you could! I haven’t yet been in the US but I have planned to do the Appalachian Trail on 2025 and spend visit all the states afterwards :)
@@materiagrix I recommend getting the eBook instead. There is an eBook of all twelve volumes together. I could send you a copy of it if you want. (it is an epub format). Unless, of course, you prefer having the complete physical set.
What a bummer: multiple volumes are generally available at most decent used bookstores, especially around colleges & universities. A lot these days, actually. Many boomers are dying off or retiring and dumping their entire philosophy and history collections. 30 years the entire set would go for well over $250
@@ThatReadingGuy28 Oh I’d love the ebook, I still want the physical format for something of that magnitude but the Ebook would be great to start dipping in and out! Do you have my email?
The books of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, which I read in my 20s, have influenced my view of life. He was a French (Belgian?) priest who was also a palaeontologist. He helped discover some of the earliest dinosaur bones ever found, in Mongolia. He was threatened with excommunication because of his writings. Given you choice of reading topics, I strongly urge you to read at least one of his books.
Ah! I have “Bottom’s Dream”! Five-ish years ago, a limited number of copies was published and I snagged one of them for ~$100. I don’t even know how I came across the news, but probably through one of the many, many bookish e-mail subscriptions I’ve followed. It holds a central position in my home library, and everyone’s eyes bug out of their heads when they see it, lol. Hopefully you acquire a copy soon, it’s a beautiful book. Also, awesome list. Most of them I’ve had on my TBR list for a while now. I’m about to indulge in your Part 2 video. Keep up the great videos!
Interesting choices. I seemed to notice a book on your shelves behind and thought: "I bet this guy is from Montreal." The Sheppard book "HA!" strengthened my suspicion. It is a wonderful book about Hubert Aquin (hence the initials HA!), one of Québec's most important writer. I did my Masters thesis on the influence of Joyce in Aquin's writing. Very interesting stuff indeed.
I wonder what he would think about the book ( Mr. Fix It and Miss Sue ). It is. no nonsense coming of age story where the brat dose not get her why. Book overview: This is the poetic tale of Miss Sue, a contentious young woman no matter what a father and mother would do. In trying to raise a proper woman of dignity and respect, what she became as she grew up was something they did not expect. So what are the parents to do when they are down to their last wit, and realize they have no choice but to send for Mr. Fix It.
Wonderful! video. And I thought I was a bookaholic! I have read the Kolakowski (when it was 3 separate volumes), the Popper, and I have read pretty much all Gould- except for the one you showed. The Watson looks interesting. Right now my “fat book” is Irvin Yalom’s Existential Psychotherapy, but at somewhat less than 500 pages it may pale by comparison with some of your planned volumes. Thanks for the inspiration.
Some fun books. I used to read a lot more non-narrative philosophy, but for the past decade or so I've been more interested in real life problems that require concepts of chaos and complexity, and systems thinking rather than the stripped down philosophical approaches that ignore the messiness of reality. I thought about doing a response video on this thread, more in response to Steve Donoghue's response probably, but I am already doing a 24 tomes in 2024 project this year, using a random number generator to pick from my list of 24 hard/big books that I plan to finish this year. Maybe I'll do a list more along the lines of these response videos next year when it won't be competing with an existing reading project.
I hope you feel inspired to share your selection and thoughts. The more response videos the better as far as I'm concerned! I would bet there are all sorts of books you bring up I would have never thought of.
1. The Dying Grass is one of my favorite novels. The best thing about it is the poetic quality of its prose, unique in his oeuvre. The worst thing is the impossibility of keeping track of all the characters. Beware any novel with a glossary of names in the back. 2. The hard book that I want to re-read is Ducks, Newberryport.
I'm in the middle of reading Ducks, Newburyport on e-book. It's one of those periodic night-time reads, something I can drift in and out of, snapshots of a story, without losing much momentum. A strange book. Hypnotic.
I'm glad YT algorithms recommended this video to me. Would be nice to cover physics based hard books. Most of the books you reviewed are about philosophy, history and biology.
Lovely to hear someone speak so intelligently about some books with serious depth. I’m curious about Government House, and you’re the second person to mention it. You might be interested in ‘Buddhist Phenomenology’ by Daniel Lusthaus.
The House of Government by Yuri Slezkine is an extraordinary book, and I highly recommend it, BUT it does expect a lot of familiarity with history of the Soviet Union. It would help a lot to read a couple general histories first on that subject then dive in to that one. And thank you, thank you for recommending Buddhist Phenomenology by Daniel Lusthaus. Not a book I've heard of before, so I'm excited to add it to my list of potential reads. It seems from my first impression online like a nicely dense and serious work. Excellent!
This was a great video. I love your enthusiasm for analyzing how the authors play with words, format, etc in addition to the content. I share that with you for sure.
Thank you! I wonder if that inclination comes from reading a lot and then craving something new. After a while, certain stories become familiar, and then the desire becomes for how freshly a story can be told or how freshly ideas can be conveyed. I see you have a great and nicely eclectic taste in books, by the way!
@@ToReadersItMayConcern yeah I think you're right. It's so exciting to see something new and fresh for us to analyze and explore. I especially love when writers break the "rules" of traditional writing. It doesn't always work but when it does it's just such a great experience. I first learned/experienced this when I was in college taking my first poetry class. Once I learned that poets often use every piece of a poem, I was fascinated. The way they use punctuation, line breaks, font, structure, the way words sound and feel in your mouth when you say them, etc. can all be a part of the overall message. Love it. And thank you!
@@readingwithkayla941 Oh, I think you'd really enjoy the works of Christine Brooke-Rose! She's a recent discovery for me. But she was a British writer who pushed and pushed the bounds of literary convention and voice in her writing, always considering how to break the page or the sound of the written word through textual play. There's a Christine Brooke-Rose Omnibus available that contains four of her short novels, and it offers a nice overview of her evolution as an experimental writer.
For historical fiction, I would choose Solzhenitsyn’s Red Wheel. It is a series of 9 books with the 7th one coming out this Oct. This series takes us from 1914 thru the Russian Revolution in 1917
I'd start with Solzhenitsyn's "August 1914", the version of "Red Wheel" that came out as a stand-alone work in the early 1970s. I like the original "August 1914" much, much better than the later version.
My favorite historical reads are about the Papcy, changing of the courtier systems from medieval to renaissance times, how ancient practices or inventions (aqueducts, roads, boats, etc..) have changed over the years, and gothic architecture.
I just found William and Ariel Durant yesterday 2 books for like 12 bucks and I believe it’s the same civilization series. I have never enjoyed reading but this year I’ve been hard pressed on reading a books a chapter a day. I’m a history guy and I have 1 RECOMMENDATION: read The Thirty Years War by C. V. Wedgewood a beautiful history about the Protestant religion; Lutherism and Calvinism vs Catholicism. But it’s more than just religious disputes of the charge and more of the dynasty (Hapsburg) taking over Europe and countries come together to try to fight and gain religious independence and the invasion of Sweden to help the German people to gain some of that freedom by fighting against Austria (Hapsburg Dynasty) and Spain. Sorry for the long formatted text but I’m obviously love the book beyond the information the reading style is so lovely. Give it a try. And I saw your Daniel J. Boorstin, Discoveries in the background and I have it but haven’t read it. Glad to see not talked about authors/historians because sometimes their information is old, circa early half of the 19th century.
here is another very difficult book to read; Principia Mathematica by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell Contributions to the Founding of the Theory of Transfinite Numbers by Georg Cantor
please do more videos on philosophy books. suggest some must-read philosophy books. Do a longer video discussing your thoughts on philosophers, branches of philosophy, ethics, meta-ethics and your personal favourites ❤❤🎉
Absolutely! These are great ideas! I just recorded a couple vids, but after those come out I'll probably switch to covering an essential book on ethics and what it entails (Reasons and Persons) and then an overview of Philosophy of Science (more interesting than it initially seems).
Other IMHO must read, and short, complex masterpieces: Jorie Graham's "To 2040" Gerald Murnane's "The Plains" Jon Fosse's "A Shining" I alternate long and short.
I recommend a romanian physics book "Fizica Povestită" by Cristian Presură. He is a physicist so a lot of explanation for us who don't know physics, besides it also has stuff about space like the first image of a black hole.
If you are truely interested in philosophy you are much better served with reading the classics as opposed to the ones you mentions. So start with the roots and pick up atleast some of the basic Writings of Plato, Aristotle, and Thomas Aquinas. Then maybe branch out to fields that interest you most. For examples you could read Epictetus Marcus Aurelius Spinoza Bacon Hume Descartes Kant and so on.
These are good recommendations. I'm not new to philosophy, though. It's been a part of my reading for about 15 years (I'm older than I look). But your comment should be helpful to anyone trying to grasp the subject, so thank you for that.
Oh my, if you can ever get through 'The Stone and the Flute' by Hans Bemman (a 1983 (?) translation of his original German book (Stein und Flöte, und das ist noch nicht alles). I read it first while in the army in 1987 or so, and got through it once more a few years later. If I'd ever had the main character within my grasp I'd happily have strangled him for sheer idiocy! I think it's now at the bottom of a stack of boxes which also include all the Thomas Covenant novels. To think I read those last 2 or 3 times without slitting my throat is mind-boggling to this day! 🙄
Oh, maybe I will do this too!! I agree that it is fun to just hear what other bookish people want to read, and I like the idea of choosing books that one thinks will be challenging! (There are so many in my case!) Yes, I want to read Vollman, not sure where to start. Ha! sounds amazing!! The Whisperers sounds fascinating too! I have a box set of Arno Schmidt’s stories and another novel, maybe one day I’ll try Zettel’s Traum. (Bottom’s Dream).
Bottom's Dream is such a startling, strange experience. I think it took me almost an hour to grasp the first page to any significant degree (viewing a PDF copy), but it felt doable-in a way Finnegan's Wake doesn't feel quite as doable-and I found the following pages to flow with what I learned from reading the first. It felt like a puzzle that becomes "obvious" once you get the pattern. A great starting point for Vollmann is Europe Central, if you want something that invites you in, but The Dying Grass is so fiercely beautiful that that might be enough to carry you through.
You're a brave fella. Those multiple volumes of philosophy would require great focus, and I don't know how anyone would read them back to back, but maybe you intend to take little breaks or read them with something lighter, to keep the mind fresh. Still. The Arno Schmidt, too, seems quite intimidating, although I see there are plenty of things written online about it, so I'd be interested to read some of those, to find out more about the intriguing coded style of writing. Clearly, you don't get intimidated easily, and really epitomise what I imagine is meant by the term "advanced reader". Hope you have a wonderful time with these, and learn all sorts of amazing new things.
Thank you so much! This is very kind. I have tough times as a reader, too, days when I can't focus or moments when my enthusiasm wanes. I try to be honest with myself. Take breaks. Do something passive or simple. But I also find that, genuinely, the more complex works tend to hold my attention easier than 'simpler' ones; those works often require getting into a kind of zone of concentration, and the great works reward that concentration with worthwhile, meaningful thoughts. That feels like a deeply gratifying payoff. It also makes reading generally easier. I can jump to a 'softer' read and find myself coasting along its pages in ways I hadn't before. But at the end of the day I'm glad for anyone to read whatever they love. If I didn't love this sort of stuff it would not be worth the effort.
@@ToReadersItMayConcern I think it's possible to improve focus over time, and with applied, active intention, but you have to love knowledge deeply to get to the focus level you've achieved. I'm glad you are having such a rewarding experience, because you've put in so much to be able to learn so much from some challenging material. Thanks for your thoughtful reply, too.
Here’s my list: Randall Collins - Sociology of Philosophies Juergen Habermas - Between Facts and Norms Nico Poulantzas - Fascism and Dictatorship Talcott Parsons - American Society Jeffrey Friedman - Power without Knowledge Slavov Zizek - Living in End Times Carol Vance - Pleasure and Danger Rasmussen - The Handbook of Critical Theory Pierre Bourdieu - Logic of Practice Jacques Derrida - Disseminations
@@ToReadersItMayConcernI'm reading the Whisperers right now. I wish I read it before I read the Great Terror. It would have helped put things in a little better context.
Moby Dick is the hardest book I’ve read. That one was really tough. I have The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky in qeue coming up. That one looks tough but it’s a giant of a novel. I’ll pace myself with tough long reads by reading shorter easier novels before and after. I’m on One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest now, after reading Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series in order from The Hobbit through.
I have not, actually. From Gould I've only read The Mismeasure of Man and his collected essays. What strikes me as intriguing about Gould is that he held strong to a position that did not persist beyond his passing, and yet it feels almost as if that has most to due with his untimely death: when alive, he seemed such a strident defender of his perspective, and he did so with often more rigor than his opponents (seemingly, and I base that on how often I've heard personal attacks on him rather than detailed refutations; though the logic of NOMA seems faulty at the outset). Doesn't make him right, of course. But it is interesting to me how much luck is involved in what positions continue receiving research or not, and research is key to data collection and thus the grounding for scientific theories. All that to say, it makes me want to take his work seriously, if only to conclude he failed-I at least want to reach such a conclusion after having given him a fair shot. If you happen to know of any knock-out refutations of his interpretations of the data, I'd love to read them! I want to be a sponge of this sort of stuff. Ultimately, I know so little, and that's why I love reading!
Kolakowski's "Is God Happy?" was a book I enjoyed a great deal. Ditto Gould's "The Mismeasure of Man". And "Open Society" sits on the shelf immediately above the desk where I am typing this, perhaps for keeps. (I'll probably make videos about all those in due time!)
I would suggest that if one sees no practical difference from their study of metaethics, then they are doing something wrong. For instance, becoming convinced that, say, cognitivism is false and non-cognitivism is true, should change one’s assent and attitude with respect to any number of moral claims, situations, and attitudes. I fail to see how this could not be the case, ceteris paribus.
It certainly can have that effect! It can also not convince, or it can convince on the back of intuition, which for someone highly reflective can lead to circling round and round considerations and thought experiments about one's intuitions instead of acting in the world. I find myself, seemingly instinctively, becoming the latter, and logic alone does not rattle my desires.
I'm so glad this popped up randomly. I was fortunate last year to spy Derek Parfitt' s new Biography. What a fascinating and perfectly fine person who died So young. A fabulous mind and well-rounded cheerful kind person. Pleased you began with Parfitt!
With the caveat that I’ve never read complex philosophy, or those overly obtuse modern novels, the only book I’ve had a hard time with was The Tale of Genji. It’s so old and and so dense with period cultural references that have no familiarity at all, constantly shifting relationships, and political dynamics among a lot of characters with difficult names that it was just difficult to follow.
Being much into metaphysics and the like I would like to eventually read Irreducible Mind along with Immortal Remains. And I've seen many people swear by the Malazan Book of the Fallen, which is seemingly both very long and complex.
Wow, all of those sound amazing. I've seen the Will Durant series, but never knew much about them. As for my recommendations, a few come to mind: Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon was a bit of a challenge, I've only completed half of it...one day I will read it all. The Pound Era by Hugh Kenner. Haven't gotten to it yet but it looks amazing. Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. Let's see what you can make of it. Last but not least, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (3 volumes) by Edward Gibbon. I'd heard of it here and there, I think from an interview with Isaac Asimov that when he was young he was bedridden from an accident and relatives gave him the book, and he read it, and it inspired him to write the Foundation Trilogy. Happy reading!
Thank you for offering recommendations (only a few took me up on that offer so far)! These are all excellent books that deserve to be on this list. I'm grateful!
hope to see more book content from you as i liek your presentation. just a question but what si the book behind you that has white. yellow, blue and red circles? it looks like it says gene but hard to tell
Yes, I have more videos in mind coming soon. I'm glad you're enjoying my stuff so far! As for the book, I believe you're referring to The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee, a historical overview of how we came to understand genes/genetics and what's left to understand. He also wrote an excellent book on our growing understanding of and attempts to cure cancer called The Emperor of All Maladies, which you may appreciate.
@@ToReadersItMayConcern thank you, it stuck out on the shelf and has a cool pattern but now knowing what its about. i can say it sounds pretty interesting and i will admit i dont really read non fiction at all but that is one i may give a try. so thank you for that
Last year I plowed through Human Action by Mises, which is one of the dryest/densest books I’ve read. That said, when an idea from one of those beasts clicks it’s very rewarding.
I literally just received my ordered copy of Mises' book on Socialism (an economic and social criticism) and then browsed at the four volumes of Human Action, thinking, hmm, should I?-So, do you think it was worth your time? Should I order them or maybe wait 'til after getting through his other book?
@@ToReadersItMayConcern It’s a subject I’ve been involved with for a while, so I felt like I “should.” It was worth my time, but no need to divert your plans necessarily.
(For in case you don't read my whole comment: Science Fiction with Damien Walter hosted a podcast interview with Ian McIan McGilchrist on this book; it's brilliant!) I love your collection, and I love the reasons you have for reading each of them. Sometimes the relevance of a book is not the specific content, but the way it makes us think about what we take as truth, where we come from, and what we've been taught. I read the same way and with the same reasoning. I have a couple of hard books of my own to get through, so not quite ready to take on your list, but Ha! and The Whisperers seem right up my ally! I am also interested in Reasons and Persons (mentioned, although not part of your ten), and I love the idea of The Dying Grass, but I am a bit tired of reading all of these things about the Northern Hemisphere. I do have it on my list to check if there is something more relevant to Africa (I am from South Africa), and it's not that it won't be without value, just that there are other books higher on my to read list. Ian McGilchrist's book is also on my list and I am also waiting for the price to drop a bit.
I'm glad some of what I selected resonated with you. Thank you for your insights! As soon as you mentioned South Africa, a particular "hard" book came to mind: Frontiers: the Epic of South Africa's Creation and the Tragedy of the Xhosa People by Noel Mostert. It's a hefty, intimidating book with much horrors to speak of while also containing a poetic, meditative quality to its prose. I had never heard of that book until I stumbled on it in a used bookstore. I hope it's new to you, too, and you can add it to your list!
@@ToReadersItMayConcern Thanks for the recommendation! I have not read that yet and I am not afraid of hard books, although they do take me longer to get through. I feel that if the information is worth delving in to, it deserves to be absorbed well. So I make notes and take my time to process things. Definitely going to look into getting this! 🙏
Why do so many people conflate difficult with "many pages"? This list seems a little better than the rest, but some of the most difficult texts I've ever read didn't have more than 300 pages
I would HIGHLY recommend Tragedy & Hope by Carroll Quigley. Well over 1,000 pages on history. Very dense. He also wrote one called Weapons Systems and Political Stability that’s dense and long. I have it but not read it yet. Quigley was a professor of history that had a huge influence on Bill Clinton.
I have read articles by Parfit - I agree but find the implications of animal rights difficult to implement; the 3 volumes by Kolakowski are average Marxist fare, it is important to dig deeper into Lenin, Trotsky and Luxembourg to understand Marx and the revolutions; Gould’s Structure is excellent as he lays bare the main points of contention in evolutionary theory, parts of Durant but consider Toynbee, and Popper’s Open Society who waxes eloquent while concealing a few lacunas in his philosophy of science. But, I wonder why you picked Arno Schmidt and not Gunter Grass. It seems to me that Grass is far more significant as a novelist and as a speechwriter.
@@ToReadersItMayConcern Tin Drum was widely accepted and approved , but Dog Years is the one I am looking for. My Century and Diary of a Snail are also good. He’s a Nobel laureate and became very politically active since the 60’s.
Out of curiosity - have you been able to make your way through the Big Books by the Big Thinkers of modern philosophy, especially Kant, Hegel, Marx, Husserl, Heidegger, and Sartre? I'd like to do it myself, but life is short, and I suppose I'd be satisfied if I could make my way through Copleston's History.
I had to read a wide mix of those philosophers throughout college; however, I have also gone back to some, such as Kant (highly recommend Pluhar translation) and Marx, after reading other works about them, and I find that reading the original sources after reading critical evaluations or summaries to be a far more gratifying experience. You may want to just let yourself read overviews like Copleston's for a while, just to see whose ideas resonate with you most, and then once you've pinpointed single philosophers, maybe read the Oxford Very Short Introduction book on that philosopher (that series of books has been the best at summing up philosophy for me). I feeling I get is that I most appreciated the original sources only after grasping the conversations surrounding them. So let yourself bask in those conversations a while. That said, the best original sources to actually read among the list you gave is definitely Kant and Marx, and somewhat Sartre. The reason I say that is because so much of what they wrote gets grossly simplified. It is nice to actually take their own words in and interpret for yourself. The others seem to work fine for me in overviews or summaries.
It's one of those collections I plan to read over the span of a lifetime, not back-to-back, but spread out amidst various other books. Having started it, I'd say the reading is not so heavy as it seems: Will Durant writes exceptionally smoothly and is always thoughtful about the facts he presents, not merely listing out the details but considering them and their context and musing on the implications of each and questioning the meaning between the facts. I think you'll enjoy it. But spread it out!
It's the sort of chunker that might actually be worth a hefty price. Based on the contents page and my perusing of chapters here and there, it seems like such a wondrously nerdy deep-dive into Marxist ideological history, and the author maintains a distinct voice on the page through-and-through without being preachy or vague or snobby (at least from what I've read).
I'm currently reading Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals, and Beyond Good and Evil. I'm currently having difficulty in fully grasping writing style and argument construction of Nietzsche, its not the hardest books to read but it sure is hard for me. Its not the first philosophy book, as I've been indulging myself in studying philosophy for 3 months now, started with Russel and Durant's philosophical survey, and then reading Plato, Descartes and Rousseau. Any advice for novice readers for philosophy, especially Nietzsche?
Nietzsche happens to be unique among philosophers in his writing style: rather than logical in his construction of arguments (in some ways, he does not construct arguments in the traditional sense at all), he focuses more on the psychological side of what he writes about. Think of Nietzsche's writing as musings or acerbic meditations on how culture has developed and how culture is changing and the dangers that can arise; you can also, kind of, think of it like poetry, as in, truths presented metaphorically and with an emphasis on emotion more than reason. Genealogy of Morals-if I remember correctly-is Nietzsche's speculations on how we developed Christian morality and what that suggests about our psychology (again, the key is it's him speculating on how it's affected our way of thinking); Beyond Good and Evil becomes about the responsibility we have for our lives now that we can't fall back on God or anything else for objectivity. Both books use those topics as jumping off points to talk about almost everything we take for granted, all the things we presume 'have to be this way' and don't actually have to be that way. But the key is all of the above is not presented as a reasoned argument. It's more that Nietzsche seems to have noticed a potential problem-e.g. the problem of abandoning belief in God and the morals therein-and what that means for our psychology, because we may think its something we can abandon without consequence, and Nietzsche seems to feel there is actually a great deal of consequence. That said, he's also not saying we need God or Christianity or anything like that. He's more saying that the same psychology that led to God and Christianity is still within us and thus we have to contend with how we're gonna end up projecting those desires onto our future (such as persisting in judging things as "good" and "evil"). Nietzsche is within the category of philosophy almost in name only. He's rebellious and opinionated and often saying what he feels more than what he's carefully thought through. Still, he's important as a figure who questions what we take for granted. If philosophy is a practice of questioning dogma, he's in that practice of questioning our essential dogmas. And that is useful for helping you think through your own thoughts. It's also very likely you won't agree with Nietzsche's entire conclusions-that's to be expected. He's more engaging if you just allow yourself to consider why he felt the way he felt and how that matches or doesn't match what you notice in life. I do have a couple recommendations for you, though. For all philosophers that you read going forward, I highly recommend that you read the A Very Short Introduction books for each philosopher first. Those serve as great introductions because they're just long enough to cover a wide range of a philosopher's ideas-longer than what you'd find in an overview like Russell's or Durant's-but also intended for someone new to the material. Of all the summaries I've read of philosophers, I've found the A Very Short Introduction series to be the best. Aside from that, there is also the free Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy available online. However, those entries are far denser and thus more advanced. Still, when it comes to philosophy, get as much of a summation of the philosopher's views as you can prior to reading. It'll help give you a mapping of what to pay attention to. Last recommendation: I just listened (literally yesterday) to The Popperian Podcast #13 with guest Ken Gemes, and I felt he gave an excellent summary of Nietzsche's views. That may help you. Good luck!
@@ToReadersItMayConcern Man this so great, I really appreciate that! Definitely going to revitalize and restructure my reading with this kind of perspective. Starting from podcast to the short introduction then. Thanku bro very much!!
Genuinely, I'm a slow reader, but I read consistently-2-3 hours daily, at minimum-and this has been the case for at least ten years. Over time the number of books I've read has accumulated. I do not aim to read a lot of books: finishing a book means nothing in itself; it is the ideas in the books that matter. So I read slowly and carefully, which, I've discovered, makes the act of reading more engaging on the whole and thus something easier to do for long stretches of time (on days off with no distraction I can read fully from morning to night). I've also discovered, at least for myself, that making reading such a constant habit also makes it quicker to get into the "zone" for comprehension, that feeling of being wholly engrossed and not distracted. That used to be a tough state for me to get into, but it's become far easier over the years, which then makes it easier to read in smaller chunks of scattered time on busier days. One other thing: I also work as a teacher. This creates incentive to be well-informed and also creates an outlet for me to test my comprehension by communicating what I've learned (and then re-reading anything I can't explain well).
Yeah, sorry about that. I put all the titles in the description in the order they appear. Here's a copy: On What Matters by Derek Parfit, The Dying Grass by William T. Vollmann, The Main Currents of Marxism by Leszek Kolakowski, Ha! A Self-Murder Mystery by Gordon Sheppard, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory by Stephen Jay Gould, The Story of Civilization by Will & Ariel Durant, The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin’s Russia by Orlando Figes, The Modern Mind by Peter Watson, The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World by Iain McGilchrist, Bottom’s Dream by Arno Schmidt, and an honorable mention of The Open Society & Its Enemies by Karl Popper.
the red wheel, solzhenitsyn suma theologica aquinas human comedy - balzac eric voegelin works o lost - thomas wolfe the demons - Heimito Von Doderer Out of Revolution: Autobiography of Western Man - Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith - James H. Billington
that Vollman book looks really interesting in the way it structured. do you know any other books that does something similar? perhaps something shorter.. good luck reading Matter with things.
Great question! That particular type of formatting is really, really odd. The only thing that comes to mind is maybe some of the work of Mark Z. Danielewski, such as his book series The Familiar (in parts) or little parts of House of Leaves-But those are long! It seems like the most experimental books are lengthy. Two short-ish ones, though, are VAS: An Opera in Flatland by Steve Tomasula, which has sections that play with formatting inward into the page, and Nobodaddy's Children by Arno Schmidt, which does the opposite and extends the wording into the margins. There's also the short story collection Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace, which plays with the text in fresh ways but also happens to be well-written and emotionally complex. One final tip, though, is to check out the collections Conceptualisms by editor Steve Tomasula and the Penguin Book of Oulipo. Both those collections focus on experimental literature and are a great way to discover authors who fit your tastes based on samples of their writing. Hope that helps!
Cut to the chase and read ‘the matter with things’. Get it on kindle if it’s too expensive If it doesn’t change your worldview then by all means go back to ‘what matters’.
I'm guessing you also read his prior book, The Master and His Emissary. How do the two compare in their balance of neuroscience and philosophy (The Master felt even to me in that regard)?
@@ToReadersItMayConcern As you might expect he goes more deeply and broadly into both areas. The scholarship and thoroughness are impressive but also how he weaves together the ideas. Not only do I look at life differently now but I benefited from being introduced to a whole raft of philosophers and scientists, and also historical and cultural perspectives.
Do you find praise of Popper quite annoying or overly prevalent nowadays? I know David Deutsch has been pushing him out more lately, and Popper is generally popular among working scientists (though not necessarily by having actually read his works).
Gulag Archipelago is such a slog. An old timer who lived through it told me it was an important book to read though. He also pointed out, multiple times, that Solzhenitsyn is a terrible writer. Read another comment on here referring to another book that’s much better so I look forward to picking up a set & getting a better perspective!
I'm generally fond of lengthier works. I guess I prefer 'escaping' for a long time in books. There are some incredible short ones, though! I may do a video on the best short books I've read. That could be fun!
Trying to mention less obvious ones, avoiding books I already read or attempted to read, and can't repeat books mentioned by the other videos that did this same topic before me. Most importantly, these are the ones I plan to read soon-ish. I'm likely to do a follow-up video that'll cover tougher and hopefully even more obscure material. But all your suggestions are solid ones!
@@ToReadersItMayConcern I figured that out half way thru ... Bottoms' Dream has me intrigued... BTW, reading Beowulf and Chaucer in the original early and middle English is what I am talking about, not recent translations.. that is a challenge.. I speak some German so it's a lot easier for me.
Depending on your fluency, you may be able to appreciate some of the works by Marianne Fritz. She spent her lifetime on an unfinished multi-volume work-nicknamed "The Fortress"-that is supposed to be similarly experimental like Bottom's Dream, but it's only in German, I think. And Bottom's Dream and all of Arno Schmidt's work is originally written in German and should be way easier to get ahold of than the English version (though still probably a somewhat rare find).
I've got the entire collection of twery pratchett, I've 34 discworld novels, whenever I feel tired from it I read stephen king. I've got most of those books par 3 and have read most of them too except sleeping Beauties cause apparently it's awful and the newest one Holly. Still reading stephen king dark tower atm.
Did something similar. Got almost every Pratchett book in a sale and worked my way through them in order. I would switch out for King or Herbert or some sci-fi. I only made it about 13 books in though and now I’ve forgotten where I got to.
The two volumes of Popper's _Open Society_ is the only philosophical book I have read in one fell swoop. I did so at the age of fifteen in the translation by Feyerabend, which Popper hated. Popper's scholarship is lousy (which to find out took me two decades), but his acerbic style and opinionated passion make the two volumes an easy and highly entertaining read. It's not a "hard book" at all.
Could the difference in translation have had an effect?-My experience the first time through required much attention to syntax and phrasing to make sure I got each point, and the wealth of endnotes contributed greatly to some of the "hard"ness of reading it.
@@ToReadersItMayConcern Interesting question to which I have no answer. As it was Popper's first major publication in English, it may very well be a bit clumsily phrased, but not being a native speaker, it would be hard for me to tell.
